Last night, as I was grocery shopping, my phone rang. It was my 13 year old son calling from home. He called to ask me if he could make cookies, slice and bake no less. Normally and honestly, this would have thrown me into a tizzy, a Lizzy Tizzy, thinking, "Ok, now...first, he'll have to take all of the pots and pans and lids, (some glass, which could break) out of the oven and put them all on the counter. Hopefully they won't all come crashing out from being overstuffed in there. Next, he will have to find a cookie sheet, and who knows where there is a cooling rack?? What about a pot holder?, I don't want him to burn himself. Finally there is no counter space to even put the cookies, with all that stuff on it, to slice and bake!! I know without a doubt, I would have said, "No, not right now, wait until I get home" (So, you can watch your mother in person become Lizzy Tizzy right before your eyes!) Sounds like tons of fun doesn't it??
Well, to my surprise, last night when he asked me, I thought about my kitchen and suddenly felt a calm and happy feeling and an unexpected sense of relief. One Year To An Organized Life is broken into chapters by month starting with January's, "Working on the Kitchen." Although it is summer, I decided to start with the first chapter when I bought this book a few weeks ago. It has taken me a few weeks to tackle my kitchen, but as I stood in the frozen food isle last night, I realized how much all that hard work paid off. My son told me he already had his cookie sheet out and he asked me if he needed to put anything on it? I told him if he wanted to use parchment paper it was in the drawer with the sandwich bags and aluminum foil(!) Next, I told him that there was a cooling rack in the cabinet in which he found the cookie sheet(!) He told me he had already preheated the oven, to which I breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing there were no longer any pots or pans or miscellaneous for that manner cooking in that preheated oven at this moment. And to boot, I had just cleaned the oven last week(!)
(I remember preheating my oven one Christmas Eve day to bake scones for my sister and niece only to realize I had forgotten to take out a plastic lid that I had stored in there. It had dripped all down the rungs of the oven rack....what a mess! No scones that Christmas Eve Day!)
Finally, I told my son where the pot holders were located (!) so he wouldn't burn himself.
....A small milestone, my son making slice and bake cookies. I realized though, most importantly, he will remember this moment, if he remembers it, as a moment of independence without his stressed out mother reacting as if he had asked me if he could make a cheesecake from scratch in a kitchen that always felt under construction.
Who knows? Now, with our clean kitchen, maybe he can make that next! : )
I just loved this. It made my day when I was having a bad one. I love the motivation and it actually makes me think about what I can do to get out from under my own mess.
ReplyDeleteAll battles are won and lost in the mind first~
ReplyDeleteHow could you have known that an organized kitchen would mean independance for Joe? Keep up the good work..We are all benefitting~
your INFJ sister,
Eileen