"Curses!..."

I don't really believe in curses, but I love to say that word out loud rather then cuss...it's just so...funny but harsh and simpsonlike. Like I said, I don't really believe in curses BUT there are a few things that really seem to "get me"...I can name 2...there is a restaurant in Charlotte that I love...it's kinda Tex Mex and the food is fresh and yummy. Like a lot of restaurants on this street there is limited parking and it's busy. One time I went briefly to meet friends and left after, thankfully, one margarita. I backed smack into a girl who was pulling in. It took me months to go back...the last time I went there for a three hour lunch (because you can do that on maternity leave), which was recent (and with the baby), I came out to a shoe boot on the car. I had no cash and had to hoof it three blocks and back with the baby to the ATM in order to get it freed. I have vowed to never go there again, especially if I drive. The second thing that seems to get me is the crock pot. I know how wonderful these things are, but lets just say...crock pots don't seem to like me. The first time I used one was about two weeks after I got married...trying to be the dutiful wife that can whisk up fabulous recipes for dinner...I tried some random chicken recipe...I also had no idea what I was doing...I think I left it on high or didn't have enough water in it. Rather then coming home to a beautifully orchestrated dinner prepared so easily by his loving wife...Jon rolled into the house and was welcomed by rancid stinky chicken aroma. It was awful and I felt bad...up went the crock pot for a much, much later time. In the past year, I have some girlfriends at work who insisted it was just as easy as pie to cook in a crock pot and I had only made one mistake AND since I was pregnant with my 3rd baby then I should really get to know it again. Instead of just pulling out the old crock pot whom I blamed for the horrid experience...I went out and bought a fantastic new crock pot with all the bells and whistles...I took their advice and tried again with a very simple spaghetti type recipe...came home to completely burned marinara. I mean it was black and crusted to the bottom! It also stunk up the place. I cleaned the thing, ordered pizza and said, never again...the brand new crock pot was ordered to storage and would hopefully be sold for 25 cents at a yard sale in the very near future (heck, I would just give the thing away). Yet...a very good friend of mine told me about a BBQ Chicken recipe that could not go wrong! She told me about it months ago...I ignored her because I knew the history behind my relationship with the crock pot. BUT at our fabulous spa weekend, I must have gotten delirious from the massage because I asked her about it again and decided I would try, try again. How hard can it really be...so, after getting home at 7 and racing around...I went to pluck the new banished crock pot from obscurity in the laundry room. All I could think about was how fabulous my BBQ chicken was going to be and my kids love this stuff and I want to be their hero....then it happened...yet another sign that the crock pot is probably not the best idea. The glass lid slid off the top and literally smashed into a trillion little pieces right in the spot where all living things go barefoot in my house...between the laundry room and kitchen door! CURSES! We have a lot of bare feet in our house and this just proves that I should probably not be doing this! I cleaned, cleaned and cleaned up glass from all over...yelled at the kids for looking at the glass as their eyeballs might burn out at the mere sight of it then ordered them to put their shoes on. Afterward, I fell on the couch, hugged my baby and remembered where my old crock pot was that has a very simple plastic lid...hooray. All is not lost and I will not give up this fight. So, tomorrow awaits...I'm 40 now...surely I can make a meal in this thing! I really want my crock pot to love me....we shall see...