Good morning one and all. I woke up this morning feeling really good. I don’t know if it is the weather turning but this is the first time in about a week that I haven’t woken up with my head aching from sinus pressure. Not feeling like your brain is in a vise is a great way to wake up. So let’s jump into the day with both feet and see what comes out of it. So timer’s set and once, twice, thrice and in we go.
I am not entirely certain where this is going but i like the idea of someone being sort of thrust out of their comfort zone by circumstances they can’t control. It opens the door for some many possibilities for change.
Tuesday, January 10th: It was burnt.
It was burnt. She looked down at the casserole dish. The noodles on the edge of the dish were black and crumbled slightly when she moved the Pyrex dish from the oven rack to the top of the stove. The cheese on top was black as well but it had spots of oil standing out on the surface like water on top of waxed paper.
She set the pan down and took off the potholders. Denise closed the oven door, eyes still staring at the casserole. It seemed so simple. She threw the potholders on the counter and turned off the oven. She picked up a fork and began poking and prodding the burnt casserole.
The recipe was so simple. She scanned it and was able to get the basic idea instantly. Everything was put in the pan, the pan was put in the over and then all she had to do was wait. Then she would take it out and prove to everyone that she could live without Doordash if she had to.
How had it gone so wrong?
She had high hopes for this casserole. She knew it wouldn’t be pretty like the meals she was used to taking pictures off, that’s why she added so much extra cheese to the top. The recipe didn’t call for it but she thought it would look better.
The recipe was so basic. It was old fashioned and didn’t contain any of the things she was used to seeing in her ingredients lists. Certainly nothing she would be willing to post about. After all if it couldn’t look good in a pic then it had to at least feature the ‘it’ ingredients everyone was talking about. Knowing it wasn’t going to look good, she added a few things she knew she could mention when she posted. The additions made it look worse. So she added the cheese. Now it just looked like a burnt block of failure.
She sighed.
Her poking with a fork uncovered nothing that was edible and she tossed the fork in the sink. How could this happen? She pulled out her phone. Clearly tonight’s attempt was a failure. She would just have to order out and try again tomorrow.
Freed from the threat of her own cooking, Parker turned her back on the failed casserole and tried to decide what she was going to order for dinner. As she debated her options, she logged into her back account to check the balance. It was lower than she expected.
She chewed her lip. Apparently her parents were being serious about this. They told her they were going to be lowering the amount they gave her each month and that she would have to make adjustments. They suggested she learn to spend less by doing things like cooking at home at least a few nights a week. It had been that suggestion, and her friend’s laughing at the impossibility of her actually cooking for herself that prompted tonight’s adventure.
Parker stared at the balance. The monthly check for her living expenses had just been deposited. She knew the amount in there was supposed to pay for everything for the upcoming month. It was less than half of what she was used to receiving. It would cover her rent and was expected to cover groceries as well but she was expected to provide her own money for entertainment and other things now.
“This is so unfair,” she thought. She knew why the budget was cut. “But it has nothing to do with me.”
Ten til Midnight 