Murphy is My Co-Pilot

I do believe in the law of attraction.  I believe that your state of mind has a great deal to do with how your day goes.  Positive thinking and energy breeds positive things, and negative thinking and energy breeds negative things.  It really only makes sense. 

What I have come to find out is that Murphy not only has a law but he speaks softly and carries a big stick.

My world does follow along those lines.  When things are going great they continue to go great, but when one thing goes wrong...man it is down hill from there for me.  For me it starts when I am running late.  When I am running late everything stacks up against me and I cannot catch back up.

Case in point. 

Yesterday I had to be at the theater at 1:00 for mic checks and warm ups for our 2:00 Annie show.  This meant that I needed to leave the house at 12:30 or earlier since I figured I would need to feed my kidlets on the way.  Thankfully Rich stayed home to tackle laundry.

I am very good at setting the schedule.  OK we need to leave by 12:30 so I need to start getting ready and eat lunch at 11:30...obviously, the setting of the schedule isn't the problem.

Rich and I tried to pack everything we could into the morning to TRY not to get too behind since we had lots going on.  By the time we finished shopping it was 10:30.  Surely I could get all the meat trimmed and in the freezer in an hour.  No prob.

Prob.

It was 11:30 and I was still cutting and packing, and 12:00 before I got done.  In my defense, I  really couldn't just stop. I had salmonella screaming at me from all corners of my kitchen.  Just needed to plow forward finish up and hurry.

Note to self - (I seriously mean note to self because this is where it all goes down hill fast with Murphy pushing me along).  When the words "I need to hurry" enter my mind.  I need to seriously drink some herbal tea and do some yoga because those words are an invitation for disaster.

Well the hurrying started, and continued right up to the point where I am driving into a popular burger joint drive through at 12:35. 

OK people we can do this.  We will hurry through the drive through grab our fast food...I mean they call it fast food for a reason...and we will get on the road and maybe make it.

Hurrying through the drive through meant seeing that the drive through lane is entirely too long and there was only one person at the counter in the store.

OK people we can do this.  Let's just hurry right out of the drive through and park and go in. 

Hurrying right out of the drive through meant that I ran over the curb like partition (with flowers) with all four of my tires in front of about 1100 people.

OK people...regroup.  We will just hurry into the store and order fast and hit the road.

Hurrying into the store meant standing behind a very nice older lady ordering with a coupon.  And standing in front of a very grumpy man who obviously didn't realize that the little girl in front of him wasn't a sailor and isn't used to hearing those kind of words, unless it is coming from her mother who is now carrying a boat load of flowers under the carriage of her car.

This is how the next 10 minutes went:

Older Lady:  I would like to use this coupon to get my free salad.
Worker Man:  You need to buy a salad to get one free.
Older Lady:  What?
Worker Man:  It says right here that you need to buy a salad to get one free.
Older Lady: Well....I guess.
Worker Man:  What salads would you like
Older Lady:  Hmmmm let me see.  Does the Southwest Chicken Bacon Salad have onions?
Worker Man:  Hey Paul...does the Southwest Chicken Bacon Salad have onions? 
Paul: No it doesn't
Older Lady:  OK...does it have tomatoes
Worker Man:  Hey Paul does the Southwest Chicken Bacon Salad have tomatoes?
Paul: No it doesn't
Older Lady:  Can I add them?
Worker Man:  Hey Paul can she add tomatoes to the Southwest Chicken Bacon salad? 
Paul: Yes you can but it costs money.
Older Lady:  How much?
Worker Man:  Hey Paul how much does it cost to add tomatoes to the Southwest Chicken Bacon Salad? 
Paul: It costs 20 cents.
Older Lady:  No thanks. 
Grouchy Man:  Hey (talking to me and Andrew) you need to just go up there and start ordering...
Andrew:  I am sorry, but that lady is still ordering
Grouchy Man:  That is bull-%$&

OK??

Older Lady: Can I get the sauce on the side?
Worker Man:  Hey Paul can she get the sauce on the side?
Paul: Do you mean sauce or dressing?
Worker Man: Do you mean sauce or dressing?
Older Lady:  I mean sauce.
Worker Man:  She means sauce
Paul:  Yes we can put it on the side
Older Lady:  I also don't want any bacon.
Worker Man:  You don't want bacon on the Southwest Chicken Bacon Salad?
Older Lady:  No
Worker Man:  Hey Paul can we take off the bacon on the Southwest Chicken BACON Salad?
Paul:  No it is prepackaged that way...


You can obviously see where this is going.

The kicker is that just as she is paying and almost done the manager opens up another line.

I really think that I could have thwarted the demise of my afternoon by just stopping at any of those points and taking a big deep breath and regrouped mentally...but no Hurry Hurry Hurry was the only thing in my mind.

Murphy and I seriously need to have a talk about our relationship and he just may be shown the curb...you know the one that I am dragging behind my car.

More Later

- A Ro