Wanted: Working Brain

As of the first of the week I intended to recap the rest of last weekend and now, here we are at a new weekend.

I do want to mention that we were able to celebrate Addie's friend Ivory's second birthday at her party last Saturday. Lee Ann asked me to make cake pops, which I did, but I am sorry to say they did not turn out like I had pictured them in my mind. Lessons learned, I now know what melting chocolate to use and what doesn't work and I now know 100% that the pops need to be smaller. Thanks, Ivory, for letting me learn through your cake pops! Nevertheless, here they are:


We enjoyed hanging out with Ivory and her friends and family.

This week started almost the same as last week, begging the question, "What will we do and where will we go this week?" The only thing that was different was Addie's runny nose, the one that literally developed over night. We were keeping an eye on her to see how she was doing but that didn't mean we were to be cooped up inside. Here in the Panhandle the temperatures were a little cooler this week so we tried to spend time outside whenever we could. See, you never know when the oppressive heat will choose to wreak its havoc!

Monday morning, a little last minute, I planned on taking Addie to the park. I wanted to take her to Under the Oaks, a park near Panama City that is, well, under a lot of trees. Hence, the name. I also had an errand to run out that way so I figured we could also swing by the park and maybe to McDonald's, as I remembered it was $1.99 happy meal day.

Usually, as I have mentioned before, a trip to Panama City usually takes planning and strategy since we try to accomplish quite a bit when we are there. On this particular morning I did not do any of that, which also meant we were leaving just an hour before normal lunch time, which is typically followed by a nap. I knew this, but pressed on anyway.

We hit the bank first and then the park. We started out really well and the weather was wonderful. It helps that the park is on the water, too. We played, we ran, Addie climbed and she went down a slide all by herself. Then, came the swings. Lately she's had a love/hate relationship with the swing. What she once loved now seems to be a source of frustration. I don't get it. I put her in because she wants in, I start pushing and the screaming begins. I stop. More screaming. So I push. More tears. We usually end one of two ways - either we forget the swing altogether or she calms down and remembers she likes it. We did the former.









It was after this that I decided we would leave the park, head for the drive-thru at McDonald's and make it home for a nap. That sounded great until I realized I'd lost my car key. I had my keys clipped to my belt loop but my car key, which is attached on another ring, had come off. Great. Forty minutes from home, lunch time and I'm stuck. I stayed calm and started retracing my steps through the sand, the leaves and the woodchips and prayed the whole time. I was searching maybe five minutes when a man came up to me and asked if I was looking for a key. Yes! He had found it. Oh, happy day. I was so thankful.

The rest of the day went off without a hitch. We made it to another park later in the week, helped out at church one day and made a visit to the doctor to check on Addie's ear. I feared she had another ear infection and she does. This one isn't as bad and she is on milder antibiotics but I can tell you I am over the ear infections. I am sure Addie is, too. On the same day we went to the doctor I drove off from the bank drive-thru without our money and had to go back an hour later (when I remembered. Thankfully we were still in Panama City and not all the way back in Wewa.)

Oh, and then there's the me getting pulled over Wednesday night as I was taking some of our girls home from youth service. Yes, yes I did. Again, thankfully, the policeman let me go with a warning but not without that feeling in the pit of my stomach leaving too soon.

So, if you see a working brain, let me know.

I am thankful we've made it through this week. Not a bad one, just a little nutty.