Troublemaker

Ugh, okay. Some days are smooth, uneventful, and unmemorable, or some days are insightful, social, and productive, and other days like today...they just never get off the ground. I should be all yea! yea! yea! Obama did it! we are moving forward! and floating on a happy cloud. But alas, a series of meltdowns this morning, the cold mean wind, early daylight savings risers, and a @#$%!* seat belt. I stood outside in the freezing wind trying to unlock a locked seat belt for Talia and the f@#$* piece of sh!@ would not budge and I swear it took fifty minutes and a lot of frustration and an embarrassing mommy-losing-it-moment to finally get it unlocked. Then once at school, I noticed an increased amount of parents standing around talking all jovial and energized wanting to share and relate about the historic events of the day before. The only thing I want to do is drop them off, race home, make a loaf of bread, eat the whole loaf of bread and Halloween candy, and shop on Etsy. But, my daydream is interrupted by Quinn saying "My shoes are too big and don't fit my feet!". Of course. These are the new shoes that he wore yesterday without incident, but today he's wearing a thinner sock and now they are like clogs on him. Silly me for thinking that I could get away with jumping from the now tight fitting size 12 to the size 1 shoe I stored away in his closet. Unable to do anything about it I say "There is nothing I can do about it now. I'm sorry. Have a fun day. Bye.". I image him running across the playground at lunch, tripping on his way too big shoes, smashing his face, breaking his nose, and everyone blaming me for the lapse of mommy judgement on over sized shoes and the doctors tisking their finger at me scolding "What were you thinking you horrible mother?!".

My plan for the day is to go home, put the bread ingredients in the breadmaker, go to Ross for a new pair of appropriate size 13 shoes, then to TJ's for badly needed food supplies (I am out of wine!), home to a divine lunch of freshly baked bread, then work for three straight hours. I find the shoes, plus a pretty long cardigan sweater that called to me, and I walk over to get in line...dun dun dun...it's 37 sad looking people deep! AAAGH! I put my carefully picked items back, go to TJ's instead, then go back to Ross 45 minutes later where there was now no line (victory at last!!!), grab the shoes, grab the sweater, go to the front of the store and !@#$%* the line is now as long as before when I left the first time! So, now I've invested way too much time and there is no way I can leave now, so I suck it up and wait in line. Do you know how badly I wanted to curse out the cashier when I finally made it up to her? I swipe my card, force a smile, and leave.

As we are driving home from their gym class this afternoon (where I scored the glorious single plastic seat in the back away from the crammed overcrowded loud seating area), the kids notice some stores displaying holiday lights on the outside. "Oooh! Look at that store! Ooooh! How pretty! I love it mommy look look!" until we sit in traffic and slowly drove past an adult oriented store with window mannequins wearing lace and leather and of course, that store had lights and Talia was all "Oooh, look at the lights on that sto............" and .... total silence. I quickly chime in "Oooh, look at those cement trucks!" recovering from the awkward moment and turn on the radio. This song comes on and Quinn says "Turn it up. What band is that?" and I say "Um, not sure" and Quinn asks "Is 'Not Sure' the name of the band?" and he starts cracking up and I start cracking up and I reach for those long legs of his and tickle him and we all laugh harder. I don't need the bread or the wine to make me feel better (although it is helpful, I won't deny that) - just my kid cracking a joke and making me laugh. So, I crank up "Troublemaker" by Weezer and sing this great song all the way home..."I'm a troublemaker. Never been a faker. Doing things my own way and never giving up...."