Where's the Beef?

 I just have to share my most recent disaster.  Because it was a disaster, and when disaster strikes you can either laugh or cry right? At least thats how the saying goes... I have a few other sayings floating around in my head that seem to appropriately fit the situation as well.  Like "too many buns in the oven" or "too many irons in the fire".  But before I go any further I need to be clear.  If you're either laughing or crying when disaster strikes, I am definitely laughing.  I might also be shaking my head and saying "you've got to be kidding me" but I am definitely not complaining here. Just figured that if my life looks like a big joke sometimes I might as well share and let everyone else in on the laughter too. So get ready to laugh with me at this ridiculous chronicle of events that ended in my most recent disaster.

I have had the privilege  of working with the youth at church quite a bit and love my time with them.  

The girls I worked with at camp this last year were so awesome and we have been trying to figure out a time to all get together to do something fun.  When I saw a few of them on Sunday night they threw out the idea of coming to my house for lunch during this first week of school.  They let me know it was a really short period of time that they were free, but it sounded fun and I was excited to have them over.  We planned for today, but until last night the numbers were unclear so I hadn't done any shopping yet. 

When I finished up with my school day routine of exercise and taxiing of children to various locations I went to my moms where I was planning to meet the granite guy.  I was instead met by my mom letting me know about a huge issue we had with our painting going on inside of the house and trying to formulate a new game plan and order of projects on the remodel.  I got a call from the granite guy letting me know he was running behind schedule and wouldn't be here for a while.  I ended up painting instead of going over the granite stuff and showering and getting my shopping done for lunch.  It had to happen to keep us on schedule.  When I finished with the granite guy I raced home and realized I was now really pushing it for time.  I gave my helper a grocery list and some cash and sent her to the store so I could shower and start getting food I already had prepped.  I was just out of the shower when she came back with briquettes for the bbq.  I threw on my robe and went out to get them started.  I went in and started getting the rest of the food ready while they were heating up.  Just as I 'm thinking the charcoal should be ready I head out to check on them only to find that they had gone out and the BBQ was cold.  I got them started again but it was too late.  It was 12 and the kids should be on their way over at that very moment.  I still had wet hair was in my bath robe and had no main dish to feed the 10 mouths showing up at any minute. 

My hair went into a messy bun. I threw on clothes and some mascara and then started on the burgers in the kitchen with 2 frying pans! It was soooo not the yummy BBQ I had planned but I was just gonna roll with it.  I was sooo worried about getting the kids fed in their super short lunch period that I turned the stove up a little too high.  The outsides cooked way too quickly and not quickly enough.  The kids came to eat and instead had fries and pasta salad and waited for their burgers. They were nasty.  crunchy on the outside and one was even under cooked on the inside.  GROSS.  The inside of my house was filled with that fried heavy denseness that seems to permeate everything and it was even a little smoky.  Grease was everywhere.  Around the stove, kids were waiting for their food and when they finally got it, it just wasn't that great. 

Just like they had warned me, before I knew it  they had to get going.  I felt so bad and hoped I wasn't sending them away hungry, but was sure that they would comment to eachother that those were the nastiest burgers they'd ever had.   

Just as the house emptied out the charcoals out back were piping hot and ready for cooking.  Well at least I was going to get a few good burgers out of the mess.  I put them on the grill and got started de-greasing my kitchen.  I was so wrapped up in it that I was surprised when I smelled that distinctive burning scent and then quickly remembered the remaining burgers on the grill. 

Sure enough, when I got out to the BBQ, these ones were burnt too. Awesome. 

I was already feeling so bad that lunch had been such a bomb, but now the food I was hoping would feed my mom and the girls working at the house was ruined now too! Such a waste! I spent an hour cleaning up the kitchen and still have fans going in the rest of the house.  I've tried looking back at how I could have avoided the situation, but the painting mess had to be taken care of.  The granite guy being late was out of my hands but again, I really needed to meet with him to keep things on schedule.  And so it went with each step of the way, seemingly un avoidable.  Still a little a bit frustrating to have something I was looking forward to turning into such a mess. But, there is a bright side. There always is...the one from today is this: By the time the kids were ready for dessert they were already so distrusting of my food that they left me almost this entire 9x13 pan of warm Ghiradelli brownies! 

So I may have ended up with a stack of burned beef but I got a pan of warm chocolate out of it! I'd love to see a saying about that!