Glass Half- Full

This morning started out really crappy, due to a lack of sleep. I woke up 20 minutes before the kids got on the bus, Thinking, crap, I'm late, but wow the kids are really quiet! Maybe it won't be a typical Monday after all!

Yeah, whatever.

On cue, all three kids forgot about their morning routines, and started playing with the dogs, winding them up, and making them bark like mad. The kids know I hate this, and yet they do it every morning. Can someone please tell me how to stop this behavior?

So I yell. Repeatedly. Which has no effect. And I wonder to myself, what has happened to my kids, to myself, that causes yelling at my kids to have no effect? Obviously they're used to it, which really bothers me. Please tell me I'm not the only mother who yells at her kids! But there seems to be no ill-effects, as I get hugs and smiles when they finally leave to watch for the bus. Glass half full.

From that point it was total chaos for the next 15 minutes. I have to remind them to brush their teeth. Then my daughter comes to hug me goodbye, and her backpack falls off her shoulder and spills my coffee, of which I barely had two sips, all over the desk and computer. "Sorry Mommy!" she yells as she runs out the door. Ugh... Luckily nothing was destroyed, only wet and sticky. Glass half full.

Then my youngest forgot to have me sign his progress report, and missed the bus. Luckily the bus loops back by here within a few minutes, so I didn't have to jump up and take him to school in my robe with no coffee in me. And his grades are excellent. See? Glass half full.

One hour later, I had finished 2 loads of laundry and a workout, stripped the bed, and got down 2 cups of precious coffee. Called my mother, called a friend, discovered the kitchen and bathroom sinks were stopped up and back-flowing into one another, and fixed the problem. No plumber needed, no surprise plumber's bill to pay. Again, the glass is half full.

So now I sit, posting about my boring day, to put off the ever-growing to do list, and playing the Pollyanna Game with myself, to find the good in this hum-drum Monday.

Look, it's almost noon! That means in less than 4 hours, i can see my children's smiling faces, and give "being a model mommy" another shot.

Wish me luck!