Happiness is...

... sliding your feet into comfy, fuzzy, warm slippers that have been hanging out in front of the heat vent while you get ready for work. (Of course - the very unfortunate counterpart to this is the sadness that comes from having to take off these comfy slippers and actually GO to work.)

... a moment of silence in between non-stop bouts of whining and crying from both your daughters, FOR NO APPARENT REASON.

... stepping on the scale with your eyes closed because you're pretty sure it's not going to show you a very good number, only to sneak a peek and realize that you've lost another 3.6 lbs. AND it's your birthday. BONUS.

... being able to sleep in until the luxurious hour of 7:30 a.m. ON YOUR BIRTHDAY.

... being the recipient of a brand spankin' new laptop computer and all the fixins for a wireless connection ON YOUR BIRTHDAY. Man. Someone must have been a good girl this year. AND. AND... joining the rest of the population in the year 1999 with high speed internet.

If you couldn't tell, yesterday was my birthday. 32, if you really must know. And yes - I'm not even kidding you - Patrick (and the girls, of course) got me a laptop. I cried. Trust me, not because I'm going to miss my lightning fast dial-up internet. We had an awesome day. I always take my birthday off work. It's against my religion to work on my birthday. So we putzed around home in the morning, took the girls to daycare and went to the mall. We shopped, we had lunch, we ran some errands and we came home and just... were. It may sound crazy, but it actually felt really good to throw in some laundry and clean up the house a bit. I never said it was a glamorous life, but it's all mine. And I like it.