Attitude

I tried to blog several times today but everything I wrote came across as sounding either whiny or complainy. (You see? There I go again! And just for the record, I'm pretty sure that "complainy" isn't a word but I'm totally using it, anyway.)

It was at some point mid-morning that I finally decided I was in dire need of a major attitude adjustment. Because really, the things that were making me the most irritated were of such little significance that I'm embarrassed now to think of the time I wasted being so grumpy.

So, with the thought in mind that acting happy would make me happy, I put on a new Christmas CD, parked my kids on their bar stools in the kitchen, and whipped up some delicious Double-Rich Chocolate Cookies. (These are from my most favorite cookbook ever, one that Darren bought for me before we were married. I let Dylan pick today's variety...tomorrow we'll be making Eggnog Cookies from the same cookbook.) Later, before naps, we snuggled on the couch and read Christmas books. When Darren got home tonight he surprised us by taking us out to eat at our favorite restaurant, a treat we all greatly enjoyed! We stopped on the way to pick up the Christmas cards I ordered today, and I love them! I can't wait to get started addressing them. It's a chore I look forward to every year, because it reminds me of how very lucky we are to have so many loved ones in our lives.

I'm also happy to have finally figured out a plan for Meghan's first birthday. I had decided a while back that I'd like to have a Strawberry Shortcake theme, but when I actually got serious about shopping for supplies I couldn't find anything I needed. Nothing. I was so discouraged. So next I decided I'd just go "no theme", and ordered some really cute personalized invitations which, to me, was a really big deal, because trying to get one good picture of Meghan without her crawling away was next to impossible. I was so happy with the picture I finally got...but so very disappointed in the invitations when I went to pick them up. They were horrible. So not what I was expecting, and Meghan was a very disgusting shade of orange. I'm not exaggerating, either. There was no way I was going to send those out to people, which brought me back to square one. Such were the circumstances yesterday when Darren took Meghan back to the doctor (she's been coughing and pulling on her ear a lot lately and we were worried her ear infection may have returned...luckily, it hasn't.) Anyway, the doctor prescribed a decongestant and when Darren went to pick it up at the pharmacy located in the K-Mart near our house, he found a gold mine of Strawberry Shortcake party supplies. I think he wiped out their entire stock! I don't know how I missed looking there in the first place, but I am so relieved to finally have it settled!

And, let's see, what else has made me happy today? Oh, yes, Dylan said the cutest thing! Meghan has become quite fascinated by the berries on one of the decorations I bought at the Christmas bazaar I went to this past weekend. She loves plucking them off and trying to eat them, which, of course, freaks me out because I am so very terrified by the thought of any of my children choking. She knows when she's busted, too, because she'll immediately put down whatever she's got and sit back, looking up at me with an angelic expression as though daring me to actually accuse her of wrongdoing. So...today I came into the room just as she was about to put a berry in her mouth and I said, loudly, "Meghan!" She stopped right away but Dylan, as always, sprang quickly to her defense, telling me, "It's okay if Meghan has those berries, Mommy, maybe she just wants to be a holly jolly baby!" OH, of course! Silly Mommy!

And finally, the moon was beautiful tonight. Full and bright, the kind that makes me so very happy to be at home instead of at work!