"You like me, you really like me!"

 

I recently discovered (when three of my friends posted on Facebook that they actually missed reading my TMT post - or lack thereof - last week) that I actually have a Shanna’s Shenanigan’s “fan base”… of at least four people, if you count my mom. Frankly I am incredulous that anyone reads this thing, but I am extremely flattered and thrilled that you do!!

So never fear, Time Machine Tuesday (TMT) will return to its regularly scheduled Time Warp this Tuesday. (Maybe all I have to do is travel back in time to last Tuesday, enter a blog post, then return to this coming Tuesday and write another? Does that tangle the space/time continuum and the fabric of time and whatnot? This confuses me. )

My excuse is a pitiful one, but it's all I've got: plain & simple, this week sucked. It wasn't that the week was extraordinary in any way, in fact it was quite the opposite.  It was just kindof... "off."  Jordan worked the extended (11-8) shift, which always puts a bit of a kink in our routine. The kids were out of sorts.  I just couldn't seem to shake this headache I've been messing with on & off for a month.  And work was a real nasty ol' b*tch.  In my job, there are some days where after spending 8-9 hours straight in front of a computer, the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend another 1-2 hours in front of one. This week was…well…one of those days.

It started out with a return trip from Bismarck, where we spent the weekend for the Tvedt family reunion and also picked up Asha (who had spent the previous week with Grandpa & Grandma C in Lemmon) and arrived home late Sunday night. It was a super fun weekend with the relatives, but when we got home the kids were exhausted, there was a week’s worth of laundry to be done, and a pigsty of a house to straighten up.

Monday: Alarm rang way too darn early. Going back to getting two kids ready in the morning was a bigger adjustment than I’d anticipated! I had to literally drag Asha out of bed and put her clothes on her while she went completely limp and whined about my “bugging her” while she was very clearly trying her hardest to continue sleeping. Miraculously, we all got out the door on time.
Monday night was Brooklyn’s birthday party.  Noah came with us and spent the whole time trying to destroy Shane & Tara’s beautiful home. But he showed his softer side too, by smooching on his baby cousin Brielle every time he ran past her to try and knock over their flat screen. Asha had a blast, hanging out with her “BFFFFFF” while they got makeovers, played on the water slide, and ate cake & ice cream. She had so much fun, but it was unexpectedly easy to convince her it was time to go home – she was pooped!

Tuesday: This seemed to be the night that the children conspired together to challenge my single-parenting skills. With Daddy working late and Uncle Shad now gone, my wild monkey children seemed to smell the vulnerability on me. We had arguments over eating (or not eating) supper. Tantrums over not getting to play with the remote. Spilling the dog dish (twice). Stomping. Slamming doors. Hitting. A trip to the park 3 blocks away began with the intention to get them out of the house to run off some energy but ended catastrophically with Mommy pushing a stroller while pulling a bike while leading the dog while bargaining with a whiny girl while trying to entertain a crying baby. But we made it back home in one piece, albeit a disheveled, sweaty and grouchy piece. At bathtime, though, they gave me one of those lovely and sweet parenthood “moments”: the realization that going through all the sh*t in life gives you a better appreciation of the good stuff…

Asha: “Noah, is that your butt?”

Noah: (pointing) “Butt.”

Hysterical giggling from Asha. “Mommy, he said butt!”

Noah: “BUTT!”

More giggling. This time Noah joins in with his hearty belly laugh. Even more giggling.

Both chime in, “Butt! Butt! Butt!”

Sassy barks. I swear to you, it sounded like “Butt.”

All three of us completely lose it.

What can you do but join in? C'mon, "butt" is hilarious, after all. We laughed so hard I cried and might have even peed a little. Who would’ve known though, with all the water splashed onto the floor already?!


Wednesday: The Day from Hell at work. Everyone on earth demanded my attention all at once, my headache was raging, I didn’t get a lunch break, and I absolutely HAD to be out the door right at 5:00. Because it was Preschool Open House night, and I had to get from daycare to home, feed the kiddos, then back to the preschool, all by 6:00. But we made it! Asha was uncharacteristically shy - except for when she saw Brynn (her daycare BFF) in the parking lot before going in, those two ran around like loonies before I finally dragged her inside. This will be her 2nd year at Preschool, so she already knew the teacher and a couple of the kids in her class. The moment she saw Mrs. Larson, she got that huge chock-full-o’-dimples smile on her face. She eventually introduced herself (very adult-like, “Hi, my name is Asha, nice to meet you.”) to a couple kids and played a bit before we left. Back in the car, she tells me, “I’m ready to go to school tomorrow Mama! I can’t wait!” Crap. School doesn’t start for another 3 weeks. This generally means hourly status reports of how many days/hours/minutes before Preschool begins. Ah well, I’m just happy she’s excited.


Thursday: Reeeeally beginning to hate this “Extended Shift” nonsense. Do not reveal this information to The Hubs, but… his help is necessary for me to function. In fact, I realize I am highly dependent on him because he is good at stuff in general, and doesn’t usually have the Wild Ones attached to him 24/7 so he can actually finish tasks he starts. But there are benefits to this extended shift, as well: a morning “off” to get stuff handled!  I came home to a de-cluttered house, folded laundry, empty dishwasher, mowed lawn. RAD!!!!  I knew I liked that guy.

This was doubly grand, because I was planning to host a team morale event at our house Friday night, and I hadn’t even bought groceries for it yet! So the instant Jordan walked in the door, I jetted over to SunMart, then spent the rest of the evening browning 6# of hamburger & 3# of ground turkey for sloppy joes, making bars & appetizers, and prepping everything else I could do ahead of time. Not sure how I made it there, but I recall collapsing in bed (fully clothed) at 2:00 am… ZOINKS!!!!


Friday: Work mercifully SPED by, and my boss very kindly let me leave a bit early to head home and start the grub a’ cookin’ before the gang arrived. The kids were uncannily cooperative: Noah went down for a quick snooze, and Asha plopped down to catch up on a couple episodes of iCarly while I cooked & flitted around getting set up for the party. The crew started arriving at 6:00 – a houseful of my coworkers and their families – and we ate, drank, played the best game(s) ever, and just had a really enjoyable night! Good friends, good food, good beer… well, at least the good friends part anyway. It was just a really great way to end a not-as-great week.

Saturday: The Hubs earned about 12 skillion more “brownie points” this morning by keeping the children quiet and allowing me to sleep until 9:30!!! I don’t think I’ve slept that long since Asha was born! It. Was. Tremendous. We had the first ‘at-home’ Saturday in I-can’t-remember-when, and that was also tremendous. It was a much-needed day to recuperate and just hang out with the fam.


So that was it, my week in a very large nutshell, and the reason for Tuesday’s passing with no Time Travel. It can only go uphill from here. :)  My sincere apologies to my cherished fans for the late post, I so appreciate that you missed me!  It motivates me to write more! (uh-oh, now see what you started? I’m lookin’ at you Erica, Jeannie & Kim…)