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I made a deliberate effort yesterday to take deep breaths and count to 10 more often to try to see how long I could stretch my patience. I was proud of myself as I had a much better day with my kids than I’ve had the last few weeks. And let me tell you: The Universe was trying to thwart my efforts ALL DAY!

There was the rain, first and foremost. The rain that would stop completely on my way into a store while I was running errands but became a torrential downpour on my way OUT of the store. The best? Was when we were leaving Sam’s Club. Because nothing in Sam’s gets bagged. Even bags of bread which taste AWESOME soaked in rain water. I was cursing myself for always parking in the back of the lot when a wonderful lady came over with her umbrella, held it over me and the kids, and escorted us to the van. I told her she was my good Samaritan. And maybe cried a little bit on her shoulder. Of course, will this encourage me to carry umbrellas? No. Because still, more often than not? A huge pain in my ass. The rain did same thing happened coming out of Target but we didn’t score an escort that time. And then the rain stopped right when we got to the van. Which I thought was the Universe’s way of saying, “What? It stopped! What more do you want?”

NikkiZ also deliberately peed all over the floor at school because she didn’t want to stop reading to go potty. *sigh* That’s all I feel like saying about that issue.

Then…as I was cooking banana bread later that afternoon LilZ called. He didn’t have rehearsal like I thought he did. He apologized for not reminding me, but he needed me to come get him. And it was cold (and rainy!) outside and he didn’t have any money and doesn’t like waiting inside places unless he can purchase something. I’m all, “Banana Bread! I don’t want to burn the house down!” I was also in the process of making homemade applesauce (WHAT? I know. I’m insane.) and in the rush to finish it all before the bread finished – I sliced off the tip of my thumb. It still hurts.

Finally – I had to run back out to Target for ink for our printer (School-age kids are very print-y, you know.) and they were out. So was Wal-Mart. Making the trips entirely fruitless. There are few things I hate worse than fruitless errands because that just means they were a HUGE waste of my time.

All in all? I held my cool. Even while bleeding to death in the kitchen. (Knives are sharp!) Dinner turned out great and no one minded the blood in the apples. I even managed to steam some fresh veggies with dinner, which always makes me feel good about myself. I didn’t lose it on the kids once, no matter how close I came several times. I just paused, and redirected. I noticed when I was about to lose my patience? Zerberting their belly seemed to help make me feel better. (How is “zerberting” not in my dictionary?) Something about a wholehearted belly laugh coming from a child kinda snaps me out of the FREAK OUT mode. It was a good day and I felt like I faced the forces trying my patience and came out the victor. Because if you don’t freak out on your kids after a day of Mother Nature attacking you at every turn? You deserve a reward. And I gave myself one in the form of a nice cold beer and some quality time with So You Think You Can Dance and Glee.