There's a Reason It's Called, "Going Postal"

Yesterday afternoon was a mess. A total mess. I was a mess. So, I had to force the kids to go along with my boring post office plans. It needed to be done and, well, I'm a stay at home mom...not many opportunities to do such errands kid free. So off we went. But of course it's super crowded this time of year. It was hard to even get into the parking lot. Then there was nowhere to park so I was circling back around and noticed all three kids fell asleep!!! I wasn't about to wake them because that wouldn't have been pretty in the post office either. What to do???

I just started driving. I got on the highway heading for Wyoming (no joke). I called Jason. I was uncharacteristically freaking out about things. Many things. Unrelated things. (Very pathetic looking back on it). There were tears (again, unlike me for things like this). I hung up on my husband (wish I could say that's unlike me but at least I'm better than I used to be). Finally I decided to drive to J's office in Boulder. I concluded that when he got off work he could watch the kids in the car and I'd go to a post office up there. So that's what we did.

First I had the address wrong so we couldn't find the Boulder post office at first. Then my Blackberry browser wouldn't work right to bring up the correct address for awhile. Finally got it to work and finally made it to the post office. So, then I go in with all my parcels. I wait in line for the automated post office thing and discover one package is too big to fit in their package slot. And none of their priority shipping boxes will work. So I have to wait in line. I also realize that one of the gifts I was hoping to mail is still sitting at home on the kitchen table (again, so unlike me).

But, I wait in the long line anyway to mail the first big package off. When I get to the front, she quotes me a price and I say fine. Then she measures it and goes, "Actually since it's so light for it's size it'll be $28!" (over $10 more than I was originally quoted. I was all, "Forget it!!!" and walked out. Having mailed nothing after all of that! We had no dinner ready at home so my sweet husband offered to pick up Chick-fil-a on the way home and we make the drive home. At this point all the kids are awake and Easton is jabbering on and on and on about Star Wars. Normally he's not the "talk your ear off" kind of guy but he got going on Star Wars and the whole drive was, "Hey Mom, you know what?" "Hey Mom, I've got to tell you something..." "Hey Mom...." It's cute though. By the time he's allowed to see the movies he'll already know everything that happens in them. :)

Finally we make it home and eat and play around for a few minutes before bed:


And I decided that after another trip to the post office the next day (today) we'd do something fun and stress-free.

But first, that other trip to the post office. I'd re-packaged my big but too light box. I'd packed the forgotten gift from my kitchen table. Jason added two small packages (sold CDs!) to the pile and off we went. Well, Easton was a total punk. He was completely awful but there was really no way I could see leaving the post office to properly "deal" with him. I needed to get these things mailed out and had already lost a day with yesterday's mishaps. Easton was being completely disrespecful, grumpy, and just an overall pain in the patoot. He even went as far as to point his finger in my face and yell, "That's it!!! You're the reason I'm so mad!" I guess it's a good thing we were at the post office for that, with witnesses present and all. Embarassing as it was in public, if we were home I can assure you I would not have stayed as calm as I did. So, Autumn was in the car seat on the stroller, Dalton was standing nearby behaving himself and Easton had to be carried on my hip as part of his "punishment"...he also lost any priveledge of choosing what to do once we got to the Children's Museum (yes, we were still going to try something fun). Instead, well-behaved Dalton was going to get to choose and if Easton kept acting like he was when we got there then we'd turn around and come right home and he'd ruin the fun day for everyone else.

Finally it was our turn at the post office counter. The postal worker looks at my newly packaged box and goes, "Is this a liquor box?" and I go, "Uh, it's from a liquor store (back when Ben and I moved, I think!) but it's got other things inside now." She goes..."We can't accept liquor boxes...or motor oil boxes..." Is she freaking kidding me?!?!? She tries to tell me to use one of their priority mail boxes and I said, "It won't fit...that's the problem I had when I came to the stupid post office last night" and she measures and goes to the back and comes back with a gigantic box which would work but then would still cause that stupid "balloon rate" problem again where the box is too light for the size it takes up. Whoever came up with that stupid rule can kiss my bootie. She was like, "You could take it home and repackage it again or wrap it in some brown paper." Well, if I had that I wouldn't have walked in with a liquor box, now would I? I mailed my other things and walked out with that problematic package still in hand. Good grief!!!! However, we were determined to enjoy ourselves today, gosh darn it, so we headed on our way.

Believe it or not, Easton came around. He was being his nice, normal self even though he wasn't getting to choose which area of the museum we went to. But see, we had a very fun time. No further issues whatsoever:














Someone's sleepy:


They always love the animal costumes:








Manning the cash register in the "store":


Cooking in the restaurant:






Looking cute after a short snooze:


We finished up with a princess and dragon puppet show:


And headed home for lunch and elfin hats:


Okay, we didn't really head home to dress up like elves. I just found that hat (that Easton has been looking for) and he wanted to wear it.

We had a normal lunch, normal quiet time...and I'm feeling more normal today as well. Gosh...it'd better not be PMS so soon or something. However, I'm not sure what got into me these last few days.

If it wasn't for having to head back out to UPS or FedEx or somewhere that doesn't make me want to shoot people (including myself) then I'd say we're looking at an overall great day.