Wednesday, November 7, 2007

If it ain't one thing, it's another...

Yesterday was one of "those" days, if you know what I mean. I woke to find it raining, which was actually okay because we need the rain and I rather like rainy days from time to time. No biggie. But because it was raining and the boys were home from school for those parent/teacher conferences days, I didn't feel like dragging everyone out to go grocery shopping, therefore I decided to go online and order from a local grocery store because they will deliver. Shoppers just have to be sure to place an order prior to 9:30am for same-day delivery. No problem. I finished my order at 8:16am and scheduled the delivery for sometime between 4-6pm. I thought I was doing great since I'd already done my grocery shopping in my pajamas sans makeup. That's the ONLY way to shop!

I gently reminded my 5th grader that he would be going back to school the following day (today), therefore he needed to buckle down and get the remainder of his homework done. He complied and got busy, finishing his homework in no time. I went to check his homework, as I always do, and discovered he hadn't followed the directions in one section of social studies questions. He was going to have to re-do all 10 questions. You'd have thought the world was coming to an end! I explained how great it was that we figured it out rather than to have turned it in the way it was. I was trying to put the positive spin on the situation, right? He wasn't seeing it that way at all. It's like I had done something wrong by catching his error. He finally starts to try to fix his mistakes and he's just sitting there, doing nothing. I ask what's wrong and he complains that he can't find the answers. It's because they don't literally jump off the page and say "Here I am!" and I tell him he's lazy. I got a little ugly with him and he nearly teared up and cried. I hate it when that happens! Makes me feel like a lousy mother. He finally got a better attitude and he finished the homework.

In the meantime the rain stops, the skies clear and the day ends up being absolutely beautiful. Maybe we should get out and enjoy it. Oh yeah, the 5th grader is doing his homework. And once the homework is done, we only have a short time before the groceries are to be delivered, and of course we have to be here to receive them. Can't go anywhere.

Along about 5:00 or so, my husband calls and says he needs me to pick him up at the slug lot just up the road because he can't ride the Metro home since there was a FIRE in the tunnel at his Metro stop. So he's jumping in a vehicle with some other sluggers and heading our way and will be at the slug lot in about 20 minutes. Of course I go to pick him up, thinking the whole time that the grocery delivery people will probably show during the 5 minutes I'm away from the house.

Miraculously, the grocery people hadn't shown yet, but it's now 5:30-ish and I haven't even started dinner because part of the dinner was supposed to be delivered. Our 2nd grader had a Cub Scout meeting at 7pm, and we need to go pick up my husband's vehicle from the Metro station, so we're not so patiently waiting for those groceries to arrive. I don't know what happens if you're not available when the delivery is made. I'm sure they charge you, which is understandable.

6pm comes and goes and still there has been no grocery delivery. We go online and make an inquiry, but we know we won't hear anything back right away, so I also dial this 877 number and ask what's going on. The man I'm speaking with tries to locate the driver of the delivery truck and can't seem to find him. My options are to schedule a re-delivery for the next day or to get a total refund. I have things to do the next day (today) and can't give them a delivery window, so a total refund is in order. I'm so disappointed... No, I'm hopping MAD! This is the first time I'd tried to order from these people and I was very careful to make sure I'd done everything correctly.

Now it's 6:20, we have no dinner, we still have to pick up my husband's vehicle and get the little guy to Scouts by 7pm. We leave the house and head to the Metro station. Our plan is to divide and conquer. I will drop off my husband and the little guy at the parking garage and they can go on their merry way, stopping at a drive-thru for dinner and going on to the Scout meeting, while I take our oldest son and also stop at a drive-thru and then go grocery shopping.

We get to the Metro station and it's a zoo, an absolute snarl of traffic and people because of the fact that the Metro isn't running and people were stranded all over the place, trying to get back to their vehicles. We're in traffic for quite a while. My husband and I just look at each other and start laughing. This is such a typical thing to happen to us!

My husband's plan has now changed and he's taking the little guy to Scouts with no dinner. I'm still going to stick to my plan until my husband calls me on the cell phone and says the little guy has decided he wants biscuits and gravy for dinner. Biscuits and gravy? Where did that come from? Since my son hasn't had much of an appetite lately, I figured I'd feed him whatever he requested, therefore my plans then changed. I took the oldest son and went to dinner at Bob Evans and ordered two entrees to go, one of which was biscuits and gravy. Needless to say, after having dinner in the restaurant, there is no time for grocery shopping before the other half of our family will be home from their meeting, starving and in need of food. The grocery shopping is nixed and we go home.

The little guy comes in from his Scout meeting and is excited about the biscuits and gravy (and a few scrambled eggs as well). He takes a few bites and then stops eating. He's not hungry for that anymore and opts for a can of mandarin oranges instead.

Today I have to go grocery shopping.

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