Tanya's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Do you remember this book? It's one of my faves. It begins with the words, "I went to sleep with gum in my mouth and now there's gum in my hair," and ends, "It's been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad, day. My mom says some days are like that."

Amen.

I had one of those yesterday.

I don't want to belabor the point, but my financial situation is getting more difficult. With the economic downturn (don't you just love that overused phrase??) the most profitable cleaning account cut back drastically. They are an automotive supplier. That cost me $600 a month. Combined with the house in Toledo not moving and I've been experiencing a few sleepless nights.

When I got the mail yesterday afternoon there was a threatening letter from the Ohio Attorney General saying I owe taxes from 2006. WTF? I paid them. April 15, 2006.  The accountant is looking into it, but I nearly threw up after reading that letter about a dozen times last night at the dinner table.

After Ali and I talked for a little while we were feeling a little better about things – after a few tears of frustration and fear.

For the next 10 days we have the kidling again. After dinner he had a few issues. We dealt with them. 

After cleaning up the dinner dishes I was still feeling a little fragile so I decided to make a pitcher of iced coffee just for myself. I don't normally do things like that. For whatever reason, if I'm the only one who likes something I just don't bother with it. But, I was feeling down and some iced coffee sounded good. Besides feeling down I was also feeling guilty because, with the amount of coffee and sugar that I put in the half-gallon pitcher, I needed to use up all the milk.

After stirring everything together I set the full pitcher on the counter while I washed out the coffee pot. The next thing I heard was Ali yelling, "No!" That was followed by a crashing sound as kidling purposely knocked the pitcher onto the floor. 

At that point things started to move in slow motion. I looked at the small tidal wave of iced coffee. It crashed into the cabinets in front of me and rebounded towards the stove. The river of brown, sticky liquid quickly made it's way under the stove and oozed over the rug.

When kidling was later asked why he knocked the pitcher off his answer was, "I just wanted to."

He went directly to bed. Did not pass go. Did not collect $200.

I'm kind of ashamed to admit that while we were scrubbing the floor under the stove I was crying – out of frustration, anger and sheer self-pity. It was pathetic. Ali was so calm. 

"Honey, just make some more!" 

"I can't!" I wailed. "We don't have any more milk!"

After turning off the cartoons and letting kidling stew in silence on the couch while we cleaned up the mess, we took him upstairs to bed. Ali got him all ready and tucked in. She laid down with him for a bit. When she was done I leaned down to give him a kiss and reminded him that today was going to be a whole new day.

All in all, yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Unfortunately some days are just like that.

The only reminders we have today are that IRS letter and a semi-sticky kitchen floor. We can deal with that later. 

I just keep telling myself that it's a brand new day.