The Holidays Are Definitely Over

Early mornings are still hard. I try really hard not to let my temper get the best of me in the mornings. The usual list of items sure to rile me up are as follows:

Keri won't get out of bed
Keri can't find anything to wear
Keri isn't ready to leave when I am
Keri can't find her shoes, bookbag, folder, agenda, etc.
As we are pulling up at school, Keri remembers that she didn't some of her homework done

Any of the above mentioned issues are sure to make my blood boil. I must congratulate Keri on her unwitting addition to the list this morning. In order to appreciate my wrath, I should tell the WHOLE story.......

A few months ago, I bought Melissa a new winter coat. She didn't have one that was acceptable to wear. A couple of weeks after that, I bought a new coat for myself. I carefully ochestrated the purchasing of these coats to coincide with special shops days at the department store I work at. I received an additional 30% off over and above the sale price of the coats. (That last part has no relevance other than to illustrate my superior shopping savvy. ) I didn't purchase a coat for Keri. She didn't need one. She had two perfectly acceptable coats. One of them looked brand new.

She felt left out plain and simple. Everyone in the house got a new coat except for her. She kept bugging me about it until finally I went and bought her a coat just to shut her up. I finally decided that I didn't want her to feel like a red headed step child. She got a new coat too. The coat she ended up picking out, cost 100 bucks, however I did not pay that much for it. It was on sale and I carefully orchestrated the purchasing of her coat on a special employee shop day also.

This morning as we were getting ready to leave the house, I told her it was cold and she would need her coat. She came out of her room in a sweatshirt. I asked her where her coat was. You know, the coat that I JUST bought her that she HAD to have. She told me she could not wear her coat because it has little white fuzzies on it. I got the coat and there were a few fuzzies on it.

I saw red. She was the one who HAD to have a new coat. Even though she already had TWO.perfectly.acceptable.coats!!!!!! Now she was telling me she couldn't wear it because of a few red fuzzies? WTF? She couldn't wear her coat that retailed for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!! AAAAHHHHHHHHH.

I didn't force the issue much this morning but I promise you that she WILL.WEAR.THAT.COAT.TO.SCHOOL. When she gets home this afternoon I will be calling her with a special chore. Her special chore will be to pick all the fuzzies off her coat. Cuz in the morning I fully expect to see her WEARING THAT D*MN COAT!!! To top that off, she also told me this morning that her Nike tennis shoes have dog poo on them. Like we have a Nike tree out in the back yard that I can just pluck her a new pair of shoes off like a piece of fruit. I am not working two jobs so that I can throw money away. Or am I?

What makes me so crazy is that she seems to have no appreciation of the sacrifices made so that SHE can have nice stuff. That coat cost me more than just money. It cost me time away from her. It cost my attention. I gave up sleep for that coat. The fact of the matter is that if I wasn't working the second job, I wouldn't have been able to afford that coat for her. Now she won't wear it?! We'll see about that, we will just see.