The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Moms

The best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men
Gang aft agley,
An'lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy!
To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough
By Robert Burns

Chers Amis,

Even our best laid plans can go awry. So it was with our First Sunday of Advent. Scarlett and Caddie, enrobed in scarlet and white, sang at our parish Songs and Lessons in Advent program after the 8:30 mass. Humming with Advent glee, we all came home to Stir up our hearts by working on various goodies, crafts and devotions. This was to be followed by a delicious Sunday dinner of lamb with rosemary and garlic, a good bottle of red wine and the blessing/lighting of our Advent wreath. The first half of the day went well, dh puttered around in the garage and arranged poisettas in a hanging planter, contemplating how and with what to best paint the white one purple. I happily worked in my kitchen and pantry. (Both are still-lifes of projects in tin half-finished and gift baskets yet-to-be-arranged. I call the look "Joyful Holiday Chaos" or "Recycling 101 meets St. Nicholas." It is very festive but disorganized.) While dh and the girls went bike riding through the neighborhood with our pooch, Pippin and I started stirring up our Orange Mini Bundt Cakes . Suddenly the bike riders returned with urgent news, Scarlett had doubled over with abdominal pain and could hardly walk. Exit all Advent plans. Poor Scarlett spent the evening on the couch while I nervously debated whether to take her to the ER or wait it out. Luckily one of my dear sisters is a pediatrician (I love you, Soo-Soo!) and she determined that it was probably not appendicitis. I carried my little Scarlett up to bed and she fell fast asleep for the whole night. It must have been terrible gas, for she woke up her perky self, all blond curls and blue eyes. No signs of illness. Whew! Tonight we will light the candle and say the prayers, cut the cake, and hug each other even more tightly. Talk about Stir it up Sunday!

-- Marjorie

PS - I had never seen the source of the expression, "The best laid plans of mice and men" until today. What fun to read the poem with a thick Scottish accent. Click on the poem and you will see that there are hyperlinks from many of the difficult vocabulary words (like thole and craneuch) to definitions in English, French, Spanish and German. Neat!