Keeping Calm

Sometimes I feel like I've said everything I need to say. And sometimes I feel like I have told my same stories a thousand times. Maybe it's because I start to tell a story and my kids stop me in mid-sentence with a resounding, "We know!"

I thought about retiring my blogging jersey (metaphorically speaking) and shut down My Big, Fat, Cuban Family. Seriously. I sometimes feel like I don't have a fresh thought in my poor, tired brain.

So, I was having guests for dinner a few weeks ago, and I woke up with my first thought being that I had a mile long to-do list, because, of course, I had procrastinated until the last minute and had to, not only cook, but clean and do all the company-is-coming preparations. (Don't judge.)

And I had promised my Homemade Pastelitos de Guayaba.(<--click on the link for the super simple recipe.)

At this point, I started doing some positive self-talk:

"You can do this."

"You've entertained hundreds of times. Don't panic!"

"Breathe."

"Keep calm."

For the record - 1) I don't always talk to myself. 2) Once I start to calm down, I tend to get distracted.

So, I'm looking at my to-do list and prioritizing what I need to do to meet my 6pm-here-come-my-dinner-guests-deadline and breathing deeply, when suddenly I had a Creative Brainstorm.

And I created this:

I even decided to make it into a poster to hang in my kitchen. So, I quickly hopped onto my computer and made a high resolution poster and ordered it online from Staples. (They're quick and will do these to my specifications, but that's not important right now.) I shared it all over my social media and it quickly went viral. (At least, I think over 40,000 views is close to viral...)