So, I was up at 4:30 this morning. To work on a spreadsheet. For our vacation. Not a spreadsheet on what to pack (I did that last week), and not a spreadsheet with a general itinerary (that was done months ago). Nope. A spreadsheet outlining everything that I have planned for us on each day of our vacation.
And as I finalized the formatting and hit print . . .
I laughed.
We are visiting the most magical place on earth, and here I am, STILL trying to plan exactly how, when and where we will have magical moments.
And then there were tears. I thought I was supposed to be letting go, surrendering to what is, what could be, what will be, enjoying the moment. And yet I can’t stop planning what we’re doing (and what we’re going to wear while we’re doing it) on our vacation.
Then there was frustration. Really, have I not absorbed any of the stuff that I’ve been reading/talking/blogging about lately? Did I not learn from the post where I talked about “over-planning killing magic”????
So I did the only logical thing I could do. Set my son up with a lego set, set up daughter up with a bin of magnatiles (her current obsession), and gave myself a time out to stop, to think, and to compose myself. And while in that self-imposed time out (really, I was putting away laundry . . . but it was a few quiet moments to myself to think), I got back to that place of laughter.
Really, it’s time to stop taking all this so seriously.
“To laugh at yourself is to love yourself”
-Mickey Mouse
And on that note, I’m going to smile my way to the gym, where I’m sure there will be lots more laughs. And after that . . . well, I’ll do my best to keep on laughing.
Speaking of which . . . I made a fantastic dinner last night. It was super easy, took next to no time to prepare, and the leftovers taste even better. So here goes . . .
Pork Tenderloin with Maple Applesauce
Ingredients
2 pork tenderloins
4 apples (I used 2 granny smith and 2 honey crisp – use whatever you have in the fridge
1 shallott, minced
1/3 cup maple syrup
3tbsp butter
3tbsp olive oil
salt, pepper, cinnamon to taste
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 425.
- Heat a large cast iron or oven proof skillet on medium/high heat. Add the olive oil, making sure the bottom of the pan is well oiled, and add in the pork tenderloin. Let the pork brown on each side (about 4 minutes per side).
- When the pork is browned, remove it from the pan and add in the butter, and turn the heat down to low/medium. When the butter has melted, add in the shallot and apples. The pan will still be hot, so turn the apples frequently so they don’t burn – they may get a bit browned, but that’s ok. Once the apples start to get soft, add the pork back to the pan so that it is resting on the apples. Now pour the maple syrup all over the pork.
- Put the pan in the oven and let the pork cook until it registers 145 on a meat thermometer (or until it is just barely pink when you cut into it). This took about 12 minutes for one of my tenderloins and about 20 minutes for the other.
- Once the pork is cooked, the apples should be nice and soft. Serve by slicing the pork and putting a heaping spoonful of the apples over the pork.
nancyhotson 
Nancy, when you have been a planner or list maker all your life, it takes time to undue those habits & maybe some of them aren’t necessarily bad. You can’t change the world in an instant.
Sent from Lynne Hotson’s iPad
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Lol. I am a planner too! We just went on our first mother/daughter trip where I only planned 2 meals for 7 days. It was tough. I kept feeling a sense of but what if we miss…. We missed nothing. In the end we will be going back again and being in the moment was so much better than thinking 10 steps ahead to where we should be going and should I tweak the plan. Good luck on relaxing and letting go!
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