7QT #6

                -1-

My husband and I, together, tuck our boys in for the night. We always say a small prayer, asking for God to bless each boy as we trace the cross on each sweet forehead.  It’s what my Mom and Dad did for me and my siblings before bedtime.  More and more often, though, we’ve been adding the Hail Mary when we tuck in our oldest. So last night, Craig and I must have been particularly exhausted because it wasn’t until we’d finished the Hail Mary that I realized instead, we’d simultaneously recited -loud n proud, mind you- our dinner prayer without skipping a beat. (“Bless us, oh Lord, in these thy gifts…”).

                -2-

I do not like surprises.  Which honestly, if you know me, makes complete sense.  I need control. I need to know what’s going on.  I want what I want, and I’d rather tell someone exactly what I want, negating the surprise factor,  instead of letting someone guess, and most certainly guess wrong. (I KNOW! I am childish!)  I detest being lied to, misled, or deceived in any manner- EVEN FOR FUN.  Mostly, this is due to personal history issues, but I also have a firm suspicion that if someone is willing to lie for laughs, they are also willing to lie for anything else. Sorry, Debbie Downer here. However, it kind of ties in with my becoming less journey. I know I should allow surprises!  I should trust my loved ones!  Especially God, and His surprises.  So, I’m conflicted here in my motives for not enjoying surprises.

                -3-

Couple my disdain for surprises and my quick-to-be-snarky attitude and thar be humiliation.  Two Examples: One Christmas, I was mall shopping with my MIL and SIL.  My momma-in-law points over to a well known health/body/skin care store and asks me what I thought about it.  ”Uhh, just a BUNCH OF JUNK,” I replied, killing the subject -even though, I’d never stepped foot in the place. So Christmas Eve, I open up a present from my MIL, and it happened to be a beautiful array of lotions from that store.  I held it up, humiliated, and declared in good humor, “…just a bunch of junk!”  We still laugh about it today.

                -4-

My husband and I usually watch a movie or TV show a few nights a week, if it’s early enough and we’ve corralled the boys to their beds. My Our favorite show to watch, any time, is Cake Boss and Next Great Baker.  I even have great aspirations to one day make a trip to Hoboken NJ to visit the Carlo’s Bakery and purchase goodies.  My husband and I always comment on the pastries they create on the show, whether or not we’d enjoy the taste, or what we’d like to see done differently.  So I didn’t think anything about it when my husband asked me what I thought about one of the pastries shown at the opening segment of Cake Boss.  Brashly, I replied, “I have absolutely NO interest in those, whatsoever.”  Fast forward to a day ago and an annoying FedEx truck guy was ringing our door bell.  I looked at the return address on the package:

Carlo’s Bakery, Hoboken NJ.

                -5- 

I got to taste the pastries I had “absolutely NO interest in, whatsoever,” from Carlo’s Bakery.  
 

Tiny surprise it may be to some, it was beautiful to me.  I experienced delight for maybe one of a handful of times in my life at a surprise from my loving husband.  Sheepish, stands the snarky woman.

              -6-

 If you haven’t yet, please check out my current 3 part piece about Bare Minimum mode.  Here’s the link.  Look for part two, What I Cook to Maintain My Sanity, to pop up in a few days. 

              -7-

I made Meatloaf for the first time last night.  I have a prejudice about it, and have always referred to it as MeatLOAD.  I think the name sufficiently describes my feelings about the dish.  It was a success, however, and I am pleased to add it to my list of easy, freezable menu items.  I’ll include the recipe in Part Two of my Bare Minimum series.

Have a great & blessed weekend, peeps!  Go check out Conversiondiary’s 7 Quick Takes and everyone else’s, for some good laughs.