The weekend from hell

The weekend from hell

I love the Hubster, I swear I do. And you all love your significant others too, I know you do. Hey, you in the back, quit rolling your eyes! After this weekend, though, I'm not feeling the love quite so well.......

It all started with Friday. As most weekends do, natch. For whatever reason, the kids had a half day, so they got off from school at 12, and Gabe got out at 12:30. AND, the Hubster had the weekend off - three full days of another adult here. I was so happy! Friday morning, we made our plans. I really wanted to get some painting done, and the Hubster wanted to build a brick patio outside for his new, Jenn-Air, stainless steel grill. If a man could orgasm for a grill, this would be the one. But, I'm off on a tangent again. I took the kids to school, and came back. The doorbell rang, and it was the builder that I had forgotten we had an appointment with. We are really interested in having another room built on, so we could have a playroom for the kids, and possibly making the addition two stories, in order to have another bedroom. It was a very enjoyable time, fantasizing about how great our addition could look. Whoops! It was time to get back to earth, and go get the kids.

One other thing that we have in the market for is a Rainbow Play system - one of those huge wooden things. Before we commited to a purchase, the Hubster had a the great idea that we should check the Trading Post - a local item for sale paper. We live about 3/4 of a mile from a 7-11, so after lunch, I told the Hubster, "Instead of driving, I'll just walk up there. I could use the exercise, and the peace." Emma started to fuss, so I agreed that I'd take her - after all, one kid, in the stroller, that wouldn't be too bad. Somehow, it ended up that we'd all go - all 6 kids and the Hubster. He offered to carry the baby on his back, as well as push the stroller for Emma, so that was ok. The kids were thrilled - slurpees! Second Whoops! of the day - the girl who cuts his hair was on her way over - so he couldn't go. Somehow, I think that this was planned. I grumbled a bit, but decided to be mature (ooh, I hate that word) and get over it. So, the kids all got on their bikes, Emma jumped into the stroller, and I dumped the baby into the backpack. She's got the worst habit ever - she puts her feet on the cross bar, and jumps up and down, and tries to flip out. I discovered that I could pull her feet under my armpits and hold them, and then she couldn't move. Sounds uncomfortable, and it is for me, but at least she's not killing me.

So, here's how the walk went:
-Pull R's feet under my arms
-Convince G that it's ok to ride the bike across the street
-Yell for M to wait up!
-Send N back home to get on his bike, as opposed to the small bike that was his younger sister's
-Pull R's feet again
-Look for G, and find him crouched on the ground, with his ears covered. (The Navy was doing an air show, and the planes were really loud. Explain to him that the noise was planes, not thunder. Help him back on his bike.)
- Yell for M to wait up!
-Try to get E to stop screaming, because she saw a cat
- Listen to N talk about some difficulty he's having, while trying to remember how my parents handled this type of thing, and decide if I'm going to respond similarly
-Tell G again, it's only planes
-Yell for M to wait!
-Cross the street, walking G's bike when he abandoned it in his rush to cross before the car that was 300 yards away
-Pull R's feet again
-Listen to her cough, and realize that she's pulled her hat off and it was still tied around her neck
-Explain to E that the dog going beserk was behind a fence, and wouldn't get to her
-Pull the overgrown bushes off the kids, and remind them to watch out for the dog poop
-Arrive at the store, to find that some idiot driving a moving truck had blocked the sidewalk, and push the stroller uphill, in the thick grass, rather than on a nice level sidewalk.
Finally, we arrived at 7-11. We perused the candy aisle, to find safe candy for G. We got slurpees, water, and yoo-hoo. We left, and I did an immediate u turn. I had forgotten the stupid trading post!

We repeated the above scenario, in reverse, on the way home. Except for every cross street - G decided he should walk across each one, so we had to stop and wait for him. The really memorable part was when M fell off her bike, and she was crying a river. From behind, G said to her "You're not gonna die, so get on the bike already!"

And the Hubster couldn't figure out why I was so fried when we got home. Hot, sweaty, hoarse from yelling, and completely irritable.

And there were no play gyms in the dumb Trading Post. Then the Hubster told me he was not off on Sunday after all, and we spent all.day.Saturday. building the brick patio, and didn't get the painting done. I am really glad that it'll be Monday in 2 hours!