Just like the commercial says

So the Elder Child had the day off from school, since it's the end of the semester (two weeks after Christmas -- what kind of bizarro scheduling is that anyway?) and TDP DinoBoy got off at noon. I spent a good two and a half hours on the phone in a couple of consecutive con-calls this morning, then hustled across town to get the little one and head to lunch.

The Cheesecake Factory had opened here by the mall (suburban living at its best, dontcha know!) before Christmas and we hadn't yet had a chance to go by. Hub is working late tonight with some focus groups, so I knew we wouldn't be able to eat dinner together later before the kids head over to Grandma's. So I decided CF would be a nice choice for a lunch date with my two favorite little boys. There wasn't much line and we ended up having a wonderful time together. We had nothing to do the rest of the day, and it was good to just sit together and chat and eat a pretty good meal. Nothing spectacular, but fun and a little fancier than what we're used to. And of course, we brought some cheesecake home to share later (was there any doubt?!)

When I pulled out the card to pay the tab, Elder Child smiled at me and said, verbatim, with no prompting from me:

Strawberry Lemonade: $4
Grilled cheese, fish & chips and fish tacos: $24
Cheesecake to go: $13

Lunch with Mom on a weekday: Priceless

I couldn't have said it better myself.


ORN: 20 minutes on the TM Tuesday night, almost 6 miles to/around/from Central Park Thursday morning.
Light run scheduled later tonight after I drop the boys at Grandma's and I'm no longer so full from lunch (I only ate part of the filling from the tacos after the first one, and left more than half of the rice and beans, but it was a LOT of food. Must burn it off and get back into the deficit area).