Be sure to visit Two Writing Teachers for more slices of life.
Let’s start with the lesson one can learn from my recent experience: when you hear a sound that doesn’t make sense, get up and investigate! Let’s backup and I will explain what let me to these profound words of wisdom.
Dinner was over, dishes loaded into the dishwasher. Button pushed to start the cleaning process. I moved to the couch, sort of listening to the news while I read and commented on slices. Ding! My husband got a text from a neighbor asking him to to come over for a project he was working on. Absorbed in my slicing world, I was vaguely aware of my husband’s actions.
Have you ever used one of these?
Before leaving, he wanted to get the green tea brewing. He uses a Mr. Coffee Iced Tea Pot. Water poured in – check, tea bags in basket – check, button pushed to begin the process – check. He heads out the door to meet with the neighbor. I am still semi-conscious of the world around me because I am reading and responding.
Huh-cluk, huh-cluk, this sound is annoying me, distracting me from my reading. Huh-cluk, huh-cluk, I wonder, what is in the dishwasher making that horrible noise? Finally, I get up to investigate.
This tenuous connection is so important.
OMG! It’s not coming from the dishwasher! It’s the iced tea pot! The counter is one giant puddle of tea. The carafe wasn’t quite pushed into position. Quickly I grabbed towels to mop up the tea. Fortunately, it had not cascaded over the side and down the cabinets. Three hand towels later it was mopped up. I looked at the carafe, there was only an inch of tea in it. There should have been about eight inches of tea.
The tea crawled along the counter, past the narrow ledge by the sink. and on to the open space heading for the paper towels.
What to do? Pour more water in, add a couple new tea bags, align the carafe to the hot pot, then push the start button.
So, like I said in the beginning, when you hear a sound that doesn’t make sense with your surroundings, investigate! If I had done that, there wouldn’t have been a puddle of tea snaking its way down the cabinet.
elsie tries writing 
Yikes! Glad it was just a mess and not major, like plumbing or something scary like that!
I am an investigator, my husband is not. How long was he gone? I totally tune out during comment time as well! Too hard to focus on what I’m reading and then what to write to the slicer about it AND function properly in the real world! I love your onomatopoeia action you’ve got going on.
I definitely identified with how you tune out the world when you’re commenting. The other night, I ended a phone call with my daughter and shushed my husband because I was trying to squeeze in my comments before the midnight (9 pm for me) witching hour.
Wise advice!
“when you hear a sound that doesn’t make sense with your surroundings, investigate!”
Oh no! But at least you caught it before it got all over the floor! I find I do the same when making comments…I half listen to what is on the television…and have to admit that right now I am half listening to poor Ray as he is telling me something about some show he used to watch that I never saw and have no clue as to what he is saying. But there is not tea being brewed that is spilling onto the counter…so things are good.
Hahaha, good thing you investigated! I love the way you dropped us right into the moment in this slice, as I know that semi-aware slicing & commenting state all too well! Made it easy for me to imagine exactly how you felt!
I thought it was going to be the dishwasher, but good thing it wasn’t anything major. I’m really going to try to apply your lesson learned from now on. I never thought of spelling out a lesson learned before. That’s a great idea! I could probably come up with a fairly long list!
I am so guilty of this! Too many messes to count…but you are wiser than me, and I’m sure this will not happen again.
Oh my – I will heed your wise words! The problem is, with my Nervous Nelly imagination, I’m always thinking I hear something in the other room!!! My whole family pretty much ignores me when I startle from whatever I’m doing and say, “Shhh…what’s that noise?!?”
Had to smile. I once set up the coffee maker for the morning and forgot to put the carafe in place. Talk about a mess.
I did that with my coffee pot once, didn’t seat the pot correctly, but I went off to get dressed so couldn’t hear anything, all over! Glad you finally thought to look.
Oh no! I hate messes. Love your focus on reading and responding.
(Now I’m going to admit I made a huge mess last evening trying to rinse out our swim wear in the sink while showing. Oops! Forgot to trim off the tap and man was there a pool of water. Glad I wasn’t in CA where we’re still in a drought.)
Love how you make a slice from exactly what happened. Everyone relates!
You are a saint for not reprimanding your husband to be more careful. After all, wasn’t it he who did the setup hastily and you who was left to clean up the mess? And think of all the comments you could have gotten done inthe time you spent cleaning up!:)
Better tea than sticky juice. I like how you created your slice, from slow and mellow to the sounds to the discovery to the lesson. I’ll keep your advice in my mind.
Got so caught up in your story Elsie. Lovely slice. And great lesson learned!
Good advice Elsie! I’m pretty good at doing this although my husband thinks I’m nuts sometimes, because I have to admit, sometimes it’s nothing, but I always say better safe than sorry!
Good thing you got up to investigate. I get the coffeepot ready before bed. When I get up, I turn it on before I go into the shower. Once morning, I emerged from the shower to see coffee all over the counter and floor. I had done the same thing. So, I started my day without coffee and by cleaning the kitchen. I now check everyday before turning it on.
Good thing you can multi-task. Not sure that I’m so good at that. I have so often left water running…wild!!!! I’m going to remember your listening… I’m going to try 🙂
Oh man. At least you were able to pinpoint the noise before you had a mess on the counter, cabinets and floor!
So glad you were able to figure out the sound before it rolled over the counter, down the cabinets and onto the floor. Check out those strange sounds!
I’ve dealt with quite a few messes like that! I really like the way you add captions to your pictures. The one above where you describe the path of the tea is something that could help kids to show how to get from one place to another. It could be a mentor text!
Thankfully it was that easy to figure out! It’s creepy (and anxiety provoking) when there are noises that take more investigative work. Usually those types are costly, too. Glad it was a simple fix and you could get back on to the more important things in life!
Ha! I did that with our coffee maker once when I forgot to put the lid on the carafe – which is needed to activate the spring-loaded opening. Water filled the brewing area and spilled over to the inside of the clean water reservoir. There were coffee grounds and hot water throughout the machine and on the counter. If I’d just investigated earlier, why it seemed to be steaming more than usual… what a mess!
You make the mundane life moments into fabulous slices that make me giggle. I love how you drew out the story and kept me wondering what was going to happen.
Thank goodness you got up when you did! I have a tendency to tune out the world when I am slicing or commenting. If it had been me, I think that tea would’ve ended up on the floor! Love how you described the movement of the tea in your caption. I also like the way you showed time passing “Three hand towels later…” I sliced about noises, too. Dinner-time noises.
This is funny. I know it was a pain to clean up, but I like how you get into the zone when reading slices like me while the world goes on around you.
I always investigate when I hear unusual sounds, but like you, it sometimes takes me a while before I get up and do it. This can cause a mess! 🙂