It's time to once again check the temperature in hell

There have been several times around here I know I've said that hell may have actually frozen over. But this time, I'm serious!

It's been one of those days. The rare kind where I might not want to put my own head in a toilet and flush just to get a break from the craziness or myself.

I didn't even get up declaring, "Today is the day! I'm gonna try really hard. I'm going to take Super Nanny's advice and throw in a combo pack from several dozen parenting books for good measure." Nope. Just got up and didn't look back. Maybe that's the key: don't try?

Now when I say *don't try* please don't misunderstand me. I didn't go lock myself in my room with a TV and a box of Oreos and let the kids run amuck. I guess today it was more of an issue of enjoying my role as mom. GASP. Is that possibly the key ingredient that I miss most days? Shoot. Why didn't someone tell me?!

First of all, I didn't fight with anyone. I know the day is not over, but still, it's nearly 5:00, which by the way, is clock out time for me! I didn't yell. I didn't even want to yell. There were occasions where I might could have yelled. But I didn't. One time I calmly sent Olivia to her room and told her that when she is being mean to me, I'd rather she be in a different room. It worked like a charm.

For once, I noticed Turner obey (not that its for once he obeyed... well okay, so it was... but its more that I noticed) and I praised him and gave him a sticker on the sticker chart. He's been a DREAM ever since.

I forgot to put a Pull-Up on Quinn at nap time. Naturally, he had a tinkle accident. All over himself and the duvet cover. I didn't even feel frustrated inside. I simply cleaned up the mess and explained "accidents happen" (which also happens to be the name of a very annoying song on Elmo's Potty Time) and although I seem to be having an out of body kind of experience good day thing going on, I did NOT break into song. Let's keep it real people.

Then, I needed to bake a cake for some guests that are coming over. Usually just the thought of people coming over sends me over the edge with irritability. Oh the cleaning, the cooking and did I mention the cleaning? But instead of getting tense, I let O help me with the baking. She did a pretty good job. Until it came to making the butter cream frosting. After dumping a full cup of powdered sugar successfully into the bowl, she flung the Kitchen Aide onto high. Yep, full on cloud of powdered sugar covering her, me, the floor and the counter. But because I'm using up all the rest of my *luck* for 2010, I didn't yell. I FREAKIN LAUGHED. My daughter and I had some kind of Hallmark commercial moment. What the flippity flap is going on over here?

Is it the Christmas spirit? Can you get high from a White Barn candle in Winter scent? Is it the bottle of Merlot I drank at lunch time? (oh, I kid)

Whatever is going on around here, I'm not exactly sure. All I know is, if this is a dream, please don't wake me because I kind of like it this way.