Day 15 - Breakfast
We're not big sit-down breakfast people... mostly because we stay up too late every night and regret it every morning. So really, I take that back - I ADORE sit-down breakfasts, and eat them once every 6 months at a Bob Evans. Ain't nobody got time for that.
So, to get a grab-and-go item in our hands, I went to The Cabinet and baked pumpkin muffins. For the second time in a month. Yes, me, a muffin-baking queen. If you were not aware that you can make pumpkin muffins with 1) a box of Spice Cake mix and 2) a small can of pumpkin and 3) nothing else - you are welcome. Now I can eat one for breakfast each day. And Chris can eat three.
Day 17 - Groceries
This was our first real grocery trip since Lent started. A friend looked at me like I was crazy when I said this. Yes, we went 17 days. Yes, we still have food to spare.
Chris got to experience his inaugural trip to the Aldi that opened in our town. We love a deal. Ergo, we love Aldi. We got our gallon of milk and lots of produce: avocados (59 cents!! ...so they're rock hard, we'll get them ripened at some point!), lettuce, spinach, bell peppers (all the fun yummy colors), blackberries, and a questionable buy of a large container of the blue Naked juice (it's produce... but liquified... this may have been bad). We also bought frozen raspberries, cool whip, and butter, but these were ingredients for a friend's birthday cake, not for us. (Though we did eat some... and oh my WORD. Whipped up a raspberry sauce to drizzle on top and I thought I might die.) Happily, the cake used up some cabinet ingredients like chocolate chips and cocoa!
Our grocery trip was, again, fast. When the options are limited, I'm not traipsing the aisles in search of deals that might catch my eye. Nor can I buy things I *might* make one day.
(author's note: it is now day 33, and I am still dreaming about this cake. make it.)
Day 18 - An Embarrassing Lenten Moment
Today we attended the Carroll County Maple Sugarin' Festival. Evidently, these events do not only happen in Vermont. Why any sort of partially outdoor festival was planned for March 3 is beyond me. But I adore maple flavored things, and come 25 degree days or winds, I was going. After looking at the Birds of Prey pavilion (...right), laughing at the people on a HAY RIDE in 25 degree weather, and "observing the maple syrup demonstration" by shivering and standing practically in the fire pit (so, after approximately 8 minutes of 'experiencing' all the festival had to offer), I steered us inside to the "Sales" portion of the festival. The goal? Maple sugar candy. It is obnoxiously sweet. And comes in tiny little 4-packs that can be instantly consumed and not stored away somewhere like a cupboard. Therefore, they are within the rules, and I'm obsessed. This was my objective for the whole trip.
In the "sales" area (quotes intentional), they had three card tables set up. Two were sellers of woman-geared products that we don't need but can purchase by planning parties at our homes for our girlfriends and which guilt us into pouring out awful amounts of money to acquire unnecessary designer junk - okayi'mdone. The third table was the extent of the maple sales. We looked at the 12 bottles of maple syrup on the table (not 12 varieties, 12 total), blinked for a moment, and then I set eyes on a jar of "Maple Cream." Like maple syrup, but cream. For bagels. English muffins. Crackers. Fruit. Pancakes. Toast. Anything. Ohhhhhh my heart. I got so excited.... and then realized that maple cream would reside in The Cabinet. And was not milk. Or produce. I looked frantically at Chris for a permissive "it's okay, we can't get this anywhere else - we can put it in a drawer instead of the cabinet - it's LIKE produce, it's made from trees - we'll save it for when Lent's over..." and got a big fat "Yeah, I don't think so, I think that violates the rules." Ouch. My crestfallen face caught sight of their price list... and lo and behold, MAPLE SUGAR CANDY was listed! "OOH! Where is your candy?!" I cried.
"Sold out," the guy said.
..."WHAT?!"
"Yeah, we sold out a little before noon, I think."
"...You opened at 10:30. It is 1:30. You brought enough candy for an hour and fifteen minutes?! At a MAPLE FESTIVAL?! And you are telling me you are the ONLY people who thought to provide anything like this???!!!" [this tirade/temper tantrum was inside my head, thank God]
"Maybe we'll order more next year."
"MAYYYYYYYBE?! ORDER??!! You don't even make this stuff YOURSELF?! You're a POSER?!" [again, inside the head. thank you, filter.]
And with that, since had no desire for the pancake brunch or face painting, we headed back to the car. And friends, I POUTED. Moped. Flopped on the couch the moment we got home. Ignored Chris's sweet attempts to draw me back into normal humans-who-aren't-three-years-old behavior patterns.
(Can I also point out that several days later this man told me he'd researched how to make the candy ourselves?! Honestly. I am spoiled by his ever-growing thoughtfulness and selflessness. it's a testament - we were not always this way.)
Sadly, this is how God shows me where my happiness lies.
I get an idea, and it needs to be seen through to completion immediately. Or else. I wish to acquire, and I can satiate my appetite through a tangible thing that I can retrieve from some location and bring it to my home or my stomach. If it is what I wanted, and if I am able to get what I wanted, then I am happy. If not, all bets are off. It's sad, it's embarrassing, it's true.
Jesus, I want to be like you. You threw fits only when people defiled your Father's house. You mourned only for ones dear to you who passed away and for the fallen world you saw in its original glory. You were rightfully saddened by those whom you saw were far from the Kingdom and those whom the rest of us neglected to love. And you only wanted what your Father wanted, for each of us to have living water that would quench every thirst we could ever have and then some.
Keep breaking down those childish, selfish parts of my heart I love to think I can hide from You.
