Today

This morning I felt Bernie nosing me in the arm, even licking me, while whining. I didn't know what time it was, and didn't look at the clock, but for some reason I thought it was time for J to get up for work (or almost), so I ignored Bernie. Then I heard him start to pee on the floor. That got me up. And it was only 4:08, so it wasn't anywhere near time for J to get up. Lesson learned. I will never ignore Bernie when he comes whining to me in the middle of the night again.

Once I got up, let him out, cleaned up the pee, let him back in, washed my hands and went back to bed, I was pretty much awake. I didn't want to be, but then you don't always get what you want, right? So I lay there, awake. J got up for work, then got ready, then came in and got the dogs and let them out. Then he came to say good-bye to me, handing me that king sized Kit-Kat bar that I wrote about earlier. I love a man who hands me chocolate at 6:00 in the morning, I really do.

After he left, I finally managed to get back to sleep, after kicking Willow out of the room for being noisy, and then letting her back in once she started scratching on the door from the living room side. I got up at almost 8:00, still tired, but ready to start my day. I had a lot of plans for today! I was going to:

Finally finish that baby blanket
Make homemade bread
Make brownies
Dust the furniture
Vacuum the floors
Mop the floors
Clean the bathroom
Do all of the laundry

Good plans, right? Here's what I actually did:

I finally finished that baby blanket (but it took me from about 8:30 in the morning until about 4:45 in the afternoon, and almost killed my right wrist - I have a bit of carpal tunnel or something, and the repepitive motions of crocheting really bug it after a while).
I made the brownies (with some trouble).
I attempted to make some bread (but learned that my bread maker is broken. I ended up with a lump of hard, unrisen, browned dough).
I did all the laundry.

Sigh.

First, before I go any further, I should tell you - I'm PMSing. Big time. I got all emotional and mushy this morning when watching Made of Honor, and e-mailed my mush to J. That was the good part of my PMSing.

I melted down later. The blanket was taking forever. The bread didn't work. I mixed up the brownies and put them in the oven, and then the oven for some reason stopped lighting (I have a gas oven/stove), when the brownies were only half done. It finally lit up again, after I melted down over it, asking the universe why it was keeping the brownies away from a hormonal woman who had just finished up 40 days without chocolate. Isn't that enough? What more do you want, universe?!?

Just in time to keep me from laying on the floor in a full-on fit, the oven lit up once again, and shortly thereafter, just an hour or so after they should have been done, the brownies finally finished. Whew. Is the oven broken now? Or was it a temporary anomaly? I have no idea. I'm hoping for temporary.

Then I spent ten minutes on the floor, hugging on Willow, who gave me some very nice hugs and kisses back. That helped. I also sat on a chair in the dining room and watched the rain falling into the pool. That helped, too. Then I finished that blanket, and that helped a LOT.

I made myself some mini pizzas for dinner (using the toaster oven, which thankfully is still working fine). I burned my tongue on one a little, but not badly. I shared the last mini pizza with the dogs. They liked that. Then I went out and frosted the still warm, but not too warm brownies (did I mention they are frosted brownies? Because they are, and they are heaven in a pan), and I cut a big one and ate it. I got chocolate frosting all over my fingers, and I loved every second of it.

I feel a lot better now. How did I ever go 40 days without chocolate? I don't know, but I am never doing that again. That's a second lesson I learned today.

To recap:

1. Never ignore Bernie when he whines and licks my arm in the middle of the night.
2. Never again attempt to live my life without chocolate. It's just not worth it.

Okay, me and my hormonal self are going to go watch some TV and relax, chores be damned for now. But first, take a gander at these.

The blanket, all folded up and ready to go. I'm going to find a gift bag for it this weekend. Michelle? I hope you'll like this. The two dark colors aren't showing up quite the same here as they are in real life - the one is more mauve than purple, like it appears, and the other one isn't quite so dark brown. Also, since I have no idea when I'll see you guys again, I'm going to deliver this to Donna on Monday. I figure she'll see you way before I see you again.

They really are heaven in a pan, and were totally worth waiting two hours for. But I still hope there isn't really anything wrong with the oven.

Okay, I'm out of here. I'm going to go relax and watch TV for the rest of the day. And maybe I'll vacuum, before the house gets completely taken over by animal hair. Oh! And I almost forgot two more things. First, finishing that baby blanket was on my list of 101 things, so I get to cross it off. That's two items crossed off in one day, woo! Second, have some cuteness to make you smile: