You Know The Days That Start Off...

ok and then go swiftly downhill from there? Ya. That was my day and I swear, I just want to cry right now. So, instead of crying, I'll just let the entire cyber world know how frustrated I am.

So, it begins at 5 a.m. when the stupid alarm goes off. I switch on the t.v. to get an idea about the weather for the day and what traffic is looking like and I get a report about this. What the hell is wrong with people! WHAT? So, ya, my day started off honkey dory. Jump in the shower and try not to dwell on the awful news story I hear minutes ago, get myself dried off, dressed and get some coffee.

So far, not too bad. Then I walk into the lion's den: aka Maddy's room. Holy moly that child's a bear when she's tired and wouldn't get up. All I heard was a whiney mad voice saying "I don't want to get up! I'm tiiiiiiired! I just want to sleeeeeeeeeep! WAAAAAHHHHHH!" Um, ok, darling, but guess what? You can't! I'm sorry, but I've got to be at work and YOU have to be at school! Not even the reminder of her field trip to the Kennedy Center for the "Strings and Stories" performance made her happy. She just had the sourest face all morning because I had the audacity to yank her out of bed. Argh! I was so tempted to tell her teacher not to take her because of her cruddy attitude this morning!

Got to school and we're on the stupidest schedule on Thursdays. We've instituted a period of R&R. Ya, you guessed it, it can't possibly mean "Rest and Relaxation"; I mean, this is school after all! R&R stands for "Reteach and Retesting". Nice. A fourty minute block for kids to go from teacher to teacher to make up any tests, quizzes, assignments or get another explanation of some lesson they didn't get the first time. Granted, the idea's a good one, but the issues I have with it are three-fold:

1. The kids who do not have R&R are still in your first period.
Unfortunately, if you don't particularly care for your first period, you're
stuck with them for about an hour and a half. Also, these kids are supposed to
be doing D.E.A.R. (drop everything and read). And while that sounds great, try
getting 30 kids to read the whole time. Just try it without any threats of
detention... I dare ya!

2. If you do have kids coming, it winds up
distracting the kids who are staying in your room. See #1 why this is an issue.
Also, sometimes I don't have any kids leaving and seating is already at a
premium in my first period (33 students argh!).

3. It throws off
everyone's natural school schedule off all frickin day! I hate it. I'm
constantly checking the schedule to see how much time I have left. It stinks!

By the end of the school day, my students had been so undeniably horrid, I about had a hissy fit!

But, I figured my day would get better after stupid bus duty (I detest bus duty!). I got in the van, went over to pick up Maddy from school. I was summarily reprimanded for packing her lunch in a brown bag today as her teacher had told them yesterday they'd eat at school. Ya, well, no note came home and the field trip form said "brown bag lunch". I, being the eternal rule follower, followed the stupid rule. Then she went on to say how she only ate her sandwich. She didn't have time for her cookies or her applesauce and could she eat them as her snack on the way home.

Just a little PSA: do not open a container of applesauce partway for your kid. Open it all the way. Because when he/she does try to pull the lid thingy off, he/she will spill 1/4 of the applesauce all over him/herself and start bawling in the carpool lane so loudly to not only set your teeth on edge, but have every.single.parent stare at you for being the worst parent ever.

She didn't calm the heck down 'til almost half way home. Oh, my ears! Oh, and I got to hear Miss Sassy Mouth tell me how she wished I wouldn't talk to her right now! Oh, my oh my! That didn't bode well for her! She didn't get the silence she so coveted, let's put it that way! Oh, and I never did hear about the field trip. :S

Got home, did her homework, changed her into her ballet attire and cleaned off her applesauce soiled coat and out the door to get the boys before ballet class.

While at ballet class, I get "told off" by my daughter again. All because I had the audacity to take William, one cup bladder boy, to the restroom to pee. Apparently I was missing "some important information. I know some of it, mommy, but not all of it and I don't know what I'm supposed to do! ~SOB!~" Well, geez, child GIVE.ME.A.FLIPPIN.SECOND! Go and find out it was a room change for NEXT WEEK! She was still giving me grief when her teacher called her in and would not listen to my reassurances that it wouldn't affect her class at all tonight.

I try to take the boys to Panera Bread for a small snack so I can get a coffee and maybe do some grading while they color. Nothing doin'. They wanted chips! So, off to Safeway, which is directly across the street from ballet class to pick up some chips. Pick up Pringles which William manages to shake into a million little pieces before we get to the checkout. At the checkout, which is EXPRESS, by the way, there was little about the experience that made it "express". Ten minutes later, the cashier finally gets the couple three ahead of me out while the other cashier had checked out 3 million customers by then!

We have enough time to have some chips before Maddy comes out and into the van we go. I'm hoping to get 'em home, showered and fed and into bed asap. Nope. My brother-in-law calls on my cell to tell me he's got boxes for me that I'd asked him for and he'd be stopping by after 6 or so. Now the boys have heard Uncle Jeff is coming, well, they're all hyped and there's no way I'm getting them in bed before he comes over. Of course, he manages to not come over 'til 6:45 p.m. when I'm about to lose my ever-loving mind.

I have to threaten to take away their dinners after the boys are doing everything at the dinner table except for eat. I've got Maddy who's mad at me all over again because I refused to let her eat her candy cane she got from ballet because on the ride home she declared to John: "I hate you!" She glared at me all dinner time. Nice.

I get the kitchen cleaned up and get the boys to get into their pj's. William is determined to button his pj top. He spends 20 minutes getting the first 2 done up. While I admire the kid's determination, I just didn't have another 20 minutes to deal with a half dressed four year old! I did up the buttons and he freaked out! Ugh! Oh, and of course, by now, my brother-in-law is here so my stress level has hit metoric levels (not because of him, but because I hate it when my kids act insane around others; especially family).

I try getting the boys to bed because it's obvious from William's outburst that he's tired. He declares he won't go to bed without Buzz. Well. That's a problem, see. Because Buzz belongs to John, and John just can't make mommy's life just a touch easier tonight and let William have Buzz tonight. OH, NOOOOOOOOOO! So, William bursts into inconsolable tears as I try to convince him how special Woody is. That Woody and William both start with "W", so they go together and are so special. He wanted to hear none of it and instead insanely screamed for over 25 minutes about Buzz.

Yes, I had to stop writing this blog entry to finally convince him that Woody had talked to me in the store and asked me to bring him to William because he knew William would love him like Andy did and on and on and on it went. Unbelievably, he calmed down and started to accept having Woody in his bed. But then he remembered that Woody wasn't a superhero like Buzz. Dear Lord in Heaven! You had to hear me talk up Woody's super cowboy powers to William before he finally decided he would keep Woody in his bed with him tonight and now is thankfully, blissfully asleep with Woody in his arms.

Oh, and where's Robin through this whole ordeal? Ya, at volleyball practice 'til 9:30 p.m.

I need a good, stiff drink right now!