Stress Avoidance Tactics

I love when people say I'm organized. I'm always thinking, "Are you kidding me? Every year my New Year's resolution is to get more organized!" (It never happens, by the way.)

I do, however, like to plan ahead. Call it my stress-avoidance tactic. Just ask my hubby, I get quite overwhelmed when I suddenly have to accomplish a huge task with seemingly no time to get it done. I hate that feeling!

So tonight when we picked Carter up at the sitter's, I asked him what he wanted me to make for his birthday treat for his classroom. It's Wednesday already so I'll have to make it tomorrow night so he can bring it to school Friday.

He gave it some thought and decided on the "Burgers & Fries" I made last year. "Are you sure you don't want something different?" I asked. He assured me that there were enough different kids in his classroom this year (there are 3 6th-grade classes at Grant), so they'd be surprised. Plus, he emphasized, everyone thought they were cool.

Alrighty then. While we're at it, what do you want for your cake on Saturday? (We're having a small family party for his birthday.) At first he said, "Surprise me." But then he narrowed it down to a Dirt Cake or a Wacky Cake (chocolate family recipe). He did have the courtesy to ask, "Well which one's more work for you?" I pretty much decided they're a wash. One requires more layers and rolling pin action and the other requires oven baking time. I didn't care. So we're going with a Dirt Cake.

I had to get some groceries tonight anyway so this wasn't going to be a big deal. However, while I hate to say anything negative about my home away from home, my quest for the Fries (shoestring potatoes) was unsuccessful at Wal-Mart. So I drove up to Walgreens. Nothing there either. My next stop was Copps and they had 2 canisters there! I bought them both, thank you very much. And only put on an extra 5 miles for this one ingredient. The things we do because we love our kids!

Of course, I missed baseball practice completely, but at least I have everything set for making treats tomorrow night.

Hubby also did some planning ahead today. He knew he had lots of meetings that would eat up his day, so I hit the snooze at 4:20 a.m. and we got out the door shortly after 5 a.m. for work today. I had no guilt about taking a 2-hour lunch break with my "hair artist." But boy am I getting tired now. I think I'll plan to get to bed early tonight so I can avoid the crankies tomorrow!

That's good planning.