What a day. Warning.....this one is a long one.

A day I'd like to forget. The first day of school, the day that went way wrong.

The morning was wonderful, Patriot and I really worked as a team and got the kids off to school in professional parent fashion. I arrived at the office and the day looked bright, warm and welcoming. All it took was one little ring of the cell and over the edge I go.

The contractor we hired to do a LITTLE (big) project for us at our house called.
Contractor: "Ummm......Well.....I hit a little snag."
A.M.: "Oh Yeah? What kind of snag exactly?"
Contractor: "Well you know those little yellow flags we had put in the yard to tell us where the gas line was? Well I was digging there and thought I was being really careful, but I hit that there gas line and it broke. There was gas shooting
everywhere so I put a kink in the line to stop it and then I called 911. It is really not a big deal, the gas company is on the way to fix it right now."
A.M.: "OH MY! I'll come home right away."
Contractor: "No, you don't need to do that. It shouldn't be a big deal at all"
A.M.: " Oh, ok. Just call if I do need to be there. Let me know what the gas company says."
Contractor: "will do"

I go back to my work, and think little of it until my phone rings again a half hour later.....

Contractor: " Um, well, the gas company came and patched the line, but I cannot keep working today. The gas company wants to move the ENTIRE LINE further away from the house. They will be coming back later this week to do that and then we can get to the window installation."

Now most days this would be no biggy, but let me tell you about the state of my house. At the beginning of August we had a big rain storm and my basement was 4 inches under water. Now 4 inches doesn't seem like much, but it was a finished basement, and our master bedroom is down there. We had to rip up all the carpet and pad, tear the drywall off the walls, and move all the furniture out of the area so that we could get the windows replaced, & fix all the cracks in the foundation. So in the mean time Patriot and I have been sleeping on our mattress on the floor in the upstairs. The upstairs that is a huge mess of our clothing, paperwork that needs to be filed (in cabinets that I cannot get to right now) sewing stuff from a project that I started and haven't finished yet....I think you get the picture...but add to all that the fact that we had started redoing our kitchen right before this little flood happened and 1/2 of the cupboard doors are off, there are cans of paint all over the place, and brushes that have been washed laying on my counter.....I am drowning in my clutter. I have hit MY LAST NERVE!, and now we have another delay.
Yeah, I"M WAY OVER THE EDGE here.

I finished the day, and as I was climbing into the car to head home my phone rings again. I answer and hear Justice sobbing on the other end. My first thought is that something went horribly wrong on his 1st day of 4th grade. My heart is already breaking for him. Then he says "I broke my retainer at school today."
I should probably tell you that Patriot and I have spent the whole summer warning him about how he would need to be extra careful not to throw away his retainer with his lunch trash at school. How it is so easy to do that and that I would not be happy if he did. We told him that retainers were expensive and that He would have to help pay for a new one if he was not responsible with this one. We really laid it on THICK for the last 2 months.

So Justice is crying and he says" "Mom, I broke my retainer at school today, and I can't afford to buy a new one....." Broke my heart right in two. I started crying, he's still crying, what a mess I created. See Justice is my stressed out child. Most people would not think so by watching him, but he gets stressed out so easily, and just keeps working himself up until he is sick. He was already stressed about school starting, and then to have his retainer break....it was just too much. I am feeling so guilty because I am not there to give him a hug, at the end of the day. I am feeling broken because I helped cause this stress for him. I just breaks my heart. After hearing the whole story, I reasssured him that he would not have to pay for the new retainer, that he was infact being very responsible and what happened was just an accident. I think he felt a ton better, and by the time I arrived home the tears were gone, and he had settled dow for a quick snack.

It just wasn't a very good day for our family. I am ready to be done with all the house projects already, but we will probably be working on them for the next three months yet. I think it will help to get the basement done....hopefully in the next three weeks.... and to get the Kitchen finished....I think we are in the home stretch on the cabinets, that will leave only the counter tops/sink, and the floor.

Here we are living the American Dream.

American Mom