A long bad day

Do you ever have one of those days when NOTHING you plan works out, and all these things you DIDN'T plan happen? Argh. Today was one of those days. Actually, it really started last night. If you're not up for complaints, just stop reading. That's all this will be. And it'll be long.

Paul was in Houston for the weekend, and Joe and HaYoung came in town Sunday night. Since they wanted to see each other before Paul left on Tuesday, we arranged for them to come over after dinner last night. I was thinking around 7:30-ish, but things happen (like having two kids) and they didn't end up coming until 8:30 or so. I was thinking that as long as Ellie was in bed by 9:30, she'd be OK with school the next day. Unfortunately, as all those present are parking-lot-loiterers, they ended up staying until after 10. Then of course, Ellie was super wired and didn't fall asleep until just past midnight. That's right, midnight.

I had roasted a pumpkin last week and still had some puree left, so I decided to make pumpkin bread to take to HaYoung's mom and some mini muffins for Ellie and her friends. The bread still had a little while longer to bake, but I wanted to lie down with Ellie to make sure she went to bed (she came out, like, 7 times). So I asked Paul to take it out after five minutes. Don't forget. Five minutes. Five minutes, repeated Paul. One hour later, the bread comes out, a nice hard brick of pumpkin. (Don't worry, Paul, I wasn't that upset.)

By now, the headache I'd drugged away earlier that evening had returned. I'd fallen asleep in Ellie's bed, and woke up at 1:45 to go back to my own bed. The headache was keeping me from sleeping, and I had all these weird dreams about the rapture and vomiting (a logical combination), so I didn't really sleep at all. Then Matthew woke up at 5 and wouldn't go back to sleep (he'd been sleeping 12 hours straight for 3 nights). So I went in and fed him, but then he decided he wanted to play and didn't sleep for another 45 minutes. At this point I had decided that I would skip school for Ellie if she didn't wake up on her own by 8:30. I decide this, then fall asleep in Matthew's room.

8:25 rolled around and Matthew wakes me up. I heard Dora, so I assumed Ellie had woken up. Turns out Peter had woken her up 10 minutes previous to get her ready for school. At this point, it's obviously pointless to even keep her at home, despite her tiredness. So I got her dressed and went to get her a muffin. Only, 5 out of the 6 were gone. Peter had eaten them the night before. So I snapped at him, to his confusion, explaining that anything I make that's little and cute are obviously not for him, and got Ellie out of the house.

I dropped her off, then came home. I was supposed to get my couches and carpet cleaned at 10 this morning, rescheduling after they were running more than two hours late on Friday, the date of my original appointment. So Paul and I cleared the floors of the rooms to try to save the people some time. Then at 10:24 they called and say they were again running about two hours late. Did I still want them to come? That would be no, since I had to pick Ellie up at 1. I got all huffy and they offered me a 10% discount. Supposedly they're coming at 8 tomorrow morning. Third time's a charm? We'll have to wait and see.

So Peter had said that morning that he wanted to see Paul for lunch. We decided that if possible (depending on the carpet cleaning that was supposed to take place), I would drop Paul off at Peter's office at 12, then he would take Paul to the airport, allowing me to get Ellie home for a good long nap after school. So we went (having to wake up Matthew from a nap), and we got there to find Peter still with a patient. I tried to feed Matthew twice, but he was too distracted to eat. We kinda waited around for Peter to finish, but it was getting late.

So we finally got out at 12:40 or so after Peter and Paul exchanged maybe a single sentence. Then it started POURING rain. Of course I was running late and frantically called Ginny (also running late), Fay (no answer), and Ahra (no answer) to get someone to fetch Ellie from her class. I got to school at 1:10 and met Ginny, who was trying to figure out a way to get herself, Jacob, Abby, Hailey, and Ellie to the car with one umbrella. We took Ellie back into the school, as she was telling me, "I was looking for you!" and making me feel guilty. I found a room and finally got Matthew to eat. I went back to Ellie's classroom where she and Paul were reading, then Matthew barfed all over the rug.

Finally we got in the car. I tried to keep Ellie up, but she promptly fell asleep at 1:45. Matthew moaned and groaned for awhile, then fell asleep at 2. Dropped Paul off, drove out of the airport, got a call from Paul that his jacket was in my trunk. Turned around, dropped off the jacket, Matthew decided to then wake up. Realizing that there was no way Ellie would stay asleep once we got home, I started driving 55 on the Beltway and took the long way home to prolong her nap. She got about an hour and 15 minutes of sleep in the car before she woke up to more of Matthew's groaning.

We headed over to HaYoung's parents' house for dinner. I called La Madeline from the car and asked them to get a cheesecake boxed up for me (lack of pumpkin bread and all) so I could run in and pay and run out without having to unload the kids. I got there. There was a box. The lady opened it for me to see. There was a giant gash in the middle of the cheesecake. They went to the back to find another one. It takes a LOOONG time. My phone call was deemed absolutely pointless.

The rest of the night was OK. Matthew went down at the house, which was good. We had good food that I didn't have to cook. Got to hang out with friends we don't see often. Ellie still went to bed late, but before 10. That's better than midnight.

Are you still reading this? What a trouper! I'll be glad to wake up tomorrow and let this day be over. If the carpet cleaners actually show, it'll be the start of a good day..