Sometimes the Plan Needs an X Cut in It

There are times when a plan falls apart.

And then there are times when the plan is perfectly fine… except for one little problem you didn’t know existed until you tried it. 😂

That was Mabel’s new spare tire cover.

I’d been waiting for that thing to arrive because it had The Porch scenery on it, and once we finally got it on, I loved it. It looked right at home back there.

Then I discovered one teeny-tiny design flaw.

The blasted thing covered my backup camera. 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

Well, now.

I could take the whole thing off and decide it wasn’t going to work.

Or…

I could figure out exactly where that camera tube needed to come through.

So that’s what we did.

We found the spot. I cut an X in the tire cover, pulled the camera tube right through the Porch scenery, put everything back where it belonged…

Tada.

Mabel could see again.

And somewhere between admiring our handiwork and laughing at the whole situation, I realized something.

Sometimes the plan isn’t actually wrong.

Sometimes the plan just needs an X cut in it.

The Plan Has to Fit the Life

That little tire-cover situation probably stuck with me because earlier in the week, I’d walked away from a conversation feeling frustrated.

I kept being asked about the plan when what I was trying to explain was the reality that plan had to work inside.

And those are two different things.

I’ve always been a planner. Give me a problem and I’ll start figuring out how we’re going to make it work.

But I’ve also lived long enough to know that real life does not care what you wrote on Tuesday’s schedule.

People need things.

Energy changes.

Something takes longer than expected.

Something else doesn’t work the way you thought it would.

And sometimes you discover there’s a backup camera hiding underneath the perfectly good plan you just installed. 😂

A plan can be good and still need adjusting.

Sometimes You Need to Look Again

I’ve been doing some of that with Your Bowl Connection lately, too.

My Text Kitchen was built with a weekly rhythm because that made sense when I created it.

But lately I’ve found myself wondering…

Does it still need to work that way?

Instead of automatically continuing because that’s the plan, I asked the people actually receiving those texts what they thought.

Maybe weekly still works.

Maybe monthly would serve them better.

I don’t have to decide that the original idea failed simply because I’m willing to look at it again.

I can cut an X in the plan.

Sometimes What’s Already There Is Enough

Then there was supper.

I went digging through the freezer and discovered pork chops hiding underneath newer chicken and steaks.

And because apparently one archaeological discovery wasn’t enough, there was also smothered eggplant I’d tucked away back in July. 😂

I didn’t need a new supper plan.

I needed to look at what I already had.

Those forgotten pork chops became supper. That smothered eggplant became rice dressing.

Nothing fancy.

No emergency grocery run.

No starting over because what I originally imagined wasn’t available.

Just opening the freezer, looking again, and asking:

What can I do with what’s already here?

That question has saved more suppers around this house than any perfectly planned menu ever has.

Capable Doesn’t Mean You Have to Keep Carrying More

I think that’s the piece I needed to understand this week.

There’s a difference between being capable of carrying more and recognizing that something needs to work differently.

I can make things work.

Lord knows I’ve proven that enough times. 😂

But being able to push harder doesn’t automatically mean pushing harder is the answer.

Sometimes perseverance really does mean continuing.

But sometimes it means changing the rhythm.

Sometimes it means using what’s already in the freezer.

Sometimes it means admitting that the amount of time or energy available today isn’t the same amount you thought you’d have when you made the plan.

And yes…

Sometimes perseverance looks like standing behind a Jeep with a pair of scissors and cutting an X through a perfectly good idea. 😂

That’s not giving up on the plan.

That’s making the plan fit the life you’re actually living.

Maybe That’s What a Good Plan Does

I’ve spent a lot of years thinking a successful plan was one I could follow.

I’m beginning to think a successful plan may be one that can bend.

One that leaves enough room for changing schedules, tired evenings, forgotten pork chops, unexpected problems and whatever else real life decides to toss onto the porch.

Because life isn’t going to arrange itself around my systems.

My systems need to support the life that’s already happening.

And maybe that’s the difference.

The plan didn’t fail.

It just needed to fit.

Off the Apron

That’s a big part of what sits underneath my Chaos to Cozy Kitchen System™.

It isn’t about having a perfectly organized kitchen or following somebody else’s perfect routine. It’s about learning to start with what you actually have ~ your food, your time, your energy and the season of life you’re living in ~ and building from there.

Because sometimes getting from chaos to cozy doesn’t require starting over.

Sometimes you just need to look again at what’s already there.

From the Porch

Maybe that’s the question I’m carrying with me from this week.

When something isn’t working quite like I thought it would, I don’t have to immediately decide the whole thing was a bad idea.

I can look at what I have, look at the life it needs to fit inside, and make an adjustment.

Sometimes that’s a schedule.

Sometimes it’s supper.

And apparently sometimes it’s a perfectly good spare tire cover that just needs an X cut in the middle of it. 😂

The plan didn’t fail. It just needed to fit.