I've Almost Made It!

Friday of spring break week . . . the kids have completely broken my spirit.  I finally lost it in the grocery store this afternoon.  In the spice aisle.  I can't even remember what my son did, but I jerked him by the arm, got in his face and yelled, "Knock it off!  I shouldn't have to put up with you!"  He finally paid attention.  And when I got up from kneeling, I saw three women with their grocery carts staring at me disapprovingly.  My daughter picked up on this and said, "Someone might take us away from you for being mean to us."  I let it go.  

At the checkout, my son wandered off.  I told his sister to find him.  She came back after a halfhearted search and said, "I couldn't find him.  I think someone took him."  I replied, "It won't take them long to send him back" as I paid for the groceries.  The older lady at the checkout almost died laughing.  I found him talking to a cardboard cutout of a soldier at an Army recruiting desk.  He gave the cardboard soldier a hug and asked if we could take it home.  

Part of my bad mood is because I feel like I've been hit by a semi.  I fell when I was taking the recycling out to the curb yesterday morning.  I am bruised and sore.  I fell right on the cement sidewalk on a small patch of clear ice from all the thawing and freezing that we've had here this week.  I can hardly move my neck and shoulders.  Just what I needed this week.  

I took the kids to a jumper castle place this morning for an hour and a half.  It was loaded with kids of every age and size.  The kids had a blast.  I sat and knit and finished sewing up a baby bootie that I've knit out of suede yarn and some yarn that looks like sheepskin.  It is supposed to look like a tiny Ugg boot.  I wasn't sure if my gauge was quite right - it looks a bit large, but six people walked up to me wanting to see it and asked me a ton of questions about it.  One lady who had brought her grandson told me, "It is better than anything you could buy in a store."  No one has ever told me that about something I made.  It made my day.  

After the jumper castles, the kids wanted to go to the animal shelter and look at the pets.  The daughter fell in love with a wonderful cat there.   She promised to pay for it with her allowance.  I reminded her that she didn't even want to feed the cat we already have, and she swore up and down that she would take care of this cat.  When I explained that we couldn't get another cat, she started crying, and I had to drag her out of the shelter.  What did I expect?  I knew going to the shelter was a bad idea.  My daughter is just like me.  When I go to bed tonight and close my eyes, I will see the little faces inside their cages.  Their eyes all look bewildered, and I know they are still wondering how they got there.  They have been treated as though they are expendable.  Worthless.  Thrown out like trash.  Living in a cage.  But, sad as that is, they are at least in a clean environment and being well cared for.  

We looked at the dogs.  For some reason, there were an awful lot of nasty loud pit bulls there this time.  The kids fell in love with this Akita mix.  She didn't bark.  But she was young, and she wasn't trained  yet because she had gone to the bathroom all over her pen, and she was stepping in it and tracking it all over.  It was then and there that I decided that I would probably never have a dog.  Though there was one sweet labrador in the next pen.  She was ten years old, and her owner had become ill and was no longer able to take care of her.  She was wearing a bandana around her neck, and she looked so sad.  One of her eyes was matted.  Her name was Lucy.  I will be saying prayers all night that she finds a wonderful home.  It is so hard for the older animals to find a good home.  I just can't understand why people buy animals when there are so many wonderful ones in shelters that desperately need homes.  

If any of you know anyone looking for a wonderful cat or a sweet labrador or two really cute but naughty kids, please let me know.  Okay, I'm joking about the kids - they aren't that cute.  (Joking!)