Monday was incredibly busy at work with me firmly up against a tight deadline with a very important and complicated task. There is one aspect of my job that I loathe and I've been asking for 5 years to have it reassigned and this task fell squarely into that category. It was for the president of the company. At the end of the day I had the horrible realization it just wasn't going to be done on time and properly. I made a mistake, plain and simple. I know this happens, but it was the worst possible project for a problem to happen with and I felt like a giant tool about the whole thing. I still do.
Tuesday was spent reeling from spending Monday on my epic screw up and then dealing with the fallout from it. I was now behind and upset. I cried at work. I don't like people to know that I can do that, so that made me cry more.
Wednesday and Thrusday were more of the same. I worked like a demon trying to make my next round of deadlines, up against clients who don't provide the data I need to do the work they want by the time they want it. And of course in between each step I had to deal with someone who all of a sudden needed something that couldn't wait. I just barely finished getting the last thing done on Thursday when I had to run out the door to fetch my kid from preschool and then fetch my husband from the train. My husband, who I had not seen since Sunday morning because he was on the other side of the country for work, had flown in on the red-eye and was at work all day on zero sleep. The last thing I wanted to do was to tell him about all the of the crap from the week so I tried to put a smile on (I failed, in case you're curious).
I should mention that there was other drama and ridiculousness, but none of it is fit for the blog. So suffice to say I had pretty much had it at this point. I had to not do things I wanted to do, things that were important to me, because of other more important things and I was feeling terrible and beaten down and I was just so glad that tomorrow was Friday.
Oh Friday, how you've let me down. I am not supposed to work on Fridays, but I was going to go in to attempt to catch up on the things I didn't do because of the other things I needed to do. The scale didn't move this morning, so that was disappointing. Yeah, did I mention that I've spent the week trying to reduce my dependence on cheese and caffeine, cutting all alcohol from my diet and lowering my calorie intake? What a week to try to discontinue eating my feelings.
I arrived at the child's school only to realize that we forgot his blankie, which is required for naptime. Then I got to work, only to realize that the person who usually gets there earlier than I do and unlocks the doors wasn't coming in this morning so I sat in my car waiting for someone else. When I finally started working, I realized that my client didn't get me the thing I needed last night so I could finish his stuff this morning. I left work at 9:30 to run home and get Blankie, then ran to acupuncture. Thank goodness for the 1 hour in my day that was not irritating.
I headed over to the kid's school, getting stuck in a traffic detour because of roadwork. I dropped off the blanket to return to the office. I got stuck in more traffic and more detours. I was trying to get stuff done and eat an orange (did you ever try to type while eating an orange?) since I was ravenous. Stupid diet. Then I find out from my manager that the VP called and the thing I crammed in last minute for him and the president had an error in it. Effing beautiful. I don't make a lot of mistakes but when I do, they all happen in a neat little cluster for the most important people.
Cue the tears! Did I mention yet that I have now entered my mid-cycle hormonal craziness? Well, yes. I remind myself that I just need to get through the day, do some laundry, pick the kid up from school and I can drop him at his grandparents for the 2 night sleepover we've all been dreaming of for weeks.
Then the phone rang and it was my father in law. There was an explosion somewhere and the power is out. They can't take the kid until it comes back on. You have got to be kidding me. I finished up what I could at work and left.
I went home and made myself a STUPID salad at 2:15. I'm beyond ready for lunch and I'm about to eat a salad, as if that's going to help my mood. I sat down to write a blog post for today when my phone rang again. I saw the number. At first I didn't recognize it, but then it was clear. It was the school's number.
My kid needed new underwear and apparently his extra undies from his cubby were not there and he refused to wear school underwear. Now, I don't know what the hell school underwear is and I'm glad that my kid had the good sense not to wear underwear that doesn't belong to him. But the last thing I wanted to do was drive back to the school with friggin clean underwear. And where the hell did his spare pair go? He is not the kid who has accidents all the time. This was my first call ever for this purpose. Today. Of all days.
I got in the car and drove. The high school just let out so there were herds, HERDS, of teenagers everywhere. Sigh. They don't even look, they just walk right out into the street. They pull out of the parking lot as if they own the town. I'm scowling and cursing when I realize that one of them is my neighbor. I smiled at her, then went back to giving those other creepy kids dagger eyes. They were completely nonplussed about it, by the way.
When I get to school, I see one of the classes is practicing for graduation, the same ceremony my son will be in next week. They were announcing names and calling them "graduates" and I got all teary again because remember I'm hormonal. And this day has sucked. So I had to run away before anyone noticed I was crying over kids that weren't even mine practicing for graduation from preschool.
I drove back home, still dodging the slowest of the herd of teenagers. I pulled up to my house, intent on finishing my salad and the laundry and this post (which is now entirely different from how it started). My neighbor (not the teenager) saw me and while we were chit-chatting, a bug flew in my eye. Then my father in law texted to say the power is still out.
I want to curl up into a ball and go to sleep until tomorrow. But it's only 3:44, the house is a mess, I may or may not have to pack my kid up for the weekend and I may or may not have to get dressed to go out to dinner with my husband and I may or may not have to make dinner for my husband and my kid.
I will need to leave in less than an hour now to pick up my son from school. This will be the fourth time today I'll be going to school. And, on top of all the week's papers and his nap sheet and his homework book and all the other end of the week garbage I have to cart home, now I'll also have a pair of soiled underwear to tend to.
Sigh. I'd make some sort of comment about how things can't get worse, but you know what happens when someone says that, don't you?
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