Shell of my former self

I was so excited for today that I could hardly sleep last night.  The weather promised to be beautiful, even more beautiful than usual for the season.  Sunny with a high of 75, no humidity, rare for this region at this time of year.  Days don’t get better than that.

I made plans to take the kids to the park.  They had play dates, and I looked forward to seeing the moms and sharing a bit of adult conversation.  It was fun.  T3’s friend was waiting for him when we got there, and J’s showed up a few minutes later.  In addition to that, another friend of J showed up within the hour and more friends of T3 were there as well.  We stayed until after lunch, and everyone had a good time, except maybe for Ee who wanted more swing push and attention from me.  Toward the end, she climbed into my arms and pressed her face against mine in an effort to get me undivided.

It was nice to visit with my lady friends, and I found it amusing the way they laughed that I  was like Supermom when I pulled out the  water, juice boxes and snacks.  First of all, I had planned from the first to be there for a good part of the day, but also, if they had seen me scrambling to get kids dressed, snacks packed and stroller loaded by 10:30, they would have seen something other than Supermom entirely. Not that I was channeling her today, but I do tend to consider Elastigirl (a.k.a. Mrs. Incredible) my role model.

So we came home before two (almost three hours out there) and T3’s friend came with us for a play date.  He stayed for a bit, and they all had fun, but then the friend had to leave.  I took the kids and walked several blocks to pick up my car, which was being serviced for yet another flat tire.  There’s been a lot of construction on the street this summer, and this is my second flat in as many months.  It turned out to be another nail.

Then we all drove to the grocery store for some supplies.  I don’t like taking all three of them to the grocery store, because it’s a bit hectic, but we needed some things that couldn’t wait.  My first mistake was not to make a list, because the three of them were buzzing around me, touching everything, T3 asking, “Do we need this?  Do we need this?” Ee wanting every toy or treat she saw, and J being good, but still tempted now and again to join the fray. In addition to the insanity, the store was undergoing a renovation, so I couldn’t find ANYTHING.  The new arrangement is really wacky too.  For example, they have certain brands of (but not all) tuna fish, mustard, pickles and mayo stocked on a shelf above the bread.  Shouldn’t that stuff be in the canned meat and condiment aisles respectively?  Are they just trying to make it easier on the sandwich builders?  I don’t know…just found it confusing.

About half way through, J said he needed to go, which he always needs to do, and of course T3 then said he had to go as well. They had my head spinning.  They went into the men’s room, and I waited outside the door to the restroom with Ee contained in the cart.  I put my head down on the handle and closed my eyes just to rest them for a second.  A woman said something about my choice of napping place.  I opened my eyes and smiled at her, and then turning away, I noticed I was standing next to the mixed drink mixes.  Sometimes I tend to make impulse purchases, and it was really hard today not to buy a gallon jug of cosmopolitan mix.  I really wanted one just then.

Things didn’t get better from there.  Ee kept asking for toys and treats, T3 kept fighting me about things he could and could not throw into the cart (butter, okay, eggs, not) and the struggle continued through what he could and could not load onto the conveyer belt and bag. By the time we got home, I was just like, I don’t care what you guys do now, just do it in your room and give me some time to myself.  Which they did.  Ee actually fell asleep, though the boys bickered in their room until dinner.

The worst bit of the story is actually that I forgot to buy coffee filters, which we are out of…will have to pull something Macgyver-esque in the morning.

Overall, a long day.  I feel as though someone’s hollowed me with a mellon baller.