Today's been good

Chad left for Italy today a full 5 days before we thought he was supposed to leave for Italy. Apparently "they" changed the dates a couple of months ago and forgot to tell him. Oops. Of course, he received an itinerary with the correct dates last week, but he didn't think to check them since, you know, he's had the dates on his calendar for months. We had worked out some help for me. We'd made plans for this week and all 3 of us were running a race in our neighborhood on Saturday. But, he realized yesterday (thanks Dad E. for reading the itinerary more closely!) that he left today. We somehow managed to cancel what needed to be canceled, call in reinforcements for this weekend so I could keep my Saturday plans (yay for Grandpa and Nana), and get him packed and off this morning. I'll admit to being frazzled and just a wee bit upset at first, but I'm feeling better now. In fact, today's been a good day.

For starters, I got free panties today. Yes, you read that right. And, yes, that's worth getting excited about. You know those things Victoria's Secret send in the mail, right? Well, I received TWO: one in my name and one in someone else's. I used one today and you'd better believe I'm going to go use the other one ASAP. Because who doesn't love free hiphugger panties?

I also got to take lunch to Cady's teachers today. Last week was teacher appreciation week, but last week we were still finishing our grading and otherwise recovering from the semester. SO, we asked to bring a thank you lunch today. Chad helped me make the chicken salad last night and I enjoyed dropping it off for Cady's teachers at lunchtime. They are SUCH a blessing to our family and that lunch and Cady's homemade cards don't even come close to thanking them for all they do for Cady, but it felt nice to do something to acknowledge the role they play in our daugher's life (and, by extension, ours).

Another fun, fabulous thing that happened today is that I enjoyed dinner at Moe's with some of my favorite folks ever. I enjoyed catching up a little bit with the Wamsteds at dinner and still cannot get over how quickly their "babies" (who are not quite such babies anymore) have grown. Thank you, friends for making our first night without Daddy a little easier for both of us.

Then tonight, Cady didn't fight about taking a shower, she played some puzzles with me, she didn't beg for a bedtime snack, and we enjoyed some nice cuddle time and six books together. I stayed with her through a couple of songs from the CD she chose, but then left her and she stayed in bed and went to sleep without getting up once! I guess she knew Mommy was tired.

Of course, just so S-B doesn't complain that I'm being all rosy-eyed about life, I'll note that today also included me struggling to get the attic stairs down so that I could deposit some big boxes of clothes into the attic and retrieve a stroller(this was after C went to bed and I admit that I had visions of falling down the 10" attic stairs, hurting myself, subsequently feeling stupid, and then having to figure out how to get in touch with someone to rescue me). This morning I ran all over town like those crazy moms you see on reality TV who obsess over every party detail for their toddlers. I was in search of the perfect envelope for C's party invitations (they're 5x7). I finally gave up and settled for the greeting card envelopes that I had (thankfully) bought at the first store. They're too big for the invitation, but I'm over it. No, really, I am. Oh, and just to share a parenting "win" I'll confess that I popped (lightly) my child after gymnastics, picked her up, and carried her to the car crying because she refused to leave the building when I denied her Skittles. Yep, just keeping it real.

But, hey, I got free panties today and what's not to love about a free panties day?