...in which Leelo goes back to school. And the girls, too, sort of.
My in-laws, who are staying with us for the weekend, are off in The City at an appointment. Iz is sleeping off a early-school-morning barf on the couch, my niece Kylie is chirpily keeping her company. I am hiding in my office sneaking my first break since Friday's lovely birthday lunch with Jenijen, trying to process the 72 hours between now and that meal. What was the best part?
Was it the rain shutting down the car wash on my birthday, so that I couldn't get my nasty scummy car detailed as a present to myself, with the side benefit of being mortified when my fastidious in-laws arrived?
Was it the restaurant calling three hours before my birthday dinner to say that no, they couldn't increase the size of our party because it was raining and so their patio was not usable, and I would have to cancel my reservation? For ten?
Was it the babysitters arriving thirty minutes late to release me for said dinner, giving me--the first person of five to receive taxi service from our magnificent, SWAT-hat bedecked designated driver Sage--such an intense case of anxious stomach that I arrived at the dinner without an appetite?
Was it realizing that MB was waiting for us at the other restaurant because her email address was at odds with the Evite and so in my panic I forgot to mentally add her to the dinner relocation list?
Was it Seymour's not having enough time to make our destroyed kitchen birthday-present clean while I was that dinner (before he left on a three-day mountain biking trip), due to the babysitters' assuming that his coming home from work meant they could leave rather than asking him if he still needed them?
Was it waking up the next morning after getting to sleep in until 7:30 and seeing that the kitchen still wasn't clean, that Seymour needed to pack and leave, even though Seymour's brother's family were coming to stay with us later in the day?
Was it getting the house almost ready for our guests, and then finding at 9 PM that one of the cats had peed on the center of the aerobed Iz is still sleeping on, and which she was to share with her cousins? Effectively destroying said bed?
Was it Leelo deciding that this was the weekend he for seeing how quickly and frequently he can hit Mali and make her cry?
Was it my brother-in-law secretly and so kindly taking my car in for a detail job after hearing me moan about the closed car wash, and having the car wash people manually wrest open and so break the automatic, remote-controlled car doors that make my life that much easier when Leelo and Mali are screaming and Leelo is hitting and I just need to get them into the car now now now? (This one made me cry, BTW. The car doors are really difficult to open manually, and I'm worried that they'll be an expensive fix.)
Was it Leelo getting up at 6 AM while Mali still refuses to sleep until I do (1 AM Sat. night, midnight last night) and having no down time for even ten minutes to read or do anything that wasn't work and even then only 20 minutes, begged from my in-laws? (Whom I adore and who are more pleasant and helpful than you would believe, but still, guests mean work).
Was it Leelo being so overwhelmed by the chaos of the weekend that he had two poo accidents?
Was it forgetting that I said I'd take Kylie for the day today, meaning that I still wouldn't get any alone time at all? To get work done? Or perhaps watch ten minutes of stupid Smallville? I need down time, people! Some of you don't, but for me no breaks from people or responsibilities is as debilitating as not eating for two days or drinking continuously for that same period.
Was it getting a call while dropping Mali off at school this morning to come pick up Iz after she barfed all over her locker? Meaning that my coffee window of opportunity between dropping off Mali and getting Leelo home to meet his bus was slammed shut?
Was it having said girl step into the car and then barf yesterday's dim sum and seaweed salad all an interior that had been detailed only twelve hours before?
I don't know which part was the best. But I do know that I felt a huge and guilt-ridden surge of relief when I put Leelo on the bus this morning, and realized that, whatever else had happened this weekend, the biggest stressor was having to tend Leelo while he was being himself (i.e., mostly sweet but occasionally violent and certainly needing most of my attention), with all the extra crap listed above, but without Seymour and yet with house guests. I will be very grateful when Seymour is back tonight. Even though he'll be leaving for a retreat tomorrow morning.
Anyhow. I feel better now. Thanks, Blogosphere!
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