The Birthday Boy and Belgian Chocolate

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. He’d been in Brussels, Belgium since last Saturday, and the girls and I were very excited about him making it home in time to celebrate as a family. Here’s my to-do list to prepare for his special day:

1. Make Red Velvet Cake, including icing, from scratch
2. Purchase additional gift (I say additional, because he’d already purchased himself some expensive clip-on something or other for his bike and new running shoes) – something exciting that he might not buy for himself, like more of his favorite running shirts
3. Prepare his favorite home-cooked meal: fried pork chops, sweet potato casserole, squash casserole and buttered rolls, and sweet iced tea (we’re from the South. Doesn’t matter if it’s freezing cold outside, we take our tea iced. And sweet.)
4. Make a welcome home/happy birthday banner with artistic direction and assistance from the girls (ie, give them the poster board and some paint and let ‘um have at it.)

Then I got sick. Quite sick. Like drop the kids at school, drive directly to the doctor’s office and demand any and every kind of medication to MAKE ME FEEL BETTER sick. The morning of the planned birthday celebration. The very same day I’d planned to execute the above task list.

Soooo … I went to Plan B.

1. I purchased a Red Velvet cake from the bakery (and no, he didn't turn 15. But we felt 30-something candles was too much for this small cake so we tried to fashion a "3" and a "7" with the candles. It just doesn't translate well in the photo.)
2. I procured a gift certificate so he could buy lots of his favorite post-workout beverage.
3. We went out to eat.
4. There was no banner, but the girls substituted with hugs and kisses.

And … he had just as good of a birthday with list two as he would have with list one.

Here’s my question: when your perfect plans get sidetracked for whatever reason – whether you get sick, your car won’t start, your computer crashes or your great-aunt Bertie calls and your caller ID failed to warn you – what’s your Plan B? What’s your secret for getting your to-do list to the bare minimum so at the end of the day you’ve accomplished what you set out to do?

Leave your Plan B in the comments section of this post so we can all learn and enjoy!

XO – Amy Mac (PS - Isn't this little container Jake brought back filled with Belgian Chocolates extremely cute? I thought so!)