For the most part, today has felt like a giant piece of dryer lint. In fact, today has been a Monday like no other. Let me explain … so I have allergies. Like debilitating allergies. The kind where you sneeze every seven seconds and your face looks like it’s been scrubbed with sandpaper from all the nose blowing. For reals. It’s that bad. Anyway, last night I took some medicine that allowed me the much needed and much welcomed sleep my body so desperately needed. I fell into my sleep-induced coma around 9 p.m. and didn’t even stir until I was shocked out of sleep at 7:45 a.m. by my dog’s bellowing bark. Prompted by a knock at the door, which I begged Eric to ignore, but he got up … “it’s the electrician,” he said when he returned to the bedroom. “The one who’s supposed to be here Thursday?” I asked. Of course it is.

Now, some seven hours later, the said electrician is still here and I am bemused. To say the least. His presence has severely rendered my ability to be productive. I know. I know. This is a list of First-World problems but they’re real to me peeps.

For starters, I wasn’t able to get on the Peloton because he needs access to the basement and that’s where the workout “room” is. Second of all, I couldn’t shower because he needs access to the attic which just so happens to be in our bathroom. (Great house design, only not!) Thirdly, he needs access to the kitchen (that’s why he’s here in the first place) so I can’t make anything to eat and the French press coffee I made sucks ass … oh, and did I mention that we have a rather large and rather unfriendly military-trained German shepherd whom needs me in his eyesight at all times when there’s a stranger in the house. So there’s that. 

Oh, there’s more …

It’s snowing. Hard. And driving to the nearest drive-thru coffee spot doesn’t exactly thrill me … I asked Eric to go, but he doesn’t want to leave me alone because apparently the electrician has, and I quote, “anger management issues” and may, or may not be, fresh out of lockup. Fabulous. And it’s icy out so going for a long walk with the “wolf” is out of the question. Add to that the fact that my laptop is about to die and the charger is in the sun room, which just happens to be the room where the electrician has set up shop. OMG. It is nearly 2:30 in the afternoon!!! And I feel like I am completely wasting this day. Like dryer lint. Get it?

Which brings me back around to the whole waste thing. I don’t like to waste anything. Especially time. And where food is concerned, I don’t like to throw out perfectly good food just because I don’t want leftovers or because I’m full and don’t need the rest of the food on my plate. I’ve learned to make smaller versions of dishes to avoid massive leftovers, and I’ve learned to not buy so much at the grocery store so things don’t spoil. But what I haven’t quite figured out yet is how to be at peace with the inevitable waste that ensues when there’s too much food on my plate. Like in restaurants. And sometimes at home. 

As a society, we are trying to retrain our minds to understand that it’s OK not to eat everything on our plate. That we don’t need to be a member of the “clean-plate club” and that we should stop eating when we are full. And yet it feels so wrong, what with all the hunger in this world, to throw away the food on one’s plate just because we have the privilege of being full. Yea. Say read that again …

It is a privilege to be full!

So where do I go from here. Perhaps I’m having an epiphany … perhaps me sitting here complaining about my day gone ary is absolutely absurd. Because the electrician is here to rewire the oven and move it to the otherside of the kitchen because that’s what I want … and I am full. No, I didn’t get to make a batch of homemade breakfast bars that I had intended on experimenting with today, but I did get to grab a banana and some peanut butter and I did drive myself to the coffee place and get an Americano … and my dog hasn’t killed anyone, yet. Oh, and Eric brought me my computer charger so there’s that. I know. Like I said, First-World problems.

500 Farmers Storm Arkansas Town Demanding Food for Their Children

~ HEADLINE, THE NY TIMES, JANUARY 4, 1931

I’ll bet they would have taken leftovers. Question … do you feel obligated to eat all the food on your plate? How do you handle excess? What do you do with leftovers?

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