J. Bungler

Lately at work I have been disastrously effective at making mistakes. I make a mistake every day, it feels like, and two or three big ones per week. I know why it is happening- I am at a crossroads of many different projects, have only a minimal amount of ownership of most of them, and still have to keep track of them so I don't miss an important deadline like sending files off to be included in the manufacturing stream in advance of a product release. I have been a giant lucky duck in that none of my mistakes have had the impact they could have (whew!), but still, yuck.

This week, however, I am absolutely certain that I will make no major mistakes. Why? Because I completely exhausted any reasonable allotment for mistakes big and small for one human over the weekend. A narrative of this would be too long, so here's the list:

• Forgot to put the salt in the banana muffins. (It's only a small amount, but it matters.)
  
• FINALLY found the dog nail trimmer- cut the dog's poor toe. Blood!
• Took kids to beach on "hottest day of the summer"- clouds roll in, raindrops start falling.
• Put the half-n-half on to "heat but not boil" for homemade ice cream recipe, turned around, then back to stove minutes later to witness volcanic half-n-half eruption. It boiled alright.
• Thought I could use candy thermometer for hot water and yeast mixture (100 to 110 degrees) for first time ever homemade pizza dough. Realized that candy thermometer starts at 200 degrees.
• Couldn't remember what number cup of flour out of four I was on, for same pizza dough recipe, threw in one more, just in case.
• Next day, "punched down" dough, as instructed, waited for the second rise...er, no second rise.
• Tried to spread dough around on oiled parchment paper (also, thought kids would think this was super fun, but not so much) and transfer to grill - nowhere near round or flat.
• Set up ice cream maker (stand mixer attachment), churned, churned, churned, added strawberries...ice cream DID NOT FREEZE.
• Agreed to just pretend ice cream was milkshakes, tried to get attachment off stand mixer, spilled giant gloppy "milkshake" all over kitchen floor.
• (Great one to close with) Assumed dog's toe was done bleeding, after 24 hours, let her come downstairs with us to escape the blazing heat, found dog toe blood all over downstairs carpet.

I bandaged Luna's paw pretty thoroughly last night. It remains to be seen whether the bandage will persist through the day. The beach trip was really fun despite the raindrops. The pizza looked fairly grotesque but actually tasted good. The ice cream glop tasted great, and we'll eat some of the actual frozen variety tonight, assuming our actual freezer works better than our ice cream maker thingy.

Ah- and one item where I did not make a mistake- starting Naomi on the much-vaunted "chapter book" experience with The Boxcar Children, about a group of little go-getters who turn the specter of homelessness and orphandom into a delightful plucky adventure of resourcefulness, re-use, and cooperation. (Wonderfully, the author does not give the kids any chance whatsoever to cry, feel sad, or otherwise reflect on the fact that their parents are DEAD. Sheesh. But good for my purposes.) Naomi gets SO MAD when I won't read her more than one chapter before bed, and she spent the weekend constructing a faux boxcar in the corner of the living room and making Muriel be one of the brothers. Good stuff.

This week: Slumber party in the basement. It is hot as blazes in these parts, and the basement is, shall we say, khooler.