Cooking mishaps and dancing in the rain

In my whole life I have never had a cooking mishap like that of Friday night! One time when I was newly married I fell asleep with BBQ chicken in the oven - but it just became more like chicken jerky than causing any really damage. What happened this weekend was a WHOLE other story.

I don't know about other dual income families, but for ours Friday greets us with a total wreck of a home. We are able to sustain whatever organization we found over the weekend until about Wednesday and then it's downhill from there. This week we got a new refrigerator (that adventure may be a whole other post all by itself!) so the situation was even worse than normal. Friday I came home with determination in my fingertips - I would accomplish organization come hell or high water. The hell and the high water came in the form of a smoke filled house and a smell that rivals that of a grease pit!

With the choo choo resounding in the back of my head "I think I can, I think I can" I set forth in my task. Having just bought a pack of construction paper that would supply a small preschool class, I thought setting little man up at the table with a craft project would buy me ample time to cook dinner. (Princess and daddy were at horeseback riding lessons) But then just when I think I'm smart I have to go and try to be brilliant. I would let him play "puter." I suppose the overachiever in me just couldn't be satisified with cooking dinner, running a load of laundry and cleaning the kitchen at the same time... nope, I had to make THIS the evening that I make my child do something interactive instead of being mesmerized by his army of friends on Sprout! I'm sure there are millions of perfect computer games out there for a three year old, my little man always seems content with the one's he plays at maw maws, but NONE of them are in my house. After perusing the Calliou, Blue's Clues, Elmo and Boohbah discs and discovering that none of them were ones he could navigate without my undivided attention I gave up. "Come on buddy, want to go watch Sprout?"

And we walked into the kitchen in to the beginnings of my creation - a grease fire. Prior to my computer game discovery hunt I had began preheating olive oil for Kung Pao Chicken and stifry, which had then became three rooms of smoke that painfully filled my lungs. I turned on fans, opened doors and calmly proceeded to prepare said dinner. What I would have never anticipated is that now, two days later, the smell of my near tragic experience still lingers. I've distributed every essential oil I own (and there are many!) throughout the house in every conceivable way, I've burned every candle and sprayed every dissenfectant. I've even let every fathomable surface soak in Clorox. IT WILL NOT GO AWAY!

But alas, there are approximately 14 more hours left in my weekend and although it began in flames, it has turned out pretty darn well. Thank God I'm an optimist. Come 2:00 on Saturday I had most of the house clean, next week's menu planned, the school year calendar updated, and bookbags packed for school to begin. I was ready to reward myself with some downtime at the pool. My family emerged from our front door to a blacked sky that was about to open up the flood gates. The rain came. The rain came fast, hard and furious. I looked at my kids in their bathing suits and downturned faces. "Want to play in the rain?" I asked. They looked at me like my ears were rolling down my shoulders or something. Probably trying to ascertain if their mother had gone crazy. "Really?" aksed Ms. Logic. "Yep, take off - do whatever you want!" And they did.


Watching your kids do something for the first time is nothing short of life changing. As adults we simply don't know that level of pure and innocent joy. Well, I would argue that we do know it we just don't allow it to be present. I wanted to join them, but my energy was spent so I reveled in their delight from the sidelines. What I learned yesterday as I watched my little ducks in the rain was what it truly means to seize the moment. I am thankful for my lesson and hope that I am alert enough to know when the next opportunity arrises!

My Vital Friends

Sometimes life sends you signs of your true blessings. This week I was lucky enough to realize what a miracle it is that I have such tremendous friends in my life. There is a book by Tom Rath called Vital Friends: The People You Can't Afford to Live Without that alludes to the fact that most people have many friends who each play different roles in your life. I find this to be so very true. As I think through my family of friends I realize that each of them came into my life at a time that our connection was pivotal for the situation we each found ourselves in at the time. That, to me, is powerful justification that we were brought together by a a higher being and that our crossing paths were purposeful.

The power of girlfriends cannot be denied. Some call us catty, obnoxious, gossipy, etc. etc. Whatever! The next time you enter a coffee shop and see a circle of women crowded around a table or gathered together around the park bench at the playground or at the vending machines of the office rest assured that they aren't solving the world's problems, but they are moving mountains among their emotional selves.

At one point in my career I was lucky enough to have met two of my very best friends on this planet (you know who you are!) and every morning we would meet in the hallway of the office and have our "water break." It was in the halls that we would help weather each other's storms. We always seemed to land outside of one man's office and he once passed us and said "I don't even want to know who ya'll are talking about every morning." We replied that we had so much drama between us that we didn't have time to talk about anyone else.... and goodness how true that was!! Let me just tell you... on those water breaks we uncovered everything from perfect hangover cures to how to breastfeed and cook dinner at the same time. (There was a lot of other material shared that quite frankly will never leave my lips - or fingers.) But you get the idea.

When it comes to a conversing group of women we are partaking in our own personal therapy. We're laughing. We're crying. We're bitching. And most importantly we're living and discovering our true selves. There are no limits to what we will talk about and what secrets we will share. If it takes a village to raise a child it takes a circle of friends to become a wise, old woman.

Today I am thankful for all my sisters and the abundance of joy they bring to my life. Without them I would be a lost and lonely soul. Look for us today gathered here and there and everywhere navigating mommyhood, womanhood and overall greatness. And in 30 years you can look for us and still find us; the conversation will undoubtedly change but the power of our circle will be the same. Cheers to my sisters, I love you all!

A #2 Pencil Makes Me Feel Smarter

Remember #2 pencils? Thank waaayyy back if you have to. They were orange and we used them back in elementary school. And if you didn't have one to write on the paper housed in your Trapper Keeper then you certainly used one when taking the dreaded CATs! Sometime around middle school everyone started using pens and mehanical pencils and the boring and conventional #2 lead pencil was replaced with these fancier more colorful options for penmanship.

Recently a very basic, super traditional yellow #2 pencil found it's way into my fingers as I looked for something to write with upon my desk. I'm not sure how long I've had it or even where it came from. After jotting my note I glanced down and realized I liked the way my writing looked at the tip of the lead. Reaching behind my chair, I plugged in the historic pencil sharpener and fed it my refound discovery. Now, writing with a pencil is one thing, but writing with a newly sharpened pencil is like a black bean burger when you haven't eaten all day (okay, that may just be decadent to me and a few others....). I can't explain it, but I just feel so darn industrious when I write with my sharpened #2 pencil now. I haven't allowed any other utensils to accompany me to meetings since my rekindled love of good old fashioned lead. You should try it.

I guess its the writer and reader in me that has always been estatically drawn to all things pen and paper. I find that a new notebook to take notes in or a pen (or PENCIL) that makes your handwriting look a little more eloquent is a high caliber of motivation to kick myself in gear. As the kids head back to the classroom and back to school shopping takes flight I wonder what these generations will find exciting to stash in their bookbags. I fear it will be laptops, smartphones, and such - and I gues I'm willing to accept that. Maybe they will find a new font for their texts or a skin for their device that makes them feel industrious and smart! Just let it be something or we may be in danger of loosing a whole generation of inspriation...