You know what I don’t like about working for myself? Constantly having to peddle myself, working at all hours, no free office supplies, sometimes averaging somewhere around a dime an hour because I’m either slow or a perfectionist or a slow perfectionist… ummm… this is turning out to be sort of a long list. Nevermind.

You know what I LOVE about working for myself? No annoying bosses, meeting cool people, working on all sorts of different things, and finally getting to make a living doing what I love.

And! Sometimes, when I work it right, I can just… take a day off. In the middle of the week. Or, say, on a Tuesday. Wooooooooooooo!

I didn’t do a lick of work today. It was grand.

After I dropped the kids off, I headed off to a double-header doctor’s appointment and therapy. My doctor gave me lovely samples to tide me over until my insurance company decides that I can actually fill my prescription for said medication. Right now they are waiting for a variety of forms in triplicate, or maybe just for me to say “Mother may I,” I’m not sure.

Therapy today was very entertaining. We were in an overachieving mood, I think. Usually I only manage to have one revelation in 45 minutes. But today! I was free, I tell you! Free to cover a multitude of topics! Let’s see. Today we talked about how:
1) I need to stop beating myself up about the car accident already (duh).
2) I am drawn to men who want/need nurturing.
3) These men are rarely available or otherwise able to reciprocate.
4) In the rare instances when people (particularly men) try to nurture me, I freak out.
5) In reviewing 2 through 4, I am clearly a dumbass.
6) But no, I shouldn’t beat myself up about that.
7) Maybe being aware of it will help me to change it, though…?
8) I should consider this thing called “casual dating.”
9) But that’s my therapist’s idea. My idea is to continue hiding in my house and eating chocolate.
10) I can actually get away with saying “I’ll think about that next year” now that it’s the middle of December.

Wow, I feel ever so much more enlightened already. Self-destructive and not very bright, mind you, but enlightened!

Okay. So. On the heels of my heightened awareness, I of course decided to go shopping.

Except for that whole no money thing. Whoops. Okay, I went shopping at the thrift store.

And lo, the consumer deities did smile upon me. Not only did I have a banner day at the thrift store–finding many brand new, previously expensive items which were not only teeny sizes (because the better the brand, the smaller the size!) but now just a few dollars apiece–my insurance adjustor called me to let me know they’ve decided how much to give me for my car.

Amazingly, they’re actually giving me what I anticipated. Well, that’s what they say they’ll give me, but I still have to either get my title from the small bank swallowed by the larger bank, or order a duplicate title from the DMV and get a signed, notarized, written-in-blood release letter from the small bank swallowed by the larger bank. So I’m thinking I’ll be receiving that check… ummm… how does early 2007 sound? Still, at least someday when I get it, it’ll be for top dollar.

I met up with a friend and we shopped together for a while, then I went to pick up the kids, early, and take them to the pediatrician for their follow-up checks. Chickadee got her stitches out and held perfectly still and didn’t even flinch. Usually she’s such a wimp about any sort of physical discomfort; I wonder if this experience hasn’t toughened her up, some. I fully expected her to whine and complain while the stitches were being tugged. The very most awesomest best thing about today is that even the doctor said she’s healing really quickly. I can’t get over how GOOD her scar looks. It doesn’t look at all like her entire forehead was hanging open just a week ago.

After removing the stitches, the doctor placed some butterfly bandages in a railroad track pattern, which Monkey found highly fascinating. In fact, so much time was being spent on his sister, he was starting to feel quite left out, and asked when it would be HIS turn. The doc finished up with Chickadee and turned to Monkey. “Now,” she said, “what should I check on YOU?”

“Well, I hurt my head too,” he said quite seriously, holding his hair aside to reveal his scrape.

“I see that,” replied the doctor with equal somberness. She put him up on the table and spent much longer than necessary admiring his little bump. “Well,” she finally said, “I think maybe you need some of these butterfly bandages, too. Do you think so?”

Monkey flushed with delight. “Yes!” he agreed.

The doctor winked at me and set to work. Monkey is now the proud owner of what is perhaps the world’s only forehead tic-tac-toe board. Hee.

The kids picked stickers on our way out, and then we headed over to Kohl’s to kill a bit of time before they went to Daddy’s for dinner. Faced with the daunting task of choosing a Christmas gift for the world’s greatest babysitter, the children were steadfast and united in their resolve. Within minutes it was unanimous: Purple monkey socks. I… uhhh… hope she likes purple. And monkeys. And purple monkeys hanging off her socks.

After I left the kids with their dad, I returned home for the first time all day, waded through eleventy hundred emails, washed the thrift store stink off of today’s finds, RSVPed for the birthday parties the kids have this weekend, and ate more chocolate. I chatted on the phone with several friends about nothing in particular. The kids came home just before bedtime, and I managed to get everyone settled and tucked in without incident in time to watch Fear Factor.

Oh, I’ll be back to working tomorrow. But I might doing it wearing a really sharp size 2 Ann Taylor blazer… over my pajamas.