I have no idea what is wrong with me today, but all my attempts at cooking have been nothing short of disastrous. The stupid thing is that not one thing I was attempting to cook involved any amount of skill or inventiveness.

I burned everything.

All I needed to do was peel and boil potatoes for potato salad, and hard boil eggs. All was a failure.

it took quite a while to peel five pounds of potatoes, and I put them in a huge pot full of water to boil. I went about doing other household things and suddenly heard the sound of sizzling. Things that are boiling should not make a sizzling sound, so I ran to the kitchen to discover that there was no water left in the pot and things were burning.

I did manage to rescue most of the potatoes, but the ones that were on the bottom resembled home fries. Not exactly what I was going for.

In the middle of all of this, the kitchen drain clogged. I think it might have been the potato skins that I put down the disposal. I don’t think they were ground finely enough and they caused a major backup.

Did I have any Drano or Liquid Plumber around? Of course not! That would male life way too easy!

So off I trudged to the grocery store, dreading the crowds. I had been earlier in the day, so I could avoid the anticipated long lines. It was amazingly empty, which surprised me considering what a popular family gathering type of day the 4th is.

I picked up more potatoes and sink unclogger and headed home. Drain stuff is quite expensive.

I poured the drain stuff into the sink and prayed that it would work quickly, so I could peel more potatoes. It took about an hour, but at least it eventually did work.

So I peeled more potatoes, threw away the skins instead of grinding them up, and took out the eggs to boil. (We prefer potato and egg salad, made with mayonnaise, none of that vinegar stuff for us!) I vowed to watch the potatoes like a hawk.

I should have thought about the eggs!

The potatoes were fine and dandy this time, but I BURNED the egg SHELLS! I didn’t know it was possible to do this! As a matter of fact I burned them so badly that I had to throw out the pan I was using!

I think it was the humidity. I remember reading somewhere that things don’t boil correctly during humid weather and we had 81% humidity all day.

Well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!

Eventually I did manage to have enough edible potatoes and eggs that I could put in the fridge to chill so I can add the mayo tomorrow. I’ll have to get up early in the morning to get everything done.

I never have been what one would call a gourmet cook, but I don’t usually have several disasters all at once.

I took my mother to BJ’s, which is one of those huge warehouse types of stores yesterday, but I think it’s too big for her to manage. I even considered her to be a danger to others with the shopping cart, but she needs it to help her keep moving.

I found myself feeling snappy and short tempered, so I had to keep biting my tongue and reminding myself to just let things roll if I was feeling frustrated.

Tomorrow is the first holiday we’ll celebrate without my father, so it’s important to stay calm and kind. My mother has always had a picnic on the 4th, so it’s something that she feels we need to do. It will be fine, as the kids will be there.

I’m still in such a state here that I haven’t managed to put up any of my holiday decorations. I always have something on the front door and a centerpiece on the dining room table, but not this year.

Of course the dining room table is so loaded down with stuff that has been used for projects or that needs to be put away that I couldn’t find room for a centerpiece at this point!

I guess I should work on that!