Once Upon a Time, I Could Multi-Task.
I’ll give you an example: Laundry. I turn the water on and pour the detergent in. Then I give it a few minutes to fill, so I can swish it around and mix it up. Is that necessary? I don’t know. But it’s what I do. The swishy is pretty much the only part I enjoy. I will swish. Meanwhile… While the water is running, I can fold the first load, or unload the dishwasher, or read a few more pages – whatever it is that I might want to do in those three or four minutes. Forty-five minutes later… I can’t tell you how many times in the last year I have washed a big ole load of nothingness. Argh!! Is this what it’s like to get older? What is happening to me? I never used to be like this. I can be thinking, the entire drive home, of something I need to do. But as soon as I pull in the driveway, that thought jumps right out of my head. Seriously, it simply disappears. I’m on to different things and I don’t think of that task again until I’m back in the car driving to work the next day. Come to think of it, I’ve been like that for a long time. Oh yeah, and I forget where I set things. I forget what my hands are doing, so I put things down to free them up to do something else. Then I have no idea what happened to what I was holding. Because it should still be there. “But I just had it in my hand…” Of course, I’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember. Okay, at work I will start one thing and then get side-tracked with two or three other things and I never get back to that first thing I was doing. It’s terrible! Hmmm…actually, I can recall being like that two jobs ago. And now I’m remembering about the broken toaster. (It didn’t pop up and you had to watch it. So we put it in a pantry. On a wooden shelf. With just enough clearance between it and another wooden shelf. Like anyone else would do.) One day I put in some bread, pushed it down, walked out of the pantry, shut the door, walked across the hall to my room, shut that door, and got on the phone. I would have burned to death if my roommate hadn’t come home early. That toast was literally on fire. The shelf above the toaster was not on fire, but it was black. And it took us forever to get the smoke out of the house. Ah, memories. Hey, but I was in my early twenties then. Whew – what a relief! I guess I was always bad at multi-tasking. . Never mind. .
steadily skipping stones 
I don’t think you washed nothing. You were washing out your washer. Makes your clothes cleaner.
Thanks, that’s terrific! I knew there was a good excuse out there somewhere.
She’s totally right. It’s like, recommended or something. Probably on those directions printed on the inside of the lid. I am pretty sure you void your warranty if you don’t do this.
I’ll have to check that out when I get home. If it’s not there, I think I’ll just write it in myself.
PS: thanks you guys for stopping by!
I like the way you think thoughtsappear. Last week I put a pan of water on the burner to make tea then went outside and forgot about it. Daughter discovered it when it had boiled down to nothing but a quarter inch of water. I acted like I meant to do that and was just super sterilizing the pan.
I wonder if multitasking is a myth?
LMAO – super sterilizing the pan… now that’s a good excuse. It may be a myth. In fact, lets go with that.
My specialty is boiling water and forgetting about it. Once I did this while living in a apartment and the bottom plate of the pot melted and separated from the rest of the pan. Hot, molten, liquid steel was oozing from the bottom of the pan. Like a dummy, I picked it up with my bare hands and the molten steel started shooting out all over me and the floor. Every time one of the blobs of molten steel hit the linoleum it melted the floor! I knew the deposit on my apartment was melting before my eyes. I managed to dump the pot in the sink without burning the whole place down. I was so embarrassed when I had to tell the apartment manager what I had done. The replaced the tile, but did deduct it from my deposit when I moved out months later.
Long story short, did I learn my lesson? NO! I forgot about a pot of water on the stove just last month. Now I merely look for sturdier pots.
Skipping Stones, you are not alone. I think it’s hormonal.
Oh my GOSH! I can’t decide whether to burst out laughing or feel sorry for you. I think you must know which one of those won out. But I kept thinking how you could have been really hurt, I’m glad you weren’t! But what a little movie played in my head as I read.
And I do so love all you guys! So wonderful of you to share. It’s nice to know I’m not alone in all the crazy things I do and think.
Walls with Doors, I think you have shown us the way – just buy sturdier pots.
I feel like I am part of a great club! I get the laundry going well enough, but the clothes often do not make it to the dryer. My mom always set timers to help remember something she wanted to do in 30 minutes–but I just wonder why the stupid thing is ringing. It think all this stuff just keeps life interesting. I think I will adopt the motto: “Buy sturdier pots!” It can apply to all sorts of things!
A bit ago, I wrote an entry on an almost birthday–at the end of the entry I share a video that offers a great rendition of the song “Memory” from Cats. You may have seen it already–but it always makes me laugh! http://learnmoreeveryday.wordpress.com/2011/06/12/counting-birthdays-making-wishes/
I think we can take those Red Hat ladies. The Sturdier Pot ladies.
I just read your post and that’s good stuff. I have to wait till I can get to my computer to see the video, but I bet it’s good.
I finally got to pull up the video and it was terrific! So funny!!
Read this to my husband and we laughed so hard, because we can relate all too well. He said it’s a wonder we all survive from one day to the next!
You made our morning
Well, I’m glad to hear that! I mean about making your morning.
Also, it’s kind of nice to hear that it’s not just us women who suffer from these little troubles. I like what he said about surviving from one day to the next, that’s about right! If you haven’t clicked on the link to Patti’s post, you should. Definitely watch that video, it’s truly funny.
Sounds as though we have a lot in common. 🙂
Well, considering the topic, I’m sorry to hear it.
I need to get over to your site and take a look around!
LOL definitely in this club myself! i even went to a therapist once to make sure i didn’t have ADD. he reassured me i did not, rather i had a lot going on and overly high expectations of myself.
That’s funny, but I imagine you’re not alone in that kind of thinking. I think many, many women are so hard on themselves!
So welcome to the club – where all our little foibles are not only okay, but pretty much expected. And then written about. And then laughed at. By everybody. Because we’ve pretty much already done that or something just like it.
Ahhh…it sure is great to be understood.
Well at least I know it runs in the family.
Deep down we already knew.