Friday, November 14, 2008

Great Plans Gone Awry

The day has not gone as planned.

I thought it was going to be a breeze: My blog is due, but I knew what I was going to write, and I figured I could get it done early and have plenty of time to get the turkey I had volunteered to cook for our Ward’s annual Harvest Dinner in the oven. I would also get the green salad for 300 done early so I wasn’t chopping romaine at the last minute.

The first thing that happened to derail things was the message on my answering machine about my doctor’s appointment on Monday that I needed to get blood work done for. Luckily, I hadn’t had breakfast yet, so I dashed into the next town where the lab was. That was an hour I hadn’t figured on spending, but that was okay, because the blog would be a breeze, and there was plenty of time for turkey and salad.

When I got ready to download the pictures I needed for my blog, they weren’t there. I don’t know how I managed to erase them from my camera, but none of the ones I took to report on a service project were there. Yikes! What to blog on now?

Well, first I figured I’d better get the turkey in the oven and—oh, I forgot, I’m watching grandkids, too, while their Mom is over at the church taking charge of getting the Harvest Dinner put together. Grandkids arrived and promptly announced they were hungry.
I fed them scrambled eggs, and I fed Grandpa at the same time, and I managed to fling the turkey in the oven just in time so it could be done by the time it had to be delivered to the church.

What to blog on? My most disastrous service project? A service that was done for me that was just right and just in time?

I contemplated what to write as I ran cucumbers, onions, peppers and celery through the food processor. Nothing seemed right. Plowing through six sacks of romaine, I tried to remember some of the brilliant blogs I had sketched in my mind as I drove to work each morning. Talk about an empty head; there was nothing rattling around there.

I had to stop in mid-chop and run pick up Lucy from school—another unplanned trip. Back in the kitchen, I hastily finished the salad and looked at my watch. Eek! Time to post my blog. But first, the turkey had to be chauffeured to the church. I stashed the hastily finished salad in two fridges and grabbed a cardboard box for the turkey pan to rest in as it rode in the passenger seat (strapped in, natch), to the church kitchen.

So, here I am. No words of wisdom about service. No great descriptions of ways to involve youth. No jazzy pictures of people involved in helping people. And, excuse me, I just heard something crash in the kitchen. I’ve got to go check on the grandkids.

See you on Friday

Return to the Neighborhood

3 comments:

Kim said...

I LOVE your service blog... and I think this one takes the cake. You and your entire family exemplify service and the pure love of Christ to the fullest. This blog clearly demonstrates YOUR many acts of services that you do ALL THE TIME! Serving your family by doing the simple things that some might not even notice as service but really those little things mean a lot. Making meals, chauffeuring, serving in the church, etc. Those things are HUGE!! You deserve a big pat on the back for all that YOU do! Thanks for being such an amazing example. And thanks for this great blog!

Liz Adair said...

Bless your heart, Kim. Thanks for the comment. Made my day!
BTW--great picture!

Monique said...

Thank you for illustrating the example of how most of us participate in service projects that is at the last minute and completely disorganized. It always seems to get done thankfully but I still enjoyed reading about your day and I was glad you found the humor in the stress. I believe it was Elder Wirthlin who spoke about "Come What May and Love It"