Lest anyone be under the mistaken impression that my life is picture perfect, let me spend a moment dissuading you of that notion.
Today was one of those days filled with frustration. Usually, I feel pretty good about our homeschooling, then there are days like today when it feels like I simply can't do it. Nothing is sinking in. To add to our Kenny issues the past couple of weeks, which thankfully seem to be subsiding, we have Zone Out Sisters!! Hahaha! I can laugh now, a few hours later, but MAN was it a struggle today!!
I know they are learning language, I know that a word has to be said about 15 times to be cemented, but I swear there was a conspiracy today to make mom bald from pulling her hair out! Lately Dominick and I have noticed we are repeating ourselves over and over and over and over and over and over and over again (getting the idea of how crazy this is making me???). I know at times their brains just shut off, having had enough, but it is not just the girls or Kenny, and it just seems I am on overload with repeating myself and re-explaining things I just explained literally 12 seconds ago, or being asked questions that we already know the answer to, and I just realized this is an incredible run on sentence so I too must need to turn off my brain!
SEE WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO ME????????
Ahhhh, so then I leave this evening feeling a level of frustration that has not been experienced in quite awhile, and have to attend a Board of Stewards meeting for our homeschool program, and end up not getting home until 11:30 PM after a meeting that went on and on and on and on and on and on while I hacked and hacked and hacked still fighting this cough.
I get home and the house is a wreck, for some reason every person in my home other than me has a penchant for leaving cupboard doors flung open, I step painfully on a dog chew stick and my bedroom is colder than Antarctica because my hubby loves to sleep in a meat locker, all the while snoring like the proverbial freight train and then complaining because my light is on and I am not sleeping because I CAN'T sleep with all that racket at 2500 decibles within 6 inches of my head.
There still is a ton of homework for me to do before class Saturday as I have not been able to fully focus on it as I should have, so I am stuck trying to read a 350 page book on Christian history without benefit of earplugs to block out the intense snoring, so what am I doing? I am sitting here blogging. Makes no sense, I know, but what can I say...nothing today has made much sense.
I wouldn't trade any of it, I know that. I also know that one day I will look back on these days and miss them terribly, wishing that for even just a few moments I could step back in time to the days we are living right now when our kids are young, our life is sweet and all will appear in a gauzy haze of orange sherbet like glow of delight.
Tonight though, it is more like an image I shared with someone yesterday...a pile of muddy gray Play Dough created from mushing together that neon green, Barbie pink, and Bob the Builder Blue. Nothing attractive at all about it as Matthew spilled iced tea on our carpet yesterday and the Stupid Dog (Mom's official name for that creature...who IS awfully cute but is not the brightest bulb of a dog I've ever met) decided to leave a deposit on the same aforementioned carpet, not far from the tea stain. Hmmm...maybe that is a a good thing, we can say it was the spilled tea.
So it is 12:45 AM, I am off to read a bit more and to look forward to a brighter day tomorrow when, perhaps, the Zone Out Girls will pull it together, Mr. I Am In Charge will decide he is an 11 year old child and listen to the adults in his life, Mr. Tea Tipper will find a more graceful way to drink, Josh the Mosh Pit expert will not leave his super hero costumes strewn from one end of the house to the other, and The Big Engine That Could next to me will find a position to sleep in that quiets the whistle, even if only for an hour, that will allow me to drift off into blissful slumber.
This has to be the stupidest post I have ever written. That's OK, today was sort of an intellectually challenging day anyway!
12 comments:
I had a similar day yesterday except I lost my temper and I bet you didn't! S*** happens, Cindy. That's life.
If you can flip Dominick onto his tummy that will stop the snoring.
When the kids zone out maybe try taking a 5 minute break and let them do something physical. You might also try getting them to drink a glass of water.
Y'all have snow on the ground yet?! Get them to take a break and shovel it every time they zone!
Oh, Cindy! I laughed through this entire post....not because I felt like being mean, but mearly because as an "outsider" it really was quite funny!! I feel your pain and actually, with only one son and a husband, can truly identify with how you're feeling!! You have those feelings magnified as you are outnumbered in your sea of chaos!
When things seem out of control, just remember how amazingly awesome each of your children are and what a wonderful creation of God, Team LaJoy really is!! Love to all!!
I'm referring this on to my daughter who reported that my grandson, age 6, decided to drop kick his snack--a yogurt stick. I wonder how pink spots would go with your brown spots.
When you give the kids a break make it fifteen minutes and spend it (I spent it in the bathroom) in a secluded, quiet place with a sign that says, "IF YOU DISTURB ME, I WILL COMMIT MAYHEM AND MURDER!" Actually, all you would murder is the silence, but they don't need to know that.
If that seems to violent, remember I am much older and shorter-tempered than me. Instead pick up a diet Coke and plead for mercy. I'd suggest a glass of wine, quiet music, and a good book, but I know none are either appropriate or possible.
Good luck Saturday. It will be poignant graduating and saying goodbyes. It is heady to be in your own learning environment.
Love you all,
Lael
thanks for posting this! I just got married this summer, at the ripe old age of 46. It is *so stinking hard* adjusting to having another adult in the house, making decisions. Leaving cupboard doors open. Snoring in my bedroom when I want to sleep! Leaving dog bones on the living room floor (ok, maybe that was the dog). I'm glad to hear that these things occasionally drive you crazy as well. I was thinking that I am the worst new wife ever, I'm so frustrated trying to live with my husband (I'm used to coping with my two adopted kiddos :)
My pet peeves:
dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher
dirty clothes that never make it to the hamper
clean clothes that never make it out of the laundry basket
coats and lunchboxes left at school
remembering a homework assignment 5 minutes before we leave for school
asking 3 times for something to be picked up, and it is still there....
etc, etc, etc
Maybe moderate chaos is just part of raising kids???
Your description sounds a lot like our house (except I'm the snorer, and we find cat throw up on the rug)
Love,
Peggy in Virginia
Sorry Cindy, that was the funniest post.
Believe me, I wouldn't be laughing if it was my day but I sure am glad I am not the only one. I get so tired of repeating myself that I say, "If I have to say this one more time, you owe me 10 minutes of (whatever I can think of)". Two more times 20minutes, 3= 30mins etc.
So the spots. Have you tried baking soda? Pretty much regardless of the accident, puppy or otherwise, I blot up the liquid, pour some water on the spot and then pile some baking soda on top of that. The baking soda sucks up the water and stain with it. Let it dry completely (sometimes I have to scrape some of the wet baking soda off and pour more dry on because I over did the water) and then vacuum.
Good luck! I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Teresa F.
lol - must be the phase of the moon. Hannah went to bed last night and decided to lie there and see how loud she could scream to make me come back (over and over and over....) and Sofia decided bed time equals play time. All on the evening I needed to finish and submit an assessment for my psychology. Oi. I swear they always know the evenings I need them to go to bed easily.
This to shall pass :) And yes, I will also one day look back and miss it all.
Cindy you have no idea how many of us have the very same day. You were just brave enough to post it. I needed a good laugh this morning and you gave it to me. Not that you were having a hard day...just that I could so easily identify. Come see me at www.onthewingsofmorning.blogspot.com
Not a stupid post, an honest post....one that almost sounds like it was written by a Mom of Many :o)
Hi Cindy,
I feel quite comforted by reading your post.
I think I have been having quite a few 'Kenny' moments with my Kaz adopted 6 yr old, who also thinks she can run the house, and after her calling me an *expletive expletive* from the back of the car today, I managed to drive the car completely over one of those concrete parking retainer blocks.......just spent an hour in the rain with the car recovery call-out man lifting the car over the ramp. Thankfully the car oil pan seems to be still intact. Let's all hope that today will be a better day. J
Chuckle--at the risk of taking the post too seriously, it occurs to me that your constant repetition with the girls may be some developmental stage with language acquisition...the good news is that developmental stages don't last long, right? (At least that's what I tell myself when my son starts some habit that makes me want to beat my head against the wall...).
And I thought I had a hard time getting my TEI homework done for Saturday!! Sue Kurtz
Post a Comment