Thursday, August 9, 2012

S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G

Observations of a serial mom:  Over the last month, I have surprised myself.  Having spent many years on this earth, I can get complacent in my day-to-day life.  However, this month has proven that I am still able to s-t-r-e-t-c-hFirst, I had to turn the helm of the family sloop over to the co-captain while I worked full-time for a week.  This may seem trivial to some, but I am an old-fashioned mom and homemaker and this is always a stretch for me.  During the week, my sickest patient did NOT die--81 with acute infection and acute renal failure--and the week went surprisingly smooth.  
The next week was what has become known in our home as "wild birthday week."  I found out I could put together 4 birthdays and all seemed to enjoy their special days.  I learned that lava cakes baked a little too long are just really good and moist chocolate cakes (sorry, Will).  I learned that making (and eating) chocolate whipped cream is something that I have been missing all these years!  I used jello to color and flavor some frosting and found out that is NOT a good idea but the KoolAid flavored frosting was actually pretty good!
My favorite (ok, 2nd favorite next to the chocolate whipped cream) was, of course, the apple crisp for the last birthday of the week.  No surprises there except when dad walked in for dinner and found out we were celebrating his birthday a few days early!
I was able to enjoy the stretching the last month has brought.  Given the challenges of the last several years, It was nice to finally have some challenges that were just plain fun.  I think I will need to weave some of these more fun challenges into the difficulties of my life.  I think I will also need to work in some more bike time to be able to only stretch and not grow!