the annual summer meltdown

i ran away yesterday.  it really had to happen. it all started out rather inocously. a morning filled with the usual mothering routines.  "please clean your rooms, and get dressed!"  i said this in a voice singing with hope and positivity!  "your turn to practice the piano." said with equal vigor!

not surprisingly, my success rate was dismal.  25% to be exact.  only one of the four kidlets complied.  i love that one the best. i love the other 75% the best too, most of the time.

so naturally i repeat myself.  again. and again. and then just to be sure...again.  my eldest, bless him, says something reeking of attitude.  i surprise my self by responding calmly, " you need to change your attitude."

and my eldest, bless him, responds with even more attitude, " you need to change yours! you are grumpy ALL THE TIME!" 

also i noticed a smell this morning.  it's stinky six year old boy smell.  he is refusing to shower.  i am refusing to give him his breakfast until he complies.  he doesn't seem to mind. it still smells pretty bad in here.

my little lady is upstairs cleaning her room. or attempting too anyway.  to her credit she's been working on this since 2010.  to my credit, she is still allowed to keep trying.  but i decide to take a new route this morning.  "you've got 15 minutes to get this room cleaned up.  after that i am coming in with a garbage bag and taking everything left out to the thrift store."

to which she responds with complete indignance.  apparently 3 years is just NOT enough time to get a job done properly. she mumbles something about her grumpy mom, how she hates me, and how it's not fair and then throws something at her closet and exclaims! "i am running away."

i wanted to scream.  i wanted to yell. i wanted to swear very loudly! miraculously, i do none of those things.  instead consider my little ladies idea.

it was a light bulb moment for me really.  and so i say, "that is an awesome idea."  i think i will! maybe i need a break!  maybe the piano lessons, and swim lessons, and baseball games, and snowcone runs, and late nights, and road trips, and river floating, and camping, and complete summer chaos HAVE made me a tad grumpy?  maybe the complaining, and summer coughs, and rushing around, and constant sweeping, (seriously 3 times a day) and extra dishes and three homemade meals a day, and arguments diffused, and lost flipflops and swimsuits and and and and! 

 mommy needs a time out.

i take the 25% with me.  he's done with his jobs by now, imagine that!   so with the hormonal 13 yr old left in charge of the slow cleaner and the smelly six year old, i declare that i am running away and will be back soon. me and 25% head out the door to run away and do......errands! it was very exotic. it also saved lives.

i am encouraging you mothers to try this in some form. what do you do to escape? whether you can runaway to mail bills and eat a bar of delicious chocolate on the way home, or read a book in the bathroom or even, heaven fordid, turn on a movie and go sit in a warm shower for a bit, don't forget to take a little time for yourself.  i think it helped us avoid the annual summer meltdown. 

for the time being.