Patience

My patience has run out. Coming back from a vacation is always difficult for us. My children go from having LOTS of attention from LOTS of people to um... just me. The very same person who also has to do all of the laundry that built up and all of the cleaning that was ignored and all of the unpacking and generally everything. Leaving little time for two  creatures who want attention every single second. The Princess has been tolerable but SkyWalker has done everything he could to make me crazy. He got up at 6:30 this morning after swearing that his monkey clock said 7 (well, yeah, you MADE it say 7.) He went back upstairs later and stayed up there as the Princess and I ate breakfast. Just as we were finishing up he wanted breakfast. Then we all went upstairs to get dressed and what did I discover? He DREW on the CARPET with MARKER. 

I got the steamvac to clean it and when I went to the tub to fill up the thing what did I discover? POOP. I *think* it was  from last night's bath and Vader didn't see it. I could be wrong. The steamvac worked so-so on the marker. 

All day long he has been a pain in the neck. Playing with things he's not supposed to, spilling water on the new floors, not listening. I put him to bed at 6:45 because I couldn't stand it anymore. He not only refused to clean up his room, he REFUSED. He screamed "NO" at me. It's not about picking up puzzle pieces. It's about not listening and making me repeat myself a million times and showing a total lack of respect. 

It is 7:39 now. I just heard the all-too familiar "I poooooooped" in his after-bed sing-song way. I went up there. There was no poop. He tried but he didn't really have to poop. What caught my attention though was the first aid kit in the sink. He opened it all up and wasted band-aids and tape and all sorts of things. Luckily he did not realize there were packets of tylenol in there. And then. Oh man. And then. I see the suppositories. He opened up a box of baby suppositories and squeezed out 3 or 4 of them. On his shirt. He claims they were nowhere near his mouth or any body parts. I told him that he could get sick or hurt from playing with this stuff. Tomorrow I will clean out the ENTIRE medicine cabinet since he is clearly not to be trusted. 

I put him back to bed and told him he'd better clean up his puzzle pieces tomorrow morning when he gets up and he said "I will. I'll be a GOOD BOY." in such a sweet voice. I swear he's trying to drive me completely crazy.

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We're back

I did not fall.

I did, however, sit when I was supposed to stand and slacked on my train-fixing duties, but both of those can be attributed to the fact that I thought I was going to DIE up there. Yes, my friends, karma struck once again and I got my you-know-what the day of my sister's wedding. I had to suffer through the Priest talking about love and falling in love and the difference and blah blah blah and I would have paid my BIL $20 to tell him to just skip to the good part. I think I probably will be going to the doctor soon because I shouldn't be in so much pain that I can't stand. That's just not normal.

Other than that the wedding was great, my kids did not witness the actual ceremony (the Princess was thirsty and needed to get some water), but they did great at the reception, staying up until past 10 pm! (After staying up late at the rehearsal dinner the night before). The Princess would have been on the dance floor if she would only start walking, but alas she was stuck chair-dancing and then leading me holding my hands as she rocked her body and toddled after other kids. My sister looked beautiful and everything went well. I was reminded numerous times of how much I love my SIL. 

Yesterday we went to the beach and it was the Princess's first time in the water (last year she cried and cried because she was working on a big poopy and her bathing suit was too tight). She LOVED it. I put her in a chair-tube and she bounced and bopped and laughed and stuck her head in the water and loved every minute. SkyWalker did pretty well too, but nearly as well as she did. 

SkyWalker is whining and crying right now, no doubt from the lack of anyone but me to pay attention to him. Vader is out mowing the lawn and the Princess is sleeping. I still have unpacking to do but SkyWalker wanted a snacky-snack.

One more thing--I dreamed that we had to kennel the dogs (we didn't--my MIL fed them) and that when we came back my husband went to pick them up and Isaac only had 3 legs. I said "What the hell happened to Isaac's other leg?" He didn't think to ask. Vader let Isaac out when we got home (for real) and when he came back in I noticed that he's limping. He must have hurt his back leg. 

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Success

I got the pool drained and moved to the garage (I had to use SkyWalker's wagon to help me move it. It wasn't too heavy but just unwieldly). I didn't clean the bathroom but if my MIL wants to pee she'll just have to do it at her own risk.

All in all yesterday was a very successful day.

We leave in just over an hour. My sister's wedding is on Friday. The 20th anniversary of my aunt's suicide. I wonder if anyone else will remember that? I think I'm more nervous than I was before my own wedding. I hate church shit. My children will probably do something inappropriate ("Why that man say god? He listen to Lamb of God too?"). I have to walk down the aisle by myself. I will probably fall. I am so glad I will never be in a wedding again (hear that single coworker?!)

I slept great last night and I think it was because Isaac was in the bathroom. He came in when I was taking a shower and fell asleep on the floor (just like old times) and just never got up. I didn't hear any scratching or shaking or any nonsense. It was great. His skin is in such horrible condition right now. I think he needs a spa treatment. We're giving him prednisone again because it's so bad. He's been doing bad for a while now, since he was cooped up in the crate after his surgery. He had been doing so well before that and didn't even need prednisone. 

I'd better start loading up the car and organizing the breakfast dishes. Maybe I'll get some vomiting in there too. Not in the breakfast dishes. That would be gross.

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Bedtime can't come fast enough

I have a million things on my to-do list today. I have already swept up Isaac's dead skin, so now I still need to do laundry. And then more laundry. And clean the pee off of the guest bathroom floor. And straighten up the kitchen. And pack. And drain the pool. 

The Princess is not cooperating. 

The past few days she has skipped her morning nap and taken a nice long 2 1/2 hour nap in the afternoon. Glorious. Not today, the day I need to get a million and one things done. She slept a tiny bit in the car this morning and I wonder if that has thrown her off. She only napped for about 45 minutes after lunch. I can't drain the pool with her at my side. And I don't want to let her crawl around outside since it just stopped raining. Which also means that there's more water in the pool for me to drain. Gah! 

Vader came home last night and looked at the pool. He's going to get some sand and help me set it up. In the meantime I need to drain it so it doesn't become a malaria breeding ground and get it back in the garage so it doesn't blow away. I'm not sure how I'm going to get that done today. 

In the loose thread section, I have stopped nursing the Princess. I made it to July and am very happy about that. July 1 was our last day. It was a little sad but I'm enjoying her 8 am wake ups. :-) (As long as big brother doesn't wake her up earlier by slamming the stair gate on his way to snuggle in bed with me).

SkyWalker is demanding that he be allowed to do his e-mail now. Let me leave you with this gem from my son after releasing gas from some part of his body: "People burp, fart, cough and say happy birthday to your HAIR! HAHAHA"

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Redefinition

I've been getting entirely too angry and disappointed lately. I think I need to redefine a few basic things. I think for a while now that I have been a bit like Angel during the fourth season, when they did that spell to make him become Angelus and he needed to have all of his ducks in a row to be happy. Remember that? At one time all he needed was Buffy, but the second time around he needed a lot more (to fix his relationship with Connor and Wesley, "love" with Cordelia, saving the world). Anyway, I think I have been expecting a little too much so when things like this friggin' pool or my stupid-ass town don't go right I get really REALLY annoyed. 

I am hereby lowering my standards. I am redefining happiness to be the lack of negativity, rather than needing certain requirements to be met (i.e. perfection).

Futhermore: 

Any day in which nobody dies is a good day.

Any day in which I eat 3 meals is a good day. 

Any day in which SkyWalker poops BEFORE bedtime is a REALLY good day.

Any day in which the Princess climbs on me and gives me a little kiss is a good day.

Any day in which SkyWalker looks at his sister and says "What a pretty baby" and gives her a kiss is a good day. 

Any day in which the three of us laugh at each other more than yell is a good day. 

Therefore today was a good day. (But not REALLY good, because of the after-bedtime pooping. At least it was in the potty though.)

And with that I am going to speed around the house in the next 10 minutes and clean up the ginormous mess they made so that I can watch my "girlie" movie (defined as ANY that Vader does not want to see). 

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This birkett has been chucked

I bought a 3 foot pool when I was on Long Island. One of those blow up the ring and the water sets up the rest types. My MIL heard that you need a permit for it in my wacky town so I dutifully called and checked and sure enough you do. Since I am a law-abiding citizen I got the paperwork online and all the ridiculous stuff I needed (a plot plan?? for a 3 foot pool??) and the jedi and I headed out to town hall this morning. 

We did not get a permit. 

Why? Well, we need an alarm (roughly $40) in case I'm an idiot and let my kid go near the pool without me. We need a fence around it (so the dogs can jump on it and rip a hole in it?? No.) And then the permit fee is $35. So the $100 pool would wind up costing at least $75 more. Um, no. The fee is for the inspector to come out and make sure you did everything okay. No thank you. I was so enraged when I left that I had to call Vader. He agreed to just screw it.

We went to Target to get some stuff including a picnic blanket that folds up nicely with a little "handle" so you can carry it easier when you're also carrying children. Guess what? Nobody goes on picnics anymore. I'm 2 weeks late. All of the back to school stuff is out. I'm sorry, but didn't school just end last friggin' week??

We figured we'd check WalMart (nope, none there either) and I asked about the pool alarm just for the hell of it. They had none and were astonished that I would need one. They had never heard of needing a permit for one of those pools, let alone an alarm. So like I said, screw them.

We came home and got the Princess done for a nap and attempted to put up the pool. We got the ring blown up. That was about it. Apparently there's just no level ground in my back yard. But it's not really obvious until there's already too much water in the pool so that moving it is impossible. We drained it, moved it and tried again. No good. I need Vader to probably put some sand under the pool and even it out. Did I mention that Vader wants NOTHING to do with the pool? He helped me put the filter together last night because he found me crying when I couldn't understand the stupid instructions.

I cannot do the pool myself. Who am I going to call for help now? My 70 year old MIL? The only people who would help (and could help) are hundreds of miles away. 

I'm going to make dinner and get these children to bed early and then I'm going to watch a dumb movie by myself as Vader goes food shopping. Then I'll work on looking as sad and pitiful as I can and cry a little (shouldn't be difficult) so he feels sorry for me and agrees to help just put the pool up.

Oh and we went couch shopping yesterday, decided on what we want and did NOT buy it despite my saying that we were going out to PURCHASE our couch. Why? Because Vader thought maybe we should get 2 couches since the difference between the loveseat and the couch was only $30 but we had to go home and measure first. And we can't get two couches because we don't have enough room. Had we just done what we had agreed on initially we wouldn't have to find the time to go back. When we got home I got to put two crying children to bed (one of whom did not actually stay in bed until after 10 pm)  all by myself while Vader installed the grounding rod. Happy Birthday to me.

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Let me sum up

I am just too wiped out to speak in complete sentences. So highlights of the last week:

We cleared everything out of the kitchen and living room in preparation for the floor guys. I put the DVR cable box in the bedroom and hooked it up in there. After over an hour of it still not coming back on despite numerous reboots I called TW. While on the phone with a very nice lady I discovered my problem. Instead of taking the cable wire from the floor, I took the cable wire from the OTHER cable box after I had unhooked that. So I had two cables boxes hooked up to each other. Much laughing ensued. 

On the ferry I ran in to an old friend. Literally. I got out of my car wondering how I was going to get two children out by myself and keep them safe and carry the umbrella stroller and diaper bag and get the tickets. I hear my name, turn and look at the car right next to mine and discover an old high school friend. He helped carry the stroller and stuck with us the entire time. He threw in a bonus of doing a healing prayer for the Princess since he now goes around performing miracles. 

Monday night SkyWalker used every excuse he could to not go to sleep at my parents' house. At 9:45 he left his room and started to go into my mother's room to sleep with her. What was significant about this is that he was entirely naked. He took everything off including his diaper and put it in his sister's travel bag. 

I got my dress fixed and I think I'm going to write a letter asking for at least a partial refund from the first lady I went to. She apparently used a tuxedo machine instead of a dress machine. There were ink marks on the bottom of the dress. Excellent.

I also got my hair highlighted and cut.

We have an hour before we can put anything on the floors. The jedi and I have been stuck in their bedrooms. Now we are down in the office playing/crying while Vader hand-vacuums all the dust off the counters. The dogs are still at the kennel. We'll clean and get as much stuff in today as we can and that will be our 4th of July.  

I have a really bad pain in my neck right now (literally) and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to help with the couch or the kitchen table or anything else. This weekend, my birthday weekend, is already shaping up to be as sucky as the last 3. Good times. 

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