Last week I had one of those stupid days. The kind where everything I did was somehow wrong.

The boss needed an item asap from Home Depot. I drove to L0wes, thinking it was H0me Dep0t, passing the freakin’ H0me Dep0t on my way there and never even realizing it. Dear Lord, I am sleep effin’ deprived. I came back a different way in order to stop at W@l-M@rt for some other supplies. Except the store is gone. I debated where the nearest one would be and drove to another town, to the one I usually shop at. Unfortunately, there’s another closer store.*

When I got back to work and my coworker unwrapped the L0wes item, we realized it was the wrong thing. Boss was pissed, thinking that I had cut the product down from a larger piece. I explained it came pre-sized and wrapped, so I had no idea it was the wrong thing. Back out, this time to H0me Dep0t, to get the correct item. I got back at 4:30, the item needed to be cut down into smaller pieces before 5.

I ran by the bank on the way home to transfer some money to Mom and deposit a couple of cashier’s checks. I had grabbed the receipts, not the checks themselves and had no clue until the teller sent them back. And the $25 transfer to Mom became $75. Whatever. Mom will need the money and I didn’t feel like waiting in line again.

The cashier at L0we’s did make my day, so all wasn’t gloom and doom. When I gave her my tax exempt form, she said “Oh, University X. You don’t look old enough to be a student.” I laughingly told her I wasn’t a student, but and 8-year employee of the university. She couldn’t believe it. Then she commented to the guy behind me about how she was embarrassing me. I told her not at all, I was flattered she thought I looked so youthful. I think she would’ve lost it if I let on that I’m a mom in addition to 15 years older than she imagined.

*In my defense, I work in a podunk town 45 minutes away from home. I do all my personal shopping in my hometown, so I’m not all that familiar with things near work. There are no major stores in Podunk Town, so work supplies are purchased either in Small City in one direction or Larger Small Town in the exact opposite direction. I ended up at L0wes in Small City, then Wal-Mart in Larger Small Town, not realizing that the W@l-M@rt in another small town adjacent to Small City would’ve been quicker. Oh well.


I thought my goofy day ended at sundown. Nope, it stretched onto the next day. That afternoon I returned the incorrect item, then ran to W@l-M@rt for additional work items. I went to the closer store, one which I’m not familiar with. It’s arranged differently and it took forever to find what I needed, even after asking for assistance. The whole time I thought my cell phone was in my pants pocket. I was wrong. It was sitting on my desk back at work.

I got back to work around 3:45. Several coworkers asked if Hubby had gotten in contact with me. Uh-oh. I called and discovered daycare called him at around 2:00, after Peanut puked. Hubby was stranded with his broken-down work car, waiting for fleet to get him hooked up with a replacement and had been frantically trying to get me.

I finally arrived at daycare around 4:30. Peanut was pitifully lying on his Kindermat with his binky and blankie, surrounded by a gaggle of kids. He looked miserable. Once I scooped him up, I got the downlow from the teachers. He had thrown up mucous (he’s had a horrible cold with a cough for about 2 weeks), only slept for about 30 minutes of naptime, was very fussy, and had been snoozing on and off all afternoon. She said several kids had ear infections, but I doubted he had one since the tubes have been kickass at doing their job. She also said the other kids had been really sweet, gathering around Peanut and occasionally giving him a little pat. It was so adorable I almost cried. They may bite and smack the shit outta each other, but when one of the team is down, they all rally 'round.

Hubby and I decided if Peanut had a bad night, he would stay home the next morning and I’d stay home in the afternoon. Oh, did we have a bad night. Peanut was up crying for most of it. Hubby graciously let me sleep in the guest room, but I still woke up several times to faint crying and the stupid cat. (His way of thanking me for rescuing him after his outdoor experience was to pounce on me all night and loudly scratch at the blinds. Asshole.)

Peanut finally settled down around 5:30 and slept for 3 or so hours. By that point, Hubby and I were both thinking ear infection. Sure enough, it was a bilateral infection and sore throat. The good news was since it had been 8 months since the last one, Peanut could go on oral Amoxicillin instead of injected Rocephin. Thank God.

He’s much better now after a weekend of good nights and good naps. Me? I need a vacation filled with lots of alcohol.