Days of Dandelions and Deseret Industries Disasters

So this hasn't been my week as a wife and mom, alright? It didn't start off bad, but let me tell you, by Saturday, I'd officially begun spiraling downward in flames of embarrassment. Let me explain: So first of all, Kelsey's opera is next week, and she will be playing an old lady. I've been wondering what to do for her costume, and low and behold, her teacher, Mrs. Moss sent home a beautiful, black shawl for Kelsey to wear in the play. Only Kelsey didn't tell me about the shawl when she got home. She dumped it unceremoniously on the couch and went outside to play. I'm talking right next to the pile of dress-ups that were bound for DI. Within minutes, I had bagged up the final bag of my massive dejunking clothing purge, and quickly set off for the DI dropoff point. I was so proud of myself for getting rid of so much, truly excited for our family's impending minimalist existence. Until. Until Kelsey told me at dinner that Mrs. Moss sent home the shawl she should wear as part of her old lady costume. My eyes grew wide and my family undoubtedly wondered at the deer-in-the-headlights expression on my face. While they wondered at my reaction, my poor brained quickly processed images of dress-ups being flug quickly and without prejudice into the black trash bag. I wish I could've reached into my memory's slow-motion and hazy videography and somehow grasp that delicate shawl, somehow saving it from its tragic end...

I finally gasped helplessly then confessed to my darling daughter, who was sitting there, wide-eyed with concern. She then rewarded me with the exact same look that she received from me the day she emptied an entire bottle of Vaseline...on her head. Pure exasperation. "But Mom," she started, obviously trying to control her emotions. "Why would you send it to DI?" And like Kelsey's Vaseline explanation, mine too fell on deaf ears.

So, I spent several days looking for an appropriate shawl. First searching every square inch of our local DI store (including a Maguiver-esque jaunt around the back while no one was looking), then shopping multiple locations, calling friends, considering making my own (yeah right), and finally deciding on a dumb baby afghan.

But here's the thing. I still haven't told Mrs. Moss yet. Even as an adult, somehow the whole idea of "telling teacher" somehow terrifies me. What if I get in trouble? So anyway, this was one episode of many that colored my week of dumbness.

And yet another...Tyler and I had a discussion on Wednesday night about just how much he has on his plate right now and how on Earth he would be able to get to it all, what with his two jobs and many church responsiblilities. Many of these tasks involved yard work that needed to be done. So on Thursday, I got the idea of taking care of the clusters of dandelions that freckled our front lawn. I recently saw a commercial on television about a husband who oops! accidentally killed the lawn by using the wrong brand of weed killer (RoundUp). Then, the next year he redeemed himself by using the correct solution (Weed B Gone), which "kills the weeds, not the grass." So swiftly, I drove to Wal-Mart and with all four kids in tow, purchased a large pump bottle at Wal-Mart that looked just like the one I saw on the commercial. Unfortunately, it was the wrong one I saw on the commercial. Also unfortunately, I did not read the label well, for alas, it read "RoundUp Total Weed and GRASS Killer." To make a long story short, I sprayed, then read label, and prayed and prayed and prayed. It felt funny at first, praying for my lawn, until I remembered the scriptures somewhere which advises us all to "pray over our fields." Hey, we're supposed to apply scriptures to our lives, RIGHT?! So anyway, if you'll now join with me in prayer...