An Eventful Day

Today I woke up and had a whole list of items in my head that I wanted to accomplish. A load of laundry and the dishwasher were started super early so that it could be done by 9:00. That is pretty much the start of the energy conservation during the day until after working hours. I also knocked off the cleaning chore of cleaning the three bathrooms. The items in our refrigerator consisted of leftovers and condiments...no joke people! So we took off for the commissary right as it opened. Noah picked out his cart...this time a cart with a car next to the handles instead of one added onto the front of the cart. And we were off. All was well until we were about half way done shopping and Noah was done. He was over driving the car with the steering wheel and his drink/snack. So he became that kid in the grocery store screaming at the top of his lungs. I had picked up a box of gummie snacks and opened them right there in the store...and with holding him/giving him gummy snacks I was able to finish the shopping. The selection in the dairy aisle was really bad with entire areas empty. We'll have to go back next week and see if they received a shipment. We left with a lot...a lot of groceries. When shopping while Zack is at home...I time it so that he can help me bring the items in or I only take in the cold items and he brings in the rest when he gets home. It just wears me out...hauling it all inside and then today having to haul Noah around while in the store used up a lot of energy. And the idea that if I had gone sooner then there would have been less bags...doesn't escape me! We got home and put away all of the groceries and it was lunch time. We did lunch and quiet time while I was trying to knock of small tasks in the kitchen. Noah fell asleep on the couch before I got him to his bed...and it was back to the kitchen. It seemed as if my faith was being tested today because things just started going crazy starting with Noah in the commissary. I was cleaning up the kitchen...emptying the dishwasher etc. And I turned on the water and it drained into the garbage disposal...all of which came pouring out under the cabinet door. Wonderful! I said a little prayer saying that my determination will not falter today...and asking God to help me. I called maintenance and reported it...and they replied back in half English/Japanese that someone will come today or tomorrow. This is not uncommon for a slow reaction to an issue. So when I was cleaning it up and poked my head underneath and saw that it was coming from the garbage disposal itself and not a pipe issue...whew...because then I could still use the other side of the sink. And while on the phone I got the number of the person I have to report the broken tile in the bathroom to...I believe it was Monday and I was taking a shower...Noah was coming in and out from his room to the bathroom. He had a bunch of his kitchen stuff in the bathroom. He must have hit his wooden pot against the 4x2 inch tile(right as you step out of the shower but before the floor) just right because it cracked and broke. I called and reported the issue and the housing officer had to come and inspect. I suppose he looks at anything that isn't regular maintenance. He came and checked it out and I told him that I had dropped a hairspray can and it just cracked and broke up into pieces. He thanked me for being honest(not really...I didn't want to say that I was in the shower and my child beat it with his pot!). A contractor is coming tomorrow to see what materials he will need to fix it as well as maintenance to change a gasket/seal on the garbage disposal. We will have to pay to have the tile fixed...the housing officer said that he knocked it down to only labor and we won't have to pay for material(not that one small tile and the grout used...would be all that much anyway)...this was done as a favor to me. I got all sorts of things accomplished during the rest of nap time including sweeping/mopping the floors(these hardwood floors are great but impossible to keep clean) and three loads of laundry folded. I'm exhausted by this time but still pressing on to accomplish everything on the list for today. We hop in the car and head to the P.O. And then we were headed to the NEX and the park next to the water. This was all great but after stopping at the P.O. I couldn't get Noah to go back into his car seat. I would get one strap over and he knew the second on was coming and he would buck/squirm/twist out of the car seat. I tried four different times to get him to go in. So I'm standing there at the van trying to figure out a way to get him to go in. About this time a woman officer comes out of the dry cleaning place next door and is getting ready to get into her car. I called over to her saying...excuse me Mam, could you do me a favor and see if you can get my son to go into his car seat! No Joke...I really did say this! She smiled and giggled and came over talking to Noah. I handed him to her and she put him right into the seat. She struggled a bit with straps and I could tell that she didn't have any children. Noah was enchanted with her and just smiled and laughed. And just a few short minutes ago when his amazing mom was trying to put him in...he screamed bloody murder! I thank her and we were on our way...ending up at the park. Noah saw some familiar faces to which his face always lights up...from PT Tots, park visits or families from The Lodge. He also played with two older boys maybe ages 9-11ish. They must have lived in the apartment building across the street and decided instead of playing on the big kid playground they would come over and play with the young children. The smaller children would chase, push, and pull on them...as they pretended to be hurt or beat up...ending up on the ground. Noah would then go and sit down on top of them and continue to rough house just like he does with Zack. Noah had a blast as did all of the other children. It was sweet that they decided to play with the young children and also to play in a way that their daddies do with them...considering that most of their daddies were out to sea. We were there for about 90 minutes and Noah let me know when he was done...and he went happily into his car seat. We did our evening routine and then Noah played out in front with the neighbor children...because it was lightly raining and I didn't want to get stuck out when it started to pour. When the rain started really coming down we headed inside and made a cake together. He poured in the ingredients and stirred it up...having a lot of fun. While it was cooking I finally put salt, pepper, flour, sugar etc. into the canister/shakers. Noah asked me what I was doing and I said that I was putting flour in the canister so that we can cook with it. He said flower/flour and rain over to our indoor plant...pointing and saying flower. He was super confused as to why I was going to put the "flower" into the canister to cook with! LOL! And the rest of the evening when pretty uneventful...thankfully because I don't/didn't have the energy to deal with it!