You thought yesterday was bad?!

So I woke up Friday morning with an attitude that all would be better today. I quickly got dressed after showering and even put on some make-up! Got my shoes on and went downstairs to get the kids ready and out the door. The morning didn't run as smoothly as I would have liked it to, but they got to school on time and that was a plus. I quickly started into my pile of work at my desk and turned the "babysitter" on for the kids to Diego. My sister in law, Allison, called to see if I wanted to schedule a time to get together with Gary's mom for dinner. (Side note-she had decided to cancel Christmas and sent an email out to her kids to let them know. She and her youngest daughter had an argument which ended in her "dis-owning" her and long story short, they are both being juvenile and petty about the whole thing. It got blown out of proportion and more siblings were involved which led to her not wanting to come to our family Christmas party.) We had decided to not let her off the hook that easily since we were not involved in the drama and our kids deserve to see Grandma and give her a gift on Christmas. So, we scheduled it for later that evening at Wingers. I quickly realized that her gift was still at a warehouse in SLC waiting for me to pick it up. So I quickly round up the children and make sure they have shoes and jackets this time. I had received a call that morning about the Provo Tabernacle burning down and was so upset about that-really made me sick to my stomach. I decide to call my mom on my way to Salt Lake to tell her the sad news. She is busily packing to get ready to come up here for Christmas so we are chatting about it and other things when she starts talking about my brother, Andrew.(Side note #2-He is currently in Jail for a number of things he has done related to drugs and other stuff) We start getting into a heated conversation about whether he deserves what he is getting, the right thing to do, my role in the situation-which, I don't understand why that was brought in because I don't have a role except for being his sister. Does that mean I am guilty by association or something?-Anyway, back to this discussion. She was definitely not going for the mother of the year award. I was shaking so bad from anger and disbelief that my foot was bouncing off the gas pedal and my heart was racing as if I was in a sprint race. I was seriously worrying that I could get into an accident in my current state. After a half hour of frustrating conversation that wasn't going anywhere and only causing hurt feelings, I kindly told her that I needed to get off the phone and end this conversation because I wanted to have a nice holiday with her while she was in town-especially since she is staying with me for part of the time-including Christmas eve! She continued on by telling me what I should do in the mean time and that is when I just hung up the phone. I haven't spoken to her since-yeah holidays!! So I walk into the warehouse with my heart still racing and fuming and have to practice breathing while I wait for my orders. When I got back in my car I called Gary and unloaded the horrible ordeal on him to which he wasn't too pleased about and validated me in my feelings regarding the joy of family and the holidays. I am talking to him on the phone as I am coming home and totally miss my bank cause at this point I am on autopilot. So I decide to just run into AF to our other branch and then stop into Target to buy a few birthday gifts that we had just received invitations for. I get about a mile away when I get a call from my kids who just got home. It's then that I remember that I forgot the house was all locked up and they have no way of getting into the house. So I turn around and rush home to get them. By the time I get home I realize that we are supposed to be at Wingers in Lehi at 7pm and that is less than three hours from now. So I make sure the kids are all dressed appropriately and we run back into AF to take care of the errands I still needed to get done. I call my girlfriend, Lessley, on my way to Target to find out about her dental trip and start telling her about my current drama after she told me she had read my drama from the day before. We sit on the phone laughing about it all-mostly because I didn't want to cry-as I drive to the bank. I told her that sometimes I wish that Christ could just come already and end all of this craziness. Or, if my whole family could just die in a fiery car accident where we all die instantly so there is no pain but so that we could all go back to heaven in and be together. (side note #3-I really am not suicidal, nor do I really wish any of my family dead, I just get tired of this world sometimes and long for the comfort and happiness that I am sure Heaven is like, but I don't want to be there without my family. I know this sounds morbid but in my mind it seems peaceful. I am tired of watching all the bad stuff happening all around us and look forward to when the Savior comes again. I think I just really need a long vacation sans telephones and internet and Cable.) She laughs at me cause she knows I am not being serious but admonishes me for saying things like that. I agree and finish up with the teller so I tell her I will talk to her later. I hang up my phone and pull out to the stop sign on State Street in AF across from Chic-fil-a (spell?) and wait for a break in traffic. As I am sitting there, I watch a 4-door silverado truck try to cross while a black Escalade is heading in his direction. He didn't see her and when he did, it was too late. They try to avoid each other but are unsuccessful. He was hit in his drivers side door by the front corner of her car and as they hit, they come right for me, both of them. I am watching this all unravel in front of me and am bracing myself with my steering wheel and my foot firmly on my brake pedal. Luckily, they are able to stop just inches from my bumper and I survive the wreck all together. I look back at my kids and they are all wide eyed and freaking out a bit. It's then that I realize Tanner had unbuckled while we were at the bank and was not in his seat belt. I use this as an object lesson of the importance of these safety devices-totally went through one ear and out the other. I got out of my car to make sure everyone is okay. They both asked if I was hit, but I assured them they had missed me. The woman in the escalade asks if I would stay to be a witness since it was clearly the other guys fault. I agree and wait for the cops to come. They finally show up 30 minutes later, and I waited in my car until they needed me. After waiting another 30 minutes, they got in their cars and left without even saying anything to me. What a waste of time!! I sat on the side of the road with my 5 kids for over an hour for no reason. Lesson, don't be a witness; or just give them your name and number and tell them to call you if they need your testimony and LEAVE!!! So it is now after 5:30 and I still have to go to Target for presents for the birthday parties happening on Saturday. We head over to Target and I spend the next half hour fighting with my kids over what they can buy for their friends. They want to get them items that cost over 40 dollars. I explain to them that the more money I spend on their friends, the less I have to spend on them. Kaleb's friend really wanted Lego's, and I see that they have a sale on some that were buy one get one 50% off. I happen to find one under this deal that is also discounted an extra 3$. So I ask Kaleb if this would be good? He agrees that it would after I explain how expensive the gift is but the great deal we would get from it. Then I turn to Karly to see if she agrees on getting a second set of the same Lego's for her friends party this Thursday. She then tells me that he doesn't want Lego's. He told her he wants anything but Lego's cause he already has a ton. I smell a lie, so I start fishing and tell her I don't believe her and she has an opportunity to tell the truth. She continues on with this concocted story cause she didn't want to get this toy for him cause she hadn't picked it out. She stands there with her eyes open wide and her arms at her side with her hands straight and rigid, like a robot, at her side. Apparently this is the posture of those telling the truth in her mind. I stood there, arms folded, and stared at her with my eyebrows raised-because this is apparently the posture and expression people make when they don't believe you in my mind-waiting for her to crack. I really didn't think she would go back on her story. She is really good at putting these things together that sometimes I question if she may be telling the truth. It's rare for her to confess her lie. She finally admitted that he hadn't said any of this and that he probably would enjoy these Lego's. Heck, two boxes of Lego's that usually cost 20$ each for only 25 for both?! DEAL! We quickly found Tanners present for his friend and head for the front. As we reach the checkout and I am pulling things out of the cart, I notice that the gift bags we picked out from the dollar stand have dirt clods on them from Evans shoes. So I grab them and hand them to Karly, asking her to run the 25 ft or so to the stand and exchange them for clean ones. She takes them and leaves and Kaleb starts commenting to me about Ryan's finger.(side note #4-He has had this funky infection on his finger for over a month now and when I took him to the doctor, he prescribed Augmentin. I only used it for part of the time because it caused a huge yeast infection on his diaper area. So I took him off and am currently using acidophilus powder and Dr. Christopher's X-ceptic tincture to get rid of it.) It was then that I remembered I needed bandaids and gauze and tape to help with his treatments. So the lady at the checkout stand tells me she will suspend my sale while I go get them. I thank her and head over to the area Karly should be at, a bit ticked that it is taking her so long. She is not there. We wait there for about 5 minutes and meanwhile I am calling her name at random times; finally she comes walking down the aisle with the bags in her hand. I am upset cause once again, instead of coming back and asking where to go, she wanders around aimlessly and she didn't pay attention when I pointed out the area a short distance from where we were waiting. So I haul all my kids back through the store to the pharmacy area and find the bandaid aisle. I am looking at the shelf, trying to find the gauze rolls and finally find all that I need. I turn to put them in the cart and announce that we are finally done and can leave when I notice that Evan has very quietly climbed out of the cart and taken off. It doesn't help that Kaleb and Karly kept walking away to look at things. Great examples! Luckily, his shoes are so covered in mud that has dried that I can follow his dirty shoe prints down the aisle and away from where we were. I had an idea that he was heading to the back where the toys were, but since I couldn't see him, his tracks had disappeared and we were pretty far from there, I decide to enlist the help of the Target team. I have only had to do this once before and that was with Tanner-he was found in the toy section as well. So I am escorted to the front doors to make sure no one tries to steal him. We get a call on the walkie and they in fact have located him in the toy area. After getting him back he starts to throw a tantrum because he doesn't want to be in the cart, nor does he want to be told what to do. I quickly get all my stuff together, checkout and then hurry to the restaurant, arriving late. Seriously! Dinner was fine except that the kids kept running off and needing to go to the bathroom repeatedly. Thank goodness for the popcorn and the short stretch of sanity we got from that. Driving home in the beautiful snow was a great end to the day.

Saturday, we got up at 5am and went to the temple. We bought Shirley's cinnamon rolls for Breakfast and I spent the rest of the day reading the Hunger Games. I refused to drive anywhere except to kids birthday parties and back. I was determined to have a less stressful day. Hopefully this coming week will be better. Cross your fingers!