If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

I have a problem. Did you ever read the book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (or If You Give a Moose a Muffin)? If not, I'm sorry you had such a sheltered childhood, and you should probably make a trip to the local library. My problem is that I am basically the mouse (or moose) in that story. Sometimes I'll be doing something, and find a few minutes later that I've accomplished something else entirely, and have gone through a chain of other things. I tell myself "You're such a mouse-a-cookie." And it's so sadly true.

For example, when I walked in the door a little while ago, I picked up the gas bill that was lying on the kitchen table and walked downstairs, intending to write a check for it immediately so I wouldn't forget to do it later. I realized that my checkbook was sitting by the computer, so I walked over there, decided I needed music to write a check to (I need music to do almost everything. But that's another problem entirely), and sat down at the computer to turn the music on, but realized I hadn't checked my email in a while. The second message was a notice about an end-of-the-year pizza party for my TA job, so I grabbed my backpack to get out my planner to check the date and write it down, but my backpack was very heavy, and it reminded me that I had had to balance it and the groceries I'd bought on my way home from work while I was coming in the door earlier that day. Then I realized the groceries were still sitting on the counter waiting to be put away, so I walked into the kitchen, opened the first bag of groceries wherein lay the receipt, which I proceeded to throw away. As I looked up from the trash can, I saw the extra Brita filters on top of the fridge, and realized that I was about a month overdue in changing out the old filter (don't tell my roommates, they've been bragging to people who come over and drink our water that it's clean and superior to everyone else's), so I rinsed out the filter and set it to soak in preparation for replacement. Finally, I got somewhat back on track and turned back to the groceries. There in the bag was a box of cookies I'd bought as a treat for being such a diligent student lately. My mouth watered and I went to open the box, when I realized what was happening and thought to myself, smiling, "Mouse-a-cookie," especially since I was about to eat a cookie, and knew that I would then want a glass of milk (which is how the story goes, for those uninformed).

In any case, the filter is ready to be replaced, the groceries are put away, two cookies are eaten, I'm writing this blog post, and...oh wait, I'm supposed to be writing a check for the utilities.

Be right back.