Here it is, Friday night, again. A night meant for relaxing and/or celebrating the end of the work week. Then why do I feel just as stressed and overwhelmed as I do on a weeknight? UGH. I have a list of things to do a mile long. Grocery shopping. This must be done without the children. I keep trying to take them with me and every time I do, I regret it by Aisle 3! So that leaves evenings. After my kids are tucked in I rush to the store and by Aisle 3 I hear that the store is closing in 15 minutes. Oh no they are not!
Tomorrow - TBall game and dance class in the morning. Saturday afternoon we are going to attend the town fair (it's actually called a Hoe Down and we live in Massachusetts!) And it is going to be WICKED hot here. It's going to be a LONG, hot day. Good news is the children will sleep well. Saturday night I have a date with a couple of girlfriends and the NHL Eastern Conference Final Playoff Series stars tomorrow night at 8:00, too. My girlfriends are going to harrass me because I am going to insist we sit at the bar instead of the outdoor patio. I can see it coming. But I am an avid hockey fan and love my Boston Bruins (especially Krechi), so I WILL watch the game.
Sunday morning I am doing my bi-weekly trip to Trader Joe's. I also want to go to the nursery to buy some vegetable plants (my seedlings failed again this year) and some pansies! The Mother's Day gift I haven't actually gotten yet. And then I have to plant them before the weather turns.
At least I won't be at work and I will be with my family - most of the time.
I feel like such an ass. I took an hour off of work to get to my daughter's Preschool graduation. Needless to say I get stuck in holiday traffic. When I call daycare to tell them I might be late, I discover I have the wrong date! *&%#@! I am so annoyed with myself. Today was graduation picture day. Crap, crap, crap. Horrible way to start my holiday weekend.
And of course the kids are exhausted, so they just feed into my bad mood. My husband, thankfully, was calming and helpful (he stopped at a bar for a beer because he was early for "graduation"). I managed to get the kitchen totally clean before getting the kids to bed so now I am going to pour myself a BIG glass of wine and sit my stupid ass down in front of the television and decompress.
Here is to 3 "stay home days" as my children call it. We don't have any plans for the weekend and after 3 weekends of total chaos, I am glad. Three whole days to get all the laundry done, get started on some much needed spring cleaning and quality time with my family.
Happy Memorial Day, everyone. God Bless the USA.
First things first. Happy Belated Mother's Day, ladies! I hope you all had a wonderful day - or part of a day.
Now back to the subject.
So completely overwhelmed! I haven't even had a minute to write a post in nearly two weeks. Some days you think you have everything under control - like you are a master. Like you were meant to be a career mom. Then most other days..not so much.
Work has been out of control the last two week. So busy that the days flew by in a whirl and I worried how I was going to get everything done. Then I get home and the kids are out of control, don't listen to a word I say and complain about what food I manage to get on their dinner plates. They make a mess of the growing pile of baskets of clean clothes (at least they are clean) that I haven't had time to put away because they can't find a clean pair of pajamas. Then once the kids are asleep, I have to make lunches, clean the kitchen and collapse in bed around 11 pm absolutely exhausted. You are probably wondering....my husband contributes a little. But we won't go there.
Then the weekend. T-Ball game, dance class, a visit from friends, grocery shopping, my nieces 3 1/2 hour dance recital (thank god it was an excellent show - my daughter and I both really enjoyed it). Holy hell! I'm exhausted. Thank god for the visit from friends. At least I got the family room vacuumed the kitchen and stairs swept and the kitchen floor mopped (the kitchen floor was GROSS!).
Overwhelmed - seems to be the story of my life for now. I have to go fold some more laundry now.
Drives me crazy! I try and try to get out of the house on time every morning and nothing seems to work. Maybe one day in 5, I get in the car, look at the clock and smile. Yes! On time!
The next day I try and recreate that morning. Fail. Ugh. One of my biggest problems is over the last two years, our morning routine has varied quite a bit from non-existent (unemployed), relaxed (working part-time for a friend), to absolute chaos (since starting my current job). So it is hard.
Today I go on-line and try to find help. I realized that 1.) I am not alone and 2.) this is probably the one thing most of us working moms have in common. So what to do to fix it. One suggestion is to make sure I take care of myself before the kids get up. I do that. I try to get up with my husband and work out and then I make coffee and take a shower. I don't even do much with my hair and makeup, so I can't cut out time there. Suggestions include making coffee the night before. I should do this but I don't think of it at night when I just want to go to bed. I think the most time consuming thing is making lunches for my kids and myself. I suppose I should do that the night before too. But I'm tired and want to got to bed (how about some cheese with that wine). *sigh*.
Something has to change though because I want to have some peace in the morning. I want to start the day out right. A list! I must generate a list of all the things I need to do in the morning - and the night before.
Night List
1.) Set up coffee pot
2.) Make at least some of the kids lunches
3.) Make husbands lunch
3.) Work bags near the door
Morning list
1.) Workout
2.) Shower
3.) Finish assembling lunches
4.) Get kids up, dressed, teeth brushed (yeah right)
5.) Get breakfast for everyone (we have breakfast on the go - subject for another post: Recipes for breakfast on the go)
This is where chaos ensues
6.) Get Ben's hearing aids (another subject for a future post)
7.) Coats and shoes
8.) Get in car, buckle up and go
I gotta go - I have some things to do. Wish me luck. I'll let you know how it goes.
Holy crap! Whose bright idea was it to volunteer to be the assistant TBall Coach for my son's team? Oh, right. Mine.
My son is not quite 4 (his birthday is next week) and I signed him up for TBall. I don't think it was such a good idea.
I should have seen the trouble start during practice when Ben would throw himself on the ground and pout when another kid would get the ball. Now mind you, before the ball was hit, Ben would be rolling around on the ground like a dog, or picking grass or spinning in a circle looking at the sky. Like he had a prayer to get the ball! "Pay attention, Ben", I say. Like a broken record. It doesn't do much good but he is enjoying himself, so I back off and work with the other kids. TBall is supposed to be fun.
Then we have our first game last Saturday. Ben made it through the first 2 innings (there are only 4, if your wondering) and completely shut down. The last "play" he made was running after 2 other kids to get a ball that had gone right past him (he would have gotten it if he had been paying attention!). One of the other kids got the ball and Ben dropped to the ground, face first and laid there for a while. The next time I look for him, he is in center field, lying on his stomach, chin in hand, feet in the air watching the game. Happy and content. Ok. Fine. TBall is supposed to be fun.
Fast forward to tonight. Practice again. Within the first 5 minutes another player runs to get a ball that Ben was trying to get. (Are you sensing a trend here?) What happens next was one of Ben's biggest, baddest meltdowns. He starts to cry and scream and doesn't/can't stop. What the hell am I supposed to do? I have 4 other kids in my group practicing catching. And then Ben decides he is going to leave. He starts to walk away across the football field next to the practice field. I had to leave the practice to go retrieve him and what do you think he does? Starts to run away from me! Little shit. I catch him and carry him back. And tell him if he doesn't want to play, that is fine, but he has to sit and watch. Then he starts to scream "I want to sit in the van. I want to sit in the van." Over and over and over..... I had to work very hard at staying calm and not getting angry. But he is obviously so exhausted he can't function, so I don't freak out on him. I let him sit in the van. Anything to shut him up.
TBall is supposed to be fun? That was NOT fun. At least the head coach and the other parents were sympathetic. Great.
