When a day goes well....

...it is a good reprieve from the stress and frustration of other days. 
Today was a calm day all around, which has been a much needed thing.  I only babysat this morning, so the day was pretty clear.  I focused on refiguring and repricing the materials that I need to do the renovations now that I finally have the building permit.  My mother stopped by and took me out to lunch, which was a wonderful treat.  It is good to talk with my mom without kids distracting us.  After that I went back to working on finding the best price I can for materials.

I was trying  not to stress out too much about some things that happened at school yesterday that the principal had called about yesterday.  he was going to look into it more today, and so I was wondering what that would amount to.  In the early afternoon I got the call from the school, and was able to talk for a while with the CSE chair about the issue, which thankfully they perceived to be the same as I had, and did not turn out to be as big as what I perceived the principal had made it seem yesterday.  So that brought some stress relief.

Josiah had a good day at school, which is always a good thing.  his frog chart (behavior chart with a frog on it) had 12 out of 12 happy faces.  So he got a star student star.  Gonzo also had a good day at school.  The boys were both calm and happy this afternoon.  A got out of work early today (was here by 5:00), and as planned, took the boys over there for dinner and to hang out until about 7:30.  The boys really enjoy being there, and though Josiah wanted to spend the night there, he only resisted coming home a little bit.  I was willing to let him stay even though it is a school night, but A was not up for it.  And normally I wouldn't have been either, as we have agreed the kids should have a consistent school night routine and sleep at home with me on school nights.  Hopefully they will get to spend one of the weekend nights with A.  While they have only spent a couple of nights with A, they have enjoyed it.  And A has been sober for 3 weeks now, and things are calmer all around.  A has also been more consistent with the kids, which has been good.  They enjoy  having both of their parents.

I had a low key evening while the kids were with A.  I enjoyed soup for dinner, watch a couple of episodes of Star Trek:Enterprise, and checked some things out online. The kids came home, took showers and got ready for bed.  We did the advent calendar, which provided their snack (as it is a chocolate advent calendar with a little piece of chocolate behind each day).  The kids took their evening meds and then brushed their teeth without complaining or arguing.  Then I read them books until they drifted off to sleep.

 I have learned through experience that the best way to ward off depression is to do things that bring you peace, AND appreciate the time and ability to do those things.  So today was a good day for bring stress levels down and finding an internal peace....