I went to the coffee shop today to improve my mood. I'm having some issues with my husband being home all the time: something about me wanting to head for the door when kids start to cry. I'm beginning to follow the urge, even though it took all day for the hour at the coffee shop to enlighten me.

It's just been difficult for me to gain satisfaction from parenting while an able body is present and too often idle. He is disturbing the homeostasis of this fish tank.

So I decided to sit on the bench against the wall instead of the usual window seats. Why?

(To humble myself, that's why.)

The bench sits three butts at three close tables. I sat in the middle, which meant I had to accept neighbors on either side. Not the best decision for me, but I only realized this after I committed to the seat, and I'm not typically one to second-guess myself in public.

The available table by the window was also in the middle. To the right was a young guy on the phone. This trip was also to study, so that would not do. To the left was an older, older man. I just wasn't in the mood to be looked at by him.

The soft chairs have fumbling written all over them. With hat, coffee, textbook, notebook, and pen, this was not an option.

About ten minutes in, a large woman ordered $6 worth of brownies and sat down to my right.

It figures.

I didn't look at her. She of course had to mumble aloud to herself. I couldn't make out any of the words. I was supposed to be reading anyway. Back to reading. She starts into brownie #1. "Oh, it's so good," I hear. Another bite, spoken softly, "OH, it's so good." There was also the mumbling. She must of had some kind of problem but knew to keep her voice down. Whatever. In the meantime, a normal guy sat to my left and typed and bumped my table and crunched in my ear and was nothing compared to the connossieur over here.

The whole first brownie got RAVE reviews and I didn't learn much from chapter three--The Science of Astronomy--other than the fact that the days of the week were named after the "planets" (wanderers) recognized in ancient times (The Earth was not considered a planet).

Sun(day)
Moon(day)
Mars (how about the Spanish, martes)
Mercury (the Spanish, miercoles)
Jupiter (jueves)
Venus (FRIDAY!)
Saturn(day)

Cool!

Yet, I was perturbed. If this was the "bottom" to the way the last few days had gone for me, I was ready for mercy.

Not until this evening when I told some friends about the brownie fiend did my mood finally lift. We laughed about her a lot. Thanks, lady. I needed to laugh.