August 29: A Better Day...Kind of!

I decided it was up to me to start the day with a better attitude today.  My grumpiness rubs off on my girls, and I know that they react negatively to it, especially Audrey.  So I decided to take them out of the house this morning and to do something different from what we normally do.

We went to the park!  We haven't been to the park much this summer, because it has been hot and crowded and I don't find it much fun.  But Audrey loves it, and Isla thinks it's fun (even though she can't do much by herself yet!).

I packed my camera, thinking it would be fun to take some pictures.  But once we got there, I realized that I left my memory card at home (this happens to me ALL the time, you would think I would learn my lesson!).  So I decided to use my phone camera, but then my phone died after I took just two pictures:

 

I also brought a blanket and a picnic basket with snacks so that we could have a picnic snack after we played.  Audrey loves picnics, so this was a big hit for her.  All in all, it was a pretty good morning.  It helped that Isla was in a MUCH better mood today than she has been the past two days.

AND THEN...this afternoon...I saw a mouse run across my kitchen floor.  EEK!  I am terrified of mice.  Daniel thinks I am being a bit ridiculous, but seriously, those little rodents scare me to death.  I realize that this is a completely irrational fear.  They won't hurt me, and they are probably more scared of me than I am of them (though I doubt that is possible!).

After I saw the mouse, I was paralyzed with fear and did not want to leave the safety of the couch.   We only had an hour of free time before I had to teach a piano lesson, but I just couldn't sit in the house for an hour knowing that the mouse was lurking around unseen.  So I packed up the girls, and we headed to Scheels, because it is nearby and they have cheap ice cream.  A good distraction.

We played in the playland.

We said hi to some animals.

And we had some ice cream.

Then we had to go back home, and I had to face my mouse fears.  I got braver as the evening wore on, as it was really impossible to just sit on the couch all night.  We have a bunch of traps set now...I really, really, really hope that mouse is in  one of them in the morning!  Just the thought of a mouse running free in my house makes me tense and uncomfortable and creeped out and grumpy all over again!