Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.



Oops. What I meant to say is Try. Fail. Whine About It. Try Again. Succeed. Brag About It. Repeat.


But "Lather, Rinse, Repeat." just sounds a bit catchier, don't you think?  Plus, it does apply. When you have a bad day or moment, you lather up those emotions until you want to burst.  You whine, you moan and you may even grunt.  Then after huffing, puffing or crying, you get over it and want to rinse those feelings away.  Then some other incident occurs in your life and you repeat the same emotions.


That is the kind of week that it has been for me. I have spent mine lathering up my brain over moronic things like arguing with my two year old that the letter "V" is in fact a "V", not the letter "Y."  We also argued that a unicorn is not a dinosaur as she insisted it was. 


Seriously, why am I trying to reason with a two year old anyway?  Why is it important that she know the "correct" letter or animal at this age anyway?  No one is grading her or measuring her intelligence with standarized tests.  The whole thing is silly.  I am idiotic for pushing the issues and especially for becoming frustrated over it. 


Viva the Diva and I also nearly got into a smackdown over her wanting to drag a dozen stuffed animals into the car and also in the grocery store.  I was in her face like, "No, this is not going to happen!"  Now that I look back though, what is the big deal?  Maybe she just wanted to take her "friends" for a ride.  Why did we need to fight over it?  Stupid. stupid.


Then on Wednesday, I beat myself up over failing at baking a batch of praline cookies for a holiday cookie party I was attending.  The Wonderful Marguerite at Cajun Delights sent me a delicious recipe to try.  And the recipe was good.  But me, the baker, failed to let the batch form to the right consistency and only ten out of fifty cookies were edible.   I hung my head in shame.  I felt like a failure.  Over cookies?  (But honestly, I have read that pralines and fudge are some of the hardest types of cookies to get right.  If the air is too humid or cold, the consistency may not form.  So I didn't feel so bad.) 


Still, on Thursday morning I woke up energized and determined to prove that I am a good baker.   I chose a different cookie recipe and Voila'! they turned out great. The new batch even looked tasty instead of like vomit with pecans mixed in. 


Why did I need to prove myself though?  Why did I insist on making my points with my daughter and my oven?  In the grand scheme of things, alphabet letters, stuffed animals and baked cookies don't mean much. 


I tell this story to remind myself that I'm still learning. I make mistakes. A LOT. Sometimes I really don't know what the hell I am doing. But I keep trying. I continue to learn. I continue to whine.  Sometimes I get over it or sometimes I just forget it.  I often fail, but I try again.  Sometimes I succeed.  And if I learn anything at all, then I try to share my stories along the way.



But like my bloggy friend Tammy pointed out in THIS POST that she eloquently wrote earlier today, the best gift we can give is just real time with our loved ones.  The most sincere thing we can do is listen and be there for those around us.  Great points Tammy and a great reminder for me of what I needed to hear this morning.  Thanks girl!


So, let me get off my computer now and go argue with hug my two year old while she still enjoys being with me.  We have important plans to reinact Cinderella today, using paper plate people.  And we intend to  have lots of tickle play with self-induced laughter. 



What are you going to do today?  Do something fun.  Don't just lather, rinse and repeat.