Judecorp.

This has been a hell of a day.

I really think the hell of today can be summed up in one one-minute snippet of today.

I ordered pizza for dinner at Jen's insistence because really, I was too tired and fried to figure out actual food. So the pizza arrives and I get a piece out for Punk and go to get her a cup of milk. I open the dishwasher (clean) to let the dishes dry and get a cup for her and a glass for me. I put the cup and glass on the counter, and open the fridge to get the milk. I pour the milk and put it back in the fridge. The action of closing the fridge door somehow topples over a Stain Stick that is on top of the fridge, which falls over the side, and of course DIRECTLY hits my glass, which falls into the dishwasher and shatters into many pieces all over my clean dishes. The Stain Stick, having bounced off the glass, then hits the cup of milk, knocking it over onto the counter, all over the dishes, and onto the kitchen floor where it promptly attracts cats. So in a split second, I am now fishing glass out of the dishwasher and the floor, wiping up the counter and floor, shooing cats, re-running the dishwasher on the rinse cycle, and pouring yet another cup of milk.

I never got myself a drink. It was just too much effort.

I worked 14 hours straight today. Usually I try to get out of my day job by 5 on Mondays so I can decompress for an hour before babysitting but today was our annual Open House Holiday Party for clients/families which meant that I was required to work until it was done, which got me out of work at 6:15. I usually babysit at 6, so I raced home and walked right over. Hello, exhausting. Our conversations tonight went like this:

Me: E, are you tired?
E: No, I'm not tired.
Me: I'm very tired.
E: Don't go to sleep!

She apparently has a new bedtime stalling tactic which is to decide that she wants something /right now/ and needs to throw a big fit about it. Tonight she spotted some hair elastics at bedtime and insisted that she needed ponytails in her hair. When I said no, she went all out dramatic on me, yelling, "I WANT THEM!" 6674617816 times progressively louder (I wasn't answering) until I pulled her close onto the chair with me and she sniffled and fell asleep. I may have a hard time ignoring the sad plea of "I want my mommy" but I'm certainly not going to mess with acknowledging a crazy bedtime-stalling tantrum. Good times.

It's so funny, because she's the most compliant child ever when we're getting ready for bed, down to every little thing - putting on pajamas when asked, getting into bed, laying down for the second story (she can sit up for the first one). We even have a little chat after the second story where I remind her that there is no more talking and she tells me that if she talks I will go sit in the chair and not talk to her. So it's not like she doesn't get the routine! ;) She's such a goof, and probably quite confused since it sounds like the moms, the care provider, and I all respond to her in different ways.

Oh well, time for bed so I can start all over again tomorrow. My goal is to finish all of the holiday preparations tomorrow night while Jen is at work.

I found out today that two of my favorite helpline people are leaving the helpline. That is so sad! I don't want to have new people using the helpline with me when I already have fantastic people on my shift. Whine whine whine. If she leaves, Jill my chinchilla had better stay in touch with me and hang out or I will hunt her down.

I really think that the combination of the 50 hour/week job, the volunteering, the babysitting, and the RI crap is going to kill me. I feel so wiped out and drained all the time. Tonight when Jen and I got home after 10, I barely had the energy to bring the recycling/garbage down and haul my big booty back up the stairs. Did we just have a vacation two weeks ago? Because it sure doesn't feel like it.

I should go to bed, but first I need to put my laundry away and clean up some stuff. I accidentally left my work bag in the trunk. I hope I don't need it for anything tonight. I /must/ be exhausted, big time - I have been forgetting little things and spacing out all the freaking time. Yuck.