frustration, messy bun affliction, forgotten flowers, & gluten free heaven

My frustration level was off-the-charts last Friday.

Kids I sit for had a half day, which meant Zach and Susie had no preschool.  Matt would be at my house before lunch instead of after school only.  He's bossy - to put it mildly.  Baby Billy was visiting his grandma, so he wasn't there.  Still, it made for a full house and a busy day.  It rained most of the day, so it was going to be an indoor play day.  Swell.

Coach left for his 2nd of 3 weekends out of town.  He is new to the teaching program, and by way of trying to make  himself available whenever possible inadvertently signed up for a class that was sandwiched between two others.

I was fed up (not really appropriate to use past tense here - it is an ongoing emotion that I cannot shake) that the bathroom AND kitchen were not being worked on in a timely manner.  Bathroom was supposed to take 3 days - as I write this we are getting dangerously close to 6 weeks.  I texted the cell number for the Italian Stallion (oh, he is like 67 years old, so just a nickname because he is from Italy - don't read into it) to Coach.  Coach was sitting at an airport waiting to take off.  I suggested that he call Stallion.

30 minutes later, after I served breakfast to the masses, and cleaned up a kitchen, and changed countless poop diapers, I called Coach.  'Have you called Stallion yet?'  Coach seemed offended that I even asked.  'I am about to board my flight!'  Me:  'Oh yeah, well what have you been doing for the last 30 minutes?  You don't want to know what I've been doing!'

I fumed about my Stallion issues for the remainder of the day.  I typically call his cell over and over - like maybe 18 times- until he finally texts me that he will call me later.  Sometimes he calls, sometimes he doesn't.  I have told him refund us and we will find someone else to do the work.  I mean, COME ON!

The bright part of my morning was that Mini woke up and announced that she was ready for a haircut.  Since she could no longer get a brush thru her hair, she figured it was time.  No comment.  I played it cool, but the instant she was out the door I texted my hairdresser for her availability.

When the babysitting kids got picked up at 4:00, I went for a run.  15 minutes into my run, Mini texted for a ride home from tennis practice.  30 minutes early?!!  I ordered her to walk across the street to the library and wait for me.  I would not end my run early.  I NEEDED TO LET OFF SOME STEAM.

When I got to the library,  my 14 yr old daughter was incredibly hungry which makes her floppy.  The hair was flipping around.  This is a thing she does on the rare occasion that her mop ISN'T in a messy bun and she wants it out of her face.  I always say things like:  'what about just a small clip?'  She scoffs at me.  Her remove-hair-from-face maneuver involves an entire upper body sway and swoosh.   I wondered if she had any bones in her 5'10" frame.  That's a tall structure to not have much control over.  That candy-bar commercial says it best.  She was 'hangry' with me when I checked out a couple of movies.  'Did you get some homework done?' I asked her.  'I slept,' she mumbled.  'I need to eat.'  Really?

She was not pleased that I snapped this
after she retrieved the flowers from the
 library.  She probably suspected it would
land in my blog.  Hey, you supply me
with material - then you pay the price.

Halfway home, she let out a moan/cry.  'I forgot my flowers in the library.  Girls going to conference for tennis got flowers.  They were in a vase and everything.  I left them on the table.'  In high school, we used to say 'toe cheese' instead of 'oh, geez.'  This was a toe-cheese moment for sure.  Seriously.  The back pack incident was still an open, oozing wound.  I said nothing.  U-turn.

I called Reg at home.  'Heat up some of the leftover pizza casserole for Mini right now.  We have to leave in a minute for her haircut.'  We grabbed her dinner and raced away to relieve her 'messy-bun' affliction.

One of the chocolate quinoa balls
 is missing because I figured
 I would sample one before
sticking them in the fridge.
  Great news:  they are delicious
chilled or recently created!

After her hair ceased to have that chic stone-age look, she asked me to drop her at her friend's house.  Now I was hangry.  I stopped at the grocery store and snatched up obscure items that I don't normally buy, like dates and sunflower seeds and quinoa and coconut.  This was it - I was going to try to make a gluten free, somewhat healthy snack TONIGHT or die trying.  Nothing like a frustrating Friday to mandate a good snack to munch on.

And people, I FOUND it.  Heaven.  At last.