That photo just about sums up my attitude today, and that is not a good thing. I have really been trying to stay calm and peaceful lately because I feel that it is better for my kids, myself, my husband, and everyone around me if I am calm and pleasant instead of anxious, angry, and snappy. For the past few days I had been doing pretty well, and I was having more fun, too. This morning, though, the poop hit the floor and it threw me off course.
I know, the saying says that the poop hit the fan, but in my case, our septic system backed up into the basement and there was yucky water all over the floor. So, the poop hit the floor. I discovered the mess when I was getting the kids ready to go to the park. I went downstairs to get a pair of pants that I knew were in the dryer from a few days ago, and as soon as I opened the door to the basement and saw water at the bottom of the stairs, my heart sank.
As my heart sank, I realized that I had two options for what to do next. One option was to tell the kids that we were not going anywhere until I could clean up the mess in the basement, which would take about an hour or two. You can pretty much imagine how well that option would sit with two little boys who are 15 months old and three and a half years old. The other option was to set the mess aside for a while, and take the kids to get lunch and go to the park as we had planned. Who am I kidding, not only was the second option more appealing for the kids, it was more appealing for me, too.
Now that I am sitting here writing this, I can say that although I occasionally thought about the messy basement and the messy house that we had left behind, I was largely able to enjoy myself. When we left the house, it was just about time for B to nap. He was sleeping peacefully when we got to our lunch spot, which is just ten minutes up the road. It's one of those places that you would love to randomly stumble upon if you were driving along, a little food truck that sells fantastic barbecue and hand cut fries. Oh, and hot dogs, too. That's what D gets when we go there, he calls the place "The Hot Dog Man". Anyways, since it is a food truck and the parking area is literally two feet away from the order window, B was able to keep on dreaming as D and I ordered our food. We enjoyed our lunch in the trunk of the car, which is D's favorite place to eat. He says that he likes my new car so much more than the old one, because we can sit in the trunk and eat.
B slept through lunch, but we saved him some food. He woke up when we got to the park, and he was all smiles and ready to play. We had a great time for a couple of hours, and then I decided that it was time to go back to reality. When we got home, I was instantly reminded of how difficult it is to clean yucky water out of a basement while caring for small children.Of course, the boys were really not being all that bad, they were just being kids, doing what kids do. I, on the other hand was stressed to the max and unhappy about cleaning up a wet, yucky mess. Unfortunately, I allowed my poopy situation to get the best of me, and I snapped at the kids a few times. When I was not snapping directly at them, I was muttering and sputtering about the situation.
At one point, I noticed that it was about time to get started on dinner. That sent me even further over the edge than I already was. I simply could not bear the thought of creating more dishes that I would not be able to wash, due to the water situation. I also could not bear the thought of cooking a meal with all of the cleaning that I still had left to do both in the basement and in the rest of the house. If you read my post yesterday, you know that I was working on my second Whole30. Today would have been my day 14, but the lunchtime trip to hot dog man was definitely not on - plan. I went even further off track, and ordered pizza for dinner. It was delicious, and I think it may have saved my sanity. That said, I nearly worked myself into a mental breakdown by thinking about how hard I had just worked to eat well for thirteen whole days and how terribly I felt about going off track today.
It is night time, and the kids are in bed. I have cleaned up all of the messes, and my husband has fixed the water situation. Tomorrow is a new day, and I can use my favorite stay - positive and stay healthy tools (The Orange Rhino Challenge and Whole9, respectively) to make it a better day than today was. Even if more poop hits the floor. Even if something else happens that I don't like. I have navigated challenging situations during the past few days, and I was able to remain positive throughout them. I can do it again, and I will do it again. I will know that I am getting really good at staying positive when poop hits the floor and I am able to keep calm and mop on instead of getting caught up in my own tirades and tantrums.
Photo courtesy of JulesInKY on morguefile.com.
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