Good-bye Twenty, May You Stop Mocking Me

This week is Spring Break for our preschooler. It's a little anticlimactic, I think, when school is not an every day/full day type of thing, but it still means that we're all home together every minute of the days this week, which I think is sometimes hardest on me. I mean, I love having them home, and the thought of sending Hope off to school next year (even if it is only half-day Kindergarten) makes me a little teary, but sometimes I am just not a very good keep-the-kids-entertained-while-at-home kind of mom. Thus, making some days long.

So, in a burst of inspiration today I decided that after a quick jaunt to Target we'd go out for lunch. But not the typical Jimmy Johns/Noodles/Potbelly (read: kid friendly and quick) place we'd usually head to, I wanted to go somewhere a little different. Still child friendly, of course, but my mind fluttered around the idea of walking the streets of Manhattan and coming across a little cozy cafe to leisurely take in a light lunch.

Of course, we're far from Manhattan and any cafe is a quick drive away, but still we went somewhere less typical of our family to indulge in my fantasy of a Spring Break 'special lunch' with the girls.

The lunch, let me just cut to the chase, was pretty much a bust.

The light part of the lunch was no problem considering the girls were crunching away on Goldfish we picked up at Target. So, thinking I was being all smart I ordered only one macaroni and cheese for the girls to share. And nobody touched it. Not one bite from either of them. Yes, they were hopped up on Goldfish, but to be fair, it really didn't look that appetizing even to me.

The side of french fries went a little farther, but even with the full doggy bag I don't regret those simply because they came as a french fry cornet and I pretended to be French while I nibbled and dipped between the ketchup and mayo.

I left our lunch annoyed, mostly with myself for spending twenty-dollars on a lunch that nobody really seemed to enjoy. Pretty much all my fault. Even I made a poor choice with my tomato soup what with tomatoes and I not always agreeing with each other ever since my pregnancy with Paige. Of course, today was one of the times that ingesting tomatoes isn't making my stomach too happy.

On the plus side, girls were fairly well behaved. There was an episode of both kids under the table which was where I felt my irritation start to prickle, but luckily it did not explode as it usually does, mostly because I got us out of the restaurant before all patience disappeared; but overall the singing and crumbs on the floor and staring at the table next to us didn't ruin the lunch.

To be honest, mostly the lunch felt like a bust because I spent twenty-dollars (TWENTY-DOLLARS!) on food that no one really ate. Twenty-dollars may not sound like a lot to some, but to me it's a precious amount. We could've gotten by just fine with our five dollar french fries. But no, even thinking I was ordering light I wasted twenty-dollars. That's five coffees I could've enjoyed myself. Or five pints of Ben & Jerry's. Or a movie and popcorn. All of which seem like a better option than this lunch was.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty and all that. ::grumble, grumble, grumble::

(Ha! And I just realized, 'hindsight twenty-twenty, I spent 'twenty' dollars. Oh, the irony. Is that even irony? I never was good with that. I need a quick English lesson... But I digress.)

I should know by now, that mostly my expectations of things, especially when those expectations take on an air of lightness and the hazy glow of a movie scene, that I'm pretty much destined for failure. I had this romanticized idea in my head of a mom and her daughters nibbling on salad and bread through the window of a quaint cafe. (Which should've been my first red-flag as neither of my girls would go within ten feet of anything green and crunchy.)

I'm trying not to dwell on the negative (I could've fooled you, right?), but it's hard with a pile of mediocre mac and cheese and a heap of leftover french fries staring me in the face. They taunt me with their, Twenty-dollars. TWENTY-DOLLARS. TWENTY-DOLLARS! I'll get over it eventually, I hope. Maybe after a few weeks when I've recovered financially.

And next time I have a vision of cafe eating? We're going for dessert. (I'm not giving up completely, people. A girl's gotta have some dreams.)

xoxo,
Christine