Whew!

This was one of those days that I thought was going to be awful but turned out to be okay after all.

I'm in a weird place in my relationship with my mother. Things were really good between us for a while. Then my sister had one of her "crisis" moments and threw everyone's life into dishevelment and chaos. So, my mom has been acting weird and secretive and generally odd and has blown me and the kids off a number of times in the last two weeks. She was supposed to come over today and ended up not coming. It wasn't a big surprise but it was an enormous relief for me and I feel ashamed of myself that I'd think that at all. I've been feeling so crappy with these headaches and it always seems to send my normal bitchiness to the nth degree. And really, it's the same old song. I'm the reliable one who will be nice even I am the one who gets dumped on or ignored or let down. I know it won't make a difference if I get mad and things between us are hideously complicated by the fact that I'm also a mother now. I do have some idea of what it must be like to have a wayward PITA child who sucks the life out of you. I don't know exactly, but I can extrapolate from the bit of parenting experience I have under my belt. It's hard to stay mad when you can at least imagine the trauma someone else is dealing with.

Anyhow, the day started out terribly. Lily wandered into our bedroom before six a.m. and proceeded to squirm and pinch and annoy me to death. I can think of few things I like less than waking up with a kid poking at me. I suppose that fact alone is enough to have my mom card revoked. Still, it's the truth. She spent all morning whining and generally just crabby and out of sorts. She has that special, intractable 2 year old thing going on. And her voice hits that pitch that makes me think that my idea of eBay adoptions isn't so far off the mark.

Thankfully, the sun came out and warmed everything up and she woke up in a really good mood from her nap. We packed up and went to the park and played on the swings. We picked Ian up from school and he was in a good mood as well. Everyone was still happy when we went to pick up J at 4:45. That is a nearly miraculous achievement. It's a rare day that *somebody* isn't in a bad mood when we pick him up. We had some dicey moments during the setting of the table but we recovered and they're in bed and (hopefully) sleeping.

And did I mention I'm getting a new Powerbook tomorrow?

Indeed, I am. The one I have now got dropped during the move and the bezel and case are slightly mangled. We were wise enough to buy a floater policy (for $15 a month) just to cover the computers. This one got dropped once before and they paid the $400 to fix it. The damage this time is only that much less than replacement so I GET A NEW ONE! I've never ever had my own new computer. Things are good.