I Am a Poor Multi-Tasker

I am one of those people who can't hold a conversation and do much of anything else at the same time. If someone's talking to me while I drive, I miss exits and make wrong turns. If I'm on the phone and someone in the room starts talking to me at the same time, all I hear is white noise--zero comprehension of either conversation.

It's the worst when I'm doing something I'm used to doing in solitude, like putting together my breakfast. I like to eat old-fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon, molasses and a big handful of walnuts every morning. I also enjoy the convenience of fixing and eating breakfast in less than 5 minutes so I can sleep as late as possible. Needless to say, this requires a system. Every Saturday morning, I cook up 7 servings of oatmeal, putting 6 of them in single-serving plastic containers for the rest of the week. All I have to do is empty a container's contents into a bowl, chop it into bite-sized pieces with a spoon (it tends to solidify), stick it in the microwave for 1 minute, and voila--instant breakfast.

Yes, I have noticed the uncanny resemblance that my daily molded plop of refrigerated oatmeal has to my cat Mouchie's breakfast. The main differences are that mine 1) smells better and 2) is a bigger portion.

Yesterday morning I was talking to Paul while rinsing out Mouchie's dish and wiping it out with a napkin. I got out my oatmeal, and, I kid you not, came this close to plopping it into Mouchie's dish. Would have done it if Paul hadn't stopped me!

Family Recipes

I took note of a couple of recipes that came up in conversation. Here is a really easy one for a moist, delicious, reasonably nutritious cake from Mom:

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake
1 Pkg Devil's Food Cake Mix
1 Can Pumpkin (sm) the plain kind, not pumpkin pie mix/filling
Use a 9x13 pan. Cook according to package directions.

And from Eric, one that's low starch, high nutrition, and sounds delish:

Tacomole Salad
Brown 1/2-3/4 lb taco meat. Season to taste.
1 lb spinach leaves.
Toss w/6-8 oz guacamole.
Divide into 2 servings.
Top w/meat, crushed tortilla chips, tomatoes, and olives.