I Needed a Mouse

If you look through our index card file of recipes, it's not all that difficult to find our favorites. The recipe cards we turn to most often have stains from cherries, cooking oil, flavorings, and maybe even a little flour.

The stains are almost like book marks. If we wonder which chicken casserole recipe we liked best, for instance, we choose the card from our file that has the most discoloration. My favorite corn bread recipe has a coffee stain, where I sat a mug down that had sloshed just a little.

Not many years ago, my wife attended a craft class in which they made a unique recipe holder. The little cloth mouse is three or four inches long, with a tail another four inches long. Its mouth contains a clothespin. It can hang by its tail from a cabinet handle, and its mouth can hold a recipe card, allowing the cook to have hands and counter space free for mixing, sifting, or whatever.

My wife is a neat cook, but I am not. When I do any baking, ingredients get all over the counter. Every time I pick up the recipe card to take a look, I get a little something on it. Now that I have the help of this little kitchen mouse, at least the recipe card stays clean.

I want to be that kind of mouse! I want to be the person that makes everybody's life just a little better. With a smile or encouraging word, I can make a difference in somebody else's day.

Maybe I should thank those 'kitchen mice' in my own life, who have made my days just a little better.