Lost and Found

Nearly two weeks ago I lost my wedding ring.

We had looked in every room, in the washer and dryer, in the vehicles, under the bed, in all the dresser drawers in our room, in the jewelry box, in my purse, at school, in the cedar chest, in the laundry basket, in the closet....

Last night my 8 year old found my ring.

It was in his pajama drawer.

Isn't that exactly where you keep your jewelry?

I think this obviously means that putting away laundry should never be my responsibility.

My husband thinks I should just get my ring resized.

I'm pretty sure I am not going to win this one.

Getting Into Character

When I walked out of my bedroom first thing this morning, my 4 year old was sitting on the couch looking like this.

So I said, "Well, good morning, pilgrim."


I expected laughter. Instead, in deadpan seriousness, I got, "I am NOT a pilgrim."

Of course not. My mistake.


Ten minutes later:

"So, are you not an Indian either?"

"NO. I am a PRETEND Indian."

That was my first guess.

Cleaning Day

Today is cleaning day. There is no way I will get everything done that I need to (especially when I take time out to do things like write a blog post), but I have no plans, no agenda, and no reason to leave the house today. That, combined with the fact that I still have not found my wedding ring, made today THE DAY.

I have discovered, or possibly more accurately stated, I have been reminded of a few small issues that I have.

1. I have come to hate stickers. When I began my teaching career, I loved stickers. Little kids love stickers, even high schoolers love stickers, so I aimed to please by happily stickering their papers at school. Here's the deal: that is where the stickers should stay. AT SCHOOL. Today I have found stickers on their beds, on the dressers, in the carpet, on their clothes (after being washed and dried - ARG!!), and on their toys.

2. On that same note, I despise sticky-tack. The "thing" that wouldn't vacuum up off the boys' bedroom floor? Yep, sticky-tack. Ground in, stuck, not going anywhere. Here in a few minutes, my children are going to learn a hard and painful lesson about using sticky-tack. After that, the use of it by children will be forbidden and will be punished on the same level as if they were to purposefully set fire to the house.

3. Cheap toilet bowl cleaner stinks. Not as in smells bad....well, that too....but spend the money, people! It is just one more lesson in 'you get what you pay for'.

4. The vacuum cleaner does not work very well when the attachable hose is still connected to the 'attachment tools' device. Too bad I had vacuumed an entire room before I figured that out.

5. Eight hours gone and still no ring. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Someday

Someday I will get to pray during church without having to keep one eye open.....

Someday I will be able to walk across my house without being disgusted at all the toys laying around....

Someday I will not worry all morning whether or not my son is crying for his teacher at preschool.....

Someday I will get to sit through an entire sermon and actually know what the pastor is saying the entire time....

Someday I will get caught up on the laundry.....

Someday the backseat of the car will be clean......

Someday I will not have grimy fingerprints all over the walls....

.......Someday I will have to wait up late wondering if my son will make curfew.

.......Someday I will long for the days when the continual fighting over toys was the biggest issue of the day.

.......Someday I will miss the noise and constant chatter of little people.

.......Someday I will wonder what I thought was so hard about parenting young children.

.......Someday I will wish I could give anything to have my 4 year bounce up in my arms, kiss me on the cheek, and say, "I love you, mommy."

.......Someday I will want to turn back time and start all over again.

Not My Greatest Moments

Although Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we are supposed to be focusing on things we are thankful for, I cannot help but recognize that I have had several not-so-glorious moments lately. In fact, a few have dropped me right smack-dab in the "bad mom/bad wife" category.

**My 4 yo has been having a hard time lately. I noticed a change in his behavior the last 2 weeks of my sub job, but I thought things would get better as soon as I was home more. Instead, things are worse.

Here are some quotes from the email his preschool teacher sent me today...."I pulled him aside and had little talk with him about what was upsetting him. He said he did not like change and not knowing what is going on."

Great. That makes me feel good.

"Then he told me he was upset that he did not know what we were having for snack, so I told him what it was."

Great. Now his preschool teacher probably thinks I don't feed him.

"I did ask if he was worried about Thanksgiving coming and he said no. But he was worried about Christmas. It was too long of a wait and he did not know what he was his gifts will be."

OK, that just makes me laugh.

**I have discovered that my son can sing the entire theme song word-for-word of Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, and Martha Speaks; however, he does not know a complete verse of "Jesus Loves Me".

**Last night I loaded all my pictures in so I could order them and begin working on my scrapbooks over the holidays. I quickly realized that the only two events I have documented since August are my son's birthday and Halloween. No first day of school pictures, no soccer pictures, no fall outdoor pictures. I'm considering restaging the first day of school. I'm sure no one would notice.....

**My 8 yo has a major attitude. His new favorite phrase is, "Oh, come on!", which by now makes me want to pull out my fingernails one by one. Better mine than his, I guess.

*And the worst one...I have lost my wedding ring. We were planning to get it resized next week when we went shopping, and I haven't seen it since Wednesday. I have now looked everywhere it could logically be (other than the only two places I keep it - in the jewelry box and on my finger), and so far, no ring. I am beginning to panic.

But....In the spirit of Thanksgiving....I am thankful that I have not yet received one of these:

Uh...........

From the 4 year old: "Moooommmmm......why do I have to clean in here? It looks clean to me!!"

WHERE, OH WHERE, DID I GO WRONG????