My Chocolate Larzipan Saves the Day

Today has been a challenging day. I raced from a doctor's appointment this morning straight to an installation and meeting with a client with no time for lunch in between, then barely had time to let my puppies out and feed them before I had to stuff them in the back of my car and high-tail it to Anders' school in time to pick him up (5 minutes late). I walked the dogs along the strips of grass near the school parking lot, then loaded them back in the car and zoomed back down I-77 and I-485 towards home to meet Lars's bus. Today Lars's bus was late because the bus driver ran out of gas (?!!), which made us late to piano lessons.

Lars "accidentally" forgot to bring his book bag to piano lessons, which meant that he couldn't do his homework during Anders' lesson and got to read his book instead. Anders did bring his bookbag, but he refused to do his homework during Lars's lesson. It was 6:15 by the time we got home and I was able to feed the dogs, park the boys at separate tables with their homework, and start dinner. The whole day felt like one long panic attack, and it is still not over because I have about four hours of work to get done before I can go to sleep, and if I stay up too late I'll sleep through my alarm and tomorrow will be even more stressful and chaotic than today.

So, what am I doing blogging at 10 PM if I have so much to do, my sensible friends might be wondering? I just wanted to quickly share with you one delightful splash of sunshine that lit up my otherwise wretched day:

My Lars-of-Ours informed me, on the way home from piano, that chocolate is a vegetable. For real. Chocolate comes from the bean of the cacao plant, and it is an honest-to-God, scientific fact that chocolate is a vegetable. Lars apparently learned this from reading National Geographic. So all those cravings for Starbucks' dark chocolate-covered graham crackers, all those guilty Godiva indulgences -- it's no longer a source of shame! Forget broccoli, brussels sprouts and parsnips; the choco-beans are vegetables, too! This is the best news I've heard in a long time. Thanks, Larzipan -- Mommy needed that today!