*** OUR MINDS ARE TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE DUE TO SYSTEM MAINTENANCE AND UPGRADES…AND CIRCUMSTANCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL ***

There is more truth to the above this week than we’d like to admit.  Tracey and I are fairly well-organized when it comes to selecting, making, photographing, and posting our weekly recipes.  Most of the time that works in our favor.  Then there are weeks like this past one that make us realize that even the best laid plans can be upended in the blink of an eye.  

All that to say, we have no recipes to share this week.

We talked early in the week.  Settled on the final details of this week’s post and actually felt like we were on track, maybe even ahead of the game, but only for a brief shining moment.

Here’s how our week went:

This past week was my last week of classes.  I am now heading into finals week.  This meant that my office has been a revolving door with students coming and going trying to check grades, turn in missing assignments, beg for extra credit, get help on final projects, and…you get the point.

Then, Weber and I got word that a very dear family friend passed away and her memorial service was to be held on Friday.  Friday is the day that I don’t teach and have alloted to finishing up blog details.  That obviously wasn’t going to happen as the city where the funeral was held was a three-hour drive each way for us.   That meant a definite delay in posting for me until Saturday.

Tuesday morning Tracey was made royalty by her dentist when she earned a crown thanks to an unruly tooth.  There were issues that made “the coronation” a bit more stressful than it should have been, but in the end, she was indeed crowned.  Tuesday evening, Tracey had to attend sex education classes to help the feral kitties that live in her neighborhood.  Well, sort of.  It was en educational class about capturing feral cats and taking them for low-cost spay and neutering.  Definitely a worthwhile endeavor.  But it required giving over another evening.

Wednesday morning, I was at school and I get a text message from Tracey with a link to a very serious sounding message from Harry’s school saying that the entire district (a small district, but still) was on lockdown.  The message gave no details as to why and said that no district phones would be answered and no students would be released.  Parents were advised to stay away from campus.  How scary is that?!  The school finally released the kids for the day at 11 am.  That for sure puts a crimp in mom’s work plan for the day!

However, we still had a contingency plan to get everything done.

Wednesday evening, a got a message that I was needed to sing as part of the choir for a funeral at my own church.  That service was Saturday.  Now my contingency plan was in jeopardy.  This new wrinkle meant that things would  get done later in the day on Saturday than I had hoped.

Then Tracey’s Plan B was foiled when she lost power and Internet on Thursday due to nasty storms in her area.

We were beginning to feel like the universe was conspiring against us baking and posting our recipes this week.

Did I mention that we both also had Capture Your 365 prompts due Tuesday as well?

This morning, as I was drinking a final cup of coffee before getting dressed for today’s funeral, I sent a message to Tracey suggesting that we admit defeat this week.   She was willing to concede with no argument whatsoever.

So, this sob story is what you get instead.

Real, raw life.

Once that decision was made, it felt like a hundred pounds had been lifted from our shoulders.  Sometimes you just have to admit that you can’t take on anymore at the moment.  That is difficult for two perfectionists.  Usually we can talk each other through the stressful weeks. When we were both feeling it, there was no talking anyone through anything.  We had to bow to being gentle to each other and gentle to ourselves.

A little bit ago, I got a message from Tracey saying that this month’s Bakealong recipe is somewhat of a “retread.”  It is rugelach, which we did at the end of last year.  The only difference is that this time it has a savory rather than sweet fillings.  We are thinking that we will shift this week’s recipes to next week and omit the Bakealong week this month.  But, you never know what life has in store for us!

Stay tuned…