Big Brown Logs

I'm sure any other mother out there can understand this post. And please read my disclaimer here ok -
"I love my life as a mom, wife and friend. I love my job as a stay at home wife and mother and 95% of the time it is the most rewarding job anyone can have. Short of being an ABA Tutor this has got to be the best job there is. So, please do not think that I take my life with my daughters and husband for granted because I certainly don't. If anyone knows how grateful I should be it's me."

Ok, now on to my rant. Why on God's green earth is this such a frustrating and HORRIBLE time of year right now? Why is it so damn hard for children to understand that parents (mainly mom's) are not their entertainment committee???? Why do they find the need to fight about every damn little thing known to man kind? So what if their damn cups don't match? So what if their plates look like one has more food than the other? So what if she has more cheerios than the other? Why does she have to have EXACTLY the same number of grapes as her sister? Why? Can someone please explain to me why? Or, why has the education committee that rules the United States not made school year round? Or why do they have school in the worst possible season but have an entire summer off? Why not switch that? The school districts have to build snow days into their schedules, but not summer days? I understand that it probably had something to do with harvesting crops or something but seriously? It's almost 2010 folks, harvesting in this country doesn't have to be done by children anymore. Change the damn school calendar. Year round school makes WAY more sense in my head after this "Winter Break". They have snow days and delays and crap that cut into school time, so why not change the school calendars and have a few weeks off every few months. 2 weeks for Christmas/Holidays, 2 weeks in Spring, 2 weeks in Summer and 2 weeks in the Fall. Kids will learn more, parents will be happier and they won't have to have so many freaking 1/2 days and snow days!! Needless to say - I cannot wait for them to go back to school because God help me, I am so ready for them to get back in school and give me a few hours of peace and quiet where I'm not having to field fights, screaming tantrums and kids playing with crap that I swear I threw out last week!!!

Ok, on to my next rant. Why is it so freaking hard for husbands to understand that the kitchen does not have shoe cobbler elves that come and clean it in the middle of the night? Why can't they clearly see that the dishwasher is ready for dirty dishes, so they do not need to reside in the sink for hours on end just to build up a dry nasty crust that takes ME forever and a damn day to scrub!! I do not have time to stand their and scrub the pumpkin pie filling off of my cookie sheet in the midst of having to deal with screaming children. And why do they think that it's ok to leave wet clothes sitting in the washer for hours on end when the dryer is empty? Is it that hard to just move the load from one to the other and start it? Do they not see how something that simple can really make their wives happy? Or to fold the clothes instead of just moving them from one location to another? Is it that hard? Don't misunderstand me, I do 95% of the work around this house. I respect the fact that my husband works very hard at his job and 90% of the time he has dinner on a plate and ready for him when he gets home. The kitchen is clean, the clothes and stuff are done and all he needs to do when he gets home is to take off his boots, hit the 30sec button on the microwave and enjoy the laughter of his children. They're almost always bathed and ready for bed. Really - it's like a vision from Mary Poppins "Tap them on the head and send them off to bed, how lordly is the life I lead?" Rarely does he need to give them baths or deal with those daily tasks. And when he does, I do absolutely appreciate it. I love being able to watch him laugh and play with his kids. The girls love it and I enjoy listening to the laughter. But given the chaos that is our lives right now, that is beyond rare - it's exstinct. When he does finally get home from work, within 5 minutes he's yelling at the girls for one thing or another. Why? What is gained by coming home and yelling at kids you haven't seen all day? I know - he's fed up with obnoxious individuals himself. I get that, but really, I have been listening to screaming all day and have been managing the fighting and screaming midgets and the last thing I need to hear is "I want mommy!" after he comes home and yells at them some more.

Now, the last part of my rant is the same topic as above - my kitchen. I hate my kitchen, anyone that knows me knows that I hate my kitchen. But when I go to bed at night my kitchen is almost always spotless and set up for the next day. How is it that those nonexistant shoe cobbler elves make their way in there and fill the sink back up with dirty dishes? How is it that they make the counters sticky and leave food out that was previously put away? How is it that those things happen? Now, I know that we all go in around 10 or 11 and get something sweet or pick up a dirty cup that we missed earlier and put it in the sink when we're through, but an entire sink full?? And i expect it now, which is all the more worse. I expect to see my spotless kitchen destroyed in the morning. I expect to see dinner from last night all over the counters and on the stove. And trust me, it's a killer. Anyone with more than one child and with a child under age 5 knows that breakfast has to be hurried. The kids are hungry and screaming for food, you're in a sleep deprived state (because of course the youngest of the bunch has been up and down all night, which he slept through) and all you want to do is be able to walk into the kitchen and fix breakfast. Be it waffles or cereal or whatever, you want to be able to do that without having to dig for a dish to wash or move 15 different boxes of crap to get to the coffee pot and toaster. Now I will say this - there are 3 adults in my home currently. So it is not always my husband that destroys my kitchen. My mother can leave a wave of destruction to be envied by tornados or toddlers. But to be the only one that seems to give a damn about the condition of it? That truly sucks a big brown log.

So to sum up my rant - I'm done. I'm fed up, frustrated, angry, taken forgranted and just plain old done. If it didn't mean neglecting my children - I would go on strike. Screw the laundry and kitchen, I'm done. Really, I'm just done being taken forgranted by the people in my life that are supposed to value my existance. My mother was standing in front of me today and said - "Aren't you going to feed the girls dinner?" to which I responded - "Yes, I'm going to fix them dinner." and she responded "Well, it's almost 5pm and you're on the couch on the computer." So, then I go into the kitchen (after playing a computer game - WITH my children) and start fixing them grilled ham and cheese to which she responds - "Can you fix me a grilled cheese too? It's so nice to have someone else cook for me." (BTW - the night before I had fixed spaghetti w/ sauce and garlic bread that she ate, not to mention all the other meals that did not include meat that she has eaten that I or my husband have fixed for her.)

Big brown logs suck.