And then the cat peed...

I've been having a rough couple of weeks. It feels like nothing is going right at work. I have investigators complaining left and right about stuff I can't fix. There was Teacher appreciation week at school last week, which was miserable and my baby is growing up.

Teacher Appreciation Week was particularly trying on me. I adore the teachers at daycare. I really do. However, daycare is fucking expensive and a full week of appreciating someone (or more aptly 6 someones) is not cheap. I had not intended on sitting on the planning committee. I got roped into it at the last minute. The swine flu stuff was was on hand so I wasn't at the initial planning session. I did send a note out to the parents on the planning committee asking that we not go crazy this year. I feel like each year people were trying to top the year before. I just can't afford to deal with people's egos that way. I also mentioned that in the last year we had two increases in daycare costs. Well the head of the committee forwarded my email to the director of the daycare and she sent me a nasty note saying that they had only been one increase. WRONG. My bank account says otherwise. Things were going OK for a while. Here was the schedule of events:

Monday - Bring some sort of flower. I bought seed packets. I can't grow shit.
Tuesday -Breakfast for the teachers. Donated by Dunkin Donuts
Wednesday -Spa day. We were supposed to bring lotion of something for each teacher. First of all I bought the baskets for every teacher at daycare. No reimbursement. I made rice heating pads for the 6 teachers I had to shop for.
Thursday -Chinese lunch donated.
Friday -Early pickup, gift cards and notes from each child.

Sounds pretty sweet right? Here's where it got nasty. The woman in charge of gift cards (we had to give $10 per kid. Told you this shit was adding up.) sent an email showing the breakdown of the gift cards. Well somehow the director and the secretary had more than some of the teachers. I sent an email basically saying that that was ridiculous. The money should go to the teachers not the secretary that sits on her ass all day (I'm not knocking secretaries here. I was one at one point in my life. I just can't stand this lady.) and not the director that gets paid a lot more than the teachers. Well a bunch of parents backed me but a few didn't and were nasty about it. There was sparring all day over email. I can't stand this shit.

OK so that was finally over. On Friday it was also the Alligator's second birthday. He was not thrilled about it. There were many cries of "NO BIRTHDAY" and they weren't just from me. I picked him and Wonderboy up early and took them to the zoo. We met up with S's family, and had plans to see J's family later. It was supposed to just be the 9 of us. However, before S's family got to the zoo another child from daycare spotted Wonderboy. M is a nice boy but he is crazy rough and his mom is a simpering dolt. M actually spit in S's mom's face last year and hit her (OK maybe he's not THAT nice) and his mom did nothing. They tagged along with us for a while, irritating me all the way. M wanted to run off and I wanted Wonderboy nearby. After a half hour of M getting into everyone's faces and being too rough with Wonderboy I told him that he needed to stop or he could not play with Wonderboy. His mom mummbled, "M, do you hear that? M?" Ugh. Well he did it again and I was so peeved that I told M's mom that my kids needed to not be around M right now. I was not leaving S's family either. She packed M up and left. We did have a good time after that though.

My in-laws flew in and we had a small party of the Alligator that evening. We picked up barbecue and I even baked the cake. That by the way is a big thing since I don't really cook. It was in the shape of a tractor. Pictures to come. Wonderdad's friends/co-workers P and A came. A came with his family. We also officially found out that our neighbors are moving to Florida. I continue to be depressed by this.

The Alligator got lots of presents. Most of which he didn't want to open. He 'd open a few then want to play with them. We finally opened the last of the gifts last night. WonderDad and I managed to go out on a date with A and his wife, S. It was great. We went to Bonefish for dinner and Starbucks for dessert. Then WonderDad and I saw Star Trek and came home for sex. A good night was had by all.

OK so so far nothing sounds too bad. And in general nothing is horrible. But there are just days like yesterday that it feels like nothing can go right. I found myself being snippy with my co-workers. Alligator's godmother showed no sympathy and basically scolded me for being a working mom and allowing someone else to raise my kids (daycare in her mind), I had a massive headache and when I got home the cat had pooped in one spot upstairs, had a furball in the living room and after all of that was done I discovered that he had in fact peed on a cushion. I was frackin miserable. Wonderboy though gave me a big hug and patted my back. He said, "It's OK Mama. It will be alright." I kissed that big boy on the head and read him another chapter of Treasure Island. I told him he was my superhero. I did manage to finish Angels and Demons and WonderDad was awesome and snogged me but good. OK, I really shouldn't complain should I? In the end I know I'm luckier than many people. I have a home that's paid for, an awesome husband and tremendous kids. But let's face it every one in a while a girl needs to bitch about stuff.

Smells like Vampire Spirit

The other day I thought that I might freshen up the my office and get an air freshener. Our windows can't be opened at ThePlace and sometimes it just reeks after lunch. I bought one of those Glade Wisp Flameless candles. I don't do flowery scents so this was clean linen. I got to work and put it on. Within a short period of time I was overwhelmed by the scent. I was gagging on it. It was so cloyingly sweet that I ended up with a headache. At the time I was thinking that maybe this was what the werewolves thought that the vampires smelled like. It was the only thing that made me smile as I threw the thing away.

What the hell is the point?

OkI knew it wasn't going to take long before my mom did something that irritated me enough to write about her. She was coming back this weekend from trip in Europe. I had my dad call her to tell her that given the situation with the swine flu, it would be best if she either had a mask or a scarf to cover her mouth and nose for her long flight back. She says that she had a scarf around her neck.

Is that what I told her? No. She's so GD concerned with how she looks that she can't do one simple thing for me to make sure that she doesn't get sick and infect my dad. The woman annoys the shit out of me. The fact that I've been busting my ass working on this stuff, and that I work with THE people that would know about this stuff doesn't fucking phase her at all. She's so fucking selfish.

Marathon Mama

Now don't get all excited. I'm not about to actually do something physical here. Actually in the quest to try to figure out this swine flu stuff I pulled a 27 hour shift the other day at work. It was a long ass day and night. But with luck it will all be worth it. I think that the experiment may have worked. At least I sure as hell hope it did. I won't know until Monday or Tuesday. I do it all for you guys.

Actually I do it for my babies. If they got sick and I didn't do everything I could. Well look at these faces. You know why I did it. By the way despite the beliefs of complete strangers I did give birth to both of these munchkins with the help of one father. I can't help the fact that one is a clone for him and one is a clone for me. Awful cute though, no?