As a mother, sometimes I just wish I could reach for that EASY button that Staples has, or how about just the reset button for the day or even for the week. This week has been one of those weeks. Everything with the kids has been a battle all week long and I’m ready for a new week.

The worst day was Tuesday.

Tuesday started out like a great day. We went to see of any of our friends were home and no one was answering their doors. One of our neighbors was leaving as we were heading home with our heads down low and she said her and her daughter would play with is that afternoon. The kids were excited just by this news, and I told them I would take them to the park in the meantime.

We went to Wilmont Gateway park in Woodinville to ride our bikes on the Sammamish River Trail. I know that lots of bikers use this trail and I know that the bikers think they own the trail. So I’m trying to teach my children that they need to stay on one side and when they see a biker coming to move out of the way. Miles made a lot of progress and moved out of the way on cue. We were ending out walk because Zoe was just not in the mood to walk in the first place. So I was arguing with a 3 year old and corralling a 2 year old the entire time. As we were nearing the entrance to the trail, there was a train and car overpass. A train came by and blew its’ whistle, being almost right underneath it it was terribly loud and completely terrified my children. Miles started screaming and shaking with fear. Zoe was crying too but she calmed down much faster. So we had to stop while I was consoling them. I pulled us in tightly but we were still on the trail. So a biker had the nerve to tell us that we should move off of the trail.

I was so mad. Bikers do not own the public trail. She actually stopped at the entrance of the tail and waited for us to leave, so that she could tell me, I’m just concerned about you and your kids. Now, perhaps her intentions were good, but she proceeded to tell me that I should have gone just a little further forward and moved my family out of the way. I wanted to bite her head off. It took everything in me to keep my cool. In the heat of the moment, and even afterwards I didn’t see a space large enough for all three of us and our bikes. I would have liked to see her handle the situation better if she had been there with one child trembling with fear.

We get home and I put the kids down for a nap. I needed to make changes to my vacation so I had to call the airlines to ask if they could exchange the tickets for a different day. First time I called they said it was going to cost me 130.00 per person traveling. I was appalled again because they are going to resell the tickets that I am not using, plus they are making even more money. I told them I would think about it and call them back. I looked on-line and saw that I could apply for a refund. Since the ticket prices went down since I purchased them I though, perhaps I should just apply for a refund and re-purchase the tickets, I called them again. The next person I talked to said there is a fee of 150.00 to make changes to travel plans then she said it will be…and I didn’t even let her finish her statement. All of my anger from everything that had gone wrong that week went into this lady. Poor thing!

She stayed calm, which was SHOCKING, and she told me I need to let her finish what she was going to say. She said, “Mrs Bishop, ticket prices have gone down 184.00 since you purchased them, because of this, you are actually going to receive vouchers for all three flights and I will change the day you are traveling.

OH.

The guilt I felt for going off on her. She told me not to worry about it that she is used to it. That made me feel even worse. What an awful job she must have dealing with people upset over flights, and prices. YIKES!

I thought this might be the turn around point for my day, but Zoe got up from her nap and was a grump. Everything was an argument with her and Miles. We played with our friend but when she had to go in for dinner we were all grumps again. Then, my husband calls and said he missed the bus. Oh no! of all days to miss his bus, this meant I had another hour to go all by myself with two very disagreeable kids. I had no patience left so I went to my husband’s work to pick him up. The kids are quiet in the van, well I gave them food and turned on a movie so they would be sure to be quite.

For the rest of the week the grumps have been off and on. Oh where are you reset button, I’d like to start off next week with no grumps.

Anyone Else?