Unless you're a mother, what I'm about to tell you will sound ridiculous. It sounded ridiculous to me before I had a kid. It still sounds faintly ridiculous, but, I feel it nonetheless.

I didn't want to go to the movies because I wasn't sure if I wanted to leave the child for the just-over-2 hours a movie would entail.

I know. Dumb. I was leaving her with my parents--her grandparents!--and yet, I hesitated. Should I?

I made myself go because even though I wasn't exactly feeling it, I knew it was good to get out of the house for a bit. And, it was. It was like charging my batteries, and I think it was all the better because I didn't wait til I was at the end of my rope.

So my sister took me to see Julie & Julia, which was like icing on the cake, because I've read both My Life In France (Julia's autobiography) and Julie & Julia, the book on which the movie is based. It felt a little long to me; towards the end I seriously thought about suggesting to my sister that we leave early.

Again, sounding kinda ridiculous to my own ears, I just don't feel like I have a lot of extra time to waste. My priority is the kid, and 99% of the time, my preference, too. So, it's got to be something pretty outstanding to spend time away from her. This wasn't over two hours of outstanding. Not bad, but not outstanding.