Long Day

It's just been one of "those" days.

It didn't start out like that - just incredibly busy though my guess is since I was already feeling pretty darn stressed out and overwhelmed by everything in my life right now the craziness of the morning just added to it all.

This is what took place this morning:
8:45 am Kelton decides that he would like to ride the school bus, which is fine but it means instead of 20 more minutes of getting ready time, we have five.
8:50am walk out of the door and up to the bus stop (two houses up)
The bus is, of course, late. Instead of arriving at 8:55, it finally shows at 9:05am. The exact time I would have been leaving to take him to school myself. Kaylen and I wave goodbye to him and head to the car.
9:15am we are at the store doing some needed food shopping (due to the birthday party on Saturday, grocery shopping for the week didn't get done and we were running low on some things)
9:40am we leave the grocery store and head to the dentist for a 10am appointment.
9:45am we arrive at the dental office and are ushered in (I needed the filling height reduced. It has been causing some trouble since I had it done a week ago.). Kaylen is *amazing* and I am so proud of her!
9:57am we leave the dentist office and head home.
10:15 I am elbow deep in cake batter while I make 24 heart shaped cupcakes for Kelton's Valentine's Day party.
11:50am I am finally finished with the baking and they are cooled and packed up. Kaylen and I rush out the door to school.
11:55am I drop off the cupcakes with Kelton's teacher and wait for him to be dismissed.
12:05pm, the kids and I are heading back to the car.
12:15pm we arrive home only to discover that Kaylen had left her beloved new cup at the school so we get back into the car and return to school.
12:35pm we are once again on our way home.
12:55pm all school stuff and jackets are put away and I began to make lunches.
1:30pm finds me cleaning up the lunch dishes and straightening up the house which I cannot believe went from orderly to chaotic in 30 minutes. I don't know why I can't believe that - it happens consistently all day long.

From that point on it was running from here to there cleaning things up, putting things away, folding laundry, picking up things again and again and again and again. There was sweeping and mopping and vacuuming. There was arguments to calm and fighting to break up. There was the dinner that, after it was cooked, clearly looked like it should not be eaten (there were a couple red flags along the way but I honestly think part of the dinner had gone bad. It was a boxed dinner, still within it's use by date but something was off - and it was *really off* after it had cooked. So...off to McDonalds we went. *sigh* Waste of time, food *and* money.

It was NEVER ENDING today!

It was one of those rare days when I am ticked off that I am here alone doing this with no chance for 15 minutes to myself. In reality I know that even if Dakota came home after work she wouldn't be here until 5 or 6 and then it would still be dinner, the after dinner crazy hour, bath and bedtime. I know that it would most likely be even more chaotic than it is when she isn't here because we have a pretty tight routine in place. I know it wouldn't really give me any alone time and yet......days like today I like to pretend it would and then I get pissy because I don't even have the chance to *pretend* that could happen. Does that make sense?

Some days I just need a friggin' break!

Truthfully, I am feeling the need for a break in a big, big way. But I want a break in my own house, not out on the world. A coffee shop is great but then I am still around people. Walking around stores is great too but again, there are the people and well - let's face it, it is not down time. I just want to be inside my house....my *clean* house so I don't feel like I need to spend the precious down time cleaning, straightening or doing laundry. I want to have time to curl up on my bed and watch TV in increments longer than 2 or 5 minutes or heck - even read a few chapters of a book. I don't want to hear the washer or dryer running. I don't want to hear the kids fighting with each other. I just want to BE.

I'm tired. No...I'm exhausted.

The kids have been asleep since 6:50 (yeah yeah...it's early but they also get up early. And no, it won't help to get them up later, they wake at their regular time whether they go to sleep at 7pm or 11pm. Kelton is up by 5:15 and Kaylen has taken to waking somewhere between 5:15 and 6:00. So an early bedtime it is. Which is vital for me anyway since I am *so done* by 6:30.). This is the first time since last night at this time that I have been alone. There are a few thousand things I should be doing (paying the bills, balancing the checkbook, working on our taxes, etc) but I am just too tired to even think.

And tomorrow it all starts again.

Tomorrow will be better. Right? Yes. Yes it will be. Tomorrow is Valentines Day. After talking Kelton to school, Kaylen and I have playgroup and then after that, we'll pick Kelton up and head to Dakota's work to have lunch with her. It's a tradition and we all look forward to it. So yes, tomorrow will be better.

Thank goodness!