My Brain Is Frozen
Sat., January 10, 04:59 PM
I’m not sure which way, but I really think my brain is frozen. (We talk abiout something freezing up when it just won’t work; but it also is so cold that, even in the house, all I can think about is how cold I am.) I keep coming up with starters for a fairly good essay, but I can’t get past the starts. Frozen.
I didn’t get out of the house on Wednesday because U.D. was without a car and I had to be at home for a service call at the time when I might have driven her to work. (It’s always something, isn’t it?) So naturally, I was glad to be able to go out yesterday. At least it was sunny. I left the car in the sun wherever I went, to get whatever benefit I could.
It was cold. I went to the bank; even the lobby (where the ATM is) was cold. I drove out to Costco. This is a little tricky, because they don’t let non-business members in too early, but if you get there too late, all the good bagels are gone.
I think, more than anything else, I wanted the bagels. Costco has the best “everything” bagels, and I usually pick up a few plain ones as well, because Husband doesn’t like the seeds, but he will eat mine if there’s nothing else. I bought three dozen bagels. (They freeze nicely.) And another can of coffee. Do you ever wonder how they can manage to sell three pounds of coffee – good coffee – for less than Folger’s charges for forty-two ounces?
At least I got some exercise, at Costco’s and the supermarket. And I’m sorer than usual. Oh, well, I’ll go and complain to the doctor next week, not that she’ll be able to do anything about it.
Oh, yes, my new coffee pot is here! It’s almost like my old one, so I’ve got spare parts. And it takes up about half the space that the interim one does, for the same ten cups of coffee. And it’s easier to fill, and I don’t have to stand on the stool. Husband is happy with the other one, but I’ve warned him not to make more than half a pot at a time; I really think it will pull apart – especially when he’s the one who’s pulling.
I read in the paper that Saddam Hussein was discovered to have squirreled away several billion dollars in foreign banks. I don’t remember the exact figure, but it was sizable. And I said, “why can’t we use that to fix up Iraq instead of asking everybody to chip in with more money?” U.D. said, “well, if we hadn’t broken it, it wouldn't have to be fixed.” I pointed out that what we should have done didn’t matter, it was broken and had to be fixed.
“Of course,” she said, “if you broke it, it’s your responsibility to fix it. Why aren’t you teaching this stuff?” Duh! You can’t sell it if no one is buying. The last thing anyone wants to do is take responsibility for his/her own mistakes.
I keep trying to get organized and getting nowhere. I pick up a bag or a box and I fill it up with stuff that should be thrown out or stored somewhere else. But the minute an empty space appears, someone fills it up. I don’t know why I bother. For months I have been trying to get my table clear so that I can take out the leaves; at least that would give me some more space to move around. Some morning they will find me smothered under all the junk – and none of it belongs to me!
But I did find an amusing solution to a problem in Heloise. (It probably wouldn’t have worked with my daughters, but evidently it has been successful with others.) One mother had tried in vain to get her kids to put away their underwear. So she put it away herself – in the wrong drawers. After a couple of weeks of this, the kids asked her to stop and put away their own stuff.
This is embarrassingly empty; I’ll try to do better next time. It’s just a “filler” so you know I’m still here.
