I woke up on my own around 8:15. Yes, that's right, I woke up ON MY OWN. Not one of my kids was up before me, asking for breakfast or yelping for a diaper change. It's a glorious thing to be able to wake up completely of your own accord.
Superman and I made a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs for our family. It was delicious. I taught a piano lesson, then did the dishes and cut Superman's hair. After Miss Marvel napped and everyone ate lunch, we went shopping for a new cell phone carrier (tips, anyone?) then to a small "Colonial Days" event in our town.
As we came home and I pulled into the driveway, I stepped on the gas pedal for one last push into the garage. Now, I'm short, so I can really only reach the bottom part of the pedal. When I tapped it with my toe, it's like the pedal just gave out. Like I snapped it off. The pedal is still attached to whatever it is that it's attached to in the engine, but it's just lying against the floorboard.
Not. Good. I'm glad it happened as I was pulling into the garage instead of on the road, but it's still NOT GOOD.
We all piled into the house, and Superman and I sat around for about 20 minutes, trying to figure out what we were going to do about the car. Eventually, we decided to just cook dinner and worry about the Explorer (a.k.a Exploder) when shops opened up again.
I bought some ears of corn and a box of hamburger patties for this weekend, so Superman started up the grill. We put the corn on the grill first. Then we got out the hamburger patties and found that all FORTY of them were FROZEN TOGETHER. Bits of wax paper separated the patties, but they were all still frozen together. (This may or may not be related to the fact that it took me over an hour to get home and put in them in the freezer after buying them. Whoops.)
Superman tried to let them thaw next to the grill, but it wasn't really working. We broke a small stack off and put it in a baggie and under hot water, but that was also inefficient. We finally saw a note on the side of the box about thawing them in the microwave, and ended up doing that.
When we finally had meat ready to BBQ, we realized that the grill was out of propane. {Sigh.} Not a big deal, I told myself. I pulled out our George Foreman grill and proceeded to set it up in the kitchen.
At some point during all this, I realized that the hamburger buns were frozen. I pulled the package out of the freezer and put them in the sun to thaw. I thought that it had worked, until I pulled out buns for the kids. Partially thawed, but still partially frozen. I remember telling Superman, "I will NOT cry." I pulled out the toaster and warmed the buns.
When it came time for my burger, I wanted to make sure that my bun wasn't cold at all. So I upped the time on the toast a bit. After popping the buns in, I started getting drinks for everyone and chips and all the other stuff that comes with feeding kids dinner. About 2 minutes later I remembered my bun. It was still in the toaster, and STILL TOASTING. It was BLACK.
At that point, I actually screamed. "AAAAAUGH!" Then I took a deep breath, threw the bun away, and put another one in the toaster. This time I stayed by the toaster and waited for it to be done.
As I prepared my buns with mustard and ketchup (which I accidentally put on the top of the bun instead of the bottom) (which I HATE) I said, "This burger had better be good."
Luckily, it was. I washed it down with a Diet Dr. Pepper. I hadn't planned on that -- in fact, I had a pitcher of pink lemonade sitting on the table. But the stress of a supposedly simple meal had really gotten to me.
The burger was good, DDP was refreshing, and Cool Ranch Doritos are never a bad choice. I was beginning to think that I could just close my eyes and everything would go away.
Then Miss Marvel climbed on to the table and knocked over the pitcher of pink lemonade.
It was a laugh or cry moment. I knew I had a choice to make.
I started laughing as I mopped up the mess. Once I started laughing I couldn't stop. Superman looked at me like I was a certifiable loon.
Marjorie Pay Hinckley's said, "The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."
I have a testimony of that statement.
Laughing is SO much better than crying.
8 comments:
Sometimes I think I'm the only one this kind of stuff happens to. Nope. Glad to know I have a kindred spirit in disaster out there! I so agree with the just laugh out loud part. What else can you do?
I know those days. I have a hard time sometimes, remembering to laugh. But you're right. Once you start it's hard to stop.
I agree! I always tell myself "it's 99.9% attitude, it's 99.9% attitude, it's 99.9% attitude" and after the day you had, I think you went the extra HUNDRED miles!
What a day! Not too many women could get through all of that and laugh instead of cry, me included. You are great!
I love the Sis. Hinckley quote. Crying gives me a headache, too. And my mascara isn't waterproof, either, so I end up with raccoon eyes, which just aren't pretty.
I have more days like that than I care to account for! I mostly try to laugh it off but sometimes (with four kids under 5) I just can't help but cry.
You really are a Wonder Woman, I think I would have thrown the toaster long before the lemonade spilled!
Why do days like this happen? I have always loved that quote by Sis. Hinckley, though. Of course, she's right, and I try my best to laugh and it's just as cathartic as if I had cried, only I feel much lighter afterward.
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