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Another Mom Fail and Other Assorted Kvetching

I was sitting in my son’s 7th grade award’s assembly when I got the phone call.

“Um . . . Jo-Lynne . . . I think you forgot . . .”

Once again, another Mom Fail moment has left me feeling irked and demoralized. I feel like I can never get it right, no matter how hard I try. I am either late to arrive, or I forget to go, or I write the time down wrong, or I forget to pick something up at the store, or I forget to send whatever I bought at the store to the classroom . . . but today I took the Mom Fail to a whole new level.

I actually remembered to buy the water bottles for the class party, and I even wrote it down on my calendar so I’d remember to send them in, but I wrote down to send them in on the wrong day. Of course the wrong day being 2 days late (cuz it would have been too convenient to send them in two days early!)

I. Give. Up.

I console myself only with the fact that I was supposed to bring water, not something fun like cupcakes or something essential like plates and napkins.

(Note to self. Send plates and napkins with child #2 on WEDNESDAY.)

As an aside, I think the reason I wrote it down wrong on my calendar was because I  was sending something with child #2 on Wednesday so when I agreed to send something with child #3, I assumed their end-of-year class parties were on the same day.

I’m telling you, I can’t win. I don’t know why I bother volunteering to do anything. I think I’m more trouble than I’m worth.

Yeah, Mom, I know, that is “bad self talk” but honestly, how can a 40-year-old grown woman with three kids be so irresponsible?

And as if I’m not feeling sorry for myself enough already . . . I spent the entire weekend laid up. (Not that I can use that as an excuse for getting the day of the class party wrong. That was just a stupid mistake, plain and simple. But it still adds fuel to the fire.)

I had a brief reprieve from my dental woes after my last root canal back in April, where I had horrible pain resulting from my bite not being right and had to go back two times before it was corrected. And because I live in the boonies, I had to drive 30 minutes each way to get those 5-minute adjustments. Color me annoyed.

Finally that tooth had settled down and I was just about to go back in to have that temporary cap replaced when the tooth pain started up again — on the Friday evening of Memorial Day Weekend, no less. So I spent that entire weekend in pain.

Come to find out when I got to the dentist on the following Tuesday, it was actually the tooth beside the original root-canalled tooth (canal is now a verb; I hereby declare it) that was acting up. Good times!

So. I made an appointment to have a 2nd root canal, but before I could get to it, I started in with excrutiating pain — worse, even, than it was over Memorial Day weekend.

It was so bad that I ended up alternating Percocet and Ibuprofen for the last 2 days, basically sleeping and reading books to try and keep my mind off the pain (want a good summer read? I have several to recommend) and in the process, losing an entire weekend of my half marathon training that I was sadistically looking forward to. I also missed my son’s baseball game and my daughter’s choir performance.

Woe is me . . .

I can honestly not imagine how people with chronic pain or illnesses keep their sanity.

This morning, bright and early, I called up my friendly endodontist (yes, I call him mine; after 3 root canals in this office, I have added him to my speed dial and probably bought his summer home at the shore) and pretty much demanded an emergency root canal, which he graciously provided.

I always chuckle in a jaded sort of way when I walk in and they ask how I’m doing — as if I’d be there if I were feeling hunky dory.

So after another excruciating hour in his vinyl recliner chair, here I am, home again, home again, jiggity-jig, with another dead tooth (hopefully) and another temporary filling.

But, naturally, my bite feels high. Only time will tell if it is going to cause me undue pain and distress or not, but I am not feeling overly optimistic. I have a sinking feeling I will be taking more Ibuprofen tonight and will be schlepping back to my friendly endodontist again tomorrow. In fact, right now I’m pretty sure I’m doomed to an eternity of regular dental visits.

And while I’m complaining. Have I mentioned that my plantar fasciitis is acting up again and I’ve been seeing a chiropractor 2-3 times a week for that?

It’s a good thing work is slow right now because I feel like I am never home.

I realize these are first world problems. I am so thankful that it’s nothing serious, but being in constant pain for weeks on end doesn’t do much for one’s good humor.

In more pleasant news, my son received an award today for excellence in band. It’s a character acknowledgement as much as a performance-based award, so we’re pretty proud of him. I guess I must not totally stink as a mom. Maybe by some miraculous feat, they will all three inherit their father’s responsible nature and not end up a space cadet like me.

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44 Responses

      1. You will not be saying that by the end, lol. Which program are you using? What was the distance supposed to be?

  1. Okay, now that you got that off your chest, forget about it and focus on all of the great things you do as a mom.

  2. Don’t be so hard on yourself about the school stuff. Every one of us has a similar story to tell. We all have days where we are “That Mom.” It was just your turn. Tomorrow will be better. And end of year is crazy busy anyway it’s a wonder we get up in the morning.

    Sorry about your teeth. I’ve had a couple crowns but no root canals yet. Sadly, I’m sure it’s coming.

  3. Oh! The end of the year is so crazy, isn’t it? I barely can handle ONE kid. You have three? That qualifies you for a super star mother award : ).

    I hope your tooth woes are over. Tooth pain is the worst.

    Sending lots of good thoughts.

    1. Thanks. Already on the mend, I think. Hopefully the temporary bite won’t bother me too much and I can get the permanent crown on and they can fix that bite properly and I’ll be good to go!

  4. I hope you start feeling better soon!

    If makes you feel any better, there are other moms out there (I’m raising my hand high) that screw things up ALL THE TIME. For real.

    Once, I actually dragged my husband to school and made him sit through a school performance, for the wrong grade! It wasn’t even my daughter’s grade. I think my husband really thought about killing me that day.

    Just so you know you’re not alone… https://thedomesticfringe.com/chicken-dancing-my-way-into-the-slow-cooker/

    ~FringeGirl

  5. Oh Jo-Lynne I feel you girl!! My kids had their holiday party this year (I can’t even remember which one) and I volunteered for a fun treat. I decided to TRY to make something nice and fun for each child’s class. I FORGOT!! I didn’t even have the wrong date, I had no date, I just forgot. For the end of the year party I decided to sign up for……..napkins!!! June 20th can you send me a reminder that their party is the next day 😉

  6. You need sunshine just like me. You are totally not a mom fail. It’s water. They could have just gone outside and stood with their mouths open today as much rain as we had. I hope your tooth is completely taken care of soon. I know it has been bugging you for awhile now. (HUGS).

  7. This will sound mean, but it makes me feel better to read when others have days as bad as some of my own. It’s so easy to always feel like we are the only ones who think they’re a “bad mom” once in a while but when we’re honest and real with each other it’s a huge relief to know we aren’t alone! So thank you for baring it all, and if you need to commiserate over a glass of wine and play the “bad mom” game (no rules yet, but I’m sure we can come up with some!) you know where to find me!

    1. Not mean at all. Honestly, this is why I share. People think I have it together. I SO DO NOT! I guess we all have our moments. But really, I do have more than my fair share. It’s pathetic. I don’t know why… guess I try to do too many things at once.

      1. You hit the nail on the head- trying to do too many things at once. I over commit, over reach and under perform which makes me feel bad about myself. But there’s nothing that I do that I want to give up so I just have to try my best to stay “organized”, stay positive, and hope the children follow suit! Hope your tooth feels better!

  8. Oh man! Two of life’s worst things in one post! You are the root canal queen. I’ve only had one, and they are horrible! May you be done with dental work for the foreseeable future.

    About the whole mom/school thing: I know you must be tired of hearing people say this, so I apologize ahead of time … but … I’m SO glad I homeschool! Because I was so very awful at all that stuff too. I think finally the elementary teachers just gave up on EVER asking me to provide anything because I always forgot. Sometimes I forgot the item, but just as often I forgot the event entirely. It could be for school, church, boy scouts, girl scouts, what have you. So now, thankfully, it’s only little ole me planning and bringing the stuff, and there’s nobody to disappoint. It’s a relief!

    1. I think I’m done volunteering. Seriously. I’m more trouble than I’m worth. I have considered homeschooling and figure that I’m such a slacker that I’d surely ruin them all forever!

  9. And that is why I rarely volunteer. Too many things I’m already responsible for. I once forgot an IEP meeting. Yeah, that was NO good.

    I’m sorry you weren’t feeling well this weekend. Thankfully it sounds somewhat temporary.

  10. Oh, Jo-Lynne. I could relate to the forgetting thing on so many levels. You should hear the stories my girls tell! (One still hasn’t gotten over the time I forgot to pick her up from preschool–and she’s in COLLEGE!)

    Hope your tooth feels better soon. xoxo

  11. I feel like this often myself Jo-Lynne but after a fret and get it off my chest I think “Hey, I messed this up (which makes me feel like a huge failure!) but what about all the things I’ve done right?!” My Dante is 2 1/2 which means he’s been around 900 and some days. I’ve done a lot for him during that time and most of it was done well. So every once and a while I can mess up. And like everyone else said, we all mess up. We just look at others and THINK they have it together but they don’t! Hope your tooth stops giving you trouble! Prayers!

    1. LOL, Nicole. I’m right there with ya. But it’s more about not being dependable when the room mom was depending on me. I think that’s what gets to me. I know the kids were fine without water, but I feel like I’m always letting people down when they’re counting on me. Makes me want to quit volunteering altogether, lol!

  12. Hugs! I’ve forgotten kids. To this day, my 7 year old son thinks I forget him all the time because of that incident. I never sent in the money for the Kindergarten graduation items for my dd6 and watched her cry when everyone else got theirs. Hello – we didn’t get the paper, Mrs. Smith, and why didn’t you send a reminder the week before? I wasn’t the only parent!

    It’s a crazy time of year. You’re doing fine.

  13. Hang in there. The school year is almost over! I have been feeling the same way and we’re taking a couple of weeks to slow down, regroup and look at our “plates” to see how full they are and to back off a bit. Hope your tooth is on the mend!

  14. Sure Jo-Lynne. That’s the nice thing about blogging. It serves so many purposes. We can learn new things, connect with others and receive support. Call upon us anytime! 🙂 Have a good day.

  15. Oh my word. We should have a drink together. I am exactly like you. I try and try to do it all and keep it straight, and invariably fail. I’m 50 with an 11 yr old, 14 yr old and 20 yr old. Plus a business, plus one is in college, the two younger are athletes. Schedules are crazy! My husband and I laugh because we have so much troublemkeeping everything straight.

    Alas. At least I’m not bored or lonely!!!

    It’s good to hear from someone else like me. 🙂

  16. hope you are better! the older I get the more I like medicine for pains! wishing you well and a comfy weekend ahead.

  17. The older my daughter does, the less I do. I know that’s horrible but I’ve given up on trying to impress the mom gang. I go all out at home, mind you, to show my daughter I care but she never knew when I made “homemade treats” for the teachers on whatever week. So I stopped! FREEDOM!

    1. I don’t want to impress (thus the water bottles and not homemade cookies, lol) but I do want to be dependable when I commit to bring something.

      But I hear ya. And I do think I will commit to less next year. I’m tired.

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