Life here is NOT a basket of Peaches

(They look sweet here huh? Looks can be misleading!)

One of my sisters-in-law hates a lot of blogs because she thinks everyone puts on a smiling face and life is just peachy all the time. She says they just make her feel worse about the hard times that she faces. So Candi, this one is for you!

We are having a "Super Saturday" (a get together to do crafts, have lessons, etc) at church. Being in the Relief Society presidency, that requires a lot of prep on my part along with some others. My portion is Vinyl Signs- wood and tile. I have done these before and they are really cute if they are your style. I love them. I thought that a lot of women would enjoy having spiritual quotes in their home too.

To make a LONG story a little shorter, I have procrastinated. The time has really snuck up on me and I am now in panic mode to get the boards bought, cut, sanded, and painted for next Saturday. So after the girls woke up from a way tooooo short of a nap, I got them ready. Thankfully, Gabe gets dressed himself. Who cares if his shoes are on the wrong feet...one less thing I have to do.



After getting everyone situated in the stroller, a good 8 minute process, sweat is pouring off of me. Gabe decides he wants to push the cart in Lowe's and I push the girls in the stroller. I get the normal stares from people (see our "Yes people. We are Freaks" post a couple months ago...we still are!) One man even turned around while we were passing him and started to shake his head. Really. After careful consideration on the tile (10-15 minutes comparing prices, bumpiness, color, etc) we choose 7 that we needed. Off to the paint. FINALLY finding the color I needed we ask him to mix it up for us. All the while a woman follows us so she can talk to the girls and TOUCH them. At this point the girls are getting restless and want out, getting louder and louder ever passing minute; plus they are not fans of strangers either. I am starting to sweat even more. I pick Kate up, she is the louder one of the two at this point. But Anna sees this and decides to express her opinion of being left out. Ahh! The sweat is rolling down my back now.



We go to the wood. Gabe is bored while I am looking and decides to run down the isle and then slide on the slick floor. I understand that fully (on a different day, that would have been fun for me too) but it adds to the chaos of the situation. Both girls on my hip crying, a boy sliding and falling making Indiana Jones sounds, a buggy and a honkin' huge stroller in everyone's way, and me with a big question mark over my head. I have the sizes that I need but it all looks like a foreign langue to me. I just am so flustered that I can't think straight. This shouldn't be that hard, right?



A guy comes to ask if we needed help. Bless his heart, I am sure he didn't want to. But he isn't getting the concept of what I need. I turn around to give Gabe "THE" look. And finally tell the guy to forget it. I will just wait until Erik comes home from work to help me. We try to leave the isle. I had to put Kate back in the stroller and Anna in the shopping cart. Gabe was on, yet again, something else so I picked him up firmly and put him in the stroller too. The problem with that is he is too heavy. I couldn't move the stroller and the cart at the same time. We ended up rolling into a display. All these people are looking at me and I could envision myself mooning them if I wasn't a grown woman with impressionable children in front of me. I am sure they were just being entertained by the freak show but for pete's sake. I just want to escape with some sort of dignity here...it wasn't happening!



I rearranged the children pulling Gabe out and threatened him with bed if he took his hand off the cart. I push the stroller and pull the cart through the crowds of men getting exactly what they need. One last thing, sandpaper. I grab the cheapest thing and hear a HUGE crash. I turn around and see Gabe underneath the shopping cart (he still had his hand on the cart...what a good boy). It had flipped on it's side pinning him under it. The tile thankfully didn't break...then realizing I am a horrible mother for thinking about the tile when I should be thinking about his legs. I pull him out and try to pick all the stuff up...AHHHH! More sweat. The girls are still crying. I am about to scream and sit down and cry. I decided that would just delay me getting out of there so I scratched the idea. I gave Gabe a good long hug instead...I was being too hard on him (But still was ticked too). We finished up and paid. HALLELUJAH we were at the car. Kate had fallen asleep some time between paying and the car and Anna was crying loud enough for the both of them.

I loaded everyone back in the van. I was shutting the door and the screaming got muffled. I contemplated not opening my door. But figured it would get too hot if I took a time out. I was about to climb in when a man walked up to me and said, "All you need is about 4 more of them and you will be set." I wasn't sure how to take that. Was he being sarcastic? Or was he saying they were blessings? I didn't think too hard on it I had kids to take home.

A quick trip through the bank line and the McDonalds drive-thru (I was not about to fix lunch!) and we were home. This is one of those days when I just should not have gotten out of bed. So Candi...my blog will never be a basket of peaches! We really fit our blog name..THE LONGNECKER ZOO!