Bring to a Boil Over Low Heat

The Setting: An apartment whose mess is rivaled only by those appearing on Hoarders.

The Soundtrack: The 2011 Academy Singers.

On the Stove-top: Pudding. Peas.

The Scenario: There is never enough time on a day off to do all the things today I'll be dreaming of doing tomorrow.

Let me let you into my brain for a minute.

Need to write and work on recipes. Apartment messy. Must clean. Need good cleaning music. Feel like writing. Nothing worth saying today. Mmm....Pudding. Banana Pudding. Pudding will need to cool after cooking. Start cooking now. Kitchen messy. Hate cooking in messy kitchen. Clean kitchen. Cleaning products toxic. Want to go organic. Clean out fridge. Make space for pudding. Hmm... Pudding recipe? Wing it? Find a reference just in case. Should have gotten coffee earlier. Too late now. Will never fall asleep. Baby makes it hard to sleep. Baby coming soon. Want to make onesies out of old t-shirts. No space for sewing. Must clean apartment.

Fun, huh? And that was cleaned up a little.

My work schedule is incredibly erratic. My hours typically range from 7 am to right around midnight, my commute is long, and my potential work days are any 5 out of seven (not of my selecting). I love my job, but running on half-tanks while growing a human inside me is a challenge.

My days off sometimes include staff meetings and/or doctor's appointments, so a full day with Hoosband (if it's the weekend) or to myself (if a weekday) is a rare and wonderful thing.

The days I get to spend with Hoosband generally follow the pattern of breakfast, exercise, errands, laundry, dinner prep, and falling into a food coma while enjoying our latest arrival from Netflix. We don't like to spend a lot of time on the computer on these days since our time together is so limited, and, well, we like each other's company.

That leaves the wayward weekday-off for writing and all the other me-time activities that barely make it off the buffet and onto my plate.

When there is enough room on my plate for all, I usually manage only a taste and not enough to satisfy. But that's what you get when your tastes are diverse and your dinner break is fleeting.

I often make bulleted lists (on the bathroom mirror or on the Post-its scattered around The Hovel like little reminders of my failures to catch the productivity train in time for departure) just to keep my stream of consciousness in check.

Today's list reads:

*Write.
*Unload dishwasher, reload dishwasher
*Exercise at the Y
*Go to Target for Space Bags
*Go to Whole Foods for vanilla wafers
*Take ham out of freezer
*Clean out dresser drawers, Space-Bag all clothes that won't fit over baby belly, start a Good Will bag
*Clean off table to make room for sewing machine
*Start making onesies out of old T-shirts
*Practice Italian Instant Immersion
*Simmer heavy cream with vanilla bean for Chantilly cream. Chill. Whip.
*Make pudding. Chill pudding. Make banana pudding.
*Start dinner.

Theoretically, all this was to be done by 5 or so, which is when I expect Hoosband home from work today.

So far I have done (or am in the process of doing) only the items in blue.

I want to keep writing, but the clock just struck 4, and this meager, unfulfilling taste is all I have time for tonight if I want to eat dinner (and, perhaps more importantly, dessert) by an acceptable hour.

To be continued...