Ain't Nobody Happy

Do you ever feel like you just can't do right by your kids and husband? I swear, everytime I try to make plans for my family to do something fun together, a monkey wrench gets thrown into the works. For example, my oldest daughter's school is putting on a stage production of "Willy Wonka" this weekend. The school has been working on it for the whole year, practically, and high school musicals are just fun to go to, so I had her buy tickets. In addition to this, I was trying to be nice and had my eight year old invite one of her friends to go along with us. We invited her friend to ride the bus home, go to the show, and just spend the night since it was probably going to be late when the thing ended. So, all the plans were set, we purchased the tickets (all $70.00 worth) last week and everyone was up for going. Monday, the mother of the little girl that was going with us called and wanted to change the plans we had made because she wanted her daughter to come home after the show--okay--she was still to ride the bus home and go to the show with us. By Wednesday, the mom calls back and cancels the whole thing. Now I am stuck with a ten dollar ticket that was going to be wasted. I asked my second oldest daughter if she had a friend who might want to go, and she called a girl, but she couldn't go. Fine! I was starting to get a little ticked. Yesterday, my second oldest said another one of her friends would like to go. Yeah! We call, I talk to the mom and make arrangements for her daughter to go with us. Finally, it looks like at least I will not have wasted $10.00, so things were looking up. Here we are today, the day of the show and it is 3:30 and my dear, darling husband calls and tells me he might not be able to get away in time to go to the show with us. I'm back to wasting the $10.00 again! I swear I will never try to arrange a fun time for my family. All it does is stress me out, waste my money and "ain't nobody happy!" It just isn't worth it >:(

I Need A Little Christmas, Right This Very Minute. . .

My husband woke me up at 3:00 this morning. He couldn't sleep. We have had a lot of restless nights lately. He told me he worries every minute about money. He also said that he was sorry he moved us here. I am prone to worrying myself, and have not been happy about the way things are working out for us here, but to hear him say he regrets the move made me feel a little panicky. We have not had anything work out smoothly. For my husband, the grass certainly looked greener here than where we were, and we all know that sometimes you just have to test out the "grass" on the other side, but this is not what we had hoped for. All of 2007 has been one trouble or worry after another, so I don't know why this mess is surprising us so. We have pretty much decided that I should get a job, and he might need to get a second job as well. Just when we will squeeze these jobs in is unclear. I have not worked for pay for fifteen years, so I'm not sure I will have much to offer in the way of marketability. We also have our four kids to think about too. They are too young to do much housework and I really don't feel comfortable leaving my fifteen-year-old in charge of her three siblings. With all the worry and stress, I am reminded of that Christmas song from the Broadway musical "Mame" that goes: "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute. . ." Maybe that is what my family and I need: to worry less and think about what this Christmas is season is all about.