no pix tonight...only words. a day--my day--in words. my sweet husband let me stay in bed this morning until 6:37--i would have been in the bed longer but he was trying to get out the door and needed finishing touches on lunches. this creates the first of many moments of my day where, as i evaluate them later, realize they were moments where i should have stayed in bed. since i hopped out of bed to round out l's and t's lunches with drinkable yogurt, cheese and crackers and honey-graham goldfish, i decided to just stay up after that. fast forward to this afternoon as i am unpacking said lunches and nary a drinkable yogurt has been opened. cheese and crackers are smooshed into a fine crumbling mess inside the package, and L declares that she also doesn't really like that flavor goldfish. note to self--next time, remain in bed where the yogurt can't go bad from neglect. this particular issue vexes me because i HATE wasting food. i have seen enough images of impoverished children worldwide whose bellies swell and distend from hunger and malnutrition and i seethe with anger at my own for being so cavalier and wasteful. now, it's not like they have stolen the food from those impoverished children's hands, but the mindset of my own makes me cringe--who am i raising them to be? granted they end up with a whopping ten minutes to eat lunch after they have arrived in the cafeteria a few minutes late and they will surely be ordered to pack up with about 5 minutes to spare--on a 25 minute lunch break, plus kindergarten and second grade attention issues plus a need for socialization, i GET why they don't always finish stuff. but come on...and aren't they hungry? agh... so back to the morning. the kids and T rush out the door and i run and grab "THE HELP," which i started last night--so loving the escape of a novel right about now. makes me miss teaching english. bella is still sleeping and james is up playing ipad, so i sit on my bed and crack the book to my stopping place from last night...ahhh, sweet fiction. as i am reading i am evaluating if i am going to make it to the gym this morning. see i have been on a massive working out kick and i now have actual guilt if i don't go (and other feelings--longing, sadness, remorse...), but seeing as how i have been throwing a private pity-party for myself for a day and a half, i decide that this morning is all about visiting the mental gym and finishing a few chapters of my book. leslee calls and we chat. she's sick with a rotten cold and we discuss plans for the upcoming weeks...birthday parties, family visits, a possible key west excursion in the summer when they aren't robbing you blind on hotel rates...i always feel better after talking to leslee... bella finally saunters in and breakfast number 2 commences, although this morning she  just wants cereal. i did have a nifty menu planned (a la my very good friend stephanie, who has an imaginary PHD in organization and running your life well--seriously, i borrow more of her ideas...thanks girlfriend :)). but the menu plan has been laid aside for several weeks and the emergent has replaced the well-thought-out and proactive. the cereal for the waffles. the granola bar for the pancake. again i channel the impoverished children in my brain and am grateful that my children ATE this morning, but my good-old-fashioned-american-guilt still spat at me the aphorisms that conjecture which foods do or do not constitute a balanced and healthy american breakfast. see in finland they are eating fish for breakfast and in china it's noodles and watermelon. my guilt is so classically american because anywhere else in the world my cereal would just seem downright creative... i am realizing i am not going to make it through my day at this pace...so i'll just end with this. yesterday i opened the washer to find broken pieces of crayon--yellow and blue. i about did a cartwheel when i found all of the pieces and congratulated myself on thwarting disaster...until i opened the dryer this afternoon and there melted next to the lint filter--without all of the pieces--was a large chunk of red crayon. i laughed and then shut the door ever so calmly  so as not to slam it...and i laughed some more. because right now, nothing is really bad--but MANY things are chipping away at me with their annoying qualities or their time-wasting qualities or their i-just-mopped-that-floor-and-you-dumped-your-shoes-out-on-it qualities...i am feeling very hamster-like right now...loving my wheel. cheers