Okay, I’m feeling (a bit) better now.  I pulled out my ‘fu this morning and chose to do a whole “mind over matter” thing and just MAKE MYSELF feel cheerier.  And, for the most part, it has worked.  Because, damnit, this is my birthday and I refuse to be in a snit all day long.

Though I had to laugh at ya’ll and your suggestions of leaving the house.  Hoo hoo!  That’s a good ‘un!  Seriously, though.

I had to make this choice when, shortly after I posted my entry this morning I got a phone call.  I didn’t recognize the number but answered and lo’ it was my oldest.  Wha?  “I don’t have a lunch,” he told me, sadly.

ZOMG.

And that was the point I could have crawled into myself and given up the day as a total loss or I could laugh at my own idiocy and just GET THE FREAK OVER IT.  (I chose the latter, btw.)  I can’t believe I forgot Harry’s lunch.  True, Kile does usually make it while I’m dealing with Evie in the mornings or whatever but he was in a hurry to get out this morning and I USUALLY do ask Harry if he has a lunch before he leaves, just to make sure.  I don’t know why I didn’t this morning.  I have a sneaking suspicion it has to do with the foulness of my mood and how focused on MYSELF I was feeling.

Boo.

So I whipped up a lunch, all the while smacking myself on the head every few seconds in case I started thinking that maybe I wasn’t the biggest idiot on the block this morning.  I was just finishing it up when Kile arrived back home.  I told him about the call and he took the lunch right down to the school for the poor kid.  OY.

We left the house, believe it or not, a little while later.  I went and got my lab work done, (woo hoo!) and twittered about that and also a question about Kendall on AMC and why is she in a coma which NO ONE RESPONDED TO.  I am officially UNLOVED, ya’ll.  I shall never know why Kendall was in a coma, as I refuse to watch AMC anymore.  But shoot, it was on in the lab waiting room and curiosity got the better of me.  I could of course google this question to find out but I’m not going to now, simply on principle.  It’s my birthday, I can cry if I want to.

We got hot dogs at Sam’s Club after that and cruised around enjoying all the free samples (seriously, it was like a Free Sample Bonanza there today).  That always makes for a nice lunch.  Who says you need to spend a fortune, eh?

After that, we checked out the local yarn shop that I’d been hearing so much about.  And yes, that place is pretty much HEAVEN.  So many books and needles and YARN.  Beautiful, beautiful yarn.  I was surprised that there weren’t any 12″ circular needles there, but I guess I could always order them.  I would have loved to have spent a day in there (and a fortune) but we had neither so we left.

Tonight, we’re doing a modified “date night”.  Kile is making up some lobster ravioli and we’re going to ship the kids to bed before we eat.  Supposedly there’ll be a birthday cake but I think it’s just rumor at this stage.  I’ve also heard tell of birthday presents but we’ll see about that.

Thirty three.  Yikes.  Thanks for all the wonderful birthday wishes everyone has sent me here and on Twitter and on Facebook.  It’s nice to be remembered. I don’t have many readers, but what I do have are pretty awesome, so thanks.

Aren’t Saturday mornings a wonderful thing?  Sure, they’d be a heck of a lot more wonderful if I had a few minutes strung together where I wasn’t solely in charge of one or more runts, but I’ll take what I can get.  And a lazy morning in my pajamas and watching Harry test out some Wii games (he loves them, of course) is about as good as I can ask for.  I exist on the promise of child-free Saturdays at some point in my future.  Shoot, even a shower would be something.  But… whatever. 

Date night went pretty darned good last night.  The Salmon roast was pretty much the epitome of FABULOUS.  It was stuffed with crab meat and shrimp and OMG.  SO GOOD.  Kile also made PW’s butternut squash puree just to see what it was like and that was like a little taste of heaven, I tell ya.  He also made impromtu dinner rolls out of Pillsbury pizza dough and they turned out REALLY good.  Who knew?  Topped off with some broccoli florets, the dinner was pretty much perfect.  Very rich but very yummy and satisfying.  

After dinner, we cuddled on the couch and watched “Sleepless in Seattle”.  It had been a while since I’d seen that one (in fact, we have it on VHS, if that tells you anything).  We drank some of this icewine we got a couple weeks ago.  There was just enough for a glass for each of us and it wasn’t exactly cheap to begin with.  But OMG, it was so good.  If you ever have a chance to try icewine and like dessert wines (they’re rather sweet), DO IT.  Properly chilled, this stuff is heaven in a glass.  

Sure, getting to leave the house without the kids would be awesome but for now it’s just not going to happen.  Someday.  (“Someday” has become my mantra of sorts lately.)

Speaking of “someday”, I STILL don’t have my thyroid meds.  It’s a long and stupid story but basically my doctor’s office SUCKS.  I tried hunting down an endocrinologist this week but after much rigamarole and being told to call different doctors because of COURSE this one doesn’t take new patients, I found out that in order to make an appointment I need to fax my diagnosis in.  WTF?  What does that even MEAN?  So… I gave up.  Health is entirely overrated, if you ask me.   So my current doctor sucks and I can’t get a new one so I’m not holding out a whole lot of hope for getting my medicine anytime soon.  

THANKS A LOT, MEDICAL ESTABLISHMENT.  Ya’ll are officially on My List.  

(My List is getting rather crowded these days.)

Well shoot.  Just thinking about that whole kerfluffle has made me feel all ornery and now I’m not so much feeling relaxed as I am stabby and angstful.  And now Harry has cheesed me off with another one of his overreactions and he woke up Evie and so my lovely morning has been shattered (yet again).  SIGH.  I have a headache. 

How about you?

It doesn’t seem fair that it should be Friday already.  I feel like I haven’t “worked for it” enough or somesuch silliness.  Considering our week didn’t start until Wednesday, it has definitely been a rather cushy week.  And everyone has gotten back on track rather quickly after our trip to Elko.  I remember when Harry was little it always took a few days to get him back to sleeping normally again and he would be kind of a snot for a few days.  But Liam has been pretty good (as good as you can expect him to be, rather) and Evie has been fine as well.  So YAY for that!  

And YAY for Friday!  We don’t have anything major on the books this weekend (don’t think we could afford it if we wanted to anyhow), maybe a trip to the store or two.  I know.  Aren’t you just thrilled?  I can barely contain my own excitement.  But weekends aren’t about excitement.  They’re about chilling the heck out.  And if you know me, you know I love to chill the heck out.  

Wait.  Before I get ahead of myself, I’d better start in on my List of Fabulous.  

• I think we’re going to do another “date night” tonight.  Kile has a salmon roast in the freezer, stuffed with shrimp if I recall and I can barely wait to try it.  Hmm.  Should probably confirm with him and set it in the fridge to defrost, huh?  We also have a little bottle of Icewine to drink.  I’ll have to think up some other fun date night stuff too.  
• While we’re settling further into cooler weather (which I love, if you weren’t already aware), we’re seeing some downright mild temperatures this week.  It’s nice to have a last little respite of warmth before things cool down for the duration.  Of course, if the temperatures don’t go back to normal soon, I may start griping.  In the meantime, however, I’m going to enjoy not having to wear a coat all the time. 
• “The Office” and “30 Rock” were especially good last night.  I mean, they’re pretty much ALWAYS good.  It’s nice to have that to count on on a Thursday night, isn’t it?  
• Have you see the Oprah/Snapfish free photo book offer going around?  I don’t have the link handy and I’m far too lazy to go look it up (I got it off Baby Cheapskate and Freebies 4 Moms had it too), but i put one together yesterday and it turned out so cool.  It’s a $30 book for FREE, you just pay shipping.  Now tell me that’s not FABULOUS!
• Obama is going to be our next President!  I know this is old news.  But I am still rather excited about it and so therefore, it’s making my list.  
• I can theoretically sleep in tomorrow.  Even if it ends up being a pipe dream, just the dream of being able to sleep in makes my toes want to curl.  Woot! 

First off, I feel I should clarify yesterday evening’s post about undecided voters.  Loralee and several other wonderful commenters hit the nail on the head when they explained why they were undecided.  She explained that she holds both conservative and liberal views and doesn’t know which views to give the most weight to.  On top of that, she genuinely doesn’t care for either candidate.  I can respect that sort of undecided voter (even if I don’t agree, since I obviously think Obama would make a fabulous leader) because at least they are informed.  I suppose the bulk of my “rant” was directed at the uninformed undecided voter.  The people who haven’t taken the time to educate themselves on the issues.  That… I simply don’t get.  Of course, to some people their education comes from cable news or the email forward they got from their crazy Aunt Regina or whatever and that’s hardly better.

But just to make things clear, I do respect the people (and friends as everyone who commented on that post is someone I consider a friend) who are undecided for genuine reasons.  Unforunately, I think those sorts of people are few and far between.

And, before I move on for good, I want to say that I still love and respect my Republican (and Independant and, yes, undecided) friends and family.   This election is but a snapshot, a moment in time.  Yes, it’s an IMPORTANT time, but here in a couple weeks, it’ll be behind us, one way or another.  And I harbor no ill will to anyone.  I may have unfollowed a few people on Twitter, but that’s mostly for my own sanity and I will most likely follow them again after the election is done and over.  I imagine that several (or maybe more than several) people have unfollowed me in the past weeks as well.   It’s par for the course.  I have no hard feelings.  Time will tell if other people do or not.

***

We had a date night last night!  Nothing too fancy because we had neither time beforehand nor did we want to spend any money.  I made sure I got a shower during the day and I put on nice jeans and a nice top, did my make up and made sure my hair wasn’t too much of a rat’s nest (quite the feat these days).  I did forget to put on earrings, but… oh well.

We got the kids fed and put the little ones to bed.  Harry got sent to the loft with popcorn and instructions to watch TV up there and not venture downstairs.  We had a nice dinner that Kile made with various ingredients available in our kitchen.  It was darned yummy too.  We ate it in the living room, in candlelight, with some light classical music playing from one of the cable music channels.  We talked and talked about many subjects and after we finished we just sat on the couch together and talked some more.  It was very nice.

We finished off the night with a bowl of popcorn and “Pride and Prejudice” on DVD.  It meant we were up quite late, past midnight, but I’m glad we did it.  I think our first official “date night” was a success.  I don’t think it’s something we can do every night, but certainly at least once a month.  It truly felt like a date, which I guess is what the point is, right?

***

I still don’t have my thyroid meds.  When I refilled my refill-less prescription two days ago, they said it would take at least 48 hours to contact the doctor and get the refill taken care of.  Or something.  So hopefully today?  Maybe?  I don’t know.  Kile isn’t very responsive to my suggestions of leaving the house so far.

“Go to Obama rally?”

“…”

“There’s a Halloween thing at the mall that Liam would get a kick out of.”

“…”

“Early voting?”

“…”

“Pick up my prescription?”

“…”

Soooo… fingers are crossed.  I’ll keep ya posted.

I hear the words “date night” and I cringe.  I know that having regular date nights with your spouse is one of the keys to marital happiness when you’re bogged down in raising children.  But being that we neither have friends nor any family that live here in town and, well, we don’t get out for date night a whole heck of a lot.  Of course, the great irony is that now that we have three children, we need it more than ever.

So it would seem that the best solution would then be to set up a little “date night” here at home.  Something we can do after the children are in bed or otherwise engaged.  However, I lack the necessesary imagination to think up fun and interesting ideas on my own.   I know, it’s amazing that I once harbored aspirations of becoming a writer, isn’t it?  I have a desperately difficult time thinking outside the box.

I mean, I have your basic date night ideas.  The whole “rent a movie and pop some popcorn and snuggle up on the couch” routine.  I mean, there’s a reason it’s so common.  It works.  But we can’t do that EVERY time, right?  Variety being the spice of life and all.

So what do all of you guys do?  What are your best “staying in” ideas?  And I could also use inexpensive “going out” ideas since one of these days we might actually find a babysitter.

I know.  Shock, huh?