Perpetual Ruminations

Kitchen Capades

Yesterday was lazy, but today not so much. It's barely into the twenties here, but the sun is shining and that seems to be enough to motivate just as yesterdays gloomy, drieriness seemed to suck the energy right out of me.

Today, after fixing our lunch and enjoying our noontime meal before my wife headed off to work, a package arrived that contained a five foot by seven foot exercise mat. But, it's not for exercise, although I suppose it could be used for that as well.

My wife likes an antifatigue mat in the kitchen in front of the stove and she also has a big rug infront of the sink. I do fine with the rug, but the mat is a hazzard to my neourologicily damaged feet. I tend to get snagged and tripped up on it because I can't feel things properly; my feet tend to feel asleep.

So, I thought I would look around for a bigger mat for the kitchen, but through my searches in stores and online, I found very little for big kitchen mats. Rugs, yes, but not mats—the problem with rugs is they get nasty so fast, between cooking, food prep, and washing dishes, our kitchen rug ends up lasting only a few months.

Being a stubborn determined man, I didn't let my lack of finding a large kitchen mat deter me, and then a few days ago, I had an epiphany.

"What's that?" You ask.

"Well, in this context, it was a moment of sudden revelation. Oh, you mean what was my sudden revelation?"

It was an exercise mat, like a person would use to do yoga, stretches, pilates, etc., so I did an online search for one that would fit our kitchen; the area I wanted to cover measured seven foot by five foot. I thought, "If needed, I could go bigger and cut the mat, but one of the first ones I found came in a few different sizes, including five foot by seven foot.

Since it was here, I wanted to get it put down. It came rolled up, so the first step was unpackaging it and unrolling it so it would warm up and lie flat. This was done before we ate and with a few weights placed on the corners, it flattened out nicely. The next step came after we ate, putting it in place by the stove, in front of the sink, and alongside the breakfast bar. I thought I may have to trim it a little where the stove sits, but my measurments where spot on and it fit fine.

I decided as long as I was working in the vacinity of the stove and had removed the drawer to make it easier to fit the mat in place (in case I needed to cut for the pads on the stove) I woul level the stove. I had leveled it when we put it in, but it settled a bit and liquids tended to move to the right side of the pans.

It wasn't off much, but I adjusted the pads a half a turn on the right side, checked the level bubble, and it was perfect, or at least close to perfect.