This post is part of Just Jot it January, and the prompt word, “frustration,” is brought to us by Barbara. Check out her blog here!

Warning: If you’re claustrophobic, you might want to skip this post.

Wait ’til I tell you about my nightmare last night. This is the perfect prompt for it!

I had to write this out first thing in the morning while I still remember it. Not that I want to relive it, but wow! Was it a doozy.

Okay, so in my dream, I had a bunch of people—about a dozen, of all ages—come over to my house. I have no idea who they were, but they had to be there.

They were all squeezed into the part of my kitchen where the fridge and stove are, not at the table for some reason. I didn’t have enough chairs, so some were standing and some were sitting on the floor. The atmosphere was crowded and too warm. So uncomfortable for everyone involved, but especially me because everyone was staring as though they were waiting for me to act like the perfect hostess.

I stood where they could all see me and asked who wanted tea, coffee, or water. That’s generally all I have in my kitchen.

The first little girl I focused on said she wanted milk. It took me three tries to understand what she was saying.

Fine, I thought. I have some left over from Christmas.

Then I asked if anyone wanted coffee. I could put a pot on right away.

Crickets. So no coffee. Great.

The next three people I asked wanted tea, all with different things in it of course, so I moved past the bodies in my kitchen and went to the stove to put the kettle on. Then I reached into the fridge for the milk and found a big container of almond milk that someone must have brought. Wonderful! I asked the girl if she wanted that and she said yes.

Next, I went to the cupboard to get a glass. It took a while to find one, but when I did, I got it out and found a tiny space for it on the counter—it was covered in dirty dishes. There was someone beside me washing dishes in the sink (no idea who), but my task was clear. I had to concentrate on pouring almond milk into a clean glass. I pulled a dirty bowl toward me and caught myself just in time before I poured the milk into it, but while I was congratulating myself for not doing that, I poured it into a different dirty bowl.

I watched myself continue to pour, filling it up to where it was impossible to tell that there was chocolate lining the inside, then I pulled the dirty spoon out of the bowl … and decided I shouldn’t give it to the girl after all.

So I filled up the glass to the rim with milk, so much that I couldn’t lift it.

All this time, no one was talking. I could feel them watching me, blank expressions on their faces. It was all kinds of Children of the Corn creepy.

Meanwhile, the kettle was boiling, so I abandoned the milk and went to the kettle … and emptied the water into a different dirty bowl so I could pour it from there into cups 😒.

Ahhh!!!

I filled the kettle again and moved through the throng and back to my guests to see what they wanted in their tea because by then, I’d forgotten. To say I was frustrated with myself is an understatement.

Thank goodness I woke up at that point.

… only to have a dream in which I was driving on an unfamiliar snowy highway, unable to see the lines on the road. Which I’ve done in real life, but this was somehow much worse because apparently I didn’t know how to drive at all.

Am I worried about the upcoming year? That would certainly explain my nightmares.

Am I worried in particular about having people in my house? I do have to call an electrician. The circuit that runs my treadmill blew yesterday, and the breaker won’t turn back on. The same circuit also runs my thermostat. Battery is holding out so far, though.

Grrr! So frustrating!

This frustrated post is part of Just Jot it January! Want to join in? Just click here to get to the prompt and drop your link. It’s fun!

Thanks again to Barbara for the prompt!