One of those days...

Yeah, it's been one of those days...

I've been back at work since Monday, and it's been a lot of jumbling and shuffling of students, getting used to teaching 15 credits, trying to get more textbooks ordered, and just generally trying to get back into the swing of things. I'm feeling a little under-prepared and a little overwhelmed at the moment - normal first week of the quarter stuff.

Today, however, has been extra rough. The morning started out fine. Elijah played happily after breakfast, was excited to go to school, and I easily found a parking spot at work (a rare thing, indeed). It was then that my day started to go downhill. As I got ready to get out of the car and reached for my work bag, I realized that it was still sitting on the table at home. Ah, crap! I sat and tried to decided if I really needed to run home to get it. In one class we were watching a movie, which thankfully I had put in my purse and had with me, and we were in the computer lab in my second class. I could figure this out! I prepped a couple of worksheets and found some websites to use in class, and called it good. Problem solved.

The next issue came when I got the dreaded "have to work late" text message from my husband a few moments later. No! Do you not realize how many things I have to get done tonight? Do you not realize how much it ruins my craft store Zen to have to take Elijah with me? (Our Joann's is right next to a Toys R Us, so Elijah screams pretty much the whole time - we're working on it.) Do you not realize that tonight is the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory - the one show I look forward to watching uninterrupted all week? Why does the universe hate me?

Yes, I hate to admit it, but that really was my internal conversation. Externally, I simply expressed that it was sad for my husband that he had to work late - there's nothing he can do about it, so there's no need to make him feel bad.

So, after work, I braved the craft store with my shopping-cart hating, "No mama hand" saying, "choo-choo store" screaming two and a half year old. Dear Joann's employees and customers, I am so sorry! I got what I went for, and we left without visiting the "choo-choo store" due to Elijah's bad behavior. Needless to say, he screamed the whole way home. Someone please remind me that it will get better. Parenting is hard and exhausting work.

Once we got home, we had to take the dog out, which in my world means literally being pulled in two directions., and trying to avoid all other dogs. It's stressful and always gets my blood pressure up. I try to avoid having to take Elijah with me when I take our crazy, aggressive dog out to do her business, but some days it just can't be helped. Thankfully, there were no incidents today.

After that was taken care, the evening passed well, with the exception of Elijah refusing to eat dinner without a phone, something else we've been working on. For the most part, he played with his trains and I was able to get some crocheting done. Once my show started though, the two year old terror took over - throwing trains (die-cast ones hurt when they hit you), jumping off the furniture, attacking Lillie. I felt like ripping my hair out. Finally, I gave up trying to watch my show (it will be On Demand tomorrow anyway), and tried putting the boy to bed...

An hour and a half later (and many trips into  Elijah's bedroom), I am finally able to sit down and spend a few minutes processing this crazy day.

I remember someone saying once that marriage makes you less selfish, and perhaps that's true, but parenting is the never-ending unselfishness boot camp, and sometimes, it really sucks.

But the good news is that today is over, and tomorrow is another day...at least, I hope that's good news :)

I hope your evening was spent a little more enjoyably occupied than mine.

On a side note, my craft store fast is over due to the need to purchase things to make items bought by customers from my etsy store. Things have picked up the last few days, which is awesome! Thank you, Fall, for making people think about buying cute hats and scarves!