Who Do I Need to Beat Up?

Yesterday was one of those days. I hadn't fallen asleep the night before until 2 am, and my oldest, strong-willed child woke me up at 6:30 to ask and then harass me about something. It went over like a lead-balloon, but nonetheless, once I was awake, I was awake. The weather was dreary, rainy, icky. It was hardly daylight out, and it was one of those rains where you know it is going to rain all.day.long. After getting ready and hustling everyone out of the house, we headed down the road for the 35 minute ride in the direction of co-op, but we were going late because two of my kids had dentist appointments. We were almost there, in a torrential downpour, and my car started to feel like the highway was one giant slip and slide, and I was transported back to my chubby childhood, flat on my back and flying this way and that (typically with the wind knocked out of me first)! Scary. I had one tire that I knew was losing air slowly, so I crawled with my hazard lights on to the nearest gas station. I had to get out in the driving rain to put air in the tire which registered very low on the air gauge. The dentist appointments didn't even start until the time at which I was expecting them to be over, leaving me scrambling to cover some co-op commitments. When I did finally get there, I was informed that I hadn't had my picture taken for the yearbook yet, and was ushered to stand on an X in front of a blue sheet of paper without even the chance to brush my hair which now looked like someone who had been using crack for an extended period of time. Lovely.
There were however, two bright spots in this dreary day. One of the ladies from co-op saw me struggling along the side of the road, and called to see if I was alright. How sweet! Then later in the morning, I came around the corner and sighed, a way my body often has to force my stupid self to breathe when I am anxious and forget. One of the teenage boys at co-op, noticing I looked a bit overwhelmed said, "Alright, who do I need to beat up?" It was such a silly, simple, testosterone filled thing to ask, and yet it really lifted my spirits. Everybody appreciates an advocate, someone on their side, watching their back. These two simple things turned my day around.
Who do I need to beat up?! Nobody - but thanks for asking!

I'm Toast!

Travis and I worked many hours last night on his resume. This morning we were up bright and early heading to the employment office - which on a fluke just happened to be closed because the 3 staff members were all at a training. Go figure! Welcome to life in rural Texas! I also had a run in with a lady at the Department of Human Services. I called to ask some questions - and she hung up on me while. I. was. talking. Now excuse me - I tried to have a gracious attitude about how she treated me - and considered that all day long she has to deal with people who want something for nothing. I tried very hard to keep this in mind - but the bottom line is that there is no excuse for rudeness. Regardless of the circumstances, people are often dealing with her at some of the most vulnerable times of their lives. A sympathetic ear, a kind word, a smile, and some understanding on even the most basic of levels can go a long way. I am definitely lodging a formal complaint - AFTER we are not in their system. Ugh.
Anyway - it has been a long day. We have looked tons of things up on the internet, made a jillion phone calls, printed out resumes, filled out applications, talked to people about how to search through the "workforce" website, and on and on and on. In the midst of that - we had "Family Night" at co-op tonight and so we were running around from early morning until almost 10:00 tonight. I am exhausted!