Punch today in the face

Pictured cup of coffee was brewed at 635pm. I had already consumed one cup in the morning, an energy drink, and some powder energy drink that you add to water from Wal-Mart. 

I did indeed punch today in the face. 

I used pictured cup of coffee to swallow several Motrin. A couple years ago I was plagued with plantar fasciitis, and while it is mostly no longer bothersome, days when I decide to be superwoman it does come back to a degree. 

My day started at 645am. I did a quick yoga warm up and was glad for the movement. I’ve been slacking and it felt awesome. Shower, help Matt figure out why his gums were sensitve, and get him out the door. Get Chase up – “but my eyes are sooo tired!” – and fed, reminding him that today was Halloween decorating day, and reminding him that he needed to be on his best behavior on the bus. I talked to the boys grandma, apparently I had gone and left the front door wide open last night – oops. Luckily I’m alive and writing this today! I let out the dog, and talked to Chase about his lunch money. Yesterday he had decided to take enough money to cover his buddy’s snack, too, which I was in complete support of. However, his teacher didn’t realize the situation and put all the money onto his lunch account. 

“So I’m only going to give you a dollar today kid. You don’t have to buy your lunch today. It’s already on your account.” *puzzled look*  ” I mean, your lunch is less than a dollar, and your teacher put three dollars in there yesterday. . .” *confused look* sighing, I tried again. “The computer has your lunch money?” *raised eyebrows* “I’ll message your teacher. Maybe she can explain it better. Just know that you only need a dollar today.” “Okay, Momma!” I went ahead and messaged his teacher, and we loaded into the car.

I decided The Storm, ZZ Ward’s newest album, would be the soundtrack for my day, and watched Chase in the rearview mirror singing along as I drove him to school. He’s my little song bird. “Do you like this song, Chaser?” “No. I just know all the words.” Stop one was the school, followed by stop two, the gas station. Last night I had tried to map out my day with a route making app, but while it was probably good for my gas usage, it didn’t make sense in my head in the order of which things needed to be done. I had something like 13 stops to make, and this morning I had remembered a couple more. I left my house at 845am. My goal was to be done by 4 when I had to get chase from his aunt. 

After the gas station, stop 3: the dreaded Social Security office. Part of my “job” in helping my brother is to report his wages every month to them via an automated system. It is a royal pain in the ass that I dread, but go through each month regardless. In almost 3 years I have never missed a month. But back in August I did, probably because things were so hectic with back to school. So because I missed the deadline I had to walk his paystubs into the office and meet with someone. Trust me when I say, I will never make that mistake again! The wait wasn’t horrible however. Going early is best when visiting anything government related, as you may know. I was in and out in about half an hour. There was some confusion, the lady was showing that I had called them in, as well as this months. I know damn well I didn’t, but she gave me a letter stating that I had and that was all that I cared about. She was great to work with, too. It’s hit or miss at places like that. You either get someone great who likes their job, or someone shitty who hates their job.  Luckily she was awesome. 

Onto the mall, stop four, where I unintentionally dropped way more money on grandma’s birthday present than necessary. But as I winced at the dollar amount the clerk announced, I also recalled how many times that woman has saved my ass, and how she helps me raise these hoodlums of mine, and one isn’t even her blood grandson. It was worth every penny. 

Five. The car wash, where I noticed my temperature gauge was reading higher than it should. Oh vey, Clarice. It’s too early for menapause. I hit six and seven, my bank and then brothers bank, and then to my old place of employment to get money orders. One of my old coworkers was working and a new hire. Since no one was in the lobby, she vented to me about new policies, and I vented to her about something annoying with my job. “And do you wanna know how many fucks I give?” I said to her, and the new hire’s eyebrows shot up, “the fucking field is barren!” and he almost fell over laughing. “That’s a good one!” He exclaimed. He told me how great it was to meet me, and I’m glad I got someone to laugh in that hell hole. 

Nine. Rite aide. I picked up Chase’s allergy med earlier in the week, and the lid had malfunctioned (seriously) and I hadn’t been able to get it off. I handed the bottle over to the pharmacist, saying “I mean at first I thought it was an operator error, but I had someone else try it, and I took pliers to it,” and I gestured to the indent in the lid, “and I still couldn’t get it.” Sure enough the lid was broken, and they got me a new script and I was on my way.

Ten, AutoZone to return the faulty thermostat, where the clerk asked too many personal questions and I humored him. I was too busy today to care if he was flirting or not. On to 11-13, where I paid my car insurance, dropped Aaron’s bills in the mail, and got gas. I go to one gas station for cigarettes, another for gas, due to prices. Next I headed to the local VFW (14) to drop off our flag which had been damaged in a storm. They weren’t open. This is the only thing I wouldn’t be able to check off my list today. Tomorrow I’m just gonna take it to the local VA office. Should have thought of that earlier. 

I stopped home to grab some library books that needed returned, and ran into grandma there. We exchanges a couple frustrated sentences about our day, and I hopped back into my car. Does that count as fifteen? I think so. I headed to the library, where I found out the books were damn near a year overdue. I didn’t realize it had been that long, and winced at the fines. The awesome librarian took a small payment from me and gave me that tsk tsk look that must be a requirement of the position, and told me to just pay a couple bucks here and there whenever I came in. Properly embarrassed, I left stop 16 to go to the dollar store for more Halloween decorations. Because a large box of them sitting in my basement was apparently not enough. So there’s 17. Eighteen was the grocery store, and I don’t even wanna talk about that becauae grocery shopping sucks, and it cost way too much. 

Home again, stop 19, to unload and let the dog out. Grandma had told me about a sale on pumpkins at the local vegetable market, so next I headed there. 20. 

And I pulled up at Chase’s aunts at 4pm. Boom. I drove an estimated 40 miles, with two and a half hours spent in my vehicle, and stopped 20 times. In just over 7 hours. Everyone’s bills were paid, groceries purchased, and my to do list considerably shorter. 

Was my day over? Hell no. 
Home to make the boys a treat that I stole from Dorothy, candy corn and peanuts mixed together and holy yum, they loved it. Then Halloween decorating commenced.

I ended up doing it by myself, until the end when Matt brought me a bottle of water, and Chase helped me put up the caution tape. It vomited Halloween in my yard. I don’t particularly love Halloween. I just think decorating is fun. There’s a rat skeleton in my flower bed, and bats hanging from the large bush in front of the window. I hung ghosts from shepherds hooks and have a motion sensor owl that hoots and has light up eyes that is sure to make the mail carriers day tomorrow. It’s just fun. 

Time to make dinner and return phone calls that I had ignored through the day. Chicken and rice went in the oven and I called Sophia. I just realized I forgot to call my other friend back. But he probably forgot he called, so when I call him back tomorrow I’ll have to jar his memory as to why he called in the first place. 

Then, a phone call from Chase’s teacher.

Apparently my cute little monkey has some behavior issues that need to be addressed. And he’s been telling me he’s been being good, and that is definitely not the case. I spoke with her for about half an hour, and we got a plan in place. This whole thing just brings to mind Matt’s struggles with behavior in kindergarten though. Very bright but can’t sit still or stay on task. Matt ended up being diagnosed with ADHD. Hopefully my Chaser doesn’t have to go through that struggle. For now we’re just going to keep our eyes open and hope for the best.

Dinner cleaned up, and Chase in the tub. We worked on his reading, and then off to bed for him. I finally sat down to watch Will & Grace, and this is the only show I have watched on tv in ages. I watched all of the original episodes through my pregnancies though, so I have to see what happens! 

I also found out today that Matt has an eye appointment bright and early. So I am going to end this here and get around for bed. I punched today in the face, and every inch of my being feels it. Happy Thursday!