This post was most recently updated on May 18th, 2015
As predicted, the time change has been wreaking havoc with my sleep cycle all week long. In fact, the only member of my household who seems to be getting enough rest is our dachshund – and it takes all day napping in a sunbeam for her to achieve that level of refreshment. Even though I knew it was going to be this way, I’m still not happy about it and I’m feeling thoroughly exhausted … and cranky. And apparently, I’m not the only one …
This morning, my husband made a semi-snotty remark to our 11 year old daughter about her hairstyle. It upset her and made her cry. I was irritated with him, because (despite his immeasurable knowledge of pre-teen hairstyles for girls) she was doing exactly what I had told her to do with her hair. I felt like the comment was unnecessary and mean. He took issue with my defense of the way she had done her hair and snarkiness ensued. Sadly, that was the high point of my day.
When mad Daddy and Number One Son left to go out and build fence, I was left with a tender tween, a porky-mouthed 6 year old (who knows what had crawled in her bonnet?) and a very tired toddler who has refused to sleep or eat regularly since last week. He’s been extremely pleasant. It was about this time that, during the course of doing the breakfast dishes, aforementioned daughter accidentally dropped the valve from a sippy cup down the sink drain. She felt bad about it, but until the boys came back it was going to have to stay there. Mama does not get involved in matters of plumbing – or electricity.
The girls were charged with vacuuming the house today. This is normally a job all three of the older kids do together, but since the Big Kid was helping his dad, the task fell to the Sissies. Unfortunately, someone (you know that person in your house who moves things from where they’re supposed to be; breaks stuff; doesn’t put things away and generally causes mayhem?) lost the bend-y part of the vacuum tube that connects the floor cleaning head to the hose so no vacuuming could be done until big brother (the last person to use the vacuum) came home and located it. In the process of putting the vacuum pieces back in the closet – as loud as humanly possible – the baby was awakened from his 10 minute nap. Shocking! He proceeded to scream at the top of his lungs for the next 20 minutes until I could hastily finish paying the bills and updating the check register and go fetch him from imminent death.
While sorting the laundry, I couldn’t locate the spray bottle of stain pre treat-er. I obviously have an unreasonable expectation of laundry products being in or near the laundry room, as I did finally find it wedged behind a step stool on the back porch, underneath a stocking hat and a mismatched pair of gloves. Upon noticing the tremendous amount of dirt and grit accumulated all over the mud room floor, I decided I should sweep it up and went in search of the broom. (Why can’t anyone put a thing back where they found a thing?) Many frustrated minutes later I found it, swept up all the dirt and reached for the dust pan, only to be thwarted again. It had thoughtfully been placed behind a large ceramic crock I used to store shop rags, underneath a towering pile of plastic grocery bags that had been saved for some reason, in the far corner of the laundry room. Why wouldn’t I think to look there first??
Today has been one exercise in frustration and irritation after another. I commented to a friend that I could have sworn it was Friday, but the day was certainly behaving more like Monday. Her reply was that “Mondays are sneaky that way.” Indeed. But now that the angry men and loud girls have been out of my realm for a while, I’m starting to think things might be looking up. The laundry is chugging away, the bills have been handled and the Skink has finally decided to take a nap. I have a vague idea of what to do for supper tonight and it’s a beautiful day outside so I might even get the opportunity to take a walk in the sunshine later – a rare and wonderful treat for Mama.
So, even though the day started off pretty, well … crappy, for lack of a better word, I’m feeling a little more optimistic. It’s awfully easy to get overwhelmed and bogged down in the troubles of the moment and forget that it’s just a glitch in the road. Everyone has “those” days – where they feel out of sorts, under-appreciated, over-taxed and disgruntled. But those rarely go on for more than one day at a time. Tomorrow will be a new day with a new set of issues and drama, no doubt. But for today, I’ve decided to just roll with the punches and do the best I can not to succumb to a spiral of self-pity and grrrrr. Besides, bedtime is only 6 hours away.
