Back in January, I posted about what it's like to be on a writing deadline and how my brain gets so consumed with my fictional story that I do all sorts of stupid things in real life. Back then, I had
accidentally somehow washed a box of large kitchen trash bags with my laundry. You'd think it couldn't get worse than that...
...Until the other day. Once again on a deadline, this time for the galley edits of the same book, I did something even dumber: I left the refrigerator door open all night long. Worse, said fridge apparently has some sort of energy-saving shut-off feature, because by the time I came downstairs the next morning and found it that way, the entire interior was downright warm.
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| The sight that greeted me in the morning |
Even worse, my husband had JUST done the grocery shopping the day before, so it was packed from top to bottom with fresh food.
Even worse than that, so that I wouldn't have to worry about fixing any meals until after the book was done, I had used some of those groceries to cook up a huge batch of homemade vegetable soup.
Even worse than that, it was no ordinary soup. Rather than using cheap stew meat for the base, I had sacrificed a steak so that the whole thing would be extra savory. Talk about heartbreaking!
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| Homemade vegetable and deviled eggs, all ruined |
It was the soup, in fact, that did me in. Unlike the trash bags in the washer, which will forever be one of life's great mysteries, I know exactly how this happened. Once the soup had cooled, I ladled it into various containers and stuck them in the fridge–then I simply turned and walked away without closing the door. Don't ask. These days, it's par for the course whenever my mind is fully immersed in a story.
In the end, my only choice was to throw out every single thing in the entire refrigerator. Lest you think I overreacted, trust me, I tested stuff first. The definitive moment was when I found a stick of butter from deep inside and gave it a squeeze to see if it was less than completely hard.
To my surprise, it was practically melted. Like I said, it wasn't just not-quite-cool-enough in there, it was actually warm, probably thanks to the interior lightbulbs, which shone all night long.
What a waste–of food and time and, sob, an amazing batch of homemade vegetable soup.
Oh well, at least I got my edits in on time. Sniff.
