Want to come to my pity party?

So this week has been kind of crappy.

First, work just plain sucks. If I wanted to become a travel agent, I would have applied for a job as one. But that's all I did this week and most of last week. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if another person's trip hadn't been added every time I thought I was done. I try to keep myself as organized as possible; then someone skews all my work. So I end up making other people work more than necessary and make myself look unorganized.

The next highlight of my week was receiving a statement from IHC showing a balance that amazingly matches the missing October payment...plus interest of course. So much for working itself out. I decided near the end of October I was going to pay off the remaining balance minus the missing payment and hope against hope they got their act together and fixed it. But when I still saw a balance online the first week of November, I called. Yes...I actually called and by the end of the call was pretty bitchy. But I was frustrated and felt justified. I called my bank the same day and faxed all the information they needed the next day. Almost two weeks later, I received a statement and was fit to be tied.

After being cranky all week, the last thing I wanted to do yesterday was go to the gym and be tortured at boot camp. I know it was my idea to submit myself to the torture, but I really just wanted go home and eat some more of the ginormous batch of cookies I made Monday night. (I tend to bake when I'm upset.) Not to mention I haven't seen any real "results" from the torture, so why bother, right? But I went, and I actually felt better after we were done. That's what usually happens: I always feel better after working out, but that's usually the last thing I want to do when it's what I need most. Honestly, if I hadn't had Tina there waiting for me, I probably would have bailed; thank goodness for a workout buddy. But any feel-goods the exercise gave me slowly went away about bed time...

Thanks to Lillian's new stubbornness at bedtime. Well, I guess I should clarify that she's only stubborn with me. She used to go to bed so easily. In fact, when other people would put her to sleep, they were always so amazed at how easily she would go to bed. But since her bout of sickness, she refuses to go to sleep without rocking in the glider for several minutes (several can be upwards of half an hour some nights). And then, even if she's completely out, as soon as she hits the pillow, she's wide awake and protesting (very loudly) about going to sleep. I can go back in a million times and give it another try with the same result. But Erik can go in, and two seconds later, she's asleep.

This was the case yesterday. After an entire day with nothing but a cat nap on the way to Brigham (this is what happens when Daddy is in charge for the day), I tried to put a very sleep-deprived, stubborn toddler to bed. I think I'm now partially deaf with the amount of yelling and crying. How can so much noise be produced by someone so small? Since nothing I did seemed to be helping, I handed her over to Erik, who left her room less than a minute later with no repercussions. Needless to say, I went to bed last night feeling like my daughter hates me and I've already failed as a mother. A mother should be able to get her kid to sleep, right?

So looking back at my week, I'm thankful it's over. I truly think I'm done with travel or at least I shouldn't have any more surprises next week (but if I knew they were coming, they wouldn't be surprises, would they?). When I stepped on the scale this morning, I was actually lighter, so maybe boot camp is making a difference and the soreness is worth it. I just called IHC, again, and was told they received my fax. They have to research it, but I can disregard the statement. Not exactly the answer I wanted, but it's better than some alternatives. And Lillian just went down for a nap without too much of a fuss. So maybe the weekend will be infinitely better than this week was. It has to be.