Happy Post...finally!

First of all, I need to say a big thank you to every reader out there who has left me happy, uplifting comments in the past few weeks, AND FOR ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SENT ME STARBUCKS CARDS, well, you just need to know that you rock and you are keeping me caffeinated. And, by extension, very very happy. Second, I hope you all know that I blog about Things That Suck not because I want you to feel sorry for me, but because I always have this nagging thought in the back of my head that whispers "you can't be the only one going through this". I like to think that I blog about the whole gamut of this motherhood/wifehood/womanhood experience: the good, the bad and the ugly. So, things lately have been tilted more in the bad/ugly direction. As my mother likes to say, "this too shall pass". I have to believe this is true, and if nothing else, I have learned firsthand in the past month how unconditionally kind people can be when times are hard.

Third...do all these Starbucks cards mean you're tired of hearing me gripe? Like you're sending the message 'hey, go buy yourself a coffee and talk about something fun for once?'.

Okay!

This has been the happiest weekend I've had in, well, a month. No, not because I won the lottery and was suddenly able to run to Target and shop to my heart's content. I feel like I'm adjusting to life as it stands right now, and learning to be okay with the Almighty Budget we've imposed on ourselves. BUT, it also helps that I've had plenty of opportunity to get myself and my child out of the house this weekend.

Friday night we went to the Tacoma Rainiers baseball game. Every year my company hosts a BBQ/baseball game night and we've gone occasionally, but this year the promise of free food and fun meant we were totally the first family to sign up for tickets. We had a blast, stayed through the whole game, and watched the fireworks show afterwards. Zoey thought the fireworks were "so pwetty!" and not at all scary.

Saturday Bryan headed down to my grandma's house to start the exterior paint (his latest hired-handyman task) and my friend Carrie's daughter Jenna came over to play. Jenna is almost 10 years old and loves nothing more than to mother Zoey and play all the games with her that can only hold my interest for about 10 minutes. Jenna also brought Zoey a truckload--literally, filling the back of her dad's truck--of her old toys, including a Hannah Montana dollhouse, two buckets full of Barbies, and a very cool (and very BIG) wooden barn complete with a corral and many horses to fill the barn. It was like Zoey went from playing with Playskool and Fisher Price toys one day to suddenly looking around our downstairs playroom and realizing that the Big Girl Toys have landed and we officially have a big kid on our hands. Jenna was an incredible help all day, keeping Zoey entertained while I tackled things around the house that had been neglected all week. Then, as I was making out our weekly grocery list, Jenna leaned on the kitchen counter next to me and said wistfully "I love helping my mom grocery shop! I like to push the cart..." Hmmmm.

Next thing you know, we were loaded in the car, stopping at the Starbucks drive-thru, and on our way to Winco.

Mothers of small children should be issued a 10 year old girl at the entrance to Winco just to lend them a hand. I plan to drive to Bonney Lake every Saturday from here on out, pick up Jenna, and bring her along for the weekly chore of Winco shopping. Seriously, it cut my grocery shopping time in half. I couldn't have been happier.

After dropping Jenna off around 4:00, I then drove out to Tacoma and dropped Zoey off with my mother in law. The plan was for Bryan and I to enjoy some much-needed alone time, and just cook dinner at home. But the 86 degree heat and the past month of cooking meal after meal after meal at home had us thinking long and hard about the cheapest restaurants we knew of, and soon we were on our way to Mekong Vietnamese restaurant.

We had fresh spring rolls, Saigon salad (yummy bowl full of lettuce, rice noodles, mint, carrots, chicken, and I'm sure other delicious ingredients that are escaping me now) and I had a very generously large glass of wine for $19.55. I justified this by saying the salmon we were going to buy at Costco to have for dinner, along with the asparagus and bread, would have cost $20...or very close.

This morning, with Bryan gone painting again, Zoey amused herself with her new horsies and her barn while I cleaned out old baby clothes and baby toys. My friends are popping babies out all over the place and I am more than happy to get rid of the old as we bring in the new, more grown-up toys that Zoey seems to be so impressed with.

And now it is nap time and I have had time to sweep, finish laundry, clean up the play room, and post something happy on the blog for once.

You're welcome.