The day pass is $3 for the week

I have to describe to you the day we had today because it's fading into the recesses of my memory all too quickly and it was just too good to be true. It was a comedy of errors from the start.

The day started at 1am. You read that correctly. That's 1am. Not 1pm. Our daughter decided that it was time to party and refused to go to sleep until the wee hour of 3 or 4 or some other such thing. When she woke up well rested at 7am, my husband and I drew straws for who would go to hang out with her and who would get to sleep a little more. I lost.

9:15am: We're leaving the house, on our way to Stroudsburg, somewhere in PA. We needed to stop by a local library to print out some coupons for ACMoore, since we'd be passing it on the way and I needed to get a fill for my yarn habit.

9:45am: We've on our way. Google could not exactly pin point the location of 5540 Rt. 611 but it didn't look too far. There were no numbers that I can spot as we drove (and the one I saw 534 didn't look encouraging), but the slew of abandoned buildings didn't look enticing.

10:05am: We finally get to the municipal center, with the police, etc. offices, and we ask a gentleman if there is a library somewhere near. He swears up and down that the closest library is a clear 5 miles in the opposite direction and that there isn't a library here. He says, go past Stroud Mall, you'll see a Midas, then you can't miss the building, it's on the left, it's huge, yada yada. Disappointed, we pull around the driveway to get back to the exit, and what do we see? Mount Pocono Public Library. It's on the other side of the building where we just had the conversation about the lack of such a library anywhere close.

10:10am: I enter the 2nd floor of the county library, and ask if there are computers with a printer that I can use. The very kind librarian points me to a set, and then, almost absent mindelessly asks if I am a resident. I, with a straight face, say yes. This is where I get in trouble. Since I have no proof that anyone actually pays taxes here, I have to buy a day pass. Undaunted, I ask: "How much is a day pass?" The librarian answers: "It's $3 for the week." It took all of my composure not to laugh at the fact that a day pass is only sold by the week.

10:12am: I head back to the car to get cash from my husband as I realize that I have none. I'm guessing they don't take cards.

10:15am: I sit down at the computer. I find ACMoore.com, I get to the coupons page. The library doesn't have Adobe Reader installed on the computers to I can't open the PDF page with the coupon. Argh.

10:17am: In a cold sweat, I search Google for a web based PDF reader. I find one called Issau or some other such thing (it's actually pretty good). They make me register. I would typically object to such a thing, but I no longer care. I am on a mission.

10:23am: I figure out how to screen shoot from the viewer since I can't figure out how to print from it (there is actually a clear print button, but i was too frazzled to see it). I print one copy. Check it. Pay the required 15cents per page to the librarian. I check my wallet, I have only 30 more cents, so my dreams of printing many coupons in the chance that we'll go back some time later in the week are dashed. I print 2 more pages, empty out my wallet and head back to the car to find one stark raving mad husband who has spent 30 minutes in the car waiting for me to get back from the library he didn't want to go to with coupons to a store he doesn't want to go to.
10:35am: We're finally on our way to Stroudsbourg. 5 miles go by. 7miles go by. 10 miles go by. We've now passed another municipal library. Still no "you can't miss it" building. Still no Midas. Finally at about 11am, we see the library, we see Midas, we see the huge building, and it actually was large and we didn't miss it.

11:05am: We stop at ACMoore. We buy yarn and then we do the calculation: $8 saved - $3 weekly day pass - $0.45 for copies - extra gas. Yeah - we had pretty much broken even.

I have to add another note here. Ever since we arrived here on Friday night, my husband has been in search of a good Chinese place. We didn't find one on Friday night. Since we were heading in a different direction today, we kept an eye out. Guess what? There are no Chinese places besides the greasy-spoon-take-out-joints within a 20 mile radius of the house. Oh, well, I guess we'll have to do this at home.

After we did get to Stroudsburg, we got complemented 4 times on what a nice little boy we have. I think I'll have to sew some flowers onto her jeans. Otherwise, she does look like a boy.

By the way, Stroudsburg is a very nice little town. I don't like that a major route with trucks and all goes right through the center, but otherwise, it's great. We had lunch at great Turkish restaurant called Istanbul cafe. They had fantastic kataifi and excellent Turkish coffee. We should know as my husband had 3 servings.

When we got home, we traded naps and then my husband made ostrich steaks. You read that correctly. Ostrich tastes like a mixture between chicken, turkey and beef. Try to imagine that or go to your local butcher and order some.

Sleep

"To sleep, perchance to dream". Doesn't that sounds like the best thing? Sweet sleep and some sweet dreams. Ok, I guess it's not from a very warm and cozy play, but at least the sentiment is nice. I can tell you what my dreams are made of: sleeping on nice flowy white sheets, with a soft breeze gliding through the room, waking up to the sound of the birds chirping outside and the smell of pancakes cooking in the kitchen. That's the stuff. Really.

I was walking along the streets of Brookline early one morning, sipping my freshly made Starbucks hot chocolate, thinking to myself that I'd better find a nice long street so that I won't constantly have to think about where to go and which turn to make. So that my road can be straight, and I can be pushing my sleeping child in her stroller without thinking much of anything.

Did you ever notice that all moms with young children have the same look on their face. Underslept, overtired, puffy eyes. We nod to each other the same way that bus drivers nod to each other as they pass. The sort of acknowledgement of the woes and difficulties. The acknowledgement that we understand, better than anybody else on the street.

I loathe mothers who walk out, composed, with make up on, with clean pressed clothing, and head out confidently with their stroller to their Pilates or some other such thing. Then I have to remind myself that in the last 6 months, there has probably been 1 occasion when, with the help of someone, I got out of the house without getting pucked on in the stairwell, with my hair composed, with some makeup on, and with decent clothing. I don't go to pilates. That's the next hurdle. Perhaps baby ups can count for exercise for another two months or so, and then I'll have to find a real exercise routine.

And so, dear readers, I must say: "Goodnight and good luck". May your night be restful. May your baby, if you have one, seize fighting sleep for this just one evening and may you get all the sleep your dreams are made of.