Doesn’t it just figure that the day we lose an hour’s sleep to Daylight Savings is the kind of day we need it most?!

My plans to make a bunch of muffins to take to the thrift store were threatened when I realized I was out of paper cupcake thingies. I will NOT make muffins without those thingies – I end up with crumb cake that has to be eaten with a spoon. So I got up when my hubby left for work (the ungodly hour of 6:15) and hopped…well, that word may be inaccurate, how about crawled, into the car to head to Walmart. Forty-eight muffins later, I was ready to hop in the car again, armed with a stick of butter (which I made the mistake of putting in my purse and forgetting about), napkins, three containers of flavored creamer for the coffee, two big bags of salt-water taffy to set out in bowls, oh, and the muffins, which Little Bubba carried for me, along with her 40 lb. computer bag, several books, her purse, camera case, and other assorted sundries. Naturally, it was raining.

After dropping LB off at the church, I made my way to the thrift store, where I spent the morning sorting and displaying books, Barbie clothes and board games, waiting on customers, and, of course, eating muffins.

When I was good and full, I headed back to the church to work on Sunday’s music. Normally, I have the music ready to go by rehearsal time on Wednesday, but we were out of town the first half of the week and I got behind schedule. I didn’t even have a song or theme in mind to get me started, so it was slow going for a while there. But by 3 o’clock I had all the songs chosen (12 between both services), lyrics typed, keys chosen, chords written in, transitions figured out and copies made. So LB and I took advantage of a lull to go home, where she wisely crawled into bed for a short nap, and I foolishly stayed up and got some computer-related tasks done. An hour and a half later we were back at church for rehearsal.

Now I can never get enough of this time of the day – playing beautiful songs in harmony with other musicians and singers, praising God together with the gifts he has given us; music is an awesome gift in itself, moving and inspiring, convicting and encouraging, and besides, it’s so fun! I really mean it when I say I would play all day every day if I could. But alas, soon it was time to wrap up. Hubby had a class to teach at 7pm and LB had plans to go to a friend’s house, so I reluctantly climbed into the car, alone this time, and headed back home.

After guzzling (without warming it up because I’m lazy) a drinkable can of tomato soup and putting a pan of meatloaf in the oven (praise the Lord for freezers – last time I made meatloaf I doubled the recipe and stuck some in there), I worked on a financial statement I would need for a meeting the next day. There is always so much more detail to things like that than I think, and I didn’t get very far before hubby called and asked if I’d like to go get a bite to eat. Well, of COURSE I would – I don’t turn down that offer very often, so I turned the oven down a bit and got my coat.

We are blessed to live on the edge of a quaint old downtown district on a river, and there are several charming restaurants available. We decided on Brutti’s, mainly because when we finally found a parking place along a side street, the wind was howling and bone-chilling, and Brutti’s was the closest restaurant. It is a deep narrow place, with a high tin ceiling, lots of large heavily-shellacked molding, huge mahogany mirrors, quirky artwork and white-clothed tables. The waiter took about 5 full minutes to describe two specials, right down to the way they would be arranged on the plate. After all that work we didn’t take him up on the specials but we did enjoy our choices – hubby had lasagna (boring) and I had a most delicious pork chop sitting on a heap of delectable smashed sweet potato, with sautéed spinach. There was a wonderfully delicious fruity sauce poured over the chop, with a nice kick to it that kept the poor waiter filling my water every few minutes. After that, we indulged in a piece of mocha caramel cake a la mode, which we shared.

The meal put hubby to sleep about 5 minutes after we got home, but I couldn’t go to bed without Little Bubba in the house. I have a strong fear of falling asleep and waking in the middle of the night to find that she still hasn’t returned, and then panicking, which has happened before with Mike when he was having to deal with some crazy person until late. It’s no fun at all, so I opted to stay up and continue to work on the financial report (just a notch above “no fun at all.”) Buddy spent the time lying at the top of the stairs, head on his paws, waiting for LB to get back here where she belonged (how on earth are we going to cope with this child going off to college in a year and a half??).

The girl eventually arrived, said goodnight and toddled off to bed, and I stayed up, determined to conquer the report.

Experts say that it’s a good idea to go to bed earlier the week of Daylight Savings, to get your body used to the time change. Not only did I not take that advice, but I ended up staying up until 1:30am working on that stupid report. And, demented person that I am, I am now spending my entire Sunday afternoon writing this blog entry while my hubby and daughter saw logs upstairs. Well, there’s always tonight…maybe…if I can’t think of anything better to do.