Craptastic Wonderland

It was a trying day.  I noticed that many of my Facebook friends were also experiencing awful days. Something in the universe must be off.

Here's a rundown of my lovely day:

6:40am  - Hit snooze for the first time.

7:15am  - At that point, I had crossed over the "I'll just snooze for a minute" zone into "Damnit, now I'm gonna be late and everyone should freak out" zone.

8:22am  - Herd two kids onto a school bus, just moments after nearly hogtying my eldest in order to get a bandaid on his wrist because he somehow managed to cut himself on the swingset (he does not care for bandaids).  Fortunately, I was able to throw a clean shirt into his bag in case the school frowns upon blood stained clothing at school (apparently, they do, because he came home wearing Shirt #2). Hey, the kids didn't miss the bus, so there's that.

9:10am - I was early for preschool drop off!  This turned into premature hope that today would turn around and become a stellar Wednesday. Those hopes were soon crushed.

9:24am - Ran into the grocery store to pick up a box of Zebra Cakes for the preschool snack on Thursday (they are studying Z this week, of course).  To my dismay, the section of the shelf devoted to Zebra Cakes was totally empty.  Cleaned out.  I asked at the service desk if there was a secret stash somewhere other than that shelf, but learned that they won't get a delivery of the cakes until Thursday afternoon.  Super.

9:41am - Arrived back at home to finish getting ready for the day.  Because Andrew's class hosted a Mother's Day Tea this morning, I went into work late, and therefore had some extra time.  I hurried, though, so I would have time to make a stop at another grocery store to search for Zebra Cakes.

10:08am - Arrived at second grocery store, only to find that their shelves were depleted of the stupid Zebra Cakes, too.  Seriously, wtf?  Why does everyone want all the Zebra Cakes?!?  All of the other snack cakes were fully stocked.  Curious, indeed.

10:25am - Arrived back at school for a super cute program hosted by a sweet group of adorable preschoolers.  I received several darling gifts from Andrew, which I will keep and admire forever.  I should note that I am a severe pack rat and truly mean it when I say "forever".  I should also note that this part of my day was completely exempt from the "Craptastic" status.

11:45am - Made it in to my office, later than I anticipated, but I was ready to jump on my task list. Obviously, this ambition made it a perfect day for my computer to take 15 minutes to perform a system update, therefore throwing me even more off schedule for my abbreviated work day.

3:04pm - Went tearing out of my office, to pick up Alex from school for speech therapy, only to remember that the van's gas light was on.  Ugh!  If I didn't stop for gas, then we'd be walking home later.  I also discovered that my car charger no longer works, and my phone was nearly dead.  Fun!

3:30pm- Picked up Alex, and suffered through a 12 minute tantrum because I forgot his freaking Goldfish for an afternoon snack.  I finally convinced him that a giant chocolate chip cookie from Starbucks would taste way better.  At least he didn't ask for Zebra Cakes.

4:22pm - Arrived at Al's speech therapy appointment (early, again, in the same day!), and had a short while to do some reading (not leisurely reading, but more like homework).

6:03pm - After sitting in traffic for slightly over an hour, we made it home.  Rush hour traffic can suck it.

Once I was home, the day (finally!) started to improve a bit.  My mom found the Zebra Cakes and sent them home with Andrew this afternoon (big points for Nana!).  The kids put on a big outdoor dance production after dinner, which was cool by itself (it's finally warm enough to sit outside, hooray!), but the dog chose to take a big poop right in the background of their performance...while Mark was recording it.  We couldn't help but laugh.  Gross, but funny.  It's almost bedtime, which means I finally get quiet time to enjoy without being disturbed (that is, if the Maisey stops barking at the birds and other dogs outside).

Maybe the key to having a bad day is to sit down and list out all the bad things that happened, like I did here?  After reading it, I realize that none of it is truly "bad", but just kind of irritating; some of it is even funny (or perhaps that's just my witty personality shining through...sure, let's go with that).  Plus, it did help me appreciate the good things about my day even more that I might have if things had been uneventful.

Whatever the answer is, I'm hoping to not spend another day in Craptastic Wonderland tomorrow.  I wish the same for you, too.

Headache

Boo to headaches.

High stress levels and bright flashes of light (like reflections of the sun on a passing car) can be an ominous combination, at least for me, in that it can trigger an ocular migraine.  I was not in the mood to deal with this, which is probably why one struck.  Trust me, these are the least fun things ever.  Eventually, a dull, throbbing headache settles in and sometimes hangs out for a few days.  This particular episode seems rather mild, but I've spent some time sending emails tonight, and I am more than ready to call it a night.

Sleep well, friends.

PS - how is it only Tuesday?!?

My Favorite Things

What is a blogger to do when she can't think of anything to write?  (This especially applies to the crazy bloggers who challenge themselves to post every day for a year.)  She posts another list, that's what.

And so, I give to you:

My Favorite Things
Favorite food: pizza (I mean, c'mon.  It's absolutely the most perfect food.)

Favorite book: To Kill a Mockingbird

Favorite song: This is a tough one.  I love music, and have an appreciation for all types.  Just today, I was listening to this, this, and this; all similar, I suppose, thanks to my undying devotion to a local radio station (my kids rock out to the Ramones, Jake Bugg, and Alt-J because they have grown up with this station...way cool). There are really too many songs to consider, so I guess I will skip this one.

Favorite color: This is also a tough one.  My favorite color to wear is black, and that's just because I think I look nice in it.  I really can't choose just one color, so I'll steal Addie's answer to this question: rainbow.

Favorite tv show: Right now, we're back to watching Mad Men (hellooo, Don Draper!), and I also enjoy watching Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.  (All I need now is for Brian Williams to get a Sunday night program and I could watch all my television boyfriends on the same night!)  I have no problem admitting that I have a sick obsession with watching reruns of favorite sitcoms (Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Big Bang Theory).

Favorite ice cream: Hands down, a trio of Jeni's Salty Caramel, The Buckeye State, and Dark Chocolate. Perfection in a bowl.

Ok, I'm done with this.  The more I write, the cheesier I feel, and I'm also realizing that I don't really have strong favorites of anything (well, except for maybe ice cream).  Do you have any favorites that you feel compelled to share?

If nothing else, I posted something for today, therefore keeping my streak intact.  Go me.

Track Meet

Today, Alex participated in his first Special Olympics track meet. What a day. 

He was excited to go, but when we arrived, the chaos of a new place overwhelmed him a bit. By the time the coaches arrived with uniforms, he had no intention of changing his clothes. After some persuading, he put the uniform on (read: we gave him no choice but to wear it), but continued to insist that he wasn't going to run. I had to escort him to the infield when his team entered the stadium (which, I'm fairly certain, is discouraged), and strongly suggested to him that he get in line with his friends (read: gave him no choice but to comply). They finally called his division and started lining kids up, so I have him a nudge and he got into line, and then I bolted up the field a bit. 

For as much as he complained that he wanted to leave, the kid did a great job. He placed third in his division for the 50m dash, and fifth in his division for the softball throw. 

I think the best part of the day, though, was seeing how proud he was of himself for his accomplishments. He and I went to the grocery store this evening, and he had to tell anyone who would listen that he "ran fast, got a medal". His story was met with such enthusiasm from complete strangers, which just puffed him up even more. It was awesome. 

Another meet is scheduled for Saturday, and I'm hoping he will be more cooperative at the beginning of the event. Probably a long shot, but a girl can dream, right?

Date Night

Finally, a night out. 

Of course, being a Saturday, everyone else is also out. I'm not a fan of big crowds; rude people in big crowds really set me off. Unfortunately, you'll find both in a busy restaurant on a Saturday night. 

But, our server is pleasant and the food is great. The break from the normal chaos is fantastic. 

And so, I won't complain. 

Weekend Anticipation

Friday.  Finally.  I mean, seriously, finalllllly.

It wasn't a bad week, just very busy, and I'm ready for a break.  With a late Easter, and a very early start of summer break (the kids only have 15 school days left!), I feel like we're cramming eight weeks of activity into four.  It's exhausting.

But, I think it's funny that I regard the weekend as a "break".  Welcome to May, where there is at least one activity already on the calendar for every single day.  Weekends are no different.  Tomorrow, we have Alex's first baseball game of the season, a birthday party, a fairy garden workshop (that's just a girls' activity while the boys are at the birthday party), Al's music lesson, and then Mark and I are getting out for the rare date night.  Sunday is Alex's first Special Olympics track meet, and if we're still standing by that afternoon, we're hoping to get some yard work accomplished.

I need a glass of wine just thinking about it (sadly, I ate all my WW points for today, so the wine will have to wait, ha!!).

I'm really not complaining; my kids are happy and enjoying all their activities, and it makes me happy that we can accommodate such a fun schedule for all of them.  It just amazes me that this month will speed by as quickly as April did.

It will be July 4th before we know it...which is just the spring board into Birthday Palooza.  Time really does fly...

Dinner

Thursday evenings are especially busy in our house, with two of the three kids having dance class after school.  Trying to get everyone fed and in bed on time can be a challenge.

Enter "Kids Eat Free" night at Earth Fare.

Seriously, this is one of the best deals that I've found.  Eating out can be expensive for a family of five, but Earth Fare offers free kids' meals with each adult dinner purchase of just $5.  How amazing is that?!?  The food is terrific, kid friendly, and consists of great choices.  There is something for everyone on the menu. Tonight, the five of us ate for $22; it could have been even less, but we allowed the kids to choose root beer and lemonade (the kids' meals include water, but not the other choices) and Mark enjoyed a huge salad from their awesome salad bar with his tasty sandwich (my meal, pizza and salad, was only $5!!).

So, a crazy busy night (this is picture week at dance) was made a little less stressful because we ate out and didn't have to spend a ton of money (typically, a meal out, even at a quick serve place, is anywhere from $25-35!).  Everyone has full bellies and is now ready for bed...whether they like it or not!

This post contains my own opinions and comments.  I was not compensated for my efforts.