JuJu and Heels

Yesterday was the worst day (hands down) that I’ve had in a LOOOONG time. (In case you haven’t noticed, I tend to have my fair share of stress-induced-not-so-great-days that drive me to drink. ☺) But this one was a doozy. It started with an early getting-some-work-done session before the hubby had to leave for the day. It’s always so enjoyable to wake up with a to-do list a mile long that you have to scramble to accomplish while eating your eggs scrambled.

The laptop perched beside me while I tried to finish my latte, watch Miss 6 (now 7) do some dance and ask me 100 questions, listen and respond to Bean who was mimicking every action of her sister, and try to get more than grunted responses out of the hubby about what deposit needed to be made and who had time to shop for groceries. I had precisely two and a half hours to get this particular work done before needing to shower, dress and get by the bank before a meeting. Truly impossible under normal circumstances, but I could hope. And then I realized how late it was and that the babysitter (not Rock Star) hadn’t shown up. I get Bean off to a nap and call her. She’d forgotten and would be right over. Miss 6 (now 7) tailing me, I head off to shower — admonishing her to please be quiet and do NOT let the dog in because Bean was sleeping and she absolutely had to stay asleep since the sitter hadn’t shown and I still had to get ready. It’s about this time that my phone starts ringing and the b-partner — now back from working out — needs something printed/something read/something talked about. And so on. Now I’m flustered. My day was pretty tight already and I sense that it is all about to fray. I still had to finish the grocery list before I left or we wouldn’t have dinner.

Miss 6 (now 7) goes to wait for the sitter to arrive and about that time I hear the dog bark (from inside the house at the arriving sitter. The dog is inside even though I had clearly stated the dog stays outside. About this time Bean starts to cry. Awoken by the sudden bark and precisely what I was trying to avoid. I start to lose it. I yell at Miss 6 (now 7) and scare the babysitter. Try to gather my wits and all of the papers for the meeting. Finish getting dressed. Try to make heads or tails of the grocery list. Stuff three crackers in my face for lunch. Locate deposit slips for the bank. Cell phone. Work portfolio. Water bottle. Sunscreen for the girls. Key for the sitter. Help her with the stroller. Get Bean loaded. Shush Miss 6 (now 7) who’s butting in every two seconds while I’m trying to leave. They head off to the park and I put the car in drive. Okay. Time to go.

I am thoroughly stressed and flustered. But luckily I get to the meeting a bit early and collect myself. It goes well. All good. Then I walk out and my cell phone breaks. I can’t navigate down at all, meaning no access to contacts or e-mail. I curse. It then rings and it’s my mom. We talk. She says something that upsets me because I probably said something that upset her because I’m having a bad day. Something about me living away and her needing me or something. And probably the fact that my step-dad appears to have flipped his lid and turned into crazy stalker guy. And here I am all full up and overwrought already.

I head to the bank a little later than planned and finish up our conversation while making that deposit. Then I head to the AT&T store to talk phone breakage. I’m waiting in line and the b-partner calls to tell me that there is now a meeting scheduled on Thursday (which I was planning to take off with the fam) and I really need to be there. The project scope has changed for the umpteenth time and now I’m needed. And then she asks me if I’ll find something out about the phone passwords for her. I want to stomp my feet and yell loudly. (I don’t.) The problem is that the hubby gets like two days off a year for vacation and had planned to take one of them on Thursday to extend the weekend. I really don’t want to have a meeting on that very sacred day. Of all things.

I join the queue again for the phone guy — now a bit red in the face. He looks at my trusty Blackberry. Takes out some stuff. Pokes at some other stuff. And shakes his head. No dice. Shit. Shit. Shit. I can see the e-mails piling up in my inbox as we speak and I really need to get to the store. We’d already planned to buy iPhones but those things don’t show their faces until July 11th. So damn. I’m screwed. And now I really have to pee.

I head over to our dear old Whole Paycheck and pull out my list. It tears. (Of course.) I walk around stewing over my phone, my mom, my b-partner, my yelling at my children, my life. Forget stuff. Have to retrace my steps. Finally park the loaded cart and hit the ladies. Can’t hold it any more and why should I? Then I decide a blended is in order. That will be just the thing to turn my day around. A blended espresso that’s really just a milkshake with a jolt. And Whole Paycheck happens to have a coffee shop in house right by the burrito bar. Okay then. I order the coffee. Go get in line to pay for it all. Realize I forgot my bags. Run out to grab them from the car (no one was behind me, promise. And you really can’t be caught dead leaving the grocery store with paper or plastic in the Land of Boul-day.) Finish up. Load into the car. Get almost home and at nearly the very same moment I see my ‘check engine light’ come on in the car, I realize I’ve left my beautiful $3.89 coffee at the store. Damn. Damn. Damn. This is the precise moment that I think I just may cry.

But I don’t. Rock Star is there. She listens. She manages the girls and agrees to stay later. I call the hubby and say, “Target list is all yours.” I then finally try to finish the work that wasn’t done in the morning at precisely 5:29 p.m. while the hubby is calling to ask me for the Target list. I tell him to please just come home so I don’t have to throw something large and heavy at his head the moment he walks in the door.

THAT WAS YESTERDAY
Today was a new day. Full of promise and cell phones that miraculously fix themselves. I righted myself and put away the piss-n-vinegar. Got in a walk with the hubby when the sitter arrived (right on time), talked to mom and had a great talk, didn’t yell at the girls for the entire day, got loads of work done, set boundaries with the demanding client, smoothed things over with the b-partner (we’re in the same boat after all), and even followed Miss 6 (now 7)’s best laid plans for the Parents’ Day celebration she had all plotted out for this evening. So what if it required that I put on a nightgown (my fancy dress) and silver high heels? Why not? I embraced it with my glass of JuJu Ginger and an orange slice. And that’s what life is truly about. Embracing the moment with JuJu in heels. I’m ready for anything.

TODAY’S THEME SONG: Nine in the Afternoon. Panic! At The Disco. You could ‘cause you can so you do.