Beware the Ides of ...February?

I don't know what's going on, but I have had really bad luck these past few weeks.  Add to that, a very severe case of "mommy brain" and you have a recipe for (near) disasters.

First the bad luck:

My crock-pot cracked.  No, that is not a new way of describing a crazy person (although I do think I'm a few cards short of a full deck...) my crock really is cracked.  You can barely see it from the bottom, which is why I didn't see it and why I was baffled at the pool of water coming out from under the slow cooker while it cooked plain baked potatoes.  I'm not sure what to do with the darn thing.  Maybe Walmart will take it back... there's bound to be some kind of recall, right?

Then, the chair that I used to sit in to type at this very computer decided to try to kill me.  It looks perfectly normal, but lean a little too far in any direction and it will buck you out on your head.  The kids love it.  I now sit on it's twin and wait for it to hate me too.

Nothin' but her goggles on...

My thumb and two fingers on my right hand have split open in very painful ways and for no good reason.  Why is it that when you have a crack under your fingernail, you manage to bump or catch that fingernail on everything?  I suppose it doesn't help that I am washing my hands very often.  Have I mentioned that we are in full potty training mode?  Not by my choice, the little monster has decided to go through life in the nude.  When given the option of either wearing a diaper or using the potty, she chose the potty and has done a remarkably great job.  However, that leaves me to clean it out and wash my hands a few hundred times a day, leading to more cracking and whining.

We finally got some snow!  That's not a bad thing, but it just happened to come at the exact time that I had to drive my little wrestler across town. (wrestling started again, oh joy)  I discovered just how bald the tires on the car really are.  I felt like I was on skis.  You know, slide sideways to stop...  Fortunately, I did grow up in Wyoming, on cheap, second-hand tires, so I can manage.  The kids sure gave an interesting commentary from the back seat.

Oh, and my husband recorded some video of my kids trying to ice skate with the camera, but my computer has decided that it is too old and feeble to process anything like that and rather than just skip on over the offending videos, it refuses to let me have any photos at all, so I don't even have a photo to share with you, other than the child, au natural.

Now, the mommy brain:

While doing the routine task of throwing a diaper away, (she will wear them when we have to leave the house.) I threw it in the toilet instead.  Too much potty cleaning, I suppose...

I mentioned that wrestling has started again.  I do this because my son loves it.  I personally like the sport of wrestling as well, but keeping my little monster under control at wrestling practice has become way too much for me.  I found myself dreading practice and then leaving completely exhausted from the exercise of chasing her down every time she made a break for it.  She of course does not go down quietly, so we disrupt the entire practice with shrieks and a mad dash through the boys.  I decided that she and I will not be staying at practice anymore.  Yesterday, after dropping the boy off and making sure the dancing girl could stay and play with some other unfortunate sisters of wrestlers, the little one and I left.  We crossed the street and I attempted to un-lock the car.  Only the key wouldn't go in.  At this point I'm trying to remember if there is a separate key to unlock the doors. (I don't lock the doors all that much... I'm too trusting that way)  I tried the passenger side... no luck, (picture woman with squirming 2 year old in one arm) and I was about to call my husband to tell him to leave work and bring me his keys, when I look in the back seat and notice.... no car seat.  And there's a fold down arm-rest.  We don't have one of those in our car...  Look about 15 feet to my right, and there's my car.  I laughed really loud and then looked around to see if someone saw this whole production, but I don't think anyone did.

Which leads me to my next act of stupidity, although I should have seen this one coming.  Every time I go to a fabric store with a child, I leave with either the wrong stuff, or far too much (or little) of the right stuff.  Anyway, today the monster and I went to a fabric store.  I like to look through the remnant rack to get some inspiration.  I did find a few little scraps that I wanted to add to a skirt that is in the works for the dancing girl.  (Her skirts are getting way too short.)  I have to put them on the very bottom part of the cart, balanced carefully, because the baby will tear them to bits, making check-out difficult.  Anyway, I notice a sign saying that patterns are on sale for only $.99.  So I took the opportunity to pick up a few that I've been eye-balling, but could never bring myself to buy. (I mean, how can I spend $15 on a costume pattern?)  At this point, the monster escaped and scattered birthday cards on the floor, so I wrapped things up.   Checked out quickly, (a little too quickly as it turns out) and went to pick up the other kids so our evening ritual can begin... That means complaining about wanting a snack and fighting over who gets to stay up a little later.

It wasn't until later that I really looked at one of the patterns I bought, one for me, and realized that I bought it in teenage-girl size.  Oh, well, I thought.  At least I didn't attempt to buy any fabric.  And then I remembered the two scraps balanced on the bottom of the cart.  At least I didn't shoplift them.  I left the cart inside the store.  Maybe when I get back there tomorrow to exchange this pattern, they'll be there waiting for me, on the bottom of the cart that pulls to the right. 

Hopefully, March goes better for me.