Showers and Bread Machines

Ah! We've finally had two pretty spring days - IN A ROW!! There is nothing like sitting out in the sun to blog with my laptop...after brining out the cushions for the lawn chairs and relaxing with my coffee and a book!

So some funnies with Ian this morning:

Ian had pushed four beanbags and the entire stuffed animal collection down the laundry chute last night. So this morning, I told him that before he could play anything else, he had to pick that stuff up. The whining began:

"I'm so bored! All I ever do is work! Driving kids around, cooking dinner, all that stuff is fun. Everything you get to do is fun!...and all I do is work!!"

Which was followed by some comments while I sat in the sun with my book as he helped dad fill holes in the driveway. "OH! I get it! The boys all have to work, and all the girls have to do is relax!"

This if course was followed by me making breakfast, folding a couple of loads of laundry, making cinnamon rolls for tomorrow, and doing my 30 minutes of doctor-mandated exercise....which followed yesterday's helping the boys with their room, changing bedding, washing sheets, doing about 7 loads of laundry, cleaning both bathrooms, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning our bedroom, making lunch, paying the bills, and balancing the checkbook. I just giggled! Yep! Boys have to do ALLL the work. Girls just get to relax!

I FINALLY HAVE A BREAD MACHINE.

Several years ago, my mother-in-law gifted me with her family-size breadmachine, as she had replaced it with a smaller, camper-friendly version. I had never used one, but fell in love and quickly begin making my own pizza crust, bread, cinnamon rolls, and became slightly famous for my dinner rolls. I used it to death! Literally! One day, though it had never even moved a bit on the counter, it totally jiggled itself off the counter and landed on the tile. The lid and front panel broke off, but I put it back together and it still worked for months. Then one day, we all smelled smoke. We were dashing around the house trying to figure out what was burning. It was the bread machine. She was done.

This Christmas I was given a $50 gift certificate to Kohl's, so I kept my eye on their bread machine, waiting for a sale, and those famous 15% off coupons. I finally hit the jackpot. It was on sale, I had a coupon, and it was only going to cost me an additional $20. Woohoo! So I ordered it. I got a ship date, and a tracking number. A couple of weeks later, I decided to track it. UPS had no record of the package. I contacted Kohl's.com and they told me that they were out of stock. "But you said you already shipped it!" "Well, they are out of stock. We can refund you." "But most of it was paid with a gift card." "Well, we can send you a new gift card." "But I won't get that price again."Being in the customer service profession, I was slightly annoyed with having a different person reply to each e-mail I sent. Noone was following this through and taking care of it. It was simply being randomly answered by whoever got it next. I ended up with a credit on my card, no gift card, and no bread machine. Grr!

So last week, I got in the mail a 30% off coupon for Kohl's. I really do love Kohl's, but I really didn't want to order it online again. So I saw they had bread machines back in stock online. But it wasn't on sale. The next week it was on sale, so I called the store and asked if they had any in stock. He said he had one, and I asked him if he could hold it for me for an hour. I gave him my sob story about trying to get one since Christmas. He said "Really?! How 'bout I mark it down another 10-15% for your trouble." Did I mention that I love Kohl's. I told him that would be awesome and went to pick it up from customer service. He had marked it 20% off! So! It was on sale, then he marked off 20%. Then I had another 30% off coupon. I got the bread machine for $45!! vs. $89....and my first batch of cinnamon rolls are rising for the oven.

So this morning, I had just started my shower when the infamous knocking on the door began. It caused me to wonder, which plan worked better? The "prepare everyone that I'm taking a shower, and I'll be done in just a second" plan - so they know where I am and don't worry about anything? Or the "sneek to the shower quickly while everyone is busy and hope I can get out before anyone notices I'm gone and have any need to track me down" plan?

Now obviously the plan one chooses has a bit to do with the age of the children you are leaving outside the shower. But at this stage in my life, I've decided that usually sneeking through is the best plan. That got me thinking about how God is with us. We often think that if we just knew His plan, we would be able to deal with things - if we just knew what He was up too. But I'm convinced, that when God reveals to me what He is up to, I pester more. "How long is it going to take? When are you going to take care of this? You said you would do this. Why aren't you doing it?" But, if God sneeks behind the scenes and prepares things without me knowing, and then"Boom!" its ready....I'm just thrilled and excited have never dealt with the impatience. Either way, He is doing the same work behind the scenes....but with the latter scenario I'm not pestering him to pieces.

Just my random thought for the day.