Feeling Better

[qos]

The evening is going much better.

I met my mom (who had picked up my daughter after school today for their weekly outing) at the local mall and we all had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, my daughter's favorite restaurant. I had their Barbecue Chicken Pizza and a shot of vodka in my Diet Coke.

Then Daughter and I (she's nine years old, for the newcomers to the f-list) went to a Bath & Body store and indulged. I had been intended to buy a gift for the Ex's SO, who has done more than her share of solo childcare duties recently because of both the Ex and I working late, and she set her alarm for 5:30am this morning to come downstairs to make sure I wasn't late for work. This deserves a gift of YlangYlang & Rose massage lotion (which the Ex had better have the sense to use on her!). While there, I bought the Daughter some Vanilla-Lavender massage oil for bedtime, to help her calming down. And I really splurged and bought myself YlangYlang & Myrrh body lotion, body spray, pillow spray, and essential oil.

While the Daughter was bathing, I logged onto my Women, Spirituality and Leadership class and found I had received 100 out of 100 points for the reflection paper I thought I had barely scraped by on, and was not as far behind in the reading as I had thought.

I had some caffeine free Diet Coke with a splash more vodka, and Daughter and I took turns giving each other massages with the Vanilla-Lavender massage oil. She had never experienced a massage with oil, and was completely blissed out. I read a chapter of William Steig's Dominic to her (which I have had on my shelf since junior high but haven't read in more than two decades), and then we watched an episode of the the Nancy Drew Mysteries.

Now she's in bed, and I'm relaxing on my own. I have plenty of time to finish my book for class (since I made some good progress earlier this week), so I'm going to enjoy reading some more of Roots of Survival: Native American Storytelling and the Sacred.

*lets out deep breath. . . *

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Excellent to hear that things are going better for you.

[qos.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

One of the most significant gains I've experienced in the course of accumulating years of life -- and reflecting on them -- is an increased awareness of just how transient most moods are, and how to tweak them. When I was younger, a down mood would be cause for even more angst because it seemed so 'big'. Now, down moods are still a pain, but although I may rant a bit on LJ, I do remain aware that they are transient. Especially since I have a strong tendency toward optimism and cheerfulness.

And in the last few years I have also discovered the virtue of a small intake of alcohol every so often to help ease off an atypical overdose of stress and fatigue.

[toesontheground.livejournal.com]

:)

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the 'phone turned up and the evening went so well. (I was totally out of it and went to sleep as soon as I dragged across my doorway at 7:30 yesterday evening, or I would have replied sooner.)