Happy List

Since things have been a little crazy around Casa de Princess for the last few months, I thought I'd post a gratitude list so my friends will know that I'm still a little ray of sunshine underneath all the negativity and bitterness. This was an easy day to compile a list, because here are some things that made me happy today:

1) Opening the front door to find a package from my friend, Vera, in Austria. It contained a tub of Casali Rum-Kokos (which Vera calls "Rumkugelu"), and BOY HOWDY are they good! Mmmm. And, may I just say, Vera has the best penmanship. Her handwriting is so lovely! Now I'm trying to think of traditional American treats to send her. Some of my friends have suggested Goo Goo clusters, Reese's cups, M&Ms, and Snickers. Any suggestions?

2) Driving down the road with the window down, enjoying a near-perfect second day of spring, listening to Jason Mraz sing "I'm Yours" and belting out the harmonies with my boys. I say "window" instead of "windows" because my passenger side window doesn't work, but that didn't stop us from freely enjoying the beautiful, cool, sunny spring day--even with the stench of Bradford pear trees invading the car. The only thing that could've made it better is if Dan had been here to sing "Lucky" with me. BTW, he'll be on Saturday Night Live tonight singing those two songs--Jason Mraz, not Dan. Unfortunately. But Dan will be playing at Puckett's Tuesday night, so maybe someday he'll do SNL too.

3) Buy-one-get-one-free Bolthouse Farms Vanilla Chai Tea at Publix. I don't normally indulge because they're expensive, but I splurged since they were on sale. Mmmm. Goes great with chocolate rum balls.

4) Walking the dog in the sunshine while listening to a chick lit audio book on my iPod. That iPod was one of the best gifts Dan ever gave me, right after all the songs he's written for me. Even the one called "Hard-Headed Woman," which couldn't possibly have been written about me.

5) Spending the afternoon sitting out on the deck with an icy chai tea, a sweater, and a good book (instead of doing school stuff) and watching the kids play soccer. Tomorrow I'll have a million papers to grade, but today I took a much needed Day Off. Capital letters necessary. Trust me.

6) Ten more school days until spring break! Then another week of school, then TCAP week, then I'll only have 18 more days until summer break.

Not that I'm counting or anything. Today I'm only counting happy things. Like--

7) Dan comes home tomorrow. :-)

Got Books?

In the interest of clearing off some space in Mom's craft room because it looks like I might be living with her until the end of time (or my house sells, which ever comes first), I'm posting a link to Mom's Ebay store. You should check it out and buy a book. Or eight. Seriously. The books are taking over the house.

She has more than books: scarves, Red Hat stuff, collector plates, and more (including whatever crap I take to her house because I'm too lazy to have another yard sale this year).

I should've known...

I should've known what kind of day it was going to be when I awoke at 5:50 and was greeted with the stench of doggie diarrhea when I came downstairs. I should've crawled back into bed right then and there but, no. I spent the next twenty minutes cleaning the dog, the carpet, the crate, mom's cabinet doors behind the crate, and dragging all the bedding outside. Of course, I did all this in between racing outside into the cold and rain every five minutes, barefoot and in my pajamas, to walk her again because, lo and behold, she wasn't quite finished yet and there was no time to grab shoes or an umbrella. And then I had to clean her again each time.

I do so love having a dog.

Especially now that she's back in Smyrna with Dan. :-) Have fun, honey. At least our back yard is fenced so you won't have to walk her in the rain (uphill, both ways, barefoot, in the snow, etc.) tonight like I did this morning. Before I'd even had my coffee!

It's tough being the mommy sometimes.

Breakfast and Spring

This morning, as I lolled around in a Benadryl stupor, I heard a wee little hesitant knock on the bedroom door. At least I thought I did. But it was so timid that I thought maybe I'd imagined it. I lay back down to slip back into my coma but then I remembered that the little guy is sick and maybe he needed me. I groaned, "Come in," which, naturally, woke Dan up from his deep, non-Benadryl-induced, sleep-of-the-dead thing that he does every night.

No one answered.

So I groaned again, louder, "Come in!"

Nothing.

I got up and stumbled to the door, grabbing one of Dan's shirts off the floor to cover my lower half with since I was only wearing a T-shirt. There, on the other side of the door, was my supremely intelligent, straight-A, gifted, oldest child. I croaked out, "What do you need, son?" in my allergy-dry, early morning frog voice.

His eyes immediately darted to my T-shirt covered lower half, which creeped me out. Then he looked back at my face and said, "Um, yeah, I was going to make "Daddy Pop-Tarts" but I didn't know if I was supposed to butter them before or after I put them in the toaster."

Yes, folks, that's my gifted child.

You see, "Daddy Pop-Tarts" are Frosted Brown-Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts the way Dan makes them. First he toasts them, and then he slices the non-frosted side into a checkerboard pattern and slathers them with butter. Because, you know, they just aren't quite fattening enough on their own without the butter.

By then I was awake and I remembered that I needed to get up because it was actually an hour later than I thought it was. So much for sleeping in. Stupid daylight savings time. Stupid Bradford Pears. That's right folks, it's that time again--time for my hatred of Bradford Pear trees to swell exponentially, as it does every spring.

But at least it's not snowing. I'll take it. Bring on the warm weather, even if it does make the trees stink even worse.