Friends - Can't live with them, can't live without em neither!

UGH! I am so frustrated right now! I can't stand the fact that I have my kids and they are supposed to do what I say not what everyone else says. They are not supposed to question why or why not they are just supposed to do it. When they are told to do something different by someone else then I have to sit there and try to figure everything out. SO NOT HAPPENING ANYMORE! They are MINE do you hear me?

OK so I probably am confusing someone out there. Let me explain. There is My Man and me. I work first shift (9 - 5), he works second (3 - 11). So he is there when the kids get up in the morning but he is sleeping so he doesn't have that much interaction with them. When Sugarplum gets home he is there to get her off the bus and to spend some one-on-one time with her then he used to send her to the sitters on his way into work. Well since T moved in she has been watching Sugarplum. That is where it gets complicated because T is now working 3rd shift (10:45 - 7:15) so she gets home from work in time to get her kids off to school (from my house mind you) and to be constantly in my way questioning why I am doing this or why I am doing that! I hate it but how do you tell someone to leave when they have no place to go. So the kids are off, I leave at 8:30 with the middle 2 (oldest 2 leave at 7:30) the youngest 2 get on the bus at 8 so I bring the middle 2 when I leave. T then lays down. I call the house at 11:15 to wake My Man up. She answers and gives me grief and attitude as to why I woke her up. Well if she didn't have the phone up her butt she wouldn't worry about it. It is never on the charger and when she can't find it (or the remote to the TV) there is always kids to blame but usually it is her fault. Finally I get her to get up to go find My Man. Come to find out he is already up and in the shower. I leave a message for him to call when he gets out. Thinking to myself all this time 'yeah right he won't call'.

**On top of all that she doesn't have a vehicle so we have been sharing My Man's blazer and my Van between the 3 adults. Talk about life sucking being suck without a vehicle. So I get a call around 1:30 saying she needs to barrow the van to get her check and cash it today and by the time I get home the banks will be closed. Can I get a ride home with my mom (she works in town so often we ride together if needed). I say she is closing today(works at a bank) and won't get out until 5:30. That means I won't get home much before 6:30 and Bubba has a MD appt at 5:30 that if she wants the van she is going to have to come back and get me. Now let me just say I fill that van up every time I get paid($50 the last time) and whenever it is on a 1/4 of a tank in between as long as I have the money, and I do run it all over because of the 4 kids but it was on E as in EMPTY this morning (I get paid today so why put 5 in it to get me to work when I could just fill it on my way home) and I told her this. I told her that she was going to have to put gas in it. How much does someone want to bet that she is going to put 10 in the tank - use it all up and come to get me from work on E again! I am so pissed because this is just the way T is. **

I hate it but I can't tell her NO because she has to be able to get Gymnast and Sugarplum to and from practice and Bubba to MD appts when I can't get out of work. So now on to the next fact that I worked all day yesterday - no not physical labor but that is why I went to college. I get home to the house being trashed - I mean I had to walk over papers and laundry to get to set my work bag down, 4 kids NOT doing their homework. So I take a deep breath and say what the FUCK this is my life right? Gymnast is getting ready for practice. I tell the boys I will be back after I pick up the two little ones (they had practice from 4 - 6) and drop of Gymnast (6 - 9) and go to the store for dinner. I do the fastest shopping ever and bought way too much for the money I had but made it to the studio by 5:55 so I could gather the younger ones up and send Gymnast off. Back in the van we go. Home where I started laundry. Got one of the boys to do homework while the other 2 played on the computer. I started dinner did the dishes and stopped the fighting. At 7:30 I woke T up (Yes she was still sleeping on the couch this whole time) and told her that dinner was ready to get up to eat with her kids (aren't I such a great friend). While we are eating I ask if she could do baths tonight because I had to get Gymnast at 9. She rolled her eyes (as to say I guess I have to) and began yelling because someone wasn't doing what she wanted. I bite my tongue too much. It isn't like I sat on the couch while she did them. I asked her 3 days ago to go through the kids rooms and gather laundry. She said she sent them up to get them - defeats all purpose of me asking her to do it because they grab in plain view and don't think about under dressers, behind doors, under beds, etc. so I went to do that... She gets attitude with me! Go figure! 3 days I have been waiting for her to do this - her reasoning - well then I just wouldn't do the laundry then. Well honey I won't send me kids to school in rags and they sure don't have anything in the laundry right now. Isn't that part of being a mother - doing everything that your kids did 1/2assed? Anywho...The youngest were off to bed by 8:30 the middle by 9 and the oldest were to bed by 10. Yeah I know that's late but Gymnast has practice till 9 then she eats and does homework.

So today I get a call from Skater crying saying he is over to his Aunts and T called and said he had to go home. I said that he was fine until 5 but not a minute after. I try to call her but she is at work getting her check and tells me she will call me afterwards. She calls me back about 20 mins later where I ended up hanging up the phone because her problem is that Skater doesn't go home after school but to his aunts. Plays with his friends and then comes home when I get there by 6 at the latest. She wants him to go home do dishes or another chore, homework and then be bored the rest of the night. (did I mention the fact that she needed him to sit for her son and daughter because she will be out cashing her check when they get there). It doesn't work that way with him and my family is adaptied to it. LIVE WITH IT WILL YA. No he hasn't done dishes in 2 weeks but he is the one that takes garbage out when it needs it as well as makes sure it get to the curb. He is the one up the latest and if you don't feel like getting off the couch he will get you a drink or a snack. He is that kind of boy (I instilled some great values into him didn't I?). SO he doesn't do dishes - ALL WELL... They got done before she moved in and they always get done now so what?

What people have to understand is that each person in MY FAMILY does their own little part. Gynmast does the downstairs bathroom - cat litter, toilet, sink and floor. Not to perfection but enough to last us until the weekends where I get a chance to go in after it. Skater does garbage. Bubba feeds the cats whenever and however much they need. Plus he helps with laundry (bringing it down, bringing from dryer to living room so I can fold it, bring from washer to dryer), not much but when you think we have 9 living in our house there is A LOT OF LAUNDRY. and right now we have 2 Cats and 6 kittens so that is a big responsibility too. Sugarplum does what Bubba forgets (water's the cats), plus she makes sure all the toys stay upstairs. I go through and pile them on the bottom landing of the stairs and she brings them up every night before bed. (could you imagine all the toys throughout the house - UGH!) My Man does the handy work and on the weekends does alittle housework if I ask him. I do everything else. Now T and her kids don't really have anything but try to tell her that and you thought you were slapping her in the face.

Okay I think I ranted enough. 1 hour till T picks me up - should be a fun evening - NOT!