Things in Our Kitchen/A List

Hello. It’s been a while. I hope you’re well.

I just got home from dropping Helena off at school. She’s been home for about 3 weeks, with the exception of a couple of scattered in-person school days following the holiday break. Dropping her off was more dangerous than I would have liked; whatever snow had melted during yesterday’s afternoon thaw lay frozen slick and shiny down the stretch of sidewalk. I saw a kid fall flat on his back before we got out of the car. It was one of those mornings when every parent I (slowly) passed by had something to say about the conditions.

A highlight: Helena, who was initially excited about the prospect of ice skating into school, relented and asked me to hold her hand. That was nice.

There was no banner on the school when we arrived that said “Welcome Back! Your Kids Are Safe Here!”, but after a frozen walk and a couple months of Omicron, who would expect such things?

That would be silly.

Oriana has been home for longer than 3 weeks, I think.

I’m sure I could figure out exactly how long if I thought about it, but who thinks about time anymore?

Maybe it’s been since her sister got Covid. Or was it following her stomach bug?

She certainly hasn’t been to school since her mom got Covid, or I got Covid, or she got Covid.

But we’re not talking about that right now.

Today, this morning, we’re making a list of things in my kitchen. That’ll explain things a little bit better. We can catch up later, if I get around to it.

Kitchen List

On the Kitchen Counter

• One crock pot, dirty. Emma made a dinner last night but we ordered in anyway. Some nights we just feel like that. We’ll eat the crock pot dinner tonight.
• Two rubber bands. I don’t know why they are there, but there they are.
• One container of hot chocolate on the counter near the sink.
• Several dirty dishes. We wash the dishes and put them away daily, but they’ve been breeding recently; multiplying exponentially.
• One bottle of nail polish, formerly living deep in a bathroom drawer, discovered yesterday and implemented poorly by a 5 year old. Awaiting a completed thought process before finding a new, hopefully more secure, home.
• Orange peels, placed there just now while writing this, beginning their slow journey toward the trash.
• One Roku remote. We got a new TV for the holidays that is WiFi compatible. The Roku itself made its way somewhere else, but we like to keep remotes somewhere handy, in case we want to change something.
• One small bottle of Kahlua, for use with the aforementioned hot chocolate.
• Two open containers of peanut butter. Oops.
• One really nice tea kettle; a gift. Easily the nicest thing in our kitchen.

On the kitchen table:

• One portable Sonos speaker, which I like because it is Bluetooth compatible.
• Several old drawings.
• At least three holiday gift bags.
• Masks.
• A couple of pinecones with no home.
• Two children’s books by a local author which were a gift from a close friend’s mom.
• One plastic bin that belongs somewhere else (everything here belongs somewhere else).
• Cat treats.
• The coffee mug I was just drinking out of, but I’m afraid, as I write this, that it will live there forever now.
• Insurance cards.
• Two used Covid rapid tests. One reads a clear positive, the other, a (false) negative. We keep them, almost as a reminder that we had a visitor.
• Old mail.
• A second Sonos speaker which is not Bluetooth compatible, and therefore inferior, but not worth moving because it works the way I want it to sometimes.
• A piece of cardboard, standing vertically and leaning up against the wall, as to not take up space.

On the kitchen floor:

• A smaller pile of clothes near the basement door than the one that had existed there all last week. Thanks, babe!
• A makeshift cat food bowl, made from a repurposed toddler plate and now kept on the kitchen floor. Nova hadn’t been making her way through her cat door into the basement to eat. For whatever reason, this solution seems to have worked.
• One small to-go dip container, hidden away under the lip of the cabinet. Likely swatted there after the contents were consumed by a cat.
• One giant green plastic bag. Why?
• One giant bag of cat food, under the table.
• One giant bottle of cat “Urine Destroyer”, because Nova has been peeing on various floors recently.
• Several boxes destined for recycling.
• Two sets of snowshoes, in their bags, brought up from the basement by dad (me) yesterday and deposited on the floor with no real plan other than to “have them ready”.
• One pair of sunglasses, worn and discarded by a toddler.
• One cat; elderly and frail.

And that’s it. I hope you enjoyed this tour. It’s been a pleasure to guide you and to check in.

You should know that the kid I mentioned earlier, the one who fell, seemed ok. Sprung right up, like young people do.

The parents all seemed slightly stunned.

Stay safe out there. I’ll be back sooner than this time.

M