Never Compare Youurself To Fast Food

So today I was so excited to meet a friend from Etsy at a beautiful state park. I planned ahead and made extra food for dinner last night so I would have plenty to share. I travel in a health conscious circle so I am careful to respect that when I socialize. I packed my lentils and veggie curry in a smart travel pot and and went to bed.

So we left 1 hour before ETA in order to sight see a bit before the meet up. My kids were so thrilled to go on an adventure, I secured my rose tinted glasses. I started my car, much in need of a cleaning and wash, and made a mental note to park as far away as possible so my auto neglect would not be revealed. Pulling away I noticed my husband had found a way to use all of the gas I had prepared for the journey, no worries we have time!

I budgeted $10 for emergencies on this trip which I decided too use for the gas. I started to fill and realized I could wash up the windows while I waited. Wow what a difference clean windows make in masquerading the dirty car! Oops, forgot to watch the pump. The total for gas was $25.91 the cost of clean windows was now$15.91. No worries we will be on time.

As I pull out of the gas station 12 minutes behind schedule my son tells me he is hungry. No worries soon we will have a lovely picnic lunch! No he is really hungry and will morph into an evil demon within minutes if not fed. I consider my options, let him lose on the curry in the back seat which will result in an almost guaranteed massacre of the leather upholstery, grocery store for healthy food which involves hungry bickering or fast food. Fast food is taboo but cheap so off to Taco Bell we go. Shh don't tell.

I pulled up to the menu and realized this is not my skill. There were 5 thousand food products listed in front of me and I had no idea what they were. My kids were euphoric shouting requests for this exotic cuisine and I sat there like a deer in head lights. Apparently everyone else knows the blessing of Taco Bell because the entire town was lined up behind me. I panicked and ordered what the kids were requesting. " Your total is $13.41." We haven't even left my neighborhood and this trip is costing $39.32.

We are now 35 minutes behind schedule so we are going to be late. As I drove I realized some folks think natural toys are expensive. But for the cost of a toxic fast food meal you can buy one of my felted dolls which is good for 10 years of development. So then I thought people all over are choosing to line up and yell at a metal box for food rather than buy my felted goodness. No worries today would be magical.

We arrived at the designated park 15 minutes late. My friend was no where to be seen. In fact this park was a random central choice we were not really sure of the name so I navigated it by google. The area is surrounded by waterfalls and glorious natural attractions but this park consists of a picnic area and a single grave, no joke.

Across the street was the most interesting house. No occupants and in the process of decay. No worries I will text my friend. ....no response. So we drive off to search for them and finally 1 1/2 hours past the meet up time decide to hike to a water fall. 1 mile round trip. My darlings are sad to miss a friend hook up but thrilled to take a hike. As we get close to the glorious water attraction nature has provided my friend who had lost her phone connection texted me. We cut our hike short and ran back to meet them up at the top of the trail. We waited 20minutes in the parking lot for them to arrive.

Let the wild rumpus begin