Hell in a Handbasket

Have you ever gotten through half of the day, looked back and realized it would have been so much better if you had slept through the entire day and woke up the following morning? Well, ok, as parents I think we sometimes feel like we could use the extra sleep anyways so I'm sure there are echos of resounding YESes being yelled at many computer screens. But I'm talking about those days that really, just should have never happened. Today is one of those days for me.

I've been fighting a cold for a few days and last night it decided to explode into full on coughing fits. Of course out of the entire drug store I call my medicine cabinet, we have everything BUT cough syrup. So bad sleep for me as I was too tired and lazy to drive to the store at 3 am and buy some. By morning my throats raw, I'm still coughing, and I have a headache THIS BIG....sorry, I couldn't help myself. 80's childhood tv memories kicking in for a moment. So already I have one strike against me.

Next I'm still trying to keep all 3 kids happy and out of the house for the month. Todays excursion was to be the Dinosaur Walk and running around the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. While in MA this past September, J and I bought a membership to Boston's Museum of Science for $150 solely on the fact that the informational packet they showed us included the museum in Durham. Today was the first time we were going to use that membership card and a good thing too, because our extra cash flow this month has been going to birthday and Christmas stuff. So after trying to nurse my cold cup of coffee being interrupted multiple times by 3 boys whining for this and that, I bundle everyone up, strap them into the van, and we drive 40 minutes listening to the Batman Theme song the entire way there. I now can say with ease I hate the Batman theme song. And if I hear it one more time today I just may go batshit crazy and throw something at whatever machine has the sound emanating from it.

We get to the Museum with minimal fuss. We go inside and at the counter I happily present my card and ID. Guess what? They refuse to honor it. Why, you ask? Oh, because it's only valid if I lived further than 90 miles away from the museum. Otherwise they only honor membership cards bought from their museum. Seriously WTF??? I saw no information on that when we purchased the membership in Boston. "It's a new rule". The woman at the counter told me she would happily sell me another membership (which of course is also good for the Boston Museum) for a mere $135. I just looked at her, trying to compute how she would think asking me to shell out even more cash for something I already have and should be honored to do so is a good thing. My only other option is to purchase tickets full price for myself and the boys. Or leave the Museum.

I looked at the boys eager faces, I thought about our finances, I looked at the woman with a fake smile plastered on her face, and after telling her that while I understood it wasn't her fault personally I thought they really dropped the ball on this... I walked out. And I don't think I'll be going back. Not for a long while yet anyways.

The boys did awesome, not complaining, only confused, asking what was going on and why. So I explained to Xavier, who at 7, can understand more complex issues. He got it, he understood why I left. He agreed with me. He was mad. But he was mad at the museum. THANK YOU for one small favor!!!! Together he and I vented and bitched about the unfairness of it all as we walked to the car. I was still steaming mad, but hey, I now have a partner I can bitch with ha!

Get into the car and start driving 40 minutes home. Of course the moment I leave the parking lot Soren decides to start crying lustily because damnit, he is DONE being in his car seat! And of course he didn't stop crying the whole way home. By the time we got off the high way I had almost made myself believe that the Batman theme song really wasn't that bad after all, in comparison.

Still fuming, now anxious to be home so I can just escape the sound and my frustration, still coughing up my lungs. It's only 11:30 am. The kids are hungry. I feel bad for them that they missed out on our trip, so I take them to Wendys drive through and over the wails of Soren I ordered us lunch to take home.

Get home, try to calm Soren down, which takes about 40 minutes, eat my cold hamburger, try to get Soren to go down, realize HOLY SHIT I still haven't started cleaning the house for Ashes birthday party on Saturday as I look around at our toy strewn kitchen/dining/living/bathrooms. At this point I just want to put my head in my hands and sob. And I still haven't had a chance to run out and get myself medicine.

I wont bore you with the rest of my day. Suffice to say I did end up making a run for cough medicine and swallowed it the moment I got home. Its not working too well though. Ahh well. I emailed both museums to let them know how disappointed I was and that they lost my family as a patron. And the kids are antsy but I rented a movie for them and bribed them with chocolate cup cakes and mini almond Joys. It appeased them for about 30 minutes and now they're at each others throats again. I'm trying to ignore them. Only if I hear a worried whisper of "I'm sorry please oh please don't tell Mom" will I worry about their welfare. Right now, I just need to have some alone time with my coffee, vent here in the hopes that I'll feel better, and not kill anyone in the process by accidentally being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tomorrow better be better or else I want a refund!