I am getting the absolute crap kicked out of me this week. Right after I got back from Balticon, I had to get to work to finish up Princess’ Maori costume for her class presentation. Then the same day she gave her report, she also performed in her class play, “Charlotte’s Web.” I wasn’t about to miss either event, so I spent most of Friday at her school, cheering her on. She did fantastic in both events.
Then Saturday came and I had to head out to a local museum for a Brownie troop sleepover. Museums are lousy places to get sleep. This particular museum didn’t shut down until 11PM and then all the lights weren’t off until midnight. The cleaning crew came in at 1AM and didn’t even try to be quiet. At 6:15AM, the small theater we were camped out next to came to life and started running a short film on the history of flight every 15 minutes AT TOP VOLUME. Plus there was something in the building that went “SQUEAKY SQUEAKY SQUEAKY CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!” all frikkin’ night.
So I was dead on my feet by the time we finally got home Sunday morning, just in time for me to bake a cake for Pixie’s birthday party which lasted 4 hours. Hubster and I scrambled to get the place cleaned up and ready for guests, all of whom were pretty well-behaved. Then I had to get back to work as soon as the last guest left because I had completely forgotten that the next day we were supposed to take Pixie in for kindergarten placement testing. Oh, and I had volunteered to help out with the school’s field day that same afternoon. And it was just by chance that we found out the next morning as we arrived for the pre-testing that Princess’ class was doing a special party for all the parents that day…
I’ve had four days straight eaten alive by my parental duties. I’ve got today off, but I have to be at the dojo for two hours today and then after school pick up I have to get thank-you gifts for Princess’ teachers. Plus I still need to pick up a birthday/anniversary present for Hubster. And I just realized that I will be spending this coming Saturday at an 8 hour class on CPR and First Aid so I can be an assistant Brownie Troop leader next year.
Yes, I did it to myself, but also no, I didn’t. It is not my fault that everyone has to pack everything into the last week of school, and I’m starting to get a little peeved with some folks about this. I got a snarky email today from one mom chastising a group of us for not contacting her this weekend to make arrangements to pick up some stuff she has for the Girl Scout troops in our area. Excuse the hell outta me, but just like you, I have a very busy life, and if you tell me on Thursday you need me to pick stuff up in the next two days and I’ve got the weekend from hell about to drop on me like a ton of bricks, I’m not jumping through hoops for you. Forget it. Take your damn snark and go vomit it all over someone else’s day.
I’m beyond cranky and tired at this point. The house is a wreck because I simply don’t have time to stop and clean it, and I’ve got certain work projects still waiting for me to get to. And my email is overflowing with messages from people who need me to do even more stuff. Life was supposed to be slowing down at this point. But it hasn’t and it doesn’t look like it ever will.
I am taking next week off, no matter what. Except for the podcast and the cartoons, I am not working. Princess will be out of school and she has already been informed she will be helping me clean the house because we simply must get rid of 50% of the crap that’s piled up around here. Nobody is going to be happy with me while this happens, and I simply don’t care. I can’t live in a trashed house and take care of the kids and do my work. It simply doesn’t work for me.
I’m going to sulk for a bit then pull on my gi and head out to the dojo. Here’s hoping I don’t kill someone today.
