Random 5 for February 25 – Time, correlations, skills, writing, research

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Correlations – There is a definite correlation between how bad my hair looks and how long the drive-through line is at Starbucks. At this point in life I am not too proud to walk-in with a rooster or two sticking out of my head.

Time machine – There is some magical time-lapse that happens between my kitchen and garage. I lose 10 minutes every time I cross the threshold. At first I thought my car clocks were set fast but they are not. It’s less than ten steps to go from the kitchen to my car but by the time I start it up, I’ve lost 10 minutes. A mystery of life.

Mom was right – My mother was a fabulous cook but as she got older she said she was losing her skill. Never made sense to me. She didn’t use recipes much and everything was muscle memory for her. Now I get it. I can make a recipe I’ve made a 100 times before. When I need it for an event, something goes wrong. Sometimes it’s me because I’ve forgotten to put in a key ingredient but many times I don’t know what went wonky!

My biggest fan – Writers do their work in solitude, plugging away without any instant gratification or even non-instant gratification. In fact, we are more used to rejections than accolades. We had some friends in recently and they wanted to see the work we’ve done in the office. One guest (my current favorite person in the whole world!) looked at my desk and asked if that’s where the magic happens. Made my day for sure! (Thanks Regina!)

Ancestry research update – This week we had two delivery meals and some leftovers slightly up from last week’s one delivery and three mystery meals from the freezer. I think that says it all. The cats were fed and litter cleaned. They are not as forgiving as the beloved husband. Oh yes, I did find out where one grandfather came from.

So how was your week? Are you making magic somehow?

59 thoughts on “Random 5 for February 25 – Time, correlations, skills, writing, research”

  2. I want to know more about the time lapse between garage and kitchen. I’m re-reading A Wrinkle in Time since it’s been 50 years since last reading…I think you may want to explore possibilities previously unquestioned?

    And I have an answer for recipe failure, or at least a good theory. I’ve had the same question time and time again and when I really care about tracing back the failure I reason that so many of our ingredients are no longer the same as they once were. Sizes of boxes and cans are different as well as some of the ingredient formulations. This is primarily true in casseroles and such that date back a number of years, but I even had trouble this year with my great-grandmother’s Scotch shortbread. I’ve made it since childhood, but the brand of rice flour I’ve always used wasn’t available. I switched brands and had very poor results!

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  3. There’s a time-lapse between my kitchen and my garage too. Sometimes it makes me late. Of course, I know what it is. It’s all those little last minutes things I don’t want to count because it means I have to take more time away from something I want to do and count all those little tasks as part of my “travel time.” Isn’t it funny. We can act as though we’re kidding ourselves when we know all along exactly what we’re doing. (You put the whole thing more succinctly.)

    My hair is so short now I feel like it never looks particularly good or bad. Besides, in the cold weather I wear a hat. Something about drive-throughs doesn’t appeal to me. Given the choice, I always walk in.

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    • Most of the time I’m not conscious of those little things that I need to do before getting in the car. Like putting out more cat food or changing coats because the first one doesn’t suit me anymore. Sometimes I have no idea what happened! All the years I worked, I walked into Starbucks but now I throw on clothes and go or go after the gym. The drive through seems more appropriate.

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  6. I see, still no shower in between the list of meals and cat feedings. Glad something came out of it with the finding of where a grandfather came from. 😉 BTW, I’ll have to see if winter has something to do with those lost minutes when summer rolls around. All the bundling up on my way out can take beyond 10 minutes. 😛

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    • My grandparents (all of them) are from the area around Inzenhof, in the Burgenland section of Austria. It’s along the Hungarian border and during various periods in time was part of Hungary. I have been using familysearch.org to research the old church records most of which are located in Hungary. The research has been challenging because it’s such a rural area and all the towns have both an Austrian and Hungarian name (and they are all long names!). I’ve been fortunate that I have met up with a DNA match who lives in Germany and has been helping me navigate the process.

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  9. I am not too concerned with my hair but I hate for anyone to see me without mascara. It seems with age my eyes are disappearing. How wonderful to have a friend that knows magic when she reads it. I just wonder what happened to mornings. Seems I get up and 10 minutes later it is almost noon. Where does morning go and why so quickly?

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    • Time isn’t all the same. Mornings are faster than afternoons. It just is. I have severe dry eye so I can’t wear mascara but wish I could. Color around the eye really helps. All the facial features fade away as we age leaving behind a mass of wrinkles!

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  11. Your Monkey picture I love!! And yes you know it really doesn’t matter if our hair is sticking up or not as we get older does it? Especially when you need coffee! 🙂
    Love that friend of yours, ” this is where the magic happens!” Ahh! She definitely deserves a Latte! 🙂
    Yay for the frozen and delivered meals and the forgiving hubby. 🙂 Your cats will catch up!

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  13. Only ten minutes lost? It takes me two hours to get ready in the morning. There are gaps of time I can’t explain. Yesterday I was supposed to meet a friend. At 8:00am I decided to check the email I sent my friend telling her what time we were meeting at the train station. I realized I had to leave the house by 8:20! No way. I had to skip breakfast and coffee, hurriedly slap on makeup, no time to do anything with my hair (so I wore a hat all day), get dressed and out the door. Scary! Fortunately I had already prepared the elaborate cat breakfasts or I would really have been in trouble!

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  15. It’s so much fun when people think what you write is magic. If they only knew..:)
    I think it might be time to pull out those recipe cards or at least create some….you know, for special occasions at least..;)

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  16. Your last one about the meals makes me laugh. I keep offering to my wife to make a meal now and then when she’s over her head. She always says no, but then around 3:30 she begins to panic. So we’ll bring in something for dinner that night. It appears you’re really enjoying this ancestry project, though! – Marty

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  18. I can’t seem to make the “magic” happen in one spot. I’m all over the house and outside. Can you believe the Olympics are over? Gosh, it went fast. My week started with oral surgery. For some reason, the pain seems to be getting worse instead of easing up. Have a great Sunday, Kate!

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  23. You have no idea how relieved I am to hear about that 10 minute lost gap between the house and car!! I thought it was just me and it makes me crazy. I used to give myself extra time for unexpected traffic and parking difficulties, but now I’m giving myself extra time to reach the car!

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