My life at this older age is a double edged sword. I experienced both yesterday. When you get to my age and situation, you can do whatever you want when you want as long as you are physically and mentally able. I don't run marathons or climb mountains even though I would like to. I do have some brain cells left. I ask my daughters regularly if I have many "dings" in my incompetence file. So far, so good. That is the positive edge. On the other hand things happen where you may need to find the help, advice and expertise of others even if it feels embarrassing and makes you feel not very smart. That's the negative edge.
When I got up yesterday morning, it was exactly the same as the day before. I padded out to the kitchen and made coffee, I made the bed and gathered up some laundry to wash, then I got ready for the day. I put a load in the washer and went to brush my teeth. Thank goodness I hadn't gotten into the shower yet because I had no water. After a moment of panic, I got a grip. I went down to the breaker box to make sure I hadn't somehow tripped a breaker. Then I turned off my washer which was beeping and flashing with red lights. There was no water on the floor which had happened a couple months ago. My next step was to call a plumber. Fortunately I have a really good one who actually answers his phone. He told me he would come over in a couple hours. Maybe it pays to be a gray haired damsel in distress. Since I overthink everything in my life, I had already thought my yard would have to be dug up and the septic replaced or my well pump would need replacing. I usually don't start with the worse case scenario, but I did this time. As it turned out the problem was solved quickly. It was a problem with the pressure tank. I handled it fine but it would have been nice to troubleshoot the problem before going into panic mode.
That was the negative edge of the sword. The other edge is doing whatever I feel like. I have been known to go to Kwik Trip at closing time for ice cream. Last night I was thinking about the Cranberry-Apple pie I made for Thanksgiving. I didn't like how stiff it was so at 9:00 pm I decided to make a pie. I had made chunky applesauce earlier in the day and had that cooling in the refrigerator. I had some leftover cranberry sauce (both jellied and whole berry) and two pre-made pie crusts. The Thanksgiving pie I made used the apple pie filling recipe I posted in a previous blog https://www.thecabincountess.com/2024/11/apple-pie-bread.html mixed with homemade cranberry sauce. It tasted good, but I didn't like the texture. The year before I just used un-thickened chunky applesauce mixed with cranberry sauce. It was much better. By 9:30 pm the pie was in the oven and by 11:00 pm I was eating a slice because I wanted to. It was pretty darn good so I ate a slice for breakfast too. Carbs at bedtime help with my sleep or so I try to convince myself. It's either contentment or a blood sugar thing. Whatever it is, it works.
While the pie was baking I mixed up some dough to make crusty bread. I left the dough to rise overnight, and I baked it in the morning.
I won't be going out for a Wisconsin fish fry on this cold Friday night. I have chili, crusty bread and pie.
After writing this I realize everyone's life is a double edged sword. We all have good and we all have bad. How we balance it all is the key. We can rely on others and still take care of ourselves.
