Tuesday, June 2, 2009

grumpy

I knew today was not going to go well. And maybe that was a self-fulfilling prophecy, but there's something a bit ominous about realizing you're sending your 4-year-old to his room for the second time BEFORE 7:45 am. DUUUUUDE.

Also, my ridiculous cough has returned, often rendering me unable to complete sentences. Mostly just annoying me and making the day a bit more dismal. Also dismal? That we seem to have been transported to Oregon or something. It has been raining/drizzling/misting for two days now. So much so that there are actual MUSHROOMS growing in my back lawn. In the prairie! And so the children have to stay inside where they have to drive me crazy, apparently. Return to aforementioned child.

I don't know what his deal is lately, but he has (re?)started hitting, spitting and/or biting. Sometimes for no reason. Clearly, this is a call for attention. Just as clear, it's totally unacceptable. I'm all out of other ideas, so for now he is just sent to his room to remove him from the situation. Hence the 7:45 am double-whammy.

After the kids have eaten breakfast, I note that it is 8:30 and the water company gave me the 9-10am window for someone to come out and fix my water meter or whatever that is in my basement and requires me to open my door. Cool, I'll just pop into the shower right now. I set Gemma down, turn on a Backyardigans episode for the kids, and hasten upstairs and into my chamber of solace - the shower. I'm not even in there 5 minutes - just long enough to soak my hair and lather in some shampoo, when I hear Donovan running down the upstairs hall and know he's coming for me. I know it's Donovan because it sounds like a herd of elephants and audible above the sound of the shower. I brace myself for some sort of whining or, worse, that Gemma has hurt herself. Instead, he bursts into the bathroom saying, "The man with the tools is here!" I literally (it's not hard when you've got water running down you) sputtered. Are you KIDDING me? How quickly the chamber of solace is turned into the chamber of irritation. I tell Dono to tell the man I'll be down in a minute. GAH.

I quickly finished, toweled off, dressed, and flew down the stairs to where he was waiting on the front porch. "I'm sorry about that," I said as sweetly as possible, "I was told NINE O'CLOCK and... (insert dramatic look at my wristwatch, except that I didn't have one on) it's still a quarter till. I even put the phone next to the shower (true story) in case *someone* called ahead." I rock the passive-aggressive. Since when are service people EARLY?! I thought for sure it would be like 10:07.

Since the day is already going phenomenally, and we're running low on fresh produce, why not add to the awesome and pack everyone off to Costco?! The upside was that the rain was coming down so just about everyone else wisely stayed home. Not me! I love a challenge!

I wasn't going to get a lot of stuff, but somehow my cart filled up. You know it's bad when some kid points at your cart and yells, "Hey mom! They have a LOT of STUFF!" Back off, buster. In all fairness, I did need to stock up on dish soap, dishwasher soap, vinegar, and several other undelicious things. That didn't stop me from piling in the delicious, though. Have you tried the dried mango/berry mix? We're big fans of the dried mango around here, and I saw that there was a mix with strawberries and blueberries and wondered if it was good, or too sugary. On our way out, the sample fairy was doling it out and...a bag ended up in my cart. Same with the veggie straws. All in all, not a bad way to spend a half hour. Except that then loading that into the car in the rain was not as fun.

So now it's evening and the day has been just kind of meh. I'm ready for the clouds to clear. I'm ready for the kids to play outside. If nothing else, I take more comfort than I really should (seriously - I take a LOT of comfort) from knowing tomorrow I can watch So You Think You Can Dance. We all have to have our incentives, right? For my kids, it's the promise of a churro at the end of Costco. For me, it's Cat and the dancing.

3 comments:

Tennille said...

Maybe it's a male thing. H has been strangely aggressive lately. Everything is a sword fight to him, even when no one else wants to play. He's been in time-out more than not the past week. It's been awesome...

Anonymous said...

Just a thought, do you think maybe it's because Ainsleigh is home now for the summer?

Alex McMurray said...

Looking forward to TV at night, gets me through hard days, too. That and Diet Pepsi.

Hope today has been better.