Unfinished projects (or dishes)

A friend sent me this link to a document on Myers-Briggs. Yes, we not only discuss Myers-Briggs at length at social gatherings but also email and Facebook each other with new discoveries.

In this document, at the end of each description, it had a prayer for that personality type. The one for INFP said, "Dear God, please help me finish what I sta..." Of course the "J" in me wanted to fix the end of the sentence, but the rest of me knew how true this was. And if anyone had walked in my house over the past week, they would have been praying this prayer for me.

It was a really good week work-wise. I got to have normal hours, even though I go back to later hours this week, and during what should normally be an incredibly busy time, things were actually very slow. (Apparently all the financial guys are on vacation in July.) Since I got home earlier, I got to do things like cook and attend a Bible study I've missed for a few weeks as well as go to my normal women's study. So I found myself with less time at home, and the state of my apartment reflected it.

But it also reflected the fact that finishing things is not my strong suit. I may start strong, but I lose my motivation before something is complete and I can let it sit there unfinished for quite a while.

Last weekend I battled my neighbors in attempting to get a lot of laundry done. Six of us share a single washer and dryer, and somehow all seem to want to do laundry at the same time. So it's a matter of getting your stuff in, washed and the next load in without someone removing your stuff and starting their own load, thereby, preventing you from getting another load in. And last weekend, I was successful and got three loads washed and dried. I even folded and put away the first two loads. But I'm going to admit that my third load, which finished drying Monday morning, was still on my living room floor unfolded on Saturday.

So if you came in my apartment you would find this pile of clothes, another pile of clothes in the general vicinity of my ironing board yet to be ironed and then in my kitchen, there would be a drying rack full of clean dishes and sink full of dirty dishes. This is not to mention the mail and other paperwork spread between my coffee table and couch and my new pile of dirty clothes covering my bedroom floor.

I will openly admit I am a messy person. I am much neater when other people are around and impacted by my mess, but in my apartment where it is just me, I am messy. However, I reach a point when I can't stand the mess and want some order back in my life.

By Saturday morning, that's how I was feeling. It was miserably hot outside, and I decided my best bet was to stay in my air-conditioned apartment and restore some order in my life. I finally got my clothes folded and put away and even ironed what needed to be ironed. I put away dishes and washed more. I organized all the stuff that has seemed to have been just floating around for weeks. I paid bills and completed some of other stuff that needed to get done.

But then I went back to the kitchen. This is what I'm finding so strange about what I started as an experiment. When I have some downtime, it is more and more likely that I'll spend it in the kitchen, cooking. And if you know me, usually the only time I am in a kitchen is when everyone else has gathered there to eat or talk but rarely to cook. Anyway, on Saturday, I made some pizza dough to have on hand and then realized I had everything to make some cookies I had read about in Southern Living and baked those. Then on Sunday I roasted a chicken (more to come on that).

Of course this ultimately meant that my kitchen stayed clean for about an hour, and I went to bed with dishes in the sink. I can't seem to escape this tendency to leave a project unfinished. It's better that I finish what I'm cooking and it's only the dishes that are left behind, but the constant dishes cycle is starting to make me crazy! I think I need someone to come along behind me and finish things for me or maybe a dishwasher would work.

INF...What?

Back in high school, I took the Myers-Briggs test at school as part of preparing for college or deciding what I should do with my life, or something like that. But considering I had known since I was 11 that I wanted to be a journalist and already knew my top school, I paid very little attention to my results and couldn’t tell you what I was then.

But I’ve made some friends in my town that love Myers-Briggs, and at almost every social gathering, the conversation ultimately turns to personality types. After listening on the sideline several times, I decided I was going to have to retake the test and figure out what I am. I can now say that I am an INFP (although borderline P/J). In English, that’s introvert (I), intuitive (N), feeling (F) and perceiving (P).
 
As I’ve spent more time talking about it with friends and reading about my personality type on my own, I’ve learned a lot more about the way I think, why I do things a certain way and why I clash with certain personalities.
 
As an INFP, I am an idealist. I am sensitive to others, tend to make decisions based on what I know intuitively and not logic, and need time alone to recharge. I can be a perfectionist in some ways because I get an idea in my head and that’s what I have to do.
 
I figured my personality type also expressed itself in the kitchen, and I found this “Recipe for Pumpkin Soup” that describes how the different personality types cook.
 
I am somewhere between intuitive and feeling on this scale. I do like to start with a recipe, but I start making it up when I don’t have what I need or decide I don’t like something that is called for. I do usually multitask in the kitchen, and if what I’m making involves other people, what they like and how they feel about food definitely impacts my decisions.
 
I like to please people, so all of the things that I make are tried and true recipes that I know everyone will eat. A New York Times article categorizes cooking personalities a little differently. In this one, I clearly fall into the “giving” category:

• Giving: Friendly, well-liked and enthusiastic, giving cooks seldom experiment, love baking and like to serve tried-and-true family favorites, although that sometimes means serving less healthful foods.

I think this pretty sums up my cooking philosophy. I like to cook when it involves other people, and I stick to the things I know how to make and know people will like. But that doesn’t really help me with this project. What I need to be is this one:

• Healthy: Optimistic, book-loving, nature enthusiasts, healthy cooks experiment with fish, fresh produce and herbs. Health comes first, even if it means sometimes sacrificing taste.

So what’s your cooking personality? Or Myers-Briggs?