Blah

Yesterday was one of those days when I felt, well, blah. Some might define that as "discouraged" or "frustrated" or lethargic," but I think "blah" is much more descriptive, don't you?

It all comes down to our girls.

Their bickering infuriates me. But their complaining exhausts me.

In the afternoon, Allie came running in the kitchen from the porch with Sami trailing close behind. "Mom, can we have ice cream?" I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and reminded her that we had finished all the ice cream last night.

"That's great..." She jumped up in the air, "...because the ice cream truck is coming! Can we get some ice cream?"

Now let me preface my response with my usual policy with ice-cream-truck ice cream... I don't buy it. Granted, I have actually done it once, maybe twice, but no more than that. And the ice cream truck has come around our street dozens of times.

I continued to wipe the counters. "No, Allie. No ice cream right now."

Sami responded perfectly. "Okay." And she walked away.

But not Allie. She folded her arms and scrunched up her face. "That's what you always say! You never buy us ice cream! It's not fair!" I stopped and looked at her like she was crazy, especially since we had just finished up a half-gallon of ice cream the night before! And then Sami came back to get in on the action. "Yeah, Mom, you never get us ice cream!" What the--?

I told them to either leave the room or be quiet about it. They actually stopped talking about it, and I could continue with my work in the kitchen.

In the evening after we finished dinner Allie piped up, "Can we go to an ice cream shop?" Kevin sighed and responded, "No, Allie, we're not going to an ice cream shop."

"Dad, I wasn't asking you!" Right. If I had responded, I'm sure she would have had the same comeback ready for me. And like my answer would be any different! So she looked at me.

"No, Allie, no ice cream." Again, her arms folded and she stomped around. We tried to explain to her why ice cream was a special treat and why we didn't feel it necessary to eat all the time.

At bedtime, after we had said family prayers, I said, "Okay, get in bed." Allie asked why no books before bed. I said, "Look around the house... Does it look clean to you?" There went her arms and face again. Yes, it's our family policy that if their toys aren't cleaned up by bedtime, they get no bedtime stories.

Honestly, after the kids were in bed, I went back to our room and sat on our bed. Blah. I told Kevin that in many ways I felt terribly emotionally abused. On a daily basis I will hear both "I love you, Mommy! You're the best mom ever!" and "I hate you, Mom! You are so mean! You're the worst mom ever!" within hours of each other. And as much as I love roller coasters, being on an emotional roller coaster is torture.

Sigh.

This is a time when I wish I could send them off to Grandma's house for a day.