…fat friar.

Very funny on your responses yesterday. On days like that, I shall be called Murphink. Haha

So this morning, while Justin is still asleep and Jake is watching Shaun the Sheep on Netflix, I should probably use the time to roll out crusts for the pot pies, and frost the lovely cakes I worked so hard not to destroy.

Have an awesome Sumday, everyone — tomorrow starts another week of zany insanity for us all.

Y’know…

Yesterday, around 10 a.m., I got to work baking two cakes. Before I finished (or in some cases, even started), the following happenings…erm…happened:

1. I couldn’t find my Bake Easy cake pan spray, so I balanced precariously on the bottom shelf of my pantry while feeling around on the top shelf. I finally found the can, then lost my precarious balance.
2. As I stumbled backwards and clawed for something to hang on to, the can of Bake Easy (along with two boxes of pasta) flew out of the pantry and onto the floor. The lid came off and the can tumbled around and landed in some cosmically bizarre, could-only-happen-to-me position — which made the spray nozzle stick in the “open” position. Oil spray, everywhere.
3. I grabbed the hissing, spraying, alive can and ran to the sink with it, where I janked it around and got the aerosol volcano to stop. I turned around to grab a paper towel to wipe it down, and ZING! Slippy-slidey on the oil-covered hardwood floor. Down I went, in the muck and the mess.
4. Took off my moccasins and washed the soles down with Dawn dish soap, then got down on hands and knees and washed the floor. Then I washed myself. All right, finally back at it.
5. As I reached for the egg carton, I grazed my arm against some utensils on the kitchen counter, bumping the cake pan, which in turn knocked over the open cake mix box. More mess to clean up.
6. Got out the bottle of vegetable oil; fumbled it, and it landed on the floor. Thankfully, it didn’t break.
7. Fast-forward to the second cake coming out of the oven. After carefully, carefully, carefully releasing the last perfect layer, the pan slipped out of my hands and landed square on top of the cake. Sheared off a huge chunk. (At this point, I am considering running, screaming out into the street.) I had to make a small batch of frosting and use it as joint compound to reattach the severed piece. Curses.
8. The Js arrived. When I went to transfer the glued-together cake layer to the other counter top to wrap it, Justin says, “I’ll help you, Grammie!” I said, “Sure, but be careful because—” Amputee chunk comes loose. (Haha. No damage done. He’s a great helper!)

The cakes eventually went into the freezer, all wrapped up and ready for icing tomorrow morning. Last night, I mixed up the filling for the chicken pot pies without a major accident. Thumbs up. We’ll see how well the rolling out of the crusts goes tomorrow…

J’ever have one of those mornings?? Just call me Murph.

“Summer vacation,” yes? HA

Truly, it’s great. Other than schlepping it to the Hyundai dealership this morning (the Finkmobile goes in for its 7500-mile checkup), cleaning house and baking like a madwoman tonight and tomorrow morning, having the Js for an overnighter (yay!!), and cooking lunch (chicken pot pies, yeast rolls, salad and two lovely Fanci-Fill ice cream cakes) for 16 on Sunday — I’m doing nothing this weekend.

I do love some summer break shenanigans. And no time like the present to get them started. Visits to Grandson #3 and sister Mavis are also in the works before next week’s insanity begins. I must say I luv it.

What’s your weekend looking like? Are you proud of me on account of I actually know what day it is today? (I often lose track over the summer.)

News item: Strange happenings in my town. A popular mission/ministry here in Ashland has burned to the ground — for the second time in 5 years. Someone is already in custody, but police are not saying who. Odd…and a shame that the fire took with it not only (and most importantly) a crucial resource for needy families, but also a huge chunk of the town’s industrial and architectural history. Almost a whole city block of 19th-century buildings. Sad.

I hope you have some time carved out for family this weekend. Now git bizzy; if I have to, you have to.

I think I need one. It’s my first official day of summer break, and I’m experiencing the familiar jittery feeling of being “at sea.” Adrift. Purposeless. Confused about which thing to do next.

J’ever get that way? Each time I’ve tried to make a list, it’s ended up in varying stages of mild success to abject failure. I grow tired of the list, I lose the list, I start the list over again, or I simply ignore it. Why am I so disciplined in other areas of my life, but in the areas that really count (to me, anyway), I’m terrible?

I’ve always believed it’s a matter of self-discipline, and shame on people who can’t control it (e.g., me). It’s somewhat of a self-fulfilling prophecy merry-go-round at times:

I should make a list, but if I do, I’ll end up not following through with the tasks on the list, which will make me feel like a failure, for which I’ll say, “If I’d just be disciplined enough to follow a list of the things I need to accomplish, I’d accomplish them,” only to make the list and end up not following through with the tasks on the list, which will make me feel like a…

Yeah.

Still, I do not give up the fight. I could just, say, not make a list and simply attack the jobs that need to be done as I think of them. Hmm, I guess so. But I’m lazy, I think. I’ve discussed this phenomenon with the Thriller on many occasions. He calls me a “big picture thinker,” as I struggle with breaking down big tasks/concepts into little pieces (lists?).

For instance, I’ll think to myself, I have got to clean this house, ARG! Yikes, huge task, and I’ll often say, “Well, I’ll clean this house later — for now, I’ll read that article.” If I ignore it, it goes away, see? I need to just buck up and get going. I’d rather write a 20-page treatise on the dangers of GMOs in our food than iron those blouses or clean the bathrooms. 

All right, stop complaining. I have to go make a list. What goes on it today, I wonder? I know: everything. Just do everything.

Oy.

Even with all the politics, the natural and man-made disasters, the budget crises, the crime, and the weaknesses inherent in the system, the United States — to me, anyway — remains one of the greatest countries on earth, and I’m proud to live here.

When I think of Memorial Day, I am reminded of what Winston Churchill said about his own Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain in 1940: Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few. Though hundreds of thousands have fought for the US in myriad conflicts, the numbers pale in comparison to the hundreds of millions who continue to live in freedom because of their sacrifice. It is not lost on me.

Enjoy your Memorial Day today — brought to you by the United States Armed Forces. We appreciate them, both the living and dead, for all they have done and continue to do.