Christine Cooks: May 2010

Putting order into chaos is messy business. What initially prevails is more chaos. And that can be very disconcerting when what you are trying to accomplish is order. Many of you will know of what I speak - conceptually.

I actually have no excuse for succumbing to chaos other than that I am often easily overwhelmed when faced with too many decisions and, evidently, too much time in which to make them. If I look back on my life's history, it's easy to see that I accomplished the most when I had the least amount of time in which to do the accomplishing. (There's a Murphy's Law in there somewhere, I'm sure of it.)

This week marks a rather distinctive milestone: I have just gained more personal time by dropping down to a three-day work week (I retired, then immediately began a curtailed work schedule) which will, I am sure, after the order sets in, result in more free time for me to pursue the things that retired, or semi-retired, people do. For me that would be recipe development, cooking, photography and the constant learning thereof, gardening, blogging, travel ... I have a long list.

So you'd think, with the onset of my first four consecutive days off, that I would just get to the business of doing all those things that I love while catching up on some of those not so pleasant chores that can get shoved into corners waiting for when I have the "time" to do them.

Hmpf.

Laziness set in almost immediately. What I put on the list of things to do for the first day quickly got moved to the list of things I would do on the second day, which then got moved to the list of the things I would do on the third day. And now it's the fourth day. I haven't even answered comments; something I find as abhorrent as telling your best friend he/she should go suck eggs.

The laundry piled up while I was outside sitting with my face lifted to the (finally!) warm sun. Spiders made cobwebs in corners while I took leisurely walks. Dust settled on tabletops and house plants while I pulled a weed here, mowed a strip of grass there, talked to my horse, my chickens, my dog; anything but catch up with chores, cook something exciting, research a recipe, take a spectacular photo.

Waiting to be planted tomato seedlings wilted in the greenhouse while I read a cooking magazine. Dinner didn't get started until 9 PM while I spent hours in that zone you can get lost in while looking up something on the Internet, then forgetting what it was you were looking for in the first place.

It's the fourth day and here I sit with a list a mile long, facing my three-day work week then a long weekend out of town from which I will return to go straight to my three-day work week, then another long weekend out of town. See what I mean? Chaos. For this I (semi) retired?

Recipes are waiting in the wings. Maybe with the looming time scrunch I'll get some posted. But first I have to go put order into that chaotic pile of laundry. Then maybe brush away a cob web or two.

One baby step at a time ...

Have a great week!