The other day – Thursday, to be specific – we had a hellish day of epic proportions here. It doesn’t really matter what each specific detail was, it just sucked. Some highlights included, but were not limited to:

• Sibling bickering at 7:30 in the morning while I was still trying to get my eyes to focus on Canada AM so I could wake up.
• Angry stamping of feet before I had even made myself a cup of coffee so I could wake up, and at an hour that was early enough that the people downstairs are probably looking for a house right now.
• A certain tiny person SCREAMING “Where Caca?!” (“Where’s Caillou”) for the entire five minutes that I dared to take a shower. How selfish of me to want to be clean! I think she may have shattered mirrors and windows somewhere with her screamfest.
• Hayley putting on her bright red kids’ lipstick and somehow ending up getting it on the mirror, the counter, and inexplicably, the deep freezer.
• The stupid cat walking around with lipstick mysteriously painted on his mouth. Have you ever seen a cat with bright red lips? I wish I had taken a picture but I was not.in.the.mood. I may go put some on him just for the photo op.

Anyway, it went on like that all day from 7:30 am until a little past 8 pm with tantrums and arguing and messes, and I was ready to set myself on fire. When George bravely took Hayley to the grocery store I told him, through clenched teeth, “I.need.BROWNIES.”

Possibly fearing for his life, he brought back a bag of those two-bite brownies which are so good that women everywhere could gladly give up sex forever if they could just have an unlimited supply of said brownies. After the kids were in bed and George was out working on music, I put together a plate of goodness that will beat any bad day into submission. At least until morning.

Step one: Acquire brownies. You could bake some too, but you know, screw that. This is about survival, not Martha Stewart. Not even Pillsbury.

Step two: Get a can of icing out of your cupboard. Chocolate would have been ideal but I was too frustrated to be picky at that point.

Step three: Look for chocolate sprinkles in your pantry. Curse and swear when you can’t find them because then you’d have to use the rainbow sprinkles, but to the relief of the entire world, finally locate the chocolate ones which are logically in between the garlic powder and the curry.

Step four: Lay out a whole bunch of brownies on your plate. I stopped at seven but was tempted to just dump the entire bag out.

Step five: Plop a bunch of icing on top of the brownies. Again, this is not Martha Stewart, no need for pretty little peaks piped through an icing bag, just glop it on and don’t worry about it.

Step six: Shake a bunch of sprinkles all over your iced brownies. Serve them with tea because everyone knows tea makes anything civilized, even sprinkle-coated iced brownies.

Eat five of the brownies, find yourself surprised that you’re actually getting full, manage a sixth brownie, then save the last one for tomorrow because a stomach ache would be the one thing that could now ruin this saved day.

Enjoy!