No way. (Installment One)

Do you remember how just the other day, I was talking about how low I was feeling? Running on fumes? Blue?

Well, my goodness. My friend Lindsey took it upon herself to give me a day off from the laundry, the cooking, the kids, etc. Mostly the kids, though.

On Tuesday night, she sent me a message on Facebook, warning me to be expecting a visitor around 10am. I said, "Who? You?" (except without capitalization). She was very vague about it, telling me not to worry about it, but saying she was tempted to say St. Nicholas was coming over. (In a nutshell, St. Nicholas is known for his secret gift-giving.) This didn't make any sense to me until the end of the day yesterday.

Anyway, yesterday morning, I was trying not to think too much about my "visitor" ... remembering that she'd said I didn't need to worry about it. And then I saw my friend (and our beloved babysitter) Vanessa pull up outside. And I remembered writing on Facebook about how I needed a vacation. I thought, aha, Lindsey has planned for me to have a babysitter for two hours or so! Nice! I can run a couple errands that I never feel like running when I have three kids in tow (which is ALWAYS).

When Vanessa came in, she asked me if I knew what was going on. I said, "Nope!" We chatted for a couple minutes, and then she told me that Lindsey was coming over soon with some things for me, and said, "Why don't you go take a shower?" I said, "Am I going somewhere?" And Vanessa said, "Yes." So I raced upstairs to take a shower, and when I was all dressed, I discovered that Lindsey was downstairs, too (grinning to beat the band) (and I have no idea where that phrase comes from). She showed me three envelopes, each with a time written on them, and told me to open the envelopes at the specified time -- and not to come home before 5. The 10:15 envelope contained a gift certificate to my favorite local coffee shop.

So I fluttered around the house, getting ready to go (very inefficiently, because that's how I operate), grabbing a couple books, my knitting, my purse, (and yes, my Medela pump, because Will eats every three hours-ish, and even though there's plenty of milk in the freezer for him, I would be pretty darn uncomfortable to go that long without feeding him), and my phone.

I love that little coffee shop. I got a spicy hot chocolate (with cayenne pepper!), and when Kim asked me if I wanted any toppings, I said, "Everything you've got!" I sat down with my books and my knitting and had a grand old time. I'm knitting this sweater I started in 2004 or 2005, and it's a very complicated pattern, and I'd made a mistake somewhere but hadn't had an uninterrupted minute to sit down and try to figure out my mistake ... so I couldn't do any knitting. BUT I had the time yesterday to figure it out, get everything straightened out, and just enjoy the knitting. I sat facing a window, so I got some lovely southern sunlight ... and a good seat for the pick-up line I witnessed. Or so I thought.

[Nursing break. Typing one-handed is not my thing.]

This guy struck up a rather stupid (I thought) conversation with the woman at the next table. Then she responded with interest, and he totally played it off like he wasn't interested. Hmm. I couldn't decide if that's just the way guys work, or if he really wasn't interested in her, and really was just interested in the size of her Macbook. (His was newer and faster, and why would he care?)

Anyway, I called my friend Bobbi to see if she wanted to meet up for lunch, since I haven't seen her in months and months (like 9 months maybe?). And then I remembered envelope #2.

Key some suspenseful music here.

Installment 2 coming soon.