I decided this month that that the time had come. I spent a lot of time looking online, and found some great rugs, and then I decided to go check out Home Depot. Bingo! Found the perfect rug.
I decided to go get it the next morning. Just run to home Depot with the 3 littles, grab the rug, and blast home. No prob. right??? WRONG! Oh, so very, very wrong.
Allow me.
The night before, I was up with Molly about every 40 minutes. She is teething, and is all sorts of miserable. Ben had to be to work early that day, so I pulled the all nighter myself, so he wouldn't be too tired driving down the canyon. I "woke up" exhausted.
Luke and Molly decided to get up an hour earlier than normal, and then they both decided to cry ALL. MORNING. LONG. Not kidding in the least.
I got Sam and Mary out the door after absolute chaos of breakfast foods everywhere, a screaming baby on my hip, a bawling Luke, and a house that looked like a tornado ripped through.
I am one of those annoying Type A people, that honestly and truly cannot handle much chaos and absolutely can't handle clutter and messes. The state of my home, directly correlates with the state of my mind. We are pretty much one, my home and I. If my home is messy and cluttered, then I feel cluttered and messy. ugh ugh ugh
Anywhoo....this particular morning I made Luke toast, cereal, pancakes, yogurt, and gave him a granola bar. He ate one bite of each, and continued to scream and tantrum. I finally just put him in my room and closed the door. It worked for about 10 seconds.
I made William pancakes, 4 pieces of toast, two containers of yogurt, and a bowl of cereal. He ate it all, and continued to demand food about every 10 minutes for the next few hours.
I did all of this with one hand, because I had a screaming baby on my hip. I think I dropped everything about 10 times, and had jam and syrup dripping off of me, the counter and cupboards.
Rock on.
After our disaster of a breakfast, I fed Molly, changed her, gave her medicine, fed her again, changed her again, and then fed her a bottle.
I had a gym class to get to that morning by 9:00, and I was in a complete panic to get out the door.
By the time I got all three kids dressed, fed 10 times, and changed, I was ready to go.
Until I heard the water running upstairs.
William had clogged the toilet. In fact, EVERY SINGLE toilet in our house was clogged! What the?!?!?!
I spent the next 15 minutes unclogging toilets, only to come back down to a poopy Luke and Molly.
I changed them again, while they screamed and got in the car. As I put the keys in the ignition... I looked down.
Holy crap! I was still in my pajamas and hadn't even combed my hair!
I rushed inside, got in my gym clothes, threw my hair in a ponytail, left the make up off, and jumped back in the car where all three kids had unbuckled each other, and William and Luke were doing nothing short of killing each other over a piece of gum.
The gum happened to be in my purse, and the contents of which were now strewn all over the car.
I drove to the gym with tears of frustration and prayed hard for some help.
My class at the gym was my saving grace that morning. I came out of it feeling better and energized and with hopes of a better day. Besides... I was finally getting a new rug! That was something to smile about, right?
I picked up the kids from the gym, and we all got back in the car. Molly immediately started screaming, and screamed the entire 20 minute ride to Home Depot. Once inside the store, I put Molly in the cart and pushed it with one hand, while I fed her with the other. Luke bolted.
He was so incredibly excited about pretty much everything in the entire store, and he literally sprinted down the isles in order to see what was around the next corner. I did the best I could to run with the cart while feeing Molly, in order not to lose Luke.
I finally caught up to him, and put him in the cart, where he screamed his head off.
I went to the rug section with my cart of chaos, and pointed out the rug to the lady. She just looked at me with my cart of chaos and said, um...you are going to need a bigger cart for this rug.
ummm, you think????
I politely, and maybe a teeny tiny bit sarcastically, told her that I was aware that the rug was very, very long, and that I would need a bigger cart. I just figured someone could help me. Kind of like how they were helping pretty much everyone else in the store with their bigger items.
She pointed to the complete opposite end of the store and said, "the cart you will need is over there. Just go get one and bring it back."
I just started at her.
Yeah, ok. No problem. I will just take my cart of a screaming baby I am feeding with one hand, my tantruming two year old, and my 4 year old riding underneath, and I will then go get ANOTHER much bigger cart from across the store and somehow bring that back with my third arm I will miraculously grow on the way across the store.
Seriously lady!
So, I took my cart of chaos, and went to the other end of the store. I found the bigger cart, and just stood in front of it. There was absolutely no way on God's green earth I was going to be able to lug that thing back to the rug section. I glanced at William, and he smiled back. He knew what I needed, and he grabbed that huge cart and started pushing.
We only knocked over about 5 displays, hit about 7 people and may or may not have run over a small dog, but we made our way back to the rug section where William proudly pushed the cart right up to the lady, where she glanced up at me and said, "Will you need help getting the rug onto the cart?"
Could this lady be for real?
The rug is 10 feet by 12 feet! It was rolled up and standing up on a shelf! It was stacked like dominoes with the other rugs! If one went, they would all go. I was honestly in complete and utter disbelief.
I didn't even give the lady enough of my time to respond to her. I just turned around and found another employee, who gladly got a couple more men (yes, this took about 3 men to load onto the cart), to help me.
Once it was on the cart, the men left.
I turned around to see "the lady" standing there. She just looked at me, blinked a few times, and asked if I needed help getting the rug to the register.
I made absolutely no effort to hide my jaw almost hitting the floor.
I said, "I guess I will just have my 4 year old push it over there."
If course I didn't mean it, but she said OK and walked away.
William spent the next 10 minutes grunting and yelling as loudly as he could while he and I pushed and pulled both carts over to the check out. I love my boy so much.
Molly and Luke continued to cry. I can pretty much say that every single person in that store knew where we were at any given moment during our time there.
I finally got to the check out, when it hit me.
My purse was at home.
If I were one to cuss, I think I would have burned the ears off of every person within hearing distance of me.
I told the cashier my situation, and she said that I could just giver he my Home Depot account number, and I could pay that way. All she needed was my drivers license number.
WELL, license is in the purse. Purse is at home. Home is 25 minutes, three screaming kids, and a crapload of energy away. Not to mention the 25 minute drive back.
By this time there were 5 people in line behind me, and my kids were wailing for the wrapped suckers in their hands that I had promised them, but that I now couldn't pay for.
If I could have commanded a mountain to come down on me....
I called Ben to see if he could give me his license number, but he was going in to a meeting.
I was humiliated, frustrated, upset, exhausted, and just done.
The sweet cashier didn't know what the heck to do, but was trying so hard to do something, anything.
Finally, I remembered that my parents have a Home Depot account. I very sheepishly called my mom, who more than willingly gave all of her information and paid for the rug, with me promising over and over again to pay her back as soon as I got home. She grew wings that moment.
In the main time, the cashier had unwrapped 2 suckers and given them to the boys. I swear she grew wings at that moment as well.
With the rug paid for and the kids finally happy, I thought all was well...until I realized that I had to get the rug in the car. I about died.
A merciful guy standing behind me in line offered to help me get the rug in the car. I swear he grew wings too.
We finally made it home, where William and I drug the rug (ha, that rhymed!) out of the car and into the house.
I unrolled it and put it in it's proper place, and I swear the heavens began singing. I grinned for the first time that day.
It was perfect! It was so soft, cute, cozy, and comfortable. Molly absolutely loved it.
And then the door burst open, and Luke and his little friend came flying through the house, to check out the new, soft rug.
I still don't think I can talk about what happened next, but I'm pretty sure the pictures will tell it all.
The end.
1 comment:
Oh Becky! I love you! I totally understand the juggle and the struggle! Keep it up!
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