Exhibit #1.
(Look closely).No matter what I bake, or cook, there is a hearty mess involved. Truth be told, I am a hopeless mess maker. My mom nicknamed me "little miss pits" when I was little. I'm not sure exactly where it came from, but I've been messy for as long as anyone, including my mom, can remember.
I come by it honestly. There is hardly a dinner with my mom where we don't end up laughing at each other. One of us is often wearing bits of our food, or has left the kitchen temporarily a grand ole mess.
And, if you should know, I'm a hopeless mess when it comes to feeding Amelia. "Aren't you going to put a bib on her??" my friends ask me. "Why bother. We end up washing her clothes anyways." And then they see what I mean. Hopeless, I tell you.
If you were to come over my house, you would typically find it clean. But it takes quite an effort. I like things to be clean and organized, despite my messy way. As such, I have spent a great portion of my life making a mess, cleaning my mess, making a mess, cleaning my mess. And now add a baby to the mix. Oy vey!
I used to feel inadequate compared to neat & tidy people, or friends who just always seemed "together" in all visible ways. But I've come to see the gift in the mess. You see, I'm one of those people who becomes deeply engrossed in whatever I am doing. And I mean deeply. To the point that I can not even hear someone calling my name (as they stand next to me) when I am really focusing on what I am doing. This means a few things:
1.) Whoever/whatever I am attending to becomes the recipient of my undivided attention;
2.) I am able to enter a world of intense creativity, experimentation, play and connection; and
3.) I do not multi-task well.
Hence exhibit #1. Recipe#4 in my personal adventure challenge was a crockpot chocolate cake. My vision was to make it into a football cake for Joe. I had a few other things going on (like dinner) and, well, let's just say that it wasn't my best work.
Oh well. It happens (a lot).
(Note: it tasted incredibly yummy! I even shared it with my neighbors and asked them to excuse the presentation...)
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