I need a Secret Garden!

I'm feeling really frustrated on this Friday evening. The dogs have been a PITA since we returned from camping on Tuesday. Barking constantly outside and inside, which of course, is a total distraction when it comes to trying to teach Malachy something. I bring them in, they bark to the outside world. Outside, they bark at everything and anything and to come in.

Malachy has also been giving me a hard time this week. Two, large temper tantrums this morning over a simple spelling lesson, caused him to lose the privilege of attending Park Day with his new friends this afternoon. Later on after we were finished with school, he went out to play out back on his swing-set. Through the kitchen window, I saw him spraying the camper with the hose so I called him in. When I went out to check the camper, I found out that he pried open the door and pulled things out (we had just cleaned it thoroughly and winterized it). He sprayed said camper with the garden hose inside some vents, which I still don't know if and how much damage that caused as I'm still waiting for Steve to get home so we can decide if we need to pop up the entire thing. And then the dogs were also "mysteriously" soaking wet when I went out there. It's just been one of those craptastic days where you wished you never got up out of bed in the morning.

The boy has had his dinner and now is confined to his bedroom for the evening. I've had enough of dealing with him today.

This is where it gets really hard to deal with the whole homeschooling bit. I'm with him WAAAAY too much. I have realized that being home all the time, I've become much more inactive. I feel sluggish all the time now. I used to take the dogs for walks through the Coyote Hills. Forcing him to go with me would be worse than having dental surgery without Novocain. I have to depend on availability of the Gym's daycare and their quickly filled reservation limits and short hours to attend my classes. This week, the gym had an "emergency" and wasn't taking any reservations at all. I missed THREE of my classes this week and I'm feeling quite PO'd about it. Steve is gone most evenings until after 7:00, which really puts a damper on my workout plans. And lately I've been so exhausted by then that I just want to wind down and go to bed.

Taking Malachy on errands this week has been quite tiresome as well. He doesn't stop talking. The boy cannot stop asking questions that I can't possibly know the answer of. "What is the largest castle in the world?", "Not sure Malachy, we can google it later". "How many rooms does the Windsor Castle have". "Not sure, Malachy. We can google it later". "How many square feet do you think the Windsor Castle has?". "I'm not sure, Malachy. We can google it later." "How many people live in the Windsor Castle?"."What if someone built a long, long mansion covering the tops of the Fremont Hills? How many rooms would that have?". AaaaAAAaaaah!

Being banned to his room for the night, he's finally quiet, I can still hear Layla barking non-stop at the airplanes coming into Oakland Airport (sorry neighbors) and wanting to come in and I just need some ME time. No kids, no dogs...just want to be alone in my head for a time. Steve won't be home until 7:00 - 7:30 and at this point, I'm already too drained to go work out. What the hell was I thinking? Calgon couldn't even help, unless I wear earplugs and lock the door. (Hmmm...now there's an idea!)

Let's hope Steve remembers to bring home the wine.