Oops. I guess all the uncontrolled eating decided to catch up with me all at once. Stepping on the scale this morning was... painful.

But yesterday was fun. Karen and I went to the Cheese Shop for lunch, and since it was raining, we walked over to the bookstore to eat it, and then we went to the scrapbook store and I almost bought about a bajillion stickers, but I controlled myself and stuck to a bare handful, most of which were actually for a project. And one punchie. I looked at paper, but didn't see anything that appealed for any of the projects I've currently got going.

(I've sworn off anything but Creative Memories for albums, and I prefer their papers, because they're already color-coordinated for me. But they just can't compete with the local store for sheer variety in stickers.)

I'd thought about going to Target, but by this time it was nearly three, and I had to make a pot of soup when we got home, so we stopped at the Cold Stone Creamery for a few pints (to take home -- I'm not that much of an ice cream pig!) and then went back to the house.

I made my soup, and Karen got online to check her mail and stuff, and then I decided that I didn't really want to have taco salad for dinner, since it was raining and yucky out. I wanted chili. Luckily, the ingredients for taco salad translate pretty smoothly into those for chili (I just still have a bag of lettuce in the fridge), so I whipped up a batch of chili and a bunch of cornbread muffins.

Perfect for the cold, rainy weather.

And Penny was in a great mood all evening, laughing and silly. Which is not to say she wasn't a handful, of course... A little while after dinner, she came into the kitchen while I was washing dishes and started begging for food.

"B'gle p'ease? Apple p'ease? Cookie p'ease? Cracker p'ease?"

Matt came in to try to get her to leave me alone. He distracted her for a few minutes, but couldn't get her to leave the kitchen. As soon as he left the kitchen again, she looked up at me and, in the quietest possible whisper -- no more than a breath, the sort of voice that meant, Hey, I won't tell if you won't -- she said, "Cracker? P'ease?"

It was a good afternoon, and a good evening.

A good morning, too. Penny slept soundly all night, and didn't wake up until about 6:20, and didn't really wake up enough to want to get out of bed until 6:30. I got her changed and dressed and downstairs, and I started to make myself a bagel for breakfast (of course Karen brought us bagels) and Penny demanded a bagel.

"I have to cook it first!"

"B'gle! Penny b'gle!"

"Sweetie, it's not cooked."

"B'gle pleeEEEEEeeeease!"

What the hell. It's only bread, right? I handed her half my bagel, and put the other half in the toaster. I figured she'd pick out all the visible raisins and eat them, and then get distracted and drop the rest, and I could have it then.

Heh.

She actually took bites of the bagel. Small ones, but not just as a method of prying out raisins. She was still clutching the bagel and defending it from Matt when I went upstairs to take my shower.

She was still clutching it when I came back downstairs, and it had shrunk noticeably through continued mouse-like nibbling.

When Matt loaded her into the car for school, she still had it and was taking occasional little bites.

It was so adorable, I didn't have the heart to try to take it back. So I only had half a bagel for breakfast this morning.

Of course, given what the scale told me, that might be for the best.

And now we've come full circle.

--Liz