Friday, February 6, 2009

When Your Plate Gets Too Full, Buy A Bigger Plate!


For the past few days I've been teetering on the balance beam. I've been throwing more balls in the air than I could juggle. I've been . . . well, you get the picture.

It started when the electricity went out and my 83 year old mother wouldn't leave the house. "I'll stay in bed until the heat comes back on," she said. "You run along now and do what you have to do."

Right! Like I'm going to leave an 83 year old woman in poor health in a house without power. "Nope, I'm going to sit right here, Mom, and when you decide to get up we'll go somewhere warm." She finally did, and we went to a friend's house until the power came back on a few hours later. We were lucky!

I had agreed to judge a contest and had read the entries a couple of times, but they needed a final reading and a dreaded score. The deadline was approaching, and I couldn't put them aside another day. My problem was figuring out how to handle a couple of the manuscripts. What do you say when the writing's not good, but the plot has potential? Bless their hearts.

I had a Super Bowl lunch party to plan for the office. I work with seven men. One's from Pittsburgh, PA - "Go Steelers". The others are from Wisconsin, Tennessee, Virginia, and one from Kentucky. I called the caterer, and we decided on chili and pimento cheese sandwiches. Then I went to the store and bought Super Bowl plates and napkins. And, I ordered a DVD of the last Steelers Super Bowl victory. I had this party under control - no sweat.

The UPS delivery didn't arrive because of the weather and none of the guys had ever heard of pimento cheese sandwiches. "Where are the Kielbasa and Knackwursts?" they asked fully expecting the caterer to return with another armload of food.

I had a full day of writing planned for Saturday, so I stopped by the store and bought a rump roast and put it in the crock pot. Yum! Dinner at 7:00 after hours on the computer would make for a nice treat. Well, it was terrible. Took a bite and put it in the refrigerator. Maybe I can throw it in a pot and make soup next week! Anybody got a good recipe?

My daughter wanted me to babysit, but I-75 was still reporting patches of ice, so I stayed home and missed out on sweet little arms around my neck and tiny kisses on my cheek. Sigh, maybe next weekend.

So today is another day of writing and editing, or is it editing and writing? Not sure, but it's never ending, nonetheless.

This morning I saw all the things I had to do as food on a plate. The meat (my manuscript) covered a third of the plate, the vegetables (family) covered a third, and the potatoes (work) covered the remaining third. Then I threw in a salad (KYRW, Pink Ladies, and critique groups), a roll (breakfast with a girl friend), and a second vegetable (the books I've been trying to read) and there was no more room on the plate.

"You have to try my casserole," my sister said.

"It looks delicious, but seriously, I don't have any more room," I said.

"Then get a bigger plate," my brother said.

As women, we tend to keep getting bigger plates because we're not very good at saying "No, can't do it, don't have time. Wish I could, but sorry." We try to be all things to all people and feel guilty as-all-get-out when we drop a ball or fall off the balance beam. We will continue to say, "Yes," until the plate companies agree not to make plates larger than twelve inches in diameter.

Maybe we should form a consortium and buy up all the plate companies!

Posted By: Katherine Lowry Logan

3 comments:

Emma Lai said...

Katherine,

You definitely have it right! As women we do seem to keep saying, "Please, may I have some more?" Bigger plates required.

Regards,
Emma

Tracy Preston - Romance Writer said...

Hey Kathy...

I soooo agree with you on this one! I am consumed by the sinking suspicion there just isn't a plate in the world big enough for what some of us take upon ourselves.

Here's to a day when our loads get a little lighter!

:o)

Tracy

Anonymous said...

Kathy,

Instead of a bigger plate I've always had a tendancy to add sideboards to the one I already have. If you change to a bigger plate, that leaves more room for expansion and then, that plate becomes full as well.

Frankly, lately my sideboards haven't been working so well. So, maybe I should try a bigger plate. It's a thought.

Hmmmmm........ Should I? Or shouldn't I? Maybe I will.

 
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