I am totally at loose ends today.
No where in the last almost 22 years that I've been eligible to vote, have I ever felt this wired into an election, nor have I ever really paid this close attention to the issues at stake, both locally and nationally. It got to the point last night where I was unable to sit still. TV, books, the internet...nothing held my interest for longer than a few minutes. So, at 9PM I started baking. Brownies. Cherry chip cupcakes with vanilla icing. Oatmeal cookies with icing. Banana bread. Pumpkin bread. By 12:30AM I was so worried I'd never fall asleep that I considered taking some Tylenol PM, but I knew if I did, it would knock me out until sometime late the next afternoon.
By 2:00AM my counters were filled with baked goods galore and I still felt like I needed to keep my hands busy because my mind had been overtaken by the election. I reached up into the dark cupboards and felt around for the canister that had somehow managed to get shoved to the back of the cupboard, just out of my reach. Dammit! How was I going to be able to make Double Dutch Chocolate Chunk Matterhorn cookies without the dutch coco? I went downstairs almost tripping over the smoke and black coloured ball of fluff that was resting on the bottom stair. So, that's where Gracie disappeared to after I rebuffed her advances for affection? The bottom of the stairs where she lay in wait, attempting to kill me.
If almost tripping over the cat wasn't enough, I forgot that there is a step down, into the mudroom and stumbled over my own clumsiness in the dark trying to find the damn step ladder. Of course...it's no where to be found! It figures. Dammit all to hell! I gave up looking for it once I remembered that the hubby took it outside to check the gauges on the heating oil tanks. I told myself to just haul a chair from the table over to the cupboard to get the stupid coco powder down. I made a mental note to myself to remove everything I use frequently from the top shelves of the cupboards and to threaten anyone with death, if they dare moved it back, or pushed things so far to the back of the cupboards that I couldn't reach them. I hate being short!
Once I'd trudged back upstairs it hit me. The wave of drowsiness that washed over me was as palpable as a tsunami. I felt it in every single cell of my being. It was like hitting a wall. Finally, I'd be able to sleep and still my nerves that, until then, wouldn't be calmed.
It was short-lived. Once the alarm sounded at 4:30AM - which I normally sleep through as along as the hubby gets up, I was wide awake, almost as if I'd never hit that wall. I was once again abuzz with nervous energy.
I walked into the kitchen to survey the damage from the night before and readied myself to commit more carnage all in the name of Betty Crocker.
Cookbook? Check!
Flour? Check!
Baking Soda? Check!
Eggs? Eggs? What the crap? Did I use all the eggs? CRAP!
Vanilla? Nope, the empty bottle was resting on it's side in the recycle bin.
It's going to be a long day and an even longer night whilst we sit around and await the election returns. I suppose I can clean something. Yeah, like that's going to happen.
Yeah, 4 days in, you know the drill!
