Frustration

I have spent the last 1 1/2 hours trying to get Little Miss Robin to bed.  She is so tired, she can hardly see straight...but she is crying because Grandma is being mean to her.  (Right.)

I started the day hoping to get the children's closets cleaned out so we can finally get everyone's clothes in the right room in time for school.  Had to run an errand or two.  The kids were mostly good, but it was clear that they were too tired to do much store hopping.  And Grandma didn't get the closets cleaned out.  Later in the afternoon, they decided to play nicely together in Robin's room, but by then, it was time for me to fix supper.  I had to run out for a couple of hours this evening.  When I got back, Ryan was in bed, asleep.  Meg was up working with Robin on the Internet Webkinz site.  Meg has to be in Muncie early in the morning, so she hit the sack, leaving me with a frustrated (tired) child who was trying to put her Webkinz "pets" to sleep--and I didn't know how to help.  We went round and round.  When I tucked her in, she was asking for food, saying she hadn't "had much dessert".  Too bad, says I!  I have visions of homework wars when she starts 1st grade.  Tonight's episode was foreshadowing.

In our remodeling/redecorating/moving-in process--which has been going on since April--everything that once was in the garage was moved to the patio and the front of the house.  Much of it is junk that just needs to be sorted, but there hasn't been much time for that.  Thus, the patio has been unusable, and the front has been unsightly.  And now, having lived with it being damaged by rain and general neglect for all these months, I'm just ready to pitch it all.  Good Neighbor Fred offered his truck to haul stuff to the dump on Friday.  (We threw in as much as we could back when the dumpster was here, but still had a lot to clear out when it departed!) 

At issue right now is the fact that everything that we need or want to keep has to have a place to be.  Since the closet in my bedroom is huge, a lot of that is going in there.  Right now, it has been largely just deposited there with no organization, spilling out into the rest of the room.  I need another month off from school to get it all fixed up, but that isn't going to happen, so I am just going to do a bit at a time to find places for everything.  Worked on that a LITTLE this afternoon.  ("A little" means "barely made a dent.")

Okay...so those of you who read this have listened to me whine for months now and are, I'm sure, tired of it.  So am I!!  So, just for now, let's focus on what I DID accomplish today.  I found the kitchen table!  We actually all ate together at the table, with not much clutter in the way.  The living room has been essentially de-cluttered.  I did two loads of laundry, got Ryan's soccer shoes exchanged for a bigger size, fixed a decent dinner, and got a haircut scheduled for Wednesday.  Oh...and in between, took care of the children.  

Have I been on the radio?  No.  But soon, I hope. 

Oh...by the way...Robin is STILL awake.  <sigh>