Treading water~

Again, it's another of those days. I feel like I am back in the pool again. No matter how hard I swim, no matter what I do to try and stay afloat, I am still treading. Sometimes, there appears some sort of backward momentum, a current(?) but I have yet to comprehend WHY it would be there. It sucks. Take yesterday, just an example mind you... but a fairly accurate view of my day. My life. My world. Yesterday, I had a plan. I had my lists, condensed down to where they may actualy be of use. I had everything I needed, plus 7 kids and a raging headache. Both of which I could have seriously used a break from. I should mention the morning started out rough. But what morning doesn't?? Hubby didn't understand why the 2 year old was loud, demanding, whiney, obnoxious (ummmm... HE's TWO!!) and left for work thinking that I should have had the little tornado under control. Hahaha. NOT funny. After ALL of the children were washed, fed, dressed (yes, usually in that order) we loaded 'em up and headed 'em out. Had to run a few errands, and spend all of hubbys money. Not really. It just feels like that sometimes. It was still pretty early, so Target was our first destination. They had some clearance Easter stuff... so I shopped. It's not like I had a choice- it was 75% off. But then, a cart load later, we left for the YMCA. In hopes of getting summer camp stuff figured out, we went on the first day of sign ups. We got there an hour early. So we re-load and head to Home Depot. I know, I know. Nobody ever said I was brilliant. 7 kids. BIG store. Nice spring, SATURDAY. What the HELL was I thinking? I have no idea of the specifics of the thought...but damn it, I had a plan. I had lists. Mom on a mission- and we went. I figured at the very least it would eat up that hour. Boy Howdy. It was a mess. We wandered for a bit, pricing a few things for other plans..on other list.. to do on other days. We finally ended up in the paint area, and the place was a mad house. With the lines -not to mention the heards of screaming children that were forced to accompany their obnoxious (and mainly rude) parents- you would have thought that the employees might actually move. A little. Evidentally, I was again mistaken. The more people waiting for you, and the lounder (and rowdier) the people in your work area ARE... the slower and more inept you become. These people had to call and ask for help, for every tiny little thing. The customers, and even most of my children KNEW what to do. And they were SO SLOW. They would talk slow. Walk slow. Turn and give their disgrunteld looks... slow. Having a herd of kids, I seem to be pretty patient. I can understand busy. This, this was painful. And frustrating. Like having to wait for the cookies to finish baking, and then having all of them eatten before you get to have one. But then, at least, it smells nice. We did manage to get the paint, go to the grocery store (yes, I know it was Saturday... the kids finished all the milk, and I NEEDED a latte!), and forgot to go back to the Y. Got home JUST in time for the phone call- "You didn't bring me lunch?" Dammit. Looks like I blew it again. Overall, I did manage to remove the mirrors in the bathroom and feed the children, paint the bathroom and referee a lively game of "he did/ she did first!!", apply a second coat of paint and chase down the two year old with a loaded paintbrush. Managed to make- (and eat!!) dinner, supervise baths (so nobody would touch the walls!!) and basically survive the evening. Such are the days of my life. Instead of highs and lows, mine revolves around lows, lowers, "what the HEll's??" with a few patches of level living. There are a few sporatic (and never ever long enough) upward movement. I like the up ward movement. But if we are keeping score... On the down side- I had a 2 year olds morning, was way too early (and then forgot entirely) about the Y, had to go to Home Depot AND the grocery store on SATURDAY, forgot the lunch, ate too much dinner, and played second fiddle to a video game. On the plus side-I got the paint, and painted. I got the Y info, and some good deals on clearance. I actually ate dinner while it was warm. I TOOK a bath. I still have some brownies (Billy made for me!!) left. UPDATE: It looks like it will be a bit out of reach this year. It looks like the budgeting of Summer camp needs to start a whole lot earlier than I had thought. Score one for the down.