 |
| Nothing like the right tool for the job! |
Today Susie and I spent the morning sorting food the Boy Scouts collected for the local holiday food drive. The church basement we met in had full grocery sacks piled high (HIGH) in one corner. The rest of the basement was filled with tables pretty much groaning under the weight of donated comestibles, already sorted. The walls were lined with shelves holding even more food. It was an impressive sight.
I probably wasn't as helpful as I could have been, because my OCD kept kicking in when I'd see the different types of soups all jumbled together on their table or the different boxes of pasta practically screaming at me to be organized by brand and size. Still, we got it done, folks - went through the entire mountain of bags and all. We had some extra time, so the person in charge asked Susie and I to sort all the tomato products by type.
I can't believe I didn't take a picture of how many cans there were. SO MANY CANS.
Susie wasn't too thrilled with this new task (poor girl, she was getting hungry by then, surrounded by food she couldn't eat), but seriously? It felt like heaven to me, separating the stewed tomatoes from their diced brethren, and making sure no one would mix up the crushed with the pureed. HEAVEN.
There's something wrong with me, I know.
Tomorrow? We go back, this time to sort donated coats. Trying to be useful is my new hobby, apparently. As a pastime, it sure beats setting small appliances on fire...
This might explain why I have so much trouble getting things done sometimes. I can't take the disorder and Must. Sort. Now! (Don't look on the countertop space behind my desk at work. Paper piles galore...)
ReplyDeleteGood save with the razor blades. I thought it would be much worse. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteMe, too. I was already shopping for stoves online and wondering how to convince Larry to convert to a gas range.
DeleteI wish I had thought of the razor blades for you! Glad you found a solution. I am listening to Oprah's book "What I know for sure" right now (she reads it herself-fabulous) and now I want to be more useful too. Good for you with the service!
ReplyDeleteWhat a relief about the stovetop! What did we do before the internet? I mean I remember those dark ages, but it pains me to think of it.
ReplyDeleteLucky that Larry had holders for your straight edged razors. Back when I was a kid my mom cut my hair with straight edge razors. With no holders, if we had the internet back then perhaps she could've shopped for some. Thanks to my mom's 'skills' I looked identical to my brothers. My sisters somehow escaped with long hair. Anyway, this is what I flashback to when I hear straight edge razor. Can you say therapy?
Your straight-edge-razor-holders are paint scrapers. Useful for removing excess paint on windows when painting the windows, as well as cleaning stoves with glass cooktops. I actually keep one in the drawer by the stove because it's faster to scrape than it is to soak/scrub the surface.
ReplyDeletePainting the window *frames* I meant to write!
DeleteIt worked!! Yay!
ReplyDeleteThe jumbled, un-sorted mess would have driven me bonkers too. Unfortunately, I live with unorganized slobs that just don't care and that's how our pantry ended up in such a jumbled mess until I fixed it. They are under orders not to mess it up but I know it's only a matter of time.
omg you're my soul sorting sister haha. When I was working in the other office all week I was like this is not the proper order for these papers in these files. Took everything I had not to rearrange everything to how "we"
ReplyDeletedo it.
Oh and the stove top is amazing!
ReplyDeleteAmazing. I'm glad to know you got it cleaned off--and I'm stealing your tip for any future mishaps here!
ReplyDeleteI'm a sorter, too. I'd love to volunteer in that capacity--imagine the damage you'd do in a library!
Okay, I'm not the only one. I sorted through the pantry and lazy susan just this a.m. because I couldn't take the jumbled mess a second longer. I also sort by best before date with the oldest stuff to the front.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure the charity appreciated all your efforts, and Susie's too!
A straight razor is also known as a cutthroat razor and has a long blade that folds into its handle. Usually only barbers use these. Google Sweeney Todd for a picture of Johnny Depp holding one.
ReplyDeleteA safety razor fits into a handle so only the edge is exposed. It used to be that the blade was disposable but now the handle is too.
You were using a single-edge razor (that could be used in a safety razor) which is most often used for scraping paint rather than removing hair/stubble. Most blades for shaving hair in a safety razor are double-edged, making them trickier to handle - whether they are in a handle or not.
My main use for my double-edged safety razor is for shaving off a beard, because I can remove the blade and clean the edge and then replace it in the handle. I suppose a straight razor would be better because it has no framework holding the razor to clog with hair/stubble, but I don't think I want to risk cutting my own throat.
When we stop using a technology, we stop using the vocabulary to describe that technology. And at some point we lose the ability to go back to that technology. All these razors are now steel, but humans used to make pretty good razors out of stone to scrape hides. And we lost that technology until paleoanthropologists re-discovered it.
Next week - I will explain Occam's Razor.
Safety razor - got it!
DeleteYour last paragraph reminded me of when I was watching a TV reporter reporting live from the site of the Japan earthquake in 2011. He was attempting to describe the way people were transporting water from a pool up to a house (that was on fire? I can't remember). "Everyone...stood in a line, here...and the people at the end of the line would fill a container with water and then they would pass it hand to hand all the way up the line...until it reached the people at, uh, the house...just incredible..."
BUCKET BRIGADE - he didn't have the phrase "bucket brigade" in his vocabulary.
And knowledge like this matters. Like if you watch Jeopardy!, you may someday find yourself shouting at your TV: What is a bucket brigade, Alex? or What is a safety razor, Alex?
DeleteBut not everyone shouts at his or her TV.