Of late . . .

I made a real dinner tonight. I occasionally do this because my hard working husband deserves it. The kids usually hate it. But Joel looked at the chili simmering on the stove and said, "Um, that looks scrumptious!" Apparently scrumptious was one of the signature words on Word Girl today. Love that kid.

A couple of days ago they emphasized the word "appreciate" on another kids show, and for the past few days Joel keeps telling me how much he appreciates me. Like I said, LOVE that kid.

At dinner Joel decided to throw his grapes into his chili and we made a big deal of the odd additional ingredient. He thought it was hilarious and went into full belly laugh. The best sound in the world = your child's full belly laugh. Life is perfect for a moment.

Yesterday I had to go to traffic court. I tried to pay my ticket online the day before, but they don't let you. I took Eli with me to: 1. Help Kelly out 2. Get the sympathy vote from the judge. Little did I know that one morning's litigants for traffic court in Herndon is equivalent to the number of viewers at the Macy's Thanksgiving day Parade in New York City. Eli and I were kicked out of the courtroom too due to Eli's being a little toot. I think the lobby was worse. At least in the courtroom we could have enjoyed some good people watching and maybe filled my voyeur vacuum by listening in on other people's bizness.

Anyway it was almost THREE HOURS before the judge called my name and I was probably in front of him for less than 30 seconds. He dismissed my ticket fee, but said I'll still have to pay court costs. If I ever get another ticket, I'm paying that baby real quick like. I've experienced enough traffic court for one lifetime.

On the flip side it was good to have some one on one time with Eli. I had to get creative to stop the "I wanna go home" endless whines. I told him some stories from when Mommy was a little girl and he was such a captive audience. Whenever I tell him stories about my childhood I can always be sure within the next few days to hear an earnest story about when he was a little girl. I don't think he quite has the gender identity thing down yet.

We got a new stove. Black. For the first time in my adult life of owning my own residence I have all matching, relatively new appliances. I think I am almost regular people now. (Yeah right, that will happen). We sold our old one on craig's list for $175. The new one was about $600 with tax.

And then we have the Haiti earthquake and people who never had much to begin with now have nothing. I felt kind of lame having to have my matching kitchen appliances when the world is filled with people like the Haitians who live on next to nothing. I and most people need to have a broader world view than the Jones'. To assuage my guilt I did give $25 to the Clinton Foundation for Haiti. Ain't I a freakin' saint?