22 November 2009

Sunday Fail

The day started with all sorts of promise. I miraculously felt fine after staying up later than usual with good food, good wine, and good friends. I made some good coffee and started the laundry with 30 cloth napkins. The napkins are part of my festive touch for the table setting on Thanksgiving. They've been sitting in a box for over a year so I thought they could use a wash, dry, and iron.

While the napkins were in the washing machine I went to my boss's house to go over a few details for Thursday. I'm happy to report that we've found a convenient, monkey-free location for the buffet table. 

When I returned home I put the napkins in the dryer, did yoga for about 30 minutes, then was so relaxed I fell asleep for nearly an hour. When I woke up from my nap, my head was in a good place regarding Thursday's event. By now, everyone is laughing over the fate of the turkeys, agreeing that we can roast a half dozen local chickens if the turkeys don't arrive in time. 

I got my napkins from the dryer and brought them upstairs. I tried to open the ironing board, but some screws that hold the legs in place are missing. With Mike's assistance I set it up with the board just sort of resting on top of the legs. Good enough. I grabbed one iron. It looked like it had been dropped, and a wadded up piece of paper was stuck into the little opening where you add water. I pulled it out to add water, but couldn't get it back in. Hmm. I grabbed the other iron. I plugged it in and nothing happened. Ironing Fail.

Somehow our housekeeper has broken the ironing board and two irons, yet he still manages to iron every bit of clothing within an inch of its life (even the underwear!). So I decided ironing the cloth napkins would be one of his chores this week. He's obviously got a system for it.

Then Mike and I decide that it's really time we got haircuts. We are getting shaggy and we've been putting it off for several weekends. We only have one more weekend free before we go on vacation and see Mike's mom for the first time in over a year. We want to look presentable. But while Mike was eating lunch, he got pili-pili in his eye (the super-hottest hot sauce on the planet, made from local chili peppers), and cleaning that up delayed us a bit. By the time we got out to the salon, it was 10 minutes before closing time and they weren't opening the gate for anyone. Haircuts Fail.

We considered going out for ice cream because we were feeling sorry for ourselves for not succeeding in Burundi today, but the ice cream place we like isn't open on Sundays. Luckily I remembered that before we drove all the way out to it. We called a couple friends in hopes of just stopping by to chat, since we were on the road, but no one was answering their phone or radio. At home, the satellite isn't on because of the never-ending battle between Mike's employer and DSTV and the bill-paying methods, so we can't even lazily watch documentaries on British History Channel. Afternoon Distraction Fail.

It's hot this afternoon and we are laying around being lazy and cranky. Sometimes c'est la vie en Burundi.

2 comments:

Mike said...

Forget not my iced mocha fail.

Stephanie said...

Yes, the mocha fail was in progress as I was writing this. There was still hope for success at that point.

Fail update: Shortly after posting this blog entry, my MacBook died (really dead) and I nearly blew up the microwave.