Let sleeping dogs lie

Today began with a ring. At 7:15 my phone rings. I ignore it, thinking if I answer it the person on the other end would probably drop dead from the growl in my voice. It doesn't work. My cell phone rings. Loudly. Somebody had better be injured, because my kids are sleeping in today, therefore so am I.

I think I grumbled something like, "hello?"

It's Paul asking me for a huge favor. "Can you go downstairs and find the map (that I did not treat like the important document that it is and casually left on the dining room table that is now covered with clean clothes)? The GPS did not take me to the right place."

More grumbling from me as I stumble as quietly as I can down the stairs that complain loudly. They are almost 100 years old, afterall; you'd complain, too. I reach the dining room and hear from the room above me the pitter patter of little feet.

"I NEED TO GO PEE-PEE! I NEED TO GO PEE-PEE!!" yells my soon-to-be-4 year old.

I stumble back up the stairs to let him out of his room, vainly hoping he hasn't woken his sister.

He has.

I stumble back downstairs to the phone that I had left. Rather than look under the piles of clean clothes (hey, it's a flat surface that the kids aren't likely to pull the clothes off of), I check the floor first.

There it is. The only piece of paper on the floor. If he had looked, he would have found it.

At this point, I need to go pee-pee myself. So I take the phone and the map with me.

"Where are you?" I growl.

"At the power plant."

Guess where he's supposed to be?

The training center is part of the power plant complex.

So this afternoon, I decided to go to the post office after my 2yo woke up from her nap. Being the brilliant woman that I am, I decide to save the environment (and my money) by walking the half mile to the post office. It's been raining off and on all day, but not hard. We begin our journey, one kid walking with me and one kid in the stroller, two umbrellas in hand. One block from the post office, we see big flash of lightning followed shortly by big crack of thunder. It hasn't done that all day! Just rain!

So we moved as quickly to the post office as a 4yo's legs can carry him. (I finally got my prayer socks sent to Brussels.) Turns out that was the only talking from the storm, besides some little rumbles. After our post office business is done, we begin our little trip home. It's sprinkling, then it rains. We stop to try to adjust the stroller umbrella. It falls to the side. We go to the next tree and try again. As we start walking it falls again. This continues all the way home. Finally we make it home.

I love the cool spring weather. I love April showers. I love having my windows open. Unfortunately, these things do not always go together. It's so humid that my house is stuffy. So I try to open more windows. That works for a little while, until I'm told that it is now raining in our house. It's been an interesting day, and it's not over yet.

Yarn for Supper sure tastes good!

I took a time out last night. Paul got home from work and disappeared. After an hour I went out to find him. I didn't know how bad I was feeling until he asked me if I was okay. I just started crying. I needed to get away. So I asked if he would be okay if I ran away for a bit.

I went to Yarn for Supper at Panera Bread. That was the fastest three hours I've enjoyed in a long time. I love love LOVE my children and my husband, but I needed to be without them for a little while. I just sat there and ate dinner and knitted. I had a whole day away last Saturday, but it was a leadership training. Totally different. Light conversations and good food can't be beat. So, I'm making a new commitment to myself to take time out more often. I'll be a better mom.

She's a Walker now...

My baby sister got married today. It was a lovely party at Redwing. The bride and groom made their vows on the bridge in the Japanese Garden. The party was at the shelter nearest the playground for the enjoyment of my children. A grand time was had by all.

And I missed the ceremony. Before the ceremony began, my great-aunts were complaining about being cold and wondering if there was coffee. Looking at the time, Paul and I figured we could run up to Starbucks and be back with a box of coffee in 20 minutes, tops. So we leave the kids with my uncle and head out: the shop was maybe a mile away. We get there and ask for our coffee and pay. The girls seems excited to serve us. They find the box and then puzzle out how to put it together. Then they begin brewing the coffee. The box is almost full, when suddenly the bottom literally falls out. Coffee everywhere. So they decide they must call the manager to find out how to put the box together.

We wait. I call my cousin to find out what's going on. The wedding ceremony is over. Apparently, they thought everyone was there, so they began a tad early. Six minutes.

In the meantime, the girls at the coffee shop are having no luck. The new box is not going together. The coffee maker is not brewing actual coffee anymore. They can't get the pump on the pot to work. We tell them thanks, but we want our money back now so we can go. They offer us free coffee to make up for it. We make the decision that we might as well stay, since we've missed the ceremony anyway. Fifteen minutes later, we leave the store with 16 tall cups of coffee and creamers and sugars.

I missed the ceremony, but the coffee was free.