Frustration

Today I woke up and thought it would be a great day. I had no plans and the kids were playing nicely with each other. My husband was as always camped out on the couch watching some sport or another. Then my bubble burst my daughter runs in and announces that her brother is coloring her with food coloring. I try not to keep things like food dye in the house where the kids will find them. So I hid the food dye in the glove compartment of my car. That was a place they never looked, until today that is.

So her left arm form the elbow down is green. I don't mean splotches of green, I mean solid, Incredible Hulk green. Instead of overreacting I walkaway and look up removing food dye from skin on the computer. The first link I found mentioned toothpaste. So I go into the bathroom and get her daddy out of there, he is just yelling and making it worse, I grab the toothpaste and wash her arm with it.

It worked. They smell minty fresh too. The toothpaste is all gone but the Hulk look is also gone. The story doesn't get any better though at this point. I get in the car to get more toothpaste and I notice the four small american flags I bought yesterday are gone.

I asked my husband where they were and he said casually that the kids took them into the back yard. Again I take a deep breath. If infuriated me that he was so casual about the kids playing with something they weren't allowed to. I had hoped that they would have some respect for the flag. I simply asked that they be put back where they belonged by the time I got home. I thought that was something he could handle.

It was at least an hour later that I came home. I pulled into the driveway to see no flags where they belonged. I pulled into the backyard and it was a wreck. Now Mommy is MAD. I had the kids come outside and find the flags and pick up the yard. Then when I came inside I asked their father why the flags weren't where they belonged. His reply — "Well I asked them to do it." Like that was all it would take. He asked and never checked to see if it was done, he didn't even ask about it until I came home.

Of course by now chaos was approaching fast. When I get to upset I shutdown and I try to prevent that from happening. But when he gets upset he just tells you over and over again what you did to get him upset until you are just as mad as he is. Then he is done and sits down and can't understand why you are so upset.

I am so frustrated by days like this. I am a single parent in a two person house. Maybe it would be easier without him, I will have one less person to watch and parent. It's frustrating to be a wife to someone that you keep parenting. It's frustrating parenting an adult over and over again. Eventually I will have enough, I probably should have had enough by now.