To be in England...in the springtime...with my love...

As my husband will be happy to tell you (after he gets through describing the defense of Rohan in his current Lord of the Rings game), we had a date last night. Cheap. A very kind friend offered babysitting, and my folks sent us gift certificates to Outback that very nearly covered our dinner expenses. It was so good to just sit back and snuggle while someone else did all the work, knowing that any screaming I heard wasn't my problem to deal with. So beautiful.

Unfortunately, we had to eat and run because we are parents of a Cub Scout and it was the night before the Pinewood Derby, which meant time for the official weigh-in, also known as "Cram 8 ounces of buckshot into your kid's car, and what's that cool power tool that other dad is using...?" night. Also known as "Mom gets to put the kids to bed" night. I did pretty well, but it's really a 2-person job, when one of the people is me. But we managed. My husband came home with a triumphant glow and sawdust on his coat. He said the race was at 10 a.m., which was a little later than usual, but I trust him, as well I should, right? So we stayed up late talking about completely unrelated things.

This morning was the Derby, of course. We showed up right at 10 a.m., just in time to hear #1 Son announced as the 3rd-place winner overall. Yep, it started at 9 as always. OK, I was a little relieved not to have to sit through that hour of screaming and mayhem, but I felt bad at disappointing the kid(s). Still, there were pictures and donuts, and the leaders let the boys run their cars down the ramp a few more times just for kicks, and the little guys were all OVER the place, so it almost felt like the real thing, but without the pressure. What was that show called, "Early Edition"? Get the news before it happens...

After our first Pinewood Derby 2 years ago, I started the tradition of baking a cake for our boy to make the day more special. That first car did spectacularly poorly and he was crushed. Last year, his car was a flying woodchip on wheels that took second place. I baked him a cake to celebrate. This year's car was a little more polished and only took third. (Take that lesson as you like it.) So I made another cake today. We had a beautiful devil's food just waiting for him (since most of us are chocoholics), but no, Mr. Boy wants pineapple 'cause it's yellow and favorite colors are much more important than favorite flavors when it comes to cake. I mentioned the idea of frosting, but he stood firm. (Also known as being stubborn just because.)

So I baked the darn pineapple cake, but nobody got to eat it tonight because they were all being horrible little monkeys (shrieking at stratospheric pitches, throwing fecal matter, and you only think I'm making this up). Actually, the baby was quite well-behaved but had eaten 3 donuts and really didn't need any more carbs. Speaking of cake, my darling husband made me a Boston cream pie yesterday because I was having "one of those (cranky, hormonal, and generally whimpery) days." No, we usually don't have 2 cakes in one week; this is extremely rare and in no way responsible for our expanding waistlines. Seriously. They mostly go uneaten until they rot; we just love the idea of cake.

And on the subject of eating cake, I want to send a big shout out to my man George W. Bush and anyone else who was responsible for my ability to get a larger tax refund than the total amount of taxes I paid in a year. It's more like twice the amount. More than I make in a month, in fact. (I claim 10 exemptions on my W-4; the fact that they're still taking any money out is kind of bizarre to me.) I feel weird about taking the money, but it's not like I can just tell the IRS that I don't want it. (If I can, don't tell me.) Anyway, I do want it. Forty beautiful Benjamins (and change) would come in REALLY useful to us in this, the Year of the Lawyer. And so I e-file, and so I get the money direct deposited, and so I pay my bills, and so I am happy. I love, love, love tax time.

I still hate being poor. Just a little less this time of year. More good news: No more Pinewood Derbies for another 4 years. Yaaahoooo! But definitely more cake.