Post-Party Stress Disorder

I know I can't be alone in this. For me it's more like, "Post-Time with my Family Blues", which sucks and hit me hard. I woke up yesterday to sunshine and with really good intentions. I was going to come home after dropping the Big One off at preschool and clean the hell out of my dump of a house. I needed to call the oil company because the silver thingy (that's the technical term) that holds the water that heats the house (I think) was leaking rusty water all over the laundry room floor. So I did that. I got all the yummy stuff out to make some sort of tea flavored cupcake (I was thinking Chai w/ Cardamom Vanilla Buttercream) while the baby napped. The Big One would help me mix batter and crack eggs and we'd listen to The Avett Brothers.

POOF! Lunch came and went, the baby went down for her nap and I crashed. The Big One had a nice, albeit short, time reading books and I just sat and felt crummy. And then the baby woke up and I still felt crummy, so we decided to eat rippled potato chips and dip. That part was good. And the glimmer of sweetness and light was when the baby did a silly jump and said "HOORAY!", and her big sister giggled hard and kissed the top of her head. That part was awesome. And the chips helped. And then it was time to cook dinner.

This is usually my favorite right??!! I mean, I was making this awesome steak salad! Fire alarm went off, baby/sister (I'm not sure who) broke a brand new toy, and my steak almost caught on fire. All at the same time. A milk carton fell on the newly cleaned kitchen floor, my arugula had gone bad and I didn't have the blue cheese I could have SWORN I had the day before. Plus the husband was working late. BAH!

I was cranky at the girls. I felt bad. They felt bad. I apologized and we sat to eat. But we had lost our mojo. POOF!

Still, I'm calling it a semi-win. Some good food was consumed. Most of it at lunch and breakfast, but whatever. They took a bath, so they're clean. They let me brush their hair!!!!  The three of us sat and watched Tangled together. I let them each have two marshmallows. They told me they loved me at least 5 times. I told them at least 10. I got a lot of hugs and two little back rubs. The baby did my hair. I had a cold root beer on ice.

I'm still missing my family. But that's OK. More trips will be planned. New vacations and parties and surprises. We'll make the cupcakes another day. I like to think that crappy days are just practice for the really good ones. They make them so much sweeter.