Says 78, but feels like 7

I know today wasn't a complete washout in our neck of the woods, and the temperature outside did read 78 degrees, but the kids and I went at each other all day like it was mid-January, 7 degrees out, and we had been cooped up in the house for days.

I guess we all go through these cycles when we know we love our families but if you hear any of their voices one more time you start to believe your head might explode. I had one of those days.

Mistake #1: Telling they kids (yesterday) that there were going to be pony rides at a fall festival up the street today - well that got rained out so I was already a huge letdown of a mother by 9 a.m.

Mistake #2: I decided to substitute real ponies with the hard, merry-go-round kind at the local mall - ironically everyone else in a 50 mile radius had the same idea. Sadly, while at the mall, both my kids went deaf because no matter how many times I repeated "keep your hands to yourself" there still seemed to be flailing hands wherever I turned.

Mistake #3: Not INSISTING they go outside once the pouring rain stopped so they could run off some of the extra energy that was some how bottled up inside even after 8 rotations around the mall. Needless to say, by 5:30 p.m. tonight I certainly didn't want to be listening to them racing through my house like a pack of wild dogs! I think my daughter spent about 6 hours of her day in timeout - and my son spent 6 hours of his day whining about something not worth whining about.

As I put them to bed tonight they kept repeating:

"But wait, I want to tell you something..."

to which I responded,

"Sorry. You didn't want to listen to me today, so right now I don't think I want to listen to you."

Funny - they weren't sure how to respond to that (and I felt bad saying it but before I apologized and gave in I quickly retreated downstairs).

Tomorrow brings another day - and a little piece and quiet while they are school. Only 2 more weekends of hubby working the odd shift and then I will have back-up on Saturday and Sundays. For now, I am going to resist the urge to drink a bottle of wine by myself to relax! Sad, I know. I'm hoping by tomorrow night I'll begin to love them again - at least until mid-January when you may see more posts on my blog that look a lot like this one!!