Haste Makes Waste

AKA: A Stitch in Time Saves Nine (More Woeful Housekeeping Tales)

Yes, those are both mantras I repeat to myself many times a week, as I do just the opposite...I regret to say that I am a hasty housekeeper. Last weekend it happened when I was making breadsticks in a hurry. Unthinkingly (and hastily, may I add) I dumped in 2 Tbsp salt instead of 2 tsps. Trying desperately to slow down and think, I stared into the mixing bowl at the salt disappearing into the water, and tried to think how many times I'd have to double or triple the recipe to make it turn out. Couldn't do the math, or figured that the bowl just wasn't big enough and decided to dump and start again. Waste #1. Where to dump? I had a bowl full of dry and wet ingredients so I thought the sink first, then the garbage. Lots of flour spilled out with the wet (Haste) and the sink was left a gooey mess. Left it to take care of later. Waste #2. My sink still hasn't recovered--unfortunately I think that Canadians don't believe in disposals.


So this morning, I discovered that James' guitar was in my way. It was sitting in front of the toy shelf in the family room and didn't belong there. Sometimes I leave things out like that for days, to experiment, you know, but other times like today, I act quickly, or you might say, HASTily. I placed the guitar in front of the door in the kitchen, knowing my husband's eyes would alight on it very quickly upon entering, and then began getting dishes out for the boys to set the table. This morning Owen insisted that he was going to set the table (he NEVER wants to) by himself, with NO help at all. I realized that we only had ceramic bowls, with one token plastic bowl for Thomas, so I stacked them up on the counter for him to take over. As he grabbed the tower of bowls, and I saw him struggle a bit and also noticed, as if through a fog, the guitar waiting just behind him, a warning light tried to go off in my brain. However, I was HASTily trying to look up a phone number in the phone book, and I ignored it. I glanced down at the book for an instant, Owen slipped,(whether on his sock or guitar, I still do not know) and down went the stack of bowls, instantly shattering everywhere. The twins and I were standing by, staring in amazement, as Owen began his ear-piercing siren scream. After searching for blood, I realized he had just been frightened by the loud noise. Will just kept shaking his head wonderingly and saying, "I'm sure glad it didn't wake Tommy up! That was a big noise." Ryrie stated the obvious:"Owen shouldn't try to carry that many bowls!" I just kept looking at the guitar and thinking of that stack and my mantras...

Thankfully all James expressed to me at the moment was, "Wow, how did my guitar get up here?" I'm just really glad that we still have 8 ceramic bowls from our wedding gift, and that I had yet another (relatively inexpensive and safe)opportunity to "learn" my lesson!