I lived out my perfect day today.

In my head, that is. As I do all too often.

This morning I woke up early, before my husband and child, grabbed an hour of power skipping with the skipping rope I finally purchased after talking about it endlessly, and received my family with good humor at the breakfast table, where I served everyone oatmeal (McCann's, the real Scottish kind that takes bloody forever to cook) in these swanky Ittala bowls.

After Crabtot and her dad vacated our unpretentious but incredibly stylish and tidy apartment, I applied myself diligently to a craft activity that has been languishing beneath my well-ordered desk. This consisted of my gluing felt to a small pillowcase made from the vintage fabric I bought when Crabtot was but a wee babe in arms. After so many years, at last I finished this small cushion for Crabtot's bed! A row of felt owlets on a hand-embroidered branch. Screamingly adorable!

As I went about my day in a casual but effortlessly chic outfit, I felt the glow that comes from knowing my life is finally looking like the life I always envision in my mind's eye, from top to toe: I have a good haircut and de-sloughed foot soles; I no longer compulsively eat Gummi bears; I have improved both my mood and my "mom-flap" through exercise; I have found the missing mates to both my favorite wool socks and my black winter driving gloves; I have figured out which keys on my key-ring are obsolete and recycled them accordingly; I have in my possession enlarged photo prints of Crabtot from a custom printer, rather than a junky online store, to place into the lovely wood frames I picked up at a thrift store. AND just prior to a productive session of novel-writing (because talking about it isn't the same as writing it), I made the time to take jars of pennies and dimes to the bank! I even sorted them first for expired foreign currencies from Africa!

On picking up my child after a morning of preschool, I went home to eat a lovely lunch with my Crabtot, a meal that included tomatoes and lettuce grown from seed in our small but delightful garden. We then engaged in some wondrous afternoon playtime, performing with homemade puppets from behind the couch. Then Crabtot helped me clean up, took a nice little nap, and woke up in a pleasant and chirpy mood.

Tonight I will go out for a date night involving sushi and my husband's choice of ancient foreign film re-run, which I will not argue about, but will instead accept with wonder and delight, appreciating his creativity and independent-mindedness for the gifts that they are.

You know what really sealed today's feeling of peace and accomplishment for me? I removed all Hello Kitty sticker debris from Crabtot's clothing (and mine), deleted all old bookmarks form my internet toolbar, and bought all outstanding books in my Amazon cart, from Francine Prose to Boris Pasternak. I also made several mixed CDs for my scattered friends and family. These CDs went into packages containing exquisite original presents, which these poor good people richly deserve and which are long overdue.

Today, I lived the life I keep meaning to get around to living. Today I was my other future-perfect self.

I wish.

Anyone else live a whole other life inside their heads? As in, imagining a better, more productive, aesthetically pleasing version of your life that you fool yourself into thinking might?just?one day?become real?