"GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY!!"

I'm just short of screaming those words, but I am loud enough to get their attention. It's going to be a long, long summer. It's only the second week of vacation, and it feels like I'm already at my wit's end.

It all started this morning. Didn't get much sleep last night, and in my final attempt to catch some much-needed zzzzz's, I woke my man up to see if he could help me. And he did. And I fell asleep for three whole hours!!!! What a great idea, until I awoke, crabby and in more pain than I've felt in days. Then, after finally and unwillingly admitting to myself that I'm just an old bat, I interviewed two housekeepers. Shit. I can't even keep the bathrooms in tip-top shape anymore because my back can't take it. I've already caved in and started having the groceries delivered. What more? I'm so freaking old!!!

Then it's off to the bookstore to get the required items from the "Summer Reading List." I love the bookstore. I can spend hours there browsing and listening to CDs. But I've got my kids with me, so there will be little browsing (and forget about the CDs altogether). You can't judge a book by its cover? Well sometimes you have to when the kidlets become restless. So I chose one based solely on the title and cover, which made me laugh out loud. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the book will, too.

We're in the car, on the way home, when some jerk driving his uber-cool BMW convertible, wearing a muscle shirt (don't even get me started) and talking on the cell phone just about rams into us head-on. Don't talk on the phone, you idiot, if you can't even drive straight while doing it!!

I feel so much better just letting my frustrations out. I'm taking a deep breath, something I seem to do a lot lately. I'm trying to remain calm. I don't like being mean to my kids, but their behavior today was driving me crazy. Maybe its PMS. Probably. I should go call them in and give them each a big hug. As a matter of fact, I think I will.