What a Strange Easter! Or Sometimes You Need to Sleep.

Well, Easter has flown by in a blur and I must say that this was a strange one. I had big hopes and plans that disintegrated for the most part due to my being overly ambitious about everyone having the perfect Easter. Well, it was an interesting Easter. I got the bunnies and other decorations up the week before despite the chaos in the house left over from Gulf Wars and the Garage Sale. We did make it to church although it was a bit of a disappointment.

I had big plans to go to the church potluck and service on Thursday night, but my friend and I were also going to have Part II of the Big Garage Sale on Friday morning, and I was still pulling and marking stuff at 5 pm. Plus, I had not made my potluck dish of Brownies and thought that taking a loaf a bread was just a little too--cheap. Plus, my friend had been telling me since noon that she was on her way over with a load of stuff for the sale and guess what time she got there? 5:30 pm. So no Thursday service, I guess.

The reason that we were having part II of the garage sale on Good Friday instead of LAST Friday was that (1) I was not ready last Friday and (2) her kids were sick and she was not ready either. So we thought we could do it quickly and easily on Friday morning, then get on with our lives. But there is no such thing as a quick and easy garage sale.

I had planned to go to the Dallas Arboretum Friday with the kids since R had to work, but then it rained Thurs night, and the weather forcast said it would rain again Friday afternoon. I do not enjoy being stuck all the way over at the Arboretum in Dallas, which is a good 45 minutes to an hour from here, in the pouring rain. The kids did not seem particularly thrilled about going either, so I decided that we would do the garage sale and then I would go do some Easter grocery shopping like a good mom, maybe making it to the Friday pm service.

Well, R and I got up at 5 am on Friday and we could not see the sky. The weather report now said 80% chance of rain but we put stuff out anyway. My friend overslept, but after a few phone calls she arrived finally with her kids about 6:30 am and we sent R out with the signs. Well, by the time he got back it was raining. We kept covering things and moving things in to the garage but I did not want the sale IN the garage because of all the tools and bikes and camping equipment in there that were NOT for sale. We finally called it off at 7 and R went and got the signs, because he had a conference call at 8. Well, about the time he got back, it stopped raining!! So then I just had a garage full of wet stuff. My friend and I decided we would try again the NEXT Friday. That's what we get for trying to do a sale on Good Friday.

We had two customers, who together bought some of my friend's toys, and I may be buying some of her junk too (she has an electric guitar and an Eretor set, two things my girls would like but I don't want to spend a lot of money on). So my friend made money. I didn't make ONE Dime.

Then, since the sale was cancelled, the kids (who were out of school and were going to work the sale and sell drinks, etc) were kind of disappointed. So I agreed to take the three girls to a matinee movie. My friend said her other son had a hurt ankle and needed to go to the doctor so she couldn't go to the movies (as of Friday night she still hadn't taken him to the doctor though). I was thinking it would be $5 a kid, but NO, they wanted to see the 3-D version of something or the new Miley Cyrus sappy movie. I talked them into the Train Your Dragon film (A wanted to see Clash of the Titans but it is PG 13 so I said no). We saw the dragon film and split some cokes and popcorn, so $36 plus $18 is...well you get the picture. Then we had lunch ($5 each) and then we got to go to Walley World for shopping. M and her friend wore the wrong shoes for this so they were walking around Walley World without shoes on, complaining of blisters. As a Bad Mom, I had left all my bandaids back at the house.

At one point one of the kids spilled a sample drink and I sent the two of them (M and her friend) to go get someone to wipe it up while A, who still had her drink, stayed with me and the spill. Then they disappeared and didn't come back promptly, so I walked to the front looking for them. Then I alerted Wally World that they were missing and they had to do an Adam Alert in the store to find thethem, so I won't be letting them wander off again. So I really AM a bad mom--almost lost not only my child but someone else's child.

In fact, I saw a neighbor at the restaurant just before Wally World. She LEFT her kids at the movies (boys, the same age as my kids and younger) and went and had a facial. She, of course, got away with it. I would NEVER have done that in a million years. I told her I was going to Walley World with the three of them next and she said, "I hope you have liquor at home." (The good news--yes, I do).

So, Wally World was interesting, to say the least. I haven't told R about the Adam Alert yet. Maybe he will read the blog and find out. I didn't get all the groceries I needed because the kids got bored once I got them the Special Wally World edition of New Moon. That was their other big request this weekend: they wanted to Watch New Moon. And Ben Hur. And Jesus of Nazareth.

After unloading all the Wally World crap I helped the kids and their friend dye Easter eggs. Then I was exhausted and laid down for a nap, and slept until 7 pm. So no Friday service either. In fact, R had to go get Chinese food. We were supposed to be going to Elfsea Defender for the day on Saturday where we would do an egg hunt (I fixed up some eggs for a hunt with change in them but I was very unclear as to when said hunt would materialize--had planned on doing it at Defender). I had packed everything except the cooler already so I would not have to do it all Friday night.

As we ate our Chinese food while R complained that I haven't cooked since Gulf Wars (which I assure you is quite the exaggeration). At any rate, most of the Defender stuff was laid out. I started the girls into picking out their Easter outfits from what was already available in the closet. Literally ONE WEEK ago, A tried on some stuff we already had and told me it would be fine for Easter. Well, guess what? A decides Friday night that the pink shoes and the pink dresses she already has don't fit and she must wear M's shoes on Easter, meaning M now has no shoes!

So I go to bed with a headache and I awoke at 5 am with the same headache. R says we should get up to go to Defender but I am not feeling so great this morning. So we slept until 6 at which point we decided NOT to go to Defender (despite the fact that everyone's clothes are laid out and I am almost packed). I just did not feel good-- Ithink it was allergies (because in truth I was NOT hitting the bottle Friday night, just drinking plain orange juice with my Chinese food).

(I am drinking lots and lots of a particular brand of orange juice lately because the bottle looks like a dombek and I am hoping to get through 20 bottles in time to use the bottles for drum making at Warlord on Memorial Day weekend. I am crazed.)

So, we did NOT go to Elfsea Defender, which I regretted by about 10 am when I finally got up and got moving on the day. Sometimes you just need to sleep. R and I could not remember the last time we had slept until 9 am, and the girls didn't get up before then either.

At any rate, R and I argued because he hasn't done the taxes yet, I watched part of New Moon, then I went Easter shopping since the kids had gone to a friend's house to decorate MORE Easter eggs. I got a new dress each for M and A since there were "dress issues" Friday night as well, and two new pairs of shoes for M (flats and heels), plus a few other things. And I got a new Easter outfit for myself, the first in about 5 years. So, in other words, I had one of those weekends where I feel like all I did was spend money.

A didn't like the Easter dress that I got her so M decided to wear it instead on Easter Sunday and A wore one of the old dresses and some old shoes after all. Oh well. The dresses I got can be worn this summer as well. both by M if necessary, and are casual enough to wear other places besides church. I think we are finally at that stage where the fancy dresses and the tights and hats and such are too "little girl" for my girls.

R set the alarm for 6:30 Easter Sunday but I didn't hear it, even though I fell asleep early on Sat night watching (you guessed it) NEW MOON. Shopping exhausts me, especially trying on clothes myself. I avoid it like the plague. I had not even looked for Ben Hur or Jesus of Nazareth yet--still haven't. The plan had been to watch at least one of these on the way to and from Defender but since we didn't go...well, I guess we will have to watch them later. Who says Easter has to only be one weekend? We still haven't even done our egg hunt yet.

So, on Sunday we are up at 7:30 trying to make a 9:30 service, and I am insisting we have to be there by 9:10 in order to get a seat (which is true, you know). I had done the Easter baskets already on Friday night, so I put them out. I think this will be the last year for Easter Baskets too. I don't think anyone believes in the Bunny any more, and how can you when you get flip flops and earrings in your Easter basket? With chocolate of course. But M doesn't like any candy but chocolate, and she was even separating her stuff out saying it smelled too chocolatety. She's just not a big candy girl, but A makes up for it.

We went to the contemporary 9:30 service, which was nice although a bit disjointed. We really like the guy who sings and plays guitar at our church but we aren't fond of the new pastor (who has been there for a year and a half but we still call him the NEW pastor). He's just a little too corporate--a little too keen on money raising if you know what I mean, and just a little too...well, slick. I'm sure he's a nice person but everything he does is very calculated and just a little manipulative. I really enjoyed the music portion of the service and the interpretive dancers at the end. Now the message was fine--relating to stained glass windows, and how we are all broken but can be put into stained glass windows if we let the light of Christ shine through, etc.--didn't have a problem with the general meassage. One of our associate pastors takes leftover stained glass pieces and makes crosses, and I enjoyed the film showing how he does this, and how it tied into the message. I enjoyed seeing the large cross that he took several weeks to make.

However, before the service they were listing some "historical" facts about stained glass and this part irritated me (and R too), almost to the point that we found it hard to concentrate on the main message. For one thing, they spelled "Chartres" wrong. If you are writing about great Gothic cathedrals, folks, use Spell Check once in a while, will you? Then they talked about how Oliver Cromwell had all the stained glass in English churches destroyed when Henry VIII dissolved the monastaries (they mean Thomas Cromwell. Oliver was his Grandson. Doesn't anyone watch The Tudors? Also, I don't know that ALL the stained glass was necessarily destroyed, although a good bit of it probably was.). Then they talked about how Oliver died of Malaria, which may be true (haven't looked it up yet), but Thomas (the one who worked with Henry VIII) did NOT die of Malaria--he was beheaded for his part in getting Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves. And they were really talking about Thomas to begin with, they just didn't know it. But they were trying to tie it in with their Anti Malaria Initiative (raising money to help erradicate malaria in Africa, a noble goal).

So the historical accuracy thing was a real annoyance. How can I take a message seriously when they don't get the facts right? How do I know they are getting the other facts right? They also said that stained glass could be done quickly and easily today (well, not if it's done RIGHT! Even the Associate Pastor's work took three weeks) and they also compared the media screens that we use to stained glass windows and said we didn't need them any more in our churches to tell bible stories because now we have MEDIA. To me, that's like saying we don't need art (i.e. painting and sculpture) any more because we have HDTV. Instead of viewing the Pieta or the great Renaissance paintings we can just watch Jesus of Nazareth or Ben Hur. Or excuse me, a more updated version of events like The Passion (can't even let my kids watch this--it's rated R). Kind of a stupid philistine take on things, if you ask me!!! Not that there is anything wrong with watching contemporary media, but how about a little respect for the past and for the sublime nature of art? Talk about smashing stained glass windows! And what was that saying about people who live in glass houses, anyway???

So, no respect for the past at this church. Out with the old, in with the new. There wasn't even a children's message. Now I like the children's message at Easter because we get to see all the kids go up front in all their finery and the kids get to be part of the service and really understand something about Easter and Jesus. I know my kids are almost too old for this now but I still like it. I'm really glad now that I was too sick to come on Palm Sunday--maybe they eliminated the Palms and the kids marching in with them. They probably decided they could just show a video instead.

Maybe it's time to change churches. Seriously. I do believe and embrace the general message (let the light of Christ shine through you), and I'm sure I'm not doing it with my blog today very well. But some of the messengers have their heads screwed on wrong, don't you think? So this is the best they can do on Easter Sunday??????? As our friend Drew remarked, this should be your Best Effort because it's generally your Biggest Audience. No wonder there was still space available in a few of the pews.

Wow, if it's not standing room only on Easter Sunday, that must be difficult if you are a minister. I remember a few years ago they had to run TWO services in two locations simultaneouly on Easter, AND show it on a screen in the lobby, to accomodate the crowds. Well, I don't think that was happening at our church this Sunday.

In fact, maybe the real highlight for me was Brunch. We went to a really nice brunch for Easter. I bought a ham but we have had so much ham since Christmas (and Gulf Wars) that I think I will barf if I eat any more ham--I will just cook this and Seal a Meal it, I believe.

Brunch was AWESOME! We have a restaurant called Sonoma Grill that we usually don't eat at because it's expensive, but I sure like their Easter brunch. The appetizer choices were eggs benedict, pancakes, crab cakes, or several other yummy things. The entrees were almond crusted chicken, salmon, lamb chops, ham, and prime rib. The desserts were chocolate ganache cake, white chocolate cake with rasberry sauce, and carrot cake, and they had bottomless mimosas. I'm not a big champagne fan but I can drink mimosas (I guess it's the orange juice--lately I just want to drink orange juice all the time). Just what I need at 11 am on a Sunday! Booze! There was enough food left over that I get to have the leftovers today for lunch!!!!! The girls were good sports about the trendy Americano food and A loved the salmon and pancakes, although not the arborio rice, and I ended up trading vegetables with M too, who got the chicken. Miranda and I also got the eggs benedict because it was still breakfast time, although R got the crab cakes and I think we should have done the same. A got the pancakes, of course. They all got the chocolate cake but I got the white chocolate because I knew I would be sick from all that food otherwise. And there were dessert leftovers as well!

I love leftovers. I am the leftover queen. I don't like to waste food so I always try to bring home half (or at least a third) of my restaurant food and eat it the next day. I really hate leaving half full plates in restaurants so I ALWAYS get a goody bag. Seriously. This is a trick in a magazine that I read to help keep you from overeating in restaurants, and it sometimes even works. So far, no food poisoning has occurred. It's just one of my little idiosyncracies. If someone has lamb chops I will even bring home the bones (for the dogs, not for me). If I forget the food and do have to throw it out a day or two later, then at least it is my choice to waste it--I'm not just wasting it because I can't eat any more or shouldn't eat any more. You would not believe the number of meals that I have not had to cook because I do this. Seriously.

Anyway, after we stuffed ourselves at brunch and got our leftovers, we went to the gazebo out in the shopping center where the restaurant is and took some Easter pictures. Then we went hometo change clothes and go down to Scarborough Faire in Waxahatchie, because this was ALSO the day of the Scarborough Academy of Performing Arts Friends of the Faire event! They started at 1 pm, but we made it by 2 pm since we did need to go home and change out of the Easter finery. The performers do their dress rehearsal at this event and rehearsed the chess match, the pub sing, opening and closing ceremonies, etc. The new jousting company was out there practicing (but since they didn't have armour on they didn't actually hit each other). But we got to pat the horses and the girls got to be in the procession for the new company! We saw our friend Drew and got to eat a great German dinner--thank goodness they didn't have lasagna again, which I despise (although the girls and I opted for the baked potatos-still too full from brunch I guess, even by 5 pm).

It is the 30th year of Scarborough Faire (excuse me, Renaissance Festival) this year. I remember going (not with R but with the ex boyfriend) in the late 1980's, and I know R and I were going by the early 90's. In fact, I have pictures from 1997 if not before. Hard to believe that it has really been THIRTY years, and I know I was there for a lot of them. The Faire started about the time that I moved to Dallas. We missed 2000 when the girls were born (they were at risk for RSV and couldn't really go out until June), but other than that I know we have been there every year since at least 1995. We used to go once a season--now we go pretty much every weekend!!!! In 2001 we took them in their twin stroller for half a day. By 2003 they were wearing costumes. By 2005 we were ALL wearing costumes. By 2008 we had joined the SCA and now we all wear GARB, and not just for Scarby.

Of course, we will be fitting in some SCA events too this spring, although most likely just the closer local ones (since the Scarby tickets are paid for and it's only an hour away). I am sad that we missed Defender but sometimes you just need to sleep. However, we will be at Glaslyn's Defender and I am going to try to convince R to go to the Defender of the Tor event which is only about 2 hours away. But I think we will be missing the Austin event next weekend (which is supposed to be an awesome event) because it's SCARBY OPENING WEEKEND!!!

So, the house is a mess and the yard is a mess, and it's time for me to get to work. Only 5 days until Scarby begins!!!

Pleasant Valley Mom who is really looking forward to the brunch leftovers