Little of This, Little of That

Whew, so I survived another Wednesday! My house is still a shambles, but at no time did I dissolve into tears, drive into a tree or scalp anyone so that's a good Wednesday in my book.

Wednesday, for those of you just tuning in, is the worst day of my week. Ironically, it's because we all go to church. It makes me feel devilish to even say that, but it's true! Man-Cub has his Pioneer Boys class, Redheaded Snippet has youth group, and The Viking and I go the Men's' and Women's' Bible Class, respectively. So, what's the problem? The problem is multi-faceted, but the biggest issue is we live 30 minutes away from the church. It really is a pain, but as I once heard someone say, "A church that's alive is worth the drive".

In order to be on time for church at 6:30, we need to be on the road at 6:00. We pick up 1-3 of Redheaded Snippet's friends to take with us each week so that means we need to leave the house by 5:45. Except for the two weeks between each athletic season, Redheaded Snippet has either practice or a game after school until 5:30 or even 6:00, which means, most Wednesdays, I've got no more than 15 minutes to get her home, fed, cleaned up, if necessary, and back out the door. The Viking doesn't get out of work until 5:30 which means he doesn't get home until almost 6:30 so he goes to church right from work.


All this means I have to pack our dinner to bring with us, which means I have to have it ready by 5:30 unless there's a game. In that case, I have to have dinner ready by 3:00. The kids eat in the car, I drop The Viking's off to his classroom, then I eat mine during my class.

If there's an away game or traffic or an accident, I can be up to 30 minutes late for my class. And class isn't over until 8:30 so that means we get home after 9:00 which is when the kids can finally get to their homework. They are always up late on Wednesdays and always tired on Thursdays.

All that to say, it's a very hectic day and I really rather hate it.

Last night it rained and traffic was absurd so we were late despite having no practice or game to deal with, but everyone in our classes is pretty much used to that by now.

Today, the kids have off from school. And tomorrow. And I couldn't be happier. Getting to sleep in and not having to wake Man-Cub in the morning for three days straight might be exactly what I need. That, and a bullhorn.


I am being the meanest mother on the planet and making them clean on their day off. This house is really out of control and there is no reason I should be expected to do it all alone. I bear most of the responsibility, yes, but I have two healthy, able-bodied children who can be expected to pick up after themselves and complete regular chores. So that's what we're doing today, catching up on chores.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling the itch to fill the house with the seductive aroma of something lovin' from the oven, but I'm a little gun shy right now. Saturday, I woke up and decided I was surprising my family with homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I had all the ingredients and know how to follow a recipe so I set out with enthusiasm.


Two failed batches of dough later, I threw my gooey, gluey hands up in defeat. I cannot tell you how enraged I get when I follow a recipe and everything goes haywire and I don't know why! The first batch, yes, I accidentally put too much buttermilk in the dough. It was like batter. Like pancake batter. So I mixed in an egg and made rather firm pancakes. The second batch, I made exactly as specified. It was like beige slime.

Remember that stuff? I had the variety with worms. It was purple, the worms were black and I left the little plastic trash can open and on its side one night and found it the next morning caked solid all over my mother's antique hoosier where I had been playing with it. She was not happy with me.

Anyway, I had to throw away a second batch of what was supposed to be dough and yielded control of the kitchen to The Viking who has an uncanny knack for breakfast. He whipped up some southwestern omelets in no time at all and made me fall in love with him all over again. And now I have a Ziploc bag full of cinnamon roll filling that I am determined to use somehow. I'll have to look for a solution while I'm culling through recipes for Thanksgiving!

That's right! It's in 3 weeks! And I, for one, am determined to be ready! Lobelia and I are planning everything again and we've decided to do our best to simplify, simplify, simplify. We want the menu to be simple, but exquisite. But there's plenty of time to share about that so I won't go into it now.


I'd better go be mean to my children. Time to suffer!