The Good Part of the Day

Yesterday was one of those horrible, no-good, very bad days. Nothing big went wrong, just a lot of medium-sized bad things that piled up to make a very grouchy mommy by bedtime. None of the problems even involved my children and I felt completely rotten when my sweet Lilly whispered at bedtime, "I'm sorry I made you mad today, Mommy." I hugged her and assured her that I wasn't mad at her. And when I finally fell into bed last night, I was grateful that things hadn't been worse.

Miraculously, my old-fashioned cell phone was actually charged and in my purse so that I could call Utah Dad and get the directions to the DMV after wandering around with a confusing address for awhile. I don't know why I set off without consulting Google.

Thankfully, I already knew how to quickly fix a nurse-maid elbow before Lilly could scream too loudly at the DMV. (Why do my children fall limp when I'm holding their hand? She wasn't even throwing a fit and I swear I didn't pull hard.)

Fortunately, the car behind me narrowly missed slamming into the back of the minivan when, with my mind on the annoying and expensive government bureaucracy at the DMV (enough said), I chose to slam on the breaks at the yellow light instead of go through. I really try to be a conscientious driver and I HATE when I make mistakes. Thomas berated me from the back seat for going too fast even though I hadn't been speeding.

Remarkably, Neal actually felt that the meeting with his teacher and his parents went well.

Amazingly, Neal and his boat, that we hastily helped him put together yesterday afternoon because we'd forgotten about the Pack Meeting Raingutter Regata which the other kids and I skipped, took third place.

Gratefully, the sheriff's deputy, who stopped by in the evening to tell me that a neighbor had complained that my dog was barking at 4:30 in the morning, was very understanding and kind. To my neighbors, I'm truly very sorry that my dog was annoying you. If I had heard her I really would have taken care of the problem. I'm not sure how I didn't hear her barking since my bedroom window was open and I was awake with Lilly from four to five in the morning because she wet the bed and had trouble getting back to sleep on the couch in my bedroom.

And finally, I was especially appreciative and truly grateful that at the end of the hectic, stressful day when the kids were finally in bed, I could relax and finish reading The Help. I'm so thankful to the fabulously thoughtful writers of two of my favorite blogs, Booklogged from A Reader's Journal and Candleman from Live and Learn, who sent me a copy of The Help so that I didn't have to actually read American Slavery - American Freedom just yet. I'm anxious to talk about The Help, but I'm going to wait to publish my review until after my book club meets next time.

So far, today has gone better and I am so so looking forward to my ward's Relief Society Retreat this weekend. It couldn't come at a better time.