The One With P-Day Tuesday

Do you remember that line in “Toy Story,” where Mrs. Potato says, “I’m packing your Angry Eyes, just in case!”? This picture reminds me of that. Not angry, though. Maybe a teensy bit tired. In the last two weeks, I have had my 25th anniversary, Tyler’s birthday, my birthday and Mother’s Day. I have baked a total of seven large cakes and 30 loaves of bread, stayed up past midnight at least eight times, gave a talk for 35 girls, and made dinner on Sunday for twenty. Two former missionaries that used to live here have come to visit. I helped the missionaries who still live here make and mail a CD for their mothers, I learned how to play Speech Therapy “Go Fish,” and attended a Mother’s Day Tea Party at the kindergarten class. There is much more…I will be merciful and stop.

In that time I have only done two loads of laundry, not once have I made my bed and I am afraid I have been on something like a fourteen-day eating frenzy. The missionaries have something called P-Day once a week. Preparation Day. I really, really need a p-day. So today I am folding laundry. On a made bed. Eating a yogurt. And working on music. There may even be time for...dare I say it?... a nap. No excitement today, please…it has been fun, but now it is done.

The One With the Stupid Missionary Tricks

My mission- aries are the best. They work hard. People call them names, spit on them, mock them and lie to them. In response to that, they just smile, shake hands, and do their best to share a message about Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. Many times as I go about doing laundry or straightening upstairs (okay, fine...shoving the protruding dirty laundry back into the laundry room so that I can close the door), I hear them in their room, doing their planning, and occasionally I even happen to hear their prayers. They kneel together and they pray for all the people they are teaching. They are so obedient and hard-working, that it is easy to forget that they are only 20-year-old boys. Most of the time. Until they decide to engage in Stupid Missionary Tricks. You know... like burning things to celebrate the one-year mark. Saran-wrapping a whole car. Oh wait... I actually did that one. Anyway, last night for New Year's Eve they took it into their heads to have a maple syrup-chugging contest. Each of them drank most of a bottle of generic "pancake syrup" that didn't even have a hint of genuine maple flavoring. They felt so sick that they weren't even able to enjoy the New Year's Eve spread I had prepared. They came downstairs later to play a board game with us and Skippy managed to swipe Elder H's water bottle and spike it with a little maple syrup. I have never seen anyone run so fast to the sink to spit. They did bring that on themselves...I told them all day not to drink maple syrup.

But, you know what? Today they are back to work. No syrup hangover or anything. I, on the other hand, stayed in my pajamas all day. Maybe they had it right: Cut loose once a year and go on a diabetic spree. Then get back to work. So...virgin maple daiquiris, anyone?