Brown Water Can Put A Crimp In Your Day

Wow, wow, wow. I'm having a really hard time with the kids today. I'm not sure what it is, but they have been so high-maintenance lately. They've been a bit needy, too, but I expect that and that's ok considering what happened last week. That's not what I'm talking about. What I'm talking about it that I set them up with crayons so I can do the dishes or start dinner and two minutes into it they want play-doh. Or I get Little Man set up with the wii and two minutes into it he's throwing a huge fit because he wants to go to a different level or play a different character and he needs my help to do that. And they do it again and again (and I don't mean that I ignore them while doing this, either, or that I do this after being busy all day). Seriously, kids, I used to get pushed out the door into the backyard and told, "Do something," when my parents needed a few minutes to accomplish something. I know this is a phase, but getting constantly interrupted is not something I handle very well. I'm working on it, I've improved so much, even The Husband says so, but having a few simple items on my to-do list (like make dinner so we can eat, swish the toilets so they aren't nasty, or load the dishwasher to we're not looking at piles of dishes - I know better than to expect to do something complicated like organize or paint a room) and not getting them done without ten (or twenty) interruptions drives me insane. Literally. I lose it. Literally, the doctor gave me a prescription for happy pills this week. Which I haven't filled and may not fill, but it's nice to know they're there if I need them. Today was one of those mornings, where nothing got done. I was handling it great, though, I really was. I managed to not sweat the small stuff, and was happy that I even started a load of dishes and managed to wash two loads of laundry. Then I decided to give the kids a bath before lunch, they both needed one last night but due to pooping issues one child didn't get one. I figured I'd put them both in the bath and they could play and have fun as they love the bath. So I go to run the water, and it's brown. Dark brown. Oh gross, what the heck is this? Ok, no bath for the kids. And oh crap the load of dishes and two loads of laundry that I just washed in dirty brown water. Nice. I think that kind of flipped a switch for me. I turned into grumpy mommy, not so nice mommy, please sit and watch a cartoon, or three, so mommy can have a small mental break and regroup. So I call the utility company to ask what might the problem be and they have no idea. They said to flush each toilet five times every fifteen minutes for an hour, and if that doesn't fix the problem to call back. Wow, as if I didn't have anything better to do than spend five minutes out of each 15 flushing toilets. Which I guess I didn't, as we need clean water instead of nasty brown stuff. So an hour and another phone call later I find out that the fire department was out flushing the hydrant down the street, and that can send dirt into the pipes for a few hours. Ok, no big deal, I get it. I'll wash the dishes and clothes again, take a shower and give baths this afternoon instead of this morning. No big deal. I just wish my heart would stop beating so fast, and that the panicky feeling would leave. It's 1:00 now, is it too early for a glass of wine? Just kidding, sort of. :)