Exhausting weekend (without hockey!)

I have no idea why, but G and I were both tired and cranky practically the whole weekend. We played Mario Party 8 most of the weekend, which honestly was way fun, but I had to cut him off after Saturday morning until his friend arrived for a playdate. (He was going to sleep over, but apparently changed his mind.) He was like an addict--"Why can't I play before W comes? If I do X, can I play? What if I do Y?" which only made me more sure I made the right choice. I also have started doing 3-minute breaks when he bursts into tears while playing. We had one of those on Saturday, and after he went into his room, shrieking with rage and frustration, he settled down and read a book for a while. Good choice.

I did some cooking--finally got it together and made the Curried Split Pea Soup from a vegetarian pressure-cooker cookbook Dharma gave me (was it a loan, D? I could mail it to you...). It turned out great. I had some more today. Just terrific. I minced the ginger very finely and yet it still turns up in tiny bits in your mouth to add a wonderful zing of flavor. (I omitted fennel and black mustard seeds--eew.)

I also made some bread dough for rolls for the Thanksgiving Dinner at our church. I had neglected to sign up last Sunday for the dinner, so I called the coordinator; he said no one was bringing rolls. Ah, a lovely excuse to bake! The first rolls I made, I put on the cookie sheets well floured and let them rise on the stove for a while. They seemed kind of dry on the outside when I put them in, and after they came out again, they were like crispy pebbles--soft inside, but not enough to overcome the unpleasant crackle of the outside. I put some more ingredients into the breadmaker to make a second batch of dough, but not until 9PM. I was falling into bed when I realized I needed to take the dough out and set it out to rise, at least, when it was done (and just now, as I'm typing, I realized I could have just refrigerated it overnight). I set my alarm to wake up in an hour...and woke up in the morning to dough spilling over the edges of the bread pan. Sigh. So we had Trader Joe's rolls at the dinner. I do like to bake, but I like to bake successfully.

Sunday morning, I woke up and was getting things going just fine until push came to shove and I was in front of the bathroom sink at 9:25 with wet hair, realizing I needed to be at church at 9:30 with my flute, ready to play. Ugh. Fortunately, the rehearsal went very well. Just a few tiny flubs, which completely disappeared in the performance. I was playing a flute accompaniment to Simple Thanks sung by the choir. It was lovely.

Had a bit of a bad shock when our church sexton was reading the announcements and announced that our family was hosting the coffee hour in honor of G's first time as an acolyte. I had been ready to get G into the acolyte gear (note for next time: bring a comb!), but had absolutely, completely forgotten about food for the coffee hour. After the choir piece, I changed out of my robe, grabbed my keys, and headed out to Trader Joe's for food. I think I made it in and out of there in less than 15 minutes, which must be a record for me. As I got back, I found tons of food already there! A woman from our church is active in the local education foundations and there was extra food from a Saturday meeting--small sandwiches, a veggie platter (to which I simply added a dip), hummus and pita wedges, and delicious meatballs in tomato sauce, which we heated and served with toothpicks. She anxiously asked if I could return the TJs stuff. Sure! I ended up keeping it, though, as I put out some of it and the rest will keep at home, as most of the items are things we eat anyway.

I was meant to go to a spinning afternoon that day, but since I'd failed to get childcare (W's mom couldn't take him) and was exhausted from the morning, we stayed home and played a little bit more Wii and I knat and rested in my room. Finally, after the starting time for the dinner, we got out of the house with the rolls and joined our churchmembers. I was really glad I'd gone, mostly because it was also a time to say goodbye to our previous accompanist, who had pretty much taken me under her wing with regard to playing flute in our church. She is a sweetheart and will definitely be missed.

We left right after dessert, came home, and practically fell into bed. I found out later that the hockey game was very short-staffed, which is too bad; I was sorry to have missed it anyway, and that made me a bit sadder. But at least I have childcare set up for next game and, I think, the game after that already. Go, Melancholy Spleen!