Tuesday, April 26, 2011

When Things Don't Go Quite as Planned...

I always have big ideas.  They never really seem to work out, though.

For example, our Caja de Lamentos is still on the table filled with all our shortcomings and not yet burned.  Christ has died and risen again, but our box is still there.  We were SUPPOSED to burn our box on Saturday.  But why, oh why did we not burn our box on Saturday?

Let me just tell you.

Elizabeth had been gone for the week with my parents on a trip to GA to see some family there.  She got sick on the day they left, so when she arrived home, on Friday evening just in time to cruise into the service, she was still a little shaky.  But that should not have really stopped us.

But then Gabriel, who had already been to the doctors office on Monday for something funky that was causing his leg to be all red and swollen and then back again on Friday because he couldn't breathe well again, decided that he would like to go back to the ER and began to wheeze and not be able to take in full breaths of air.

At about 10PM, Jimmy and I loaded into the car to take Gabriel to the hospital to get him breathing correctly again and it started pouring down rain.

We got home at about 1AM, and it was still raining.  Then the cat, Dixie, woke me up at 2, and Jo was up at around 5ish and then Gabriel woke up again around 6, so Jimmy and I hauled our weary selves out of bed to take care of the little guys and let Elizabeth sleep in a while to kick whatever bug she had brought home with her.

So, by the time I remembered that we were supposed to burn our Caja in the evening, I also realized that the wood was wet because it had been rained on all night and into the day and I had forgotten to cover the wood.  So, it didn't happen.

Then we were thinking about doing it on Sunday, but my parents had invited us over for dinner on Sunday late afternoon, so we couldn't do it then, either.  (I had boiled some eggs, though, thinking that we would paint them there at their house for something to do other than to rip apart their finely furnished home, but I left the eggs at home (but took the paints!).

Perhaps Monday, then.  Elizabeth was going to have school on Monday, but Jo wasn't, so it was a possibility, but then Jo was up all night on Sunday throwing up in her bed...and hair...and pj's...and bed again...and carpet...and....you get the point.  This lasted all night.  By Monday night, there was nothing burning but our eyes from being open so long!

Tuesday is soccer practice and Wednesday is church...we will get to it sometime, but I am afraid that it has lost some of its symbolism.

But things like that always seem to happen to me.  I have great ideas and I really want to carry them out, and I really try to do it, too.  But things never seem to go as I plan!

How do you other people do it?  I read blogs and everyone seems so calm and sane and things and projects seem to get done!  What is the trick to this????

Oh, but wait...before you make suggestions, let me show you what I'm working with...

Yes, this is my pile of family.

Honestly, though, when I think about it, does it get any better than this?

But still...if you have any suggestions...  :-)

5 comments:

  1. The timing may be off but your idea for your Caja de Lamentos was brilliant. I still think it would carry the same powerful meaning a couple of days late. I would give yourself a break and take the time (if were me it would probably be a couple of weeks late) Do it.. surrender all those sins all the things that have been heavy on your heart, let them go!

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  2. Projects? What? Con que se come? You're ahead of the game in my book. Hope your family is all better. Oh and your unfinished projects are precisely why I love your blog.

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  3. psst....I only show the things that worked out well. The rest I consider personal learning experiences. I have walked away from a meal that is 3/4 cooked on the stove and gone out to eat! I have a half-assembled puzzle, 550 pieces, on my kitchen counter that the children have lost interest in but I am forcing myself to finish. Don't even get me started on music lessons....and swimming lessons....and typing instruction....you get the picture.

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  4. Oh, believe me, there is soooo much I feel I want to do and don't or don't do right!! Blogs are great for highlighting the things that work out right. My Resurrection cookies got made and put into the oven on Saturday night, after explaining all the symbolism to the kids, but they were not hollow on the inside like the tomb, like they were supposed to be. Oh well, they still tasted good, and they got the main points. :) I have so many things that NEVER get done or I just get done when I can: it's the ONLY way to stay SANE!!! :) You sound like you had an adventurous weekend!!!

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  5. Among millions of other things, this is why my children have never had a music lesson in their lives, despite the fact that both their parents are professional musicians. Oh, and it's why a beautiful screen print of The Wave of Kanagawa is in a bag in the closet. And why I don't cook at all. And why my summer to-do list is simply a copy of my winter to-do list with "gardening" added.....

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