had a bad day

Life is chaos with four boys. There is no limit to fights, punches, dirty socks and loudness.

Hubby came home from lunch today to catch me smack dab in the middle of a near-meltdown over two boys who wouldn't pick up Legos because they each thought the other was responsible for them, one boy who kept trying to dip a knife into the Miracle Whip and lick it and the other boy who kept pestering me about what the word "snicker" meant.

I told him - it's the look on your dad's face right now and the sound that's about to come out of his mouth, which will quickly be followed by a gasp after I throw my dishrag at him. He didn't get it.

Hubby then very astutely observed (out loud) that I hadn't made it into the garden yet today. (It was 11:30 a.m.) My goal was to finish planting and perhaps make it up north for the holiday weekend, but there wasn't a single pot clean to boil an egg, the laundry room was piled with clothes and I spent most of the morning chasing poopy diaper boy around the house. So, no I didn't get to the garden yet.

Then he wondered if perhaps I'd rather be painting today. (There's a running joke there - that me taking on a painting job an hour away was my way of escaping my children.) And the answer would be - YES, I'd rather be walking up and down a ladder repainting a bedroom for the third time than be right here right now. If that makes me a bad mother, so be it.

It's quiet there. It's peaceful there. I can actually hear ABBA on my ipod. I can actually walk without tripping over some shoe or toy. I can think. I can breathe.

This is a job that I started exactly eights months ago tomorrow and am still not done. (This is no reflection on my painting skills mind you, but on the homeowner's color preferences and inability to make a decision on a paint color until the entire room is done.) Even still, I'd rather be there.

Maybe tomorrow. But, in the meantime, I'm laughing about someone else's bad day and finding that life is indeed better when you can laugh at and with another funny mom.

Everyone has a bad day now and then. If you don't, I don't believe you're human.