Like I Have Time For This?

Well, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last night at around 10:00 pm.

Was it good? I think so! Am I gonna tell you anything about it? Nope! No spoilers here. Except to say that I was WAY WRONG on the majority of my plot predictions. Seriously. I was way off. And I’m glad. It’s more fun to be surprised by stories, rather than sit there saying I knew it! I just knew it! over and over again.

Buying at Borders turned out to work well for me. I didn’t go to the midnight party. My kids are too young for that. And they get up early. So if I had tried going to the midnight party, and then gotten home at maybe 2:00 am and kept reading until dawn, I would have fallen asleep just as they were waking and just as RegularDad was leaving for work. And that would not have been pretty. At all.

So I went early in the morning instead. The kids got up at the crack of dawn as usual, and waved goodbye to RegularDad who sadly had to work all weekend. We had a quick bowl of cereral and got dressed and brushed our teeth. We found shoes and got in the car. I gave them granola bars to nibble on for the ride to Borders.

When we pulled into the parking lot, it was mercifully almost empty. I knew I wouldn’t need to go to Target. The parking spaces had been written on with sidewalk chalk. Each slot had been assigned to various Harry Potter characters. We parked in Bathilda Bagshot’s space, next to Arthur Weasley’s space, which was empty. I guess Arthur had to leave the party early. Ministry business, perhaps.

We walked right in the wide-open front doors and up to the large table where books were being handed out. They found my name on the preorder list, handed me my copy, plus a free poster and lightning bolt tattoos for the girls, and that was it. The girls each wanted a new book too, so we spent maybe 10 minutes in the children’s area while they chose their books. I rushed them through it as best I could, and went up to the register where there was a short line forming. We paid for our books and left.

Back home again, I made sure the answering machine was on, put on cartoons for the kids, gave them permission to raid the fridge for cheese sticks and fruit, and got busy reading. Around noon, I slopped together some PB&J’s. Around 4:00, I let the kids have some leftover cake, and then they finished up the scrags in the last 2 bags of chips. RegularDad brought home a pizza and salad for dinner.

He immediately took over the kid situation, which ended the constant questions from my 4-year-old: Mom? Are you done reading Harry Potter yet? Mom, can I look at the poster? Mom, I’m still hungry. Mom, what’s a tattoo made out of? Mom, can I go online? Are you done yet, Mom? Please can’t I look at the poster? PLEASE?… All of which, I’m proud to say I was able to answer without losing my temper and while still reading, hardly skipping a beat.

Not long after the kids were in bed, RegularDad opened our bedroom door to check on me and said: I knew it! I just knew it! and flipped on all the lights. Then he left, mumbling as he closed the door: reading in the dark AGAIN….

A couple hours later, I emerged from the bedroom a bit headachy and with an incredibly sore neck, but knowing finally how it all turns out. RegularDad gave me a neck massage and we watched an incredibly BAD movie on the Sci-Fi channel. He asked how it ended and I refused to tell him until he threatened to just go read the last page. So I told him, and then made him promise not to tell anyone else for at least a month, just in case they hadn’t finished reading yet.

Today, I’ve got to wash all the dishes that have been left sitting since Friday. And maybe deal with the laundry. Maybe.

Or maybe I’ll just start re-reading.