Monday, September 13, 2010

When Daddy's Away, it's Easy to Ruin a Good Day

Today was Simon's first day of school. He's doing another year of pre-K, which seems like the best choice given his September birthday, he's a boy, and I'm sorry but when did Kindergarten get so intense? Simon and I both need another year to prep for homework and what I'm sure is an increase in parental commitment to volunteer, understand vague homework assignments, bring snacks, send $5 in for this and that, remember which day is wear-your-pajamas day, etc.

Ben's gone but we skyped with him this morning and Simon was showing no signs of nerves. The weather is beautiful, my kids have been pretty cooperative, and I've gotten to catch up on a year's worth of chick-flicks in the past 4 days. All in all, a great start to what was sure to be a great day.

Of course, it's all a roller coaster. Here's how it went today.

Yea! Everyone is up, fed, dressed, mostly clean, and I even remembered to take first day of school pictures.

Crap! It's garbage day. If there's any reason to be married, it's garbage day.

Yea! We're on time anyway.

Crap! We're actually early. Time to cruise around the parking lot so we don't get any new-to-school jitters while we wait around.

Yea! Off without a hitch. I only teared up a little bit. Time to get Charlie new shoes since of the two pairs he has, I can only locate the right feet.

Crap! I have no idea what size he is, what kind of shoe I need, and I don't have time to double back to Target, which is of course the authority on cheap baby-turning-toddler shoes.

Crap! Charlie fell asleep in the car which means the afternoon naptime is not going to be what I need it to be.

Yea! Made it back to school on time. Simon loved it. Plus, the lady at the metropark gave me 3 coupons for kids meals at Bob Evans, so we're taking Simon out to celebrate.

Crap! This idea kind of stinks because Talya is throwing silverware and she knows better and every time I stand up to deal with my hooligans, Charlie pulls my shorts down in the middle of the restaurant.

Crap! The waitress is somehow annoyed with me for eating here with my kids.

Crap! When I told the waitress about my coupons, she decided not to tell me that I could only use one of them at a time and let me order three kids meals anyway, even though I normally let them share since Charlie likes to throw more food than he eats.

Crap! I have to dig into my sacred "Susie" envelope to pay for the food I thought I was getting for free. Crap! I'm crying about it - why do I always do that? It's just like 6 extra dollars?!

Five craps and no yeas.... obviously things are going downhill. Bob Evans was a bust.

And crap - nap time is going as feared and is already over.

But yea! Bachelor Pad is on tonight which is stupid and trashy but I'm going to watch it with friends and eat the leftovers of the birthday treats that I'm making for Simon to take to school tomorrow.

Things are looking up. Only 5 hours til prime time.

4 comments:

Rachel Ludwick said...

"Crap! It's garbage day. If there's any reason to be married, it's garbage day."

Ha!
This killed me :) I pray extra hard for my future husband to hurry up already on garbage day. :)

Stephanie N. said...

OMG, I identify with this SO MUCH! Why is drama intensified by 1000% when our husbands travel?
As a side note...how do they come up with those "word verification" words when you leave a comment? The word I have to type right now is "mugeak." I thought I'd look it up on Dictionary.com in case it's actually a real word and I could use it in Scrabble some day. You just know someone would challenge me if I used it. Alas, it's not a real word.

Stephanie N. said...

Now the word is "hancowfi."
I could keep this up all day.
I SO need to get a life. Sorry for clogging up your blog! :)

DrMommy said...

The garbage comment is so true. Steve got that assignment while we were DATING -- literally, he'd come over to take me out on a date and take my garbage out. ;-) I must say, 9 years later and in the midst of an ER doc's shift work, he occasionally slacks on this one now. ;-)