About viviankirkfield

Writer for children - Reader forever - Mom of 3, educator, author of FOUR OTTERS TOBOGGAN: AN ANIMAL COUNTING BOOK (PomegranateKids, PIPPA'S PASSOVER PLATE (Holiday House), SWEET DREAMS, SARAH (Creston Books); MAKING THEIR VOICES HEARD: THE INSPIRING FRIENDSHIP OF ELLA FITZGERALD AND MARILYN MONROE (Little Bee Books); FROM HERE TO THERE: INVENTIONS THAT CHANGED THE WAY THE WORLD MOVES (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Jan 19, 2021); PEDAL, BALANCE, STEER: Annie Londonderry, First Woman to Bike Around the World (Calkins Creek/Astra, Feb 20, 2024) picture book junkie, lover of travel, hiking, fly-fishing, cooking, and playing Monopoly with my grandson.

Andy Rooney: Life is like a gadget drawer

Posted on July 19, 2010 by viviankirkfield

This morning I wrote a post about yesterday’s 60 Minutes segment with Andy Rooney. As the day went on, I began to think about how a kitchen gadget drawer is a lot like life and parenting. We accumulate “stuff” during our life…material things like cars, homes, appliances, clothing, lamps, and books…sometimes doubles and triples of items we don’t even use. We store up memories, both good and bad (the bad ones sometimes haunting us as we try to move forward with our lives). We hold on to feelings, even the negative ones (sometimes especially the negative ones). And, when it comes to parenting, we often repeat behaviors of our own parents we swore we would never do. Have you ever said something to your child and looked around to see if your mother was standing there, because what came out of your mouth was something you had often heard her say.

I think this happens to most of us. Maybe I can take Andy Rooney’s advice and dump out everything in the drawer (of my behavior, reactions to others, feelings, memories), look it over, and make sure I want to keep it before I put it back.

But I doubt it will be as easy as cleaning the kitchen gadget drawer.

Andy Rooney’s in my kitchen

Posted on July 19, 2010 by viviankirkfield

Last night, on 60 Minutes, Andy Rooney did a segment on gadgets one finds in the kitchen drawer. He said that most of the items he found in his kitchen drawer had not been used for 20 or 30 years.

It made me think about my kitchen gadget drawer (don’t we all have one?). So, this morning, I decided to empty it and check out what was in there.

Here is a list of what I found:

Rubber gripper for opening bottles (I use this ALL the time)
Graham Kerr sheet metal thing with ruler marking on one side (maybe for pastry making…have never used it)
Orange cylindrical plastic thing (lemon juice extractor?)..I actually have 2 of these
Wooden honey dipper (not sure what you call it…when I need honey, I use a spoon)
Green plastic grapefruit sectioner (we don’t eat grapefruit)
Orange Tupperware spreader/spatula (never used…will take it out of gadget drawer so I will have it when I need it)
Yellow plastic cylindrical thing labeled Sunkist (maybe for extracting juice from an orange)
Old-fashioned metal garlic press (I usually hit the garlic clove with the flat blade of a big knife)
Wooden double mini rolling-pin (didn’t know I had this…could have used it several times in the past)
3 top-notch wine bottle openers (my husband has a small glass of wine with dinner and I don’t drink)
Old-fashioned metal can opener (just in case the electric can opener doesn’t work, I guess)
Lobster/crab leg cracker and set of picks
Red plastic flour scooper (why isn’t it in the container with the flour)
A dozen assorted wine bottle corks (I keep throwing them away and my husband keeps putting them in the drawer)
Broken tea strainer
Metal melon ball scooper (I can’t remember the last time I scooped melon balls)
Vacuum pump and rubber corks for sealing open wine bottles
Wooden roller thing (not sure what it is for)
My oldest son’s original baby spoon (he turns 38 this month)
Set of cheese spreaders/cutters (use them at Christmas)
Set of 4 multi-colored mini rubber prep bowls (so small I don’t know what I could prep in them)

And that’s it! Do I just put it all back? Dump some of it?

What’s in your kitchen gadget drawer? I’d love to know that I’m not the only one with items I have never used and have no clue what they are for.

Have you kept your New Year’s resolutions?

Posted on July 18, 2010 by viviankirkfield

Maybe “kept” is the wrong word. Perhaps a better phrase would be “followed through on”. “Kept” might mean you put it in a drawer and forgot about it. Out of sight…out of mind. Do people even make New Year’s resolutions anymore?

I am definitely a “list” person…so making New Year’s resolutions was always something I looked forward to doing. Every year, on January 1st, I’d sit down with a fresh sheet of paper, a sharpened pencil and a heart filled with high hopes and expectations. I’d think about what I wanted to accomplish in my life for the up-coming year…healthwise, emotionally and academically. Drink 8 glasses of water every day. Get to bed early. Walk or exercise daily for at least 30 minutes. Be compassionate. Speak kindly to others. Read something uplifting every day.

When my children were growing up, we sat down once or twice together and made our New Year’s resolutions. I think this was a wonderful family activity that might create a better parent-child bond…sharing the lists might help parents learn more about who their children are…and might help children learn more about who their parents are.

As I’ve matured, most of the items on the list have remained the same. But, I’ve added others. Stretch my mind. Do things that are outside my comfort zone. Stand up for what I believe. Speak out when I should. And, just as importantly, keep quiet when I should. (Good advice to parents of grown children)

Do I follow through on all of my resolutions every day of the year? No, I don’t. Do I beat myself up for “dropping the ball” sometimes? A little, but I try not to. Will I make a list of New Year’s resolutions next year? You bet I will. For me, it sets the tone for the direction I want to move in. It encourages me to tackle projects I might otherwise choose to postpone or ignore. It helps me to be a better me.