Books on the Bottom
A couple weeks ago I was attempting to multi-task: I was cooking a skillet of beans and broccoli while joining a Webex meeting on my iPad to review an early draft of one of my teammates’ WWDC presentations. I’d just connected—with mute on due to the cooking—and went to check the recipe for the exact amount of water to add when two of the four brackets holding up the top shelf of this cabinet—which used to hold all the cookbooks and a martini pitcher—suddenly gave way, breaking one of the wine glasses below and raining cookbooks on my shoulders. I started screaming HELP! HELP! while holding up the shelf to keep the martini pitcher from coming down on me too. My colleagues on the Webex didn’t spot the drama happening at the far end of the kitchen, but Al interrupted a phone interview and Austen a video game to come in and help me hold up the shelf and dig out from under the books. “In hindsight,” said Al, “the books probably should have gone on the bottom shelf.”
My knees were shaking for a good 10 minutes afterward, but I managed to participate in the meeting and finish cooking my lunch.
The run-up to WWDC means work has been practically non-stop since then, and the cabinet has remained full of shattered glass, and the cookbooks have remained piled on the kitchen table, until today. I stayed up insanely late last night to clear my to do list, attended two scheduled meetings this morning, and then blocked off the rest of the day to bake.
I always start a baking session by cleaning the kitchen first, which meant dealing with the cabinet. I removed the broken wine glass and the large pieces of glass, put the rest of the glassware in the dishwasher & ran it, vacuumed up the small bits, and re-hung the shelf. I then put the books where they should have been all along, moved the martini pitcher elsewhere, and re-shelved the glasses. I wish now that I had hung the top shelf one peg lower, but this will do.
