Water, Bottles & Multi-Tasking

Glasses, carafes and jars outside -- full of water, wine and flowers.

I take a water bottle with me wherever I go, and have had my own SIGG water bottle for a couple of years (gifted to me by a generous friend....)  I was very strict about keeping it only for myself.   Eventually, I gave in and let Lars use it one day when he couldn't find his own bottle.......once it disappeared into his backpack,  it became community property.

Na ja.  My poor SIGG bottle is loved and used and frequently dropped.....it's also no longer available for my use, since it's become Lars' favorite.    We have an assortment of metal bottles -- all of them at any given time in either a backpack, handbag or underneath someone's bed.  One day I spilled water all over the floor, because the threads had worn off the topper, sending the generic metal bottle crashing to my feet.....no matter.....I needed to clean up those muddy footprints in the slippery tiled foyer ANYWAY. 

Water at the table in Italy last year.  I've copied this ever since with my own carafe of water in an old milk bottle I take to the table everyday [first photo up above].....I thought it would help me remember to  s l o w  down....

On this note  --  which seems unrelated, but is in fact completely connected  --  I have to admit I am a terrible multi-tasker.  When I moved to Germany, I thought it would be a slight reprieve from my constant inferiority complex about not being able to multi-task.  I come from a nation of excellent, highly functional, multi-tasking mothers....all of my friends could easily sail through schedules & surprises each day that made my head hurt. 

Guess what?  The Germans multi-task, as well.  :-)  I've leaped out of what I thought was the frying pan, straight into the fire.  HERE, I get to multi-task in another language. 

The agony of trying to drive/feed/care/wash/help while diplomatically extricating myself from a sticky playdate, or being the Hear-No-Evil-Monkey when parents are complaining about the teacher.....let alone braving one father's suggestion that I should watch the infamous "Loose Change" on YouTube.  I can barely handle the headlines right now.....as if I'm going to add YouTube and all it's tentacles to that load.

Right.  I ordered myself another water bottle, dropping down a full-price sum  for something with a cap that won't disconnect itself from the bottle suddenly as I'm trying to get out the door, hands full and with children rotating around me like electrons around an atom.....

.....with what I feel is a good message for me.   It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a purchase so deeply.  I love my bottle and I love what it says.  It is admittedly slightly poor taste for me to have this here, since it technically originated in 1930's Britain.  Late 1930's....but, I think the words are right for any time & anyone, anywhere.  Especially for me....who cannot multi-task worth a hill of beans, no matter what language is being used. 

;-)