Not exactly what I had planned...

OK, seriously, when your day starts off with a sunrise like this, what can possibly go wrong? Really?

Wrong question to ask.

My plans for the day were fairly simple.

Get the kids to school. Come home and clean and whatnot. Get the kids from school. Make supper. Have The Dude come over and watch the kids for about 2 hours while I go to a meeting. Come home. Hang out. Put kids in bed.

Easy, right?

HA!

I got the kids to school. I came home and putzed around and didn't do much of anything for a while.

Then, it happened.....*cue ominous music*

The Dude called me from work to ask me to bring some ibuprofen or something to him because his back was hurting. I had just gotten a shower so I finished getting ready and ran across town to give him the medicine. I could tell that he was hurting - badly. But he had to wait for his boss to get there before he could leave so I came back home.

He called me again a little later. And it's one of those calls that no one ever wants to get.

"Babe, can you come and get me and take me to the ER? I can barely breathe because it hurts so bad."

I took off and got him from work and he was miserable. We got to the hospital and it was all he could do to walk in the door. It was busy but luckily they got him in fairly quickly - and then we waited. I had to leave to get the boys from school so I took off across town. As I was driving, I called a friend of mine to see if she could watch the boys for a couple of hours, and luckily she agreed so I told her that I would be there as soon as I got them. I hung up and called Ex1 to explain what was happening and to ask him if he could just keep the older three kids instead of bringing them to me, and he agreed. I got the boys, dumped them at my friend's house, and got back to the hospital about 30 minutes after I had left.

He had gotten the xrays done by that time and was even more miserable than when I left him half an hour earlier. The doctor came back and said that things looked ok on the xrays and that it did not appear that his lung was collapsed (wait, what? you mean you thought that was a possibility???) and that it was a severe thoracic strain and the muscles were spasming. He got a couple of shots in the butt and a handful of prescriptions, and we left.

I dropped off the prescriptions and then we went back to his work to drop off the doctor's note and to lock up his truck since we were leaving it there, and then I took him back home and poured him into his bed. Then I left to go back to pick up the prescriptions and bring those back to him.

At that point I realized that if I rushed I could still make the meeting that I had planned to go to, so I raced home and changed my clothes and went to the meeting. While I was there, Ex1 called to let me know that Emily had forgotten some stuff she needed for school but not to worry about getting it to her since she was the one who forgot it. We touched base about a few other things and then I went back to the meeting.

After the meeting, I went to my friend's to pick up the boys, back over to The Dude's house to get some money, ran out to get him some food, and then took the food to him - and then finally got the boys home. They ate a late supper and fell asleep on the couch.

Emily texted me about the stuff that she forgot - apparently the lines of communication got crossed and she thought that I was bringing it to her tonight. I talked to her and Ex1 and we decided that there was no way I was doing it tonight (25 miles round trip at bedtime for the boys? I think not...) but I would bring it out in the morning after I drop the boys off - but only because if things hadn't been so crazy tonight she would have been able to get it and would have had it for tomorrow.

And then to top it all off.....

I had gotten a message while all of this was happening that the blankity-blank-blank Tooth Fairy letter had been posted on cheezburger(dot)com. I didn't worry about it too much at the time because, well......I was busy. I looked into it tonight, and sure enough it's on there - under the "Parenting Fails". And yeah, that bugs me. It was just a silly letter, and it's totally being taken out of context and it's driving me nuts. And I know that it shouldn't bother me, but it does.

But it's also a good reminder that judgmental people suck.

A day in the dirt

After 4 days of pretty solid rain, we were ready to get outside when we saw that the sun was shining this morning. I love the rain - don't get me wrong - but having that much rain when the kids are off school for Spring Break is really kind of a downer - not to mention that getting that much at a time makes my body hurt.

Anyway, my number one priority today was to tackle the flowerbed - again. This time I actually worked on digging up the weeds instead of pulling them, because these suckers have deep roots. I still didn't do a stellar job, but I figure if I keep working on it little by little, eventually I'll get rid of the weeds.

All in all, by the end, it definitely looked better, although the pounding rain did take a toll on some of the tulip plants.

More tulips are starting to bloom, while the first batch of pale yellow ones are just about spent. The sedum is growing out quite nicely too.

While I worked, I tried to keep the boys occupied in the front yard, but they were bored. They tried riding their bikes for a while but got frustrated with that and got even more bored. Finally, I came up with the brilliant(?) idea to let them play in a big puddle in the driveway. I even moved the van back out of the way just to keep them occupied.

It worked.

After we were done outside, I stripped the boys naked on the front porch (literally) and then chased them inside and straight to the bathtub. That was easily one of the most disgusting baths that I've ever had the opportunity to give - but they eventually got clean and then ate supper, and I took a shower since they nonchalantly flung a handful of mud in my direction and got me right upside the face with it. Then we strolled down the street to the grocery store, and I caught a few shots on the way back.

Now they are playing and watching a movie, and will be heading to bed soon, and I am going to work on some sewing that I have been trying to do for weeks....we'll see how far I get on that one!

A Quick Explanation

For those who missed it, there was quite a bit of discussion about yesterday's post. For the most part, it was supportive, but then it turned ugly.

I was fine when the insults were only directed towards me. But when other posters started slinging mud at each other, it was pushing the limits. And when someone who apparently knew my ex-husband personally felt the need to post his last name AND his hometown, I knew that it had gone too far.

I posted this letter as a way to help others who might be going through a similar situation, and I posted it to help myself. I did also mail it to my ex-husband's family, so it's not like this is a sneak attack.

Everything in that letter was true. I did not fabricate anything. They may have a different perception of what happened based on what he told them, but they do not know my side of it. That's why I wrote it.

Because I do have a life that doesn't involve the computer, I am not going to be home for the next several hours. I pulled the comments down temporarily to avoid any other flaming of myself or other posters, and to avoid any other personal information being posted about his family. After I get home from my kids' activities, I will deal with this. Until then, I'm going to go be a mom.

If anyone would care to address me personally and privately, you may do so at amola11371(at)gmail(dot)com.