I give up...

So here is the last of my installments of my Stress-Free Diet plan. As you can see, this one I managed to write a while back but never even got it posted till now. The bottom line is that it was a valiant effort but not a complete success. I bemoaned my failure to my mom who said to just keep trying. She said everytime she fell off the diet wagon it was hard, but if she didn't keep trying she would have weighed 300 pounds. Every attempt had some success and helped her refine what worked for her. I think my stress diet is the same. This kind of schedule was thwarted at EVERY turn but perhaps the act of trying kept me more organized than I would have been if I hadn't even tried. Family night stuck and that's the most important anyway :)

Day 3:

Start my new early work schedule and arrive at 7:30 for one hour of web work before setting up kitchen. Laurel rather calmly yells “Momma Sue-FIRE” Hmm. Seriously? I walk in and yes, we have an electrical fire where our oven is plugged in. The fire extinguisher is exactly where the fire marshall told me to put it. Thank G-d. I pick it up say out loud “Do you know how this works?” I manage to fling out the pin , grab the hose and shoot. Fire out! Cafe Saved? Adrenaline rushing. We clean up the mess, flip off the breakers till Jerry comes in to tell us what went wrong, I head to safeway for muffins since our oven is somewhat melted and get the cafe open running by 9am (ish). See what I mean about the unexpected. Who could have predicted my emails would not be returned because my place caught on fire?! The rest of the day is pretty calm compared to a a conflagration or 3 ring circus so I'm back on track again. I start writing a todo list and realize that some of my to-do's have already been DONE. What a rush. Maybe I (and thousands of other who got on facter than me) could be onto something with this schedule thing. I always had it in my head that

Day 7: It just keeps getting crazier. Is the universe against me having a routine? Does it completely go against everything that I stand for. I will continue this fight for empty space in my head (wait that did not come out right) I meant for an openness that is only possible when this damn to do list goes dormant. I have seen progress, albeit limited but I love a challenge. This leads me to day 7. Sunday. It was hell and here is why: I set my alarm early to make sure I have time for my 1 hour of computer time before setup. I did wonder why my hubby had changed his monitor setting to read 7:30 instead of 6:30. Oh well. Then the announcer on KFOG kept talking like it was nearly 8am. Good grief these guys are off too?? Wait a damn minute. Daylight-friggin-savings! I completely forgot and assumed my cook had too because she was not out front waiting for me and tapping her foot. Oh well, how can I yell at her when I did the same thing right? So I set up the cafe and then realize it's 9:15 and still no cook. I check messages, which I would have done during my :office: time but no matter. It's a call from her boyfriend saying she's been in a car accident and I quote “I'm guessing she's not dead since she told me to call you.” Good grief. I have no idea how she is doing and I've got to get a replacement. NO ONE answers the phone. I am on my own and the skies are grey. I'm in trouble. I call my hubby and say grab the kidlets, you're on register today. I'll train you as we go. This would not be pretty. My faithful knight arrives with cranky kids in tow and I give him a 5 minute training. We pull it off for a good half hour and Misty, my right-hand gal, comes riding in to save the day. She pulled a hard shift the night before I and I did not ask her to come but she's awesome and came in anyway.

So back on track....until,,, crazy lady comes back. I won't go into all the details here for the sake of privacy but suffice it to say that it was not a pretty scene. I had to throw out my first customer EVER! I even had to call our walking Beat officer to come give us a hand and then I remembered that he was out for a medical issue. Leaving a message for him worked anyway because CL heard the message and finally left. Luckily, hubby was still around and escorted her out the door. The whole thing was messy, and sad really and I was seriously off schedule which was what I was most upset about. I found out that my cook was OK and would be back in tomorrow. Thank goodness. Crazy customer was now gone and my shift was over. I finally got to my email and saw that Officer Albino, our very sweet and always helpful beat officer had died suddenly. SHIT. All I could do was sit and cry. For him, for his family and for my terrible no good very bad day. Rest in Peace Officer Albino.