A Good, Long Day

Today was a good day, for some odd reason. Even though, or perhaps, it was dark and gloomy outside, and I had errands to run and Lily was home, too. She only goes to preschool three days a week and I am sometimes made to feel -- albeit very subtly -- from mom acquaintances that I'm not quite fulfilling the terms of the stay-at-home mom agreement because I've put my child in school for 3 full days out of the work week. I have gotten looks. And comments. And it isn't cheap either, 3 full preschool days on a one-worker income. But, what price sanity, eh? Having Lily at home is not a bad thing in itself, but it does make it harder to get dressed and out of the house before noon.

But it was a good day. We hit Starbucks for a gift card errand, but also sat and shared some chocolate milk and watched the big trucks go by in the rain. And then we hit the new, pretty library, with it's still nearly-empty shelves in the children's section (and probably in all the adult aisles too, although I couldn't tell you). What books they do have are all so new and crisp and the jackets are so shiny, though, which is nice. And then we came home for lunch and I made canned chicken soup with leftover breadsticks and the kids were literally rubbing their tummies and declaring, "this is soooo good, mommy!"

While Tucker napped with his stuffed kitty beside him, Lily perused her new books and let me get almost fifteen minutes of alone time on the bed with my new issue of Domino. Then we went downstairs and made white chocolate & oatmeal cookies together, which is always a patience-trying endeavor, and this session too was not without tears, and yet I didn't actually lose my temper in a bad way, and Lily was being legitimately naughty and stubborn and deserved the scolding she got. (Read: no bad-mommy guilt on my end.)

Part of the reason I made cookies was because I wanted to test out my newfound information on how to avoid flat cookies. I won't bore you with the details, but for years I baked cookies just fine, without too much thought. Yet recently, all my cookies are coming out much too flat and crisp, with the bottoms sort of concave and full of airholes. I may blog further about it tomorrow, if I take some pictures, and share the results. Basically, the first batch was just as bad as ever, the second was much improved but a little overdone, and the third came pretty close, but not quite. (They all taste pretty good, though.)

So it was a good day, but a little long. A fourteen hour day, beginning at 7am with the sound of my personal, shouting alarm clock down the hall, and ending at nearly nine -- the children were in bed, yet both were still yelling out their final comments and demands of the day, making sure they used up those last few drops of patience going to waste in mom's reserve tank.

The other reason I made cookies is because I have a friend coming over tomorrow, just for coffee and talk. She is a mom and will bring her little guy along with her, but thank goodness, she is a real friend, and not one of the moms who would ever make innocent-yet-snide comments about the fact that my daughter has gone to preschool for the last two years, and so I'm busting out my favorite pretty cups, with the best batch of cookies, and hopefully, it'll be another good day. Only maybe just not quite as long.