One of those days....

Today has just not been fun. Seriously.


It took me a while to even get motivated, but once I did I finally started working on my shower some more. Luckily, the tile on this wall doesn't have to be cut to size at all, so it went fairly fast once I got started. But, getting all of the tile work done is going to take forever and at this point, I just want it to be done. I want my shower back. But of course, once I get the shower done, we have to redo the floor - it's a neverending battle at this point.

(And in case you're wondering about the crazy tile - the light blue tile is what was in there originally. I pulled that off, and I'm putting it back. However, some broke in the process and we couldn't find the same lovely shade of baby blue. So we bought a couple of boxes of white to mix in with the blue. Rather than try to make a perfect pattern, I just opted to go with a random one.)

Once I decided I was done working on the shower for the day (as in - once I ran out of the mortar I had mixed) it was time to run to the grocery store for a few things. Right about then my phone rang, and I had to run and pick up a "sick" kid from school. I say "sick" - I think I got snowed on that one. Live and learn. We went to the grocery store, got what we needed, ran through the carwash and came home.

Once the other kids got home, the chaos just escalated - and boy, did it escalate.

Crappy attitudes. Temper tantrums. Whining. Fighting. Arguing. Slamming doors. Neighbor kids coming over to play and doing stupid stuff so that I had to yell at them too. Constant yells of "Mom!! I need _____!!" or "Mom! He said _____!" or "Mom! She _______!" One kid flipping another kid the bird. One falling off of a bed (after jumping on it) and getting hurt. Vomit. Weird bug crawling across the dining room floor.

Nights like this get to me. I know that they happen, and I know that they're inevitable, but holy crap do they make me feel completely and totally inadequate. I count down the minutes until bedtime, and I feel guilty because I'm not all mushy-gushy and "oh I love my kids so much and every minute is precious and rainbows and unicorns and happy happy yay!!"

Instead, it's "holy hell it's only 30 minutes until bedtime and then it'll be quiet and then all I have to do is get through the morning and get them to school and then I can get stuff done".

A big part of it is stress. The next few days are absolutely jam-packed with stuff, from track meets to a field trip to choir concerts to baseball practice to The Great Strides Walk for Cystic Fibrosis to the half-marathon, and I have no adult backup at all because The Dude is going to be out of town. I'm worried about making it to everything and attempting to stay sane, and then worrying about whether or not the house is still going to be standing if I leave the kids on their own Sunday morning while I go to my race.

For now though, I'm just going to chill. It's been a crappy night, yes. But it's not the end of the world. It happens. Instead of freaking out, I'm going to enjoy a glass of wine and some "baby oranges" (in a very worn and nasty looking - but clean - bowl) and listen to some music and play around online, and then I'm going to go to bed knowing that tomorrow is another day. And with any luck, it'll go smoother than today did.

I need a helmet

Today started out as a much better day than yesterday did. I got up almost on time, got everyone up and dressed and fed, got lunches packed, and got everyone off to school - on time, even.

Daniel seemed to be feeling better, so I took him to his morning preschool and then I took off walking on my trail that goes through the woods. I wasn't really in the mood to go, but as usual once I got moving it felt pretty good. It was cool out, but not so cold that it was uncomfortable. As I walked, I enjoyed the scenery and got lost in my thoughts.

Suddenly, I heard (and felt) a SWISH! go past my right ear, followed by a WHAM!

What the..............?

OK, you know those cartoons where a squirrel throws an acorn at a human? Yeah. I found that squirrel. Or rather, he found me. But he wasn't chucking any tiny little acorns at my head - instead, it was one of these.

A hedgeapple. The squirrel threw a damned hedgeapple at my head. I kid you not. He sat there on a branch that was hanging across the trail, and I swear he was rubbing his front paws together gleefully as I walked past him.

Now granted, it wasn't as big as this one, but it wasn't much smaller either. It might have been baseball-sized, which is how big they usually are.

I'm thankful that he didn't bean me with this one.

They're not terribly heavy, but I'd imagine that taking one upside the head without warning might sting a little bit.

I'm seriously considering not walking that path again until they're done falling from the trees. It's bad enough to have to watch where I walk so that I don't sprain an ankle on one, but now I have to worry about them being chucked at my head by an evil squirrel.

Only me. I swear.....

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

As for the rest of the day, I took Daniel to his afternoon preschool and came home and did some sewing and watched a movie for a while. Then I went to get Alex, and then to get Daniel, as the routine usually goes. I was talking to Daniel's teacher and we were discussing how he just didn't look quite right, but I dismissed it as him being tired since we were up so early.

Then he puked all over the floor outside of the classroom.

Looks like the Vomit Rocket has returned. We got him cleaned up, came home, and he promptly crashed on the couch. Alex is chilling out watching movies and looks like he could fall asleep soon. The older 3 went to a football game with their father so they won't be home until probably 10pm so it's going to be a fairly quiet evening.

I'm going to sew. And do laundry. And maybe mop the kitchen.

Woohoo!!! It's Friday night at my house! Par-tay!

Or not.

Oh yay, what a day.

I know it could have been worse.

I put the kids to bed last night, and around midnight, I heard screaming coming from the boys' room. I ran in there and Daniel was crying that he had to go to the bathroom. We sprinted and barely made it before he had a massive bout of diarrhea. Then while he was sitting there, he started to puke. He was not a happy camper. So he came out to the living room and sat with me while I watched a movie. This went on until about 4am, so needless to say, I didn't get much sleep last night.

I got up early enough (5:45ish) to take the cinnamon rolls out of the fridge and preheat the oven, and then I laid back down "for a few minutes". Next thing I knew, it was 6:54. We have to leave by 7:15 to get the older 3 kids to school on time. I threw the cinnamon rolls into the oven, yelled at the kids, and got them up and dressed and they got all of their stuff together. I grabbed plastic plates, threw hot cinnamon rolls onto them, and got everyone into the van by about 7:20. They ate and I drove, and we made it to the school on time - barely. Then we took off again so that I could get Alex to his school by 8:00. I think it was 8:02 when we pulled in - worked for me at that point. Besides, there was a school van pulling up behind us at the same time, so it's not like we were that late, right?

Daniel and I came home, and all I wanted to do was lay back down for a while. But he had other ideas. After being a Vomit Rocket all night long, the kid was ready to go this morning! He was in such a good mood and just wanted to DO stuff all morning. I really just wanted to sleep. But about the time I decided that it was pointless and I would go get a shower, there was a knock at the door.

Hello, Mr. Maintenance Dude.

I had called the landlord the other day because there is STILL a leak in the bathroom - but I had figured out where it was coming from and it really only needed some caulking. So he came in, took a look at it, and went to get the stuff that he needed. He found a few more leaks and so he went caulk-crazy, which of course meant that I couldn't take a shower. *rolling eyes*

I did go a little crazy this afternoon and whipped up a batch of cornbread. From scratch. Just because I wanted some. And it was goooooooooooood. Even the kids liked it, which amazed me since they're normally so picky about that. Oh, and that's the second pan of cinnamon rolls which will be tomorrow's breakfast since I plan to get up on time. Ha. Ha. Ha.

I did finally decide that it was time to do Daniel's laundry today. The good part about him having a ton of clothes is that I don't have to do his very often. The bad part is that when I finally do decide to do it, his basket looks something like this.

When the pile of dirty laundry is taller than the kid who wears the clothes, it's time to do it. No more excuses.

Of course the girls decided that I need to do their laundry tonight too - which I'm not really looking forward to doing, but at the same time they did finally tell me that they need to have it done the night before, instead of pitching a total fit 5 minutes before it's time to go to school because they don't have anything to wear. Plus, I was just informed that they need to have something pink to wear to the football game tomorrow night. Like that's going to work - they don't have a lot of pink stuff, and I know I don't have any. Pink is not a popular color in this house. At all.

I keep saying that I'm just going to make them start doing their own laundry - but I haven't done it yet. I know that they're old enough, but sometimes it's just easier to do it myself. At least then I know that it's done right.

Oh boy....I think I just discovered another control-freak-tendency of mine. Every time I say that I'm not a control freak, something like that pops up. *sigh* I should just give up and admit it.

But I'm really not that bad. I don't have to be in total control all of the time. Do I?