Wednesday, May 13, 2009

A lunch break?



Today was just an "X" on the calendar.

One more day down.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the day. It had it's ups and downs (or maybe I had ups and downs). I did a couple of things that I would label "productive" watched a neighbor baby for a few hours and took Ty to get his blood drawn --remember the shot fiasco?

I am a little frustrated, irritated, fatigued (from the deployment), my body is worn out and I want someone to talk to. Actually, I want someone to rub my shoulders. They hurt. I've been exercising more than normal and I'm sore.

Wednesday night bedtime should never be tackled alone. Mike helped so much with that when he was here. It's not that it's that big of a deal, it's not. It is, however, just one more big chore to top off the day. On Wednesday, everyone is tired and cranky.

Want to know what is really bothering me?

Here goes.

Today Jared and Regina came by for lunch. They both work on the base here and so "in theory" it would be nice to come over and chill during the lunch break.

Theories never work.

Also the idea is for me to get to serve them by making lunch. That way they don't have to buy something or mess with packing a lunch.

It is supposed to be a "win / win" situation. They get free lunch and to rest in a home. I get the honor of their company.

Theories never work.

Regina calls and asks if today would be a good day to come by (I had invited and she had promised me that they would come over one day this week).

Today was great "in theory".

After keeping a clean house all morning, about 30 minutes prior the boys, who needed something to do, got out the trains. We also had that new foam toy set out. The one that highlighted the fact that it contained 167 pieces. Never buy a toy that brags about the number of parts it contains. The toys in the playpen area were also spread out on the floor.

I fed the boys before my company came because "in theory" that works better and I would have a chance to sit down and eat. The boys would play with the toys that were out and I would sit and have lunch with my friends.

Nope.

We sat down to eat and like a magnet both boys were at my side looking up at me like little baby birds. Ty wanted the chicken, Jack the mashed potatoes. This is why I'm so thin people!
After we had eaten most of my food, the boys went off to play and started agitating each other. I can ignore it up until the point that someone starts bleeding or I can go be a good mom and address the situation. I did the latter. After several conflicts I put Jack in the backyard and told him he had to play out there since he and Ty couldn't play nicely.

Jack stayed out for a while. Then he started coming in and out on his own. Regina, bless her heart, got up to try to entertain Jack. We migrated into the kid area next to the kitchen.

Want to know how the rest of their lunch break went? They played with self-centered little boys while flies swarmed all around. Remember Jack was coming in and out of the house a lot? Yep. The flies did the same, only they never went out.

I can't just let 10-15 flies make themselves at home when I have guests can I? As unattractive as it is to kill flies with company around, it's even worse to leave them be... right? So I killed flies. How gross is that? They tried to entertain the boys and I didn't even have any dessert to offer.

No sitting on the couch chilling. No relaxing lunch with music in the background. No sweet ice tea and fruit. No dessert and coffee. I didn't even make lunch for them. They picked something up before coming over.

Good grief.

Situations like this make me think that I shouldn't even try to have any friends. Why? What do I have to offer? It's like the only thing I can do to help people out is watch their kids. Then we (the parents of said kids and myself) never get to talk cause there are needy kids all around us! So friends without kids? Here's what that looks like:

"Hey, come over to my house, trip over toys, listen to kids whine, and eat your lunch while flies buzz overhead."

Sounds great huh? I don't want to put anyone else through this. I'm no idiot. That can't be enjoyable.

I am no longer me.

I am Jack and Ty's mom. It's what I do, every second of my life. I can't even go run around the neighborhood tonight because I have to stay at the house. I usually don't have any problems with my role. I'm not going to change it because of this.

I'm just frustrated.

I know this is often a thankless job (especially when hubby isn't home to thank you). But heck. Lunch? Can't I get a freakin lunch break?

A lunch break?

Everyone gets those.

No. I can't....

Well... might as well move on. Feels better to get that off my chest.

Thanks.

This is Ty getting entertained by Jared. You can see Regina in the background playing on the floor with Jack.

4 comments:

The Jenkins said...

You have more to offer than you even realize Becca, even for us children-less friends. So don't think that you don't :)

Carolyn said...

We're gonna get together for a chick date~Lyndsay will watch the boys. In fact, if you bring them to our house, they can play with my two "big" boys (there are +es to homeschooling)and then we can go be girls somewhere...lunch-break, dinner-break, toddy-break......you name it! I'm ready when you are~let me know~I mean it!

Anonymous said...

Cinda Boshart said

...and now that I'm out of school for a couple of weeks, I could actually have fun with the boys while you take some well-deserved time off!

Just look at Ty's happy face--you're doing such an important job and doing it well. (And, by the way, Jared doesn't look like he's too miserable at your house to me)


Thanks, Jared and Regina, for being such great friends to Bec, Mike, and the boys.

J Julian said...

hey becca -- you know, I would think a good friend would realize stuff like that would happen (whether they have kids or not) and be okay with it -- if not, they probably wouldn't even come over! But i'm sure it is frustrating to you as well!