I am a person who is serious about promises. I don’t make promises idly, and once I make them I do everything I can to keep them. Which is why this morning was such a disaster. When I break a promise, the kids know that Something Is Wrong.

And yeah, Something IS Wrong, but this was my first slip with the kids in this particular episode, and I felt horrible about it. A promise is a promise, and I broke it, and there was nothing to do but apologize and wish I was a better, more together mother.

And curse the &*#%@! ants, which aren’t even ants, they’re raisins, which probably wouldn’t be the source of so much trauma if they would just stay dessicated grapes instead of disguising themselves as insects.
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Last year, I bought a cheap “canopy” from Big Lots to set up out on my deck, which had the annoying habit of heating up to approximately 3,492 degrees during the summer. I really wanted one of those little screen houses, but I couldn’t swing it at the time. So I bought the cheapie thing that was hard to set up and just meant that now the mosquitoes could come munch on us in the shade. Wasps nested in the folds, and the thing started springing leaks the second time it rained. Still, I suppose it was better than nothing.

This year, I was able to get something nicer, and this past weekend I already had a taste of what the lazy days of summer will be like out back with the kids (“ZIP IT UP BEHIND YOU! YOU’RE LETTING THE BUGS IN!”). However, although I waited until the Torrential Rains of 2005 had passed to set it up, it’s rained a couple of times since then. And on two of the four sides, the rain collects in the canvas right at the edge of the frame. On those two edges, the roof bulges inward as the water pools, trapped between the sloping canvas and the metal framework, until I go outside and push the bulge from the underside, releasing a gallon or more of water in one spectacular gush.

Sometimes I forget to push the water off until there’s so much collected up there, I can’t believe the frame hasn’t snapped.
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It seems only fitting that while on this @&*$^! Virtue diet (Day 6! No refined sugar! Low carbs! No white flour! Feeling good! But still mourning chocolate!) I take a moment to reflect on some of the most notable food disasters in my memory.

As before: Leave a comment with yours, or go wild with your whole own post and leave me a trackback.

See, there’s a method to my madness. Thinking about all of the disgusting foods I’ve ever encountered will drown out the siren song of the very last sleeve of Thin Mints that I found waaaaay in the back of the deep freeze.
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