Today is one of those days where everything that can go wrong, did go wrong. It started before I even woke up this morning. In the midst of dreaming about being saved by a tall, dark and handsome man, I was startled awake by a loud squealing noise coming from my bathroom. I jumped out of bed and went to see what was going on. The noise was coming from the toilet, apparently it had Poltergeist.

It was already 7:20, it didn’t make sense for me to go back to sleep.  I have to be at work at 9 am. May as well get the day started. I go to turn on the hot water at the bathroom sink. It burped, it sputtered, it hissed. But no water came out. I go to turn on the cold water, works just fine. No hot water? How am I supposed to shower? Sigh.

Instead going to work funky, I filled up a large pot with cold water and boiled it on the stove. Once my water heated up, I took a bit of body wash, soaped and rinsed the relevant areas, and took a hoe bath in my kitchen.

The hoe bath saved me 10 extra minutes, leaving me time to make myself a hot breakfast. Out of habit I turn on the hot water to rinse a skillet. It works perfectly fine. It’s now 7:55. No time to hop in the shower. But I got bacon and eggs.

Before walking out the door, I made sure to take some chicken out of the freezer. I usually buy a whole chicken, cut it in parts, and freeze for use later. I keep in the breast bone and insides to make chicken broth. I toss the chicken into the sink to thaw, and go on about my day.

The rest of the morning and afternoon go fairly smoothly. I didn’t get cursed out by any of my advertisers, none of them required any therapy sessions, and my weekly status meeting was motivating. The day went pretty fast and by late afternoon, my mouth was salivating for the Cajun Chicken Pasta I planned on making when I got home.

Once I got home, I catch my breath, change, and head to the kitchen. Turned on some tunes, pull out my veggies, and start chopping. Onions, celery, and bell pepper. The holy trinity for my Cajun Chicken Pasta. Listening to Beyonce, since I was in a creole mood. Parroting the lyrics to “Soldier,” I shimmy to the sink, unwrap the frozen chicken…and it turns out the be the carcass for the broth, not the chicken breasts.

*Scratch the needle on the track*

Turns out I never marked which was the carcass, and which was the chicken breast when I cut up the bird. I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. I threw the carcass back in the freezer, poured myself a glass of wine, and opened my laptop. Browsed my recipe bookmarks and spotted a recipe for Spicy Citrus Black Beans. Thought to myself, hey, I have a few cans of black beans in the cupboard, let’s get it on! I had a jalapeno, some limes, and an orange in the fridge.

*Turn the music back on*

Threw my ingredients in a pot, let it simmer, and thoroughly enjoyed my interpretation of the spicy citrus black beans. After the ups and downs the day threw at me, it was a tasty, comforting meal that made everything okay.

This long, personal story has a point. Which is to make the best out of shitty situations, and decide that you won’t let the bullshit get to you. If I were in a different mindset, I would have thought the universe was against me. Instead I chose to see the silver lining. I’m not saying be blindly optimistic, but when life throws you lemons, just make lemonade. Or Spicy Citrus Black Beans.

Peace.

Image: ValerieMorrison.net

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