I know I complain a lot - it's part of my personality that I am trying to change and staying positive is really a challenge for me. Especially now, with everything that is going on - well, you know. So I tell you this today not because I am complaining or because I want some sort of sympathy, it's really because it is just so tragically funny that I have to tell someone, because I don't believe it myself. This is truly, pretty much a "typical" day for me lately.
Yesterday I wrote a post on the subject of clean eating and my immediate struggles with the 30 day challenge. But what I didn't tell you were the small details and obstacles I had to overcome in order to maintain a positive attitude and stay on track, just in the time span of yesterday afternoon. And trust me, I did vent, and whine, and moan and groan to 1 person, only because I couldn't contain myself and I know that she will still love me today when it is all just passing trouble. (you know who you are, and thank you, I love you!)
Yesterday, on the whole, wasn't too bad. I spent the better part of the day at a friend's house with little Port; a weekly thing she and I and one other stay at home mom have started doing in an effort to have a "work" day for us where we can get something done, still have a friend to talk to if we need it, and have a place for the wee ones to play where they will be, for the most part, out of our collective hair. ;) So far, it is working out great, and I look forward to going each week. So that part went well, and we all filed out of her house right in time to go pick up our school aged kids from school. Port and I headed to Kiddo's school, and arrived about 8 minutes before the dismissal bell. We had to sit in line on the main road (the whole pick up procedure saga is a post for another time, but let's just say, it was not ideal), but I was hoping the wait wouldn't be too long. After about 15 minutes, the line began to move and we all eased our cars closer to the school, inch by inch.
I have found there are 3 types of drivers in traffic like this. The Few - drivers that remain a safe distance from the car in front of them and maintain pretty good focus and attention when inching their car along the way. The Annoying - those that stay 20 feet back from the car in front of them, don't pay attention when the line moves forward because they are busy fixing makeup, digging in their purse, turned around swatting at the child behind them or playing Bejeweled on their phone (which isn't supposed to be in use in the school zone anyway...). And the Impatient - those that inch their car up, literally, by the inch, and they are so close to the back of my car they practically could see my Bejeweled score on my phone...er uh, they could reach out and touch my car. The Impatient has somewhere very important to be that is not where they are, and they should have been there an hour ago, so God forbid anyone get in their way because given the chance, they will Run. You. Over.
I had an Impatient behind me in the pick up line. And even though I tried to stay a close but safe distance behind the car in front of me, and I made sure to move up at any and every opportunity, the Impatient didn't think I was going fast enough and 2 minutes after the line began to move...
She rear-ended me.
Oh yes she did.
Thankfully, she basically just tapped the luggage rack we have in the tow hitch on the back of the car, so no damage was done. But the Impatient didn't know it was there because she was trying to EAT my back bumper. So of course we had to park our cars, get out, smile apologetically at each other, inspect the damage, laugh, mumble something of concern like "are you alright?" and then back away from each other and hastily retreat to our vehicles before the line moved up enough that someone could cut in front of us. Good times.
Two minutes after that, the a/c compressor on my car began to cut in and out rapidly, and the car started to over heat.
Day number 86 (85? 423? I've lost count) of over 100 degree temps in Austin and the time was up on my a/c usage. It was a hot ride home. Top it off with Port screaming the WHOLE way because we only picked up one boy at school. He wanted to pick up 2 boys (Kiddo and his buddy). His whole world was ending and we all got to listen to it. Can someone say tired??
Ah home, the place where you can get away from the craziness and relax with your loved ones... NOT.
We get home and soon after I discover that the soap door on the dishwasher somehow got stuck and the soap packet I had put in it didn't dissolve, leaving my dishes completely filthy. So instead of cleaning the horribly messy kitchen in preparation for the evening's dinner, I had to rerun the previous night's dish load (and try not to look at the kitchen mess that was driving me bonkers). Also, the load of laundry I had run the day before sat too long and mildewed, so I had to run it again. We had a friend over for the boys to play with and about 10 minutes in, they were running around and somehow hit the pull chain on the ceiling fan in Kiddo's room, sending it shooting up into the fan blades, ripping off the tire at the end of the chain, shooting it across the room and under the bed, and then tangling up the chain so tightly around the stem of the fan that it pulled the lights to the off position and I could NOT get it untangled. While I was trying to get it unwound from the fan, Port pulled a cup of water off a top book shelf (why was it even in the room???) and poured it all over himself and all the toys all over the floor. This dousing led to him screaming at the top of his lungs and my last frazzled nerve spontaneously combusted.
Five minutes after that, Kiddo set a chair on top of a rock he found at school (and had left on my living room floor) and then drug the chair across the floor, cutting a nice, squiggly groove in the hard wood. At that point, I was ready to throw in the towel. I sat down to settle my head (and vent to the above mentioned friend) and I got a nose bleed. Joy.
Like I said, I just can't make this stuff up. Writing it all out feels silly - but it's just so dang funny. I felt like Niles in that crazy scene on Fraiser (I know, I am dating myself here) - remember it? The one where he tries to iron his pants, cuts his finger and ends up starting a fire? I've shared the clip on here before, but it was a few years ago. Well, here, enjoy a thankfully much faster paced snippet from my life these days (only without the fancy apartment and snooty friends...)
Until,
D :)
1 comment:
My mom had a day like that once. She still describes it as the worst day of her life and this happened when I was maybe 5 years old.
My friends and I were playing in my room and one of us tried to climb the drawers of my dresser, which pulled it down. Crash! Screaming children. Panic.
The worst thing that happened was, my piggy bank full of pennies broke and spilled all over the room.
While she was off trying to calm crying children down, our puppy went in my room and had a nasty case of diarrhea all over the pennies on the floor. She couldn't figure out if she should wash them or throw them out.
After she got that cleaned up, she went to use the restroom and managed to drop the roll of TP that wasn't hooked on the holder, and it unrolled ALL the way down the hall.
Later, a friend of hers try to help out with her stressful day by bringing her a hot toddy, which she spilled all over herself. That was initially painful and then ended up very difficult to clean because it was full of rum and sugar and it was sticky, etc.
It was the kind of day she'll laugh about now, but man, we all know when you're in the middle of a day like that, it's a miracle if you can hold on to your sanity.
Seems like you did, so clearly, you're WAY ahead of the game!
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