November 22, 2016 –     Time is running short already and we aren’t even into December!

          When a club is looking for a person to chair some committee, there is invariably that cheerful person who says, “We need to ask the busiest person you know.  They somehow seem to get everything accomplished.”

          Having just thrown the towel in on my own business as an entrepreneur, I know the value of time.  I cut my volunteer work to the minimum, but the lion’s share still goes to the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church here in Forest City.

          I currently have a part-time job that has demanding hours and unusual hours.  I have two days here, one day there.  My work hours are not fixed.  Sometimes I have to be at work at 9:00 a.m., other days at 3 p.m. and the days are changed weekly.   It drives me crazy as I have been a Monday through Friday 8-to-5er for decades.  I can’t get a handle on the housework because I can’t fix a schedule.  My Mom used to have a chart, something like: Laundry on Monday, Ironing on Tuesday, etc.

          I used to have a routine that worked, but somehow it is now broken and I seem to just be doing the “catch-up thing”.  It’s not working out that great for me.  Heck, I bought lovely Thanksgivings day cards for people and they didn’t get sent. OOPS, things are starting to fall through the cracks.

          I want to get back to a point where I can schedule my life on a desk calendar and block out time for certain projects or activities. [I am not the only one expressing this time crunch situation.  I’ve two girlfriends who are woefully telling me they are in the same time crunch. One has crazy 7 days shifts, and the other is on duty 24/7.] Up until last week I thought I was just being LAZY and if I pulled myself up by the boot straps I’d be okay.

          But, my time crunch really came to the surface last week when I had volunteered to make cookies for the Church’s Cookie Walk.  When you volunteer you sign up for a specific type of cookie and you have to make and deliver 3 batches of that one type.  You can’t welch out.  They are depending on 3 dozen of that type of cookie.

          I’ve never made 3 batches of one cookie in a row. [And silly little me signed up for two types of cookies and my surprise "checkerboard cookie". I was amazed at how long it actually takes.  I don’t have an industrial kitchen.   I had to block out time for the shortbread cookie.  One of the hardest parts was getting the butter to room temperature.  OH, yeah, some people manage to put it in the microwave – but it just isn’t the same – it seems to ruin the texture of the cookies when I try that.  It takes hours to get butter soft at room temperature.  Then when I planned on two batches one afternoon, I had an emergency.  I had to shelve the second batch until the next day.

          And, trying to make the shortbread cookies back to back is almost impossible.  I had to allow the cookies in the shortbread pan to cool for 10 minutes before I turned them out to cool.  Then I had to wash the pan, re-grease the pan and then refrigerate the pan to get it cold again for the next batch.  It would have been easier if I had more than one shortbread cookie pan.  But, alas, I have but one pan.

          I didn’t have the time to bake that far ahead and freeze and part of me hates the thought of cookies made so far ahead and frozen and then thawed out.  I consider that a “sin”.  Aren’t I critical!  Then the people buying them 11/19 for Christmas – they are going to freeze them – aren’t they?  I find that a quandary.

          Also, my pride got in the way when I signed up for the cookies.  I picked the best tasting ones, not the easiest ones to make.  It was a serious error in judgment on my part.  Once I had signed up, then I had to really figure out how I was going to squeeze this into my crazy schedule.

          It got accomplished, but the cookie baking for the church turned this household on end for an entire week.  My husband didn’t appreciate me taking over “his” kitchen and was constantly asking – “Are these ALL going to the church?” 

The last afternoon of baking I had to make another batch of cookies just so we had some cookies here at the house to eat.  [What does he say this morning?  “I’ve put on 5 pounds eating all those cookies!”  How could he – they all went to the church except the one batch I made at the end.]  Could the aroma have put all that weight on?

          Next is Thanksgiving and I have to work all day Wednesday and Thursday and we’ll just move our Thanksgiving to Sunday, the day of my husband’s birthday. That will work out fine.  It is not a problem; it is just the two of us.   So far I have one item on the menu, “Glazed Shallots” a new recipe I am going to try out.  I will blog the recipe if it turns out nice.  I will figure out the rest of it out sometime Saturday afternoon.

          Then, I bought some fabric for a Christmas jacket.  AH, but I didn’t realize that the Church Christmas party was the 3^rd of December.  Boy, am I cutting this close.  I had wanted it done for the party.  Well, it is grey felt and the project was for snow flake designs embroidered on the front and down the arms and the back.  I managed to locate the snowflake designs I want to use to embroider; I’ve gathered all the materials.  But now, scheduling a block of time?  It will take a lot of time.  First I have to make the jacket; then I have to embroider it.    Maybe it will end up a New Year’s Eve jacket instead.  I may possibly “re-think” this one and not make myself crazy two months in a row.

          I am trying to “not sweat the small stuff” and be flexible.  The so called “doing less is more” credo comes to mind.  But, I just don’t buy into that theory, YET.  I still want to do it all, and I still want to sweat the small stuff. 

How do I give myself permission to move out of the fast lane and pull over for a moment or two to catch my breath?