A Case of the Mondays

This past Monday was one of those days I should have never left the house. I had decided the night before that I would take the girls to get their pictures "professionally" taken, because Sonya had the day off of school for a teacher work day. It is always better to do these things in the morning. Most of the time. I usually get their pictures done twice a year. Once in their Christmas dresses and then in their Easter dresses, and hadn't had a chance to do the later yet. I would love to have someone come over to the house and take their pictures, or go someplace better, but I just go to Sears. I know, my brother-in-law just cringed at that last sentence. It's too bad he doesn't live closer, because he's a fantastic photographer. And I know he's shaking his head right now and mumbling something about if we didn't live on the "wrong coast". I would just like to point out that WE didn't have to shovel snow out of our driveway for the last 5 months just to go get groceries.

Anyway-I booked an appointment at 11am figuring that would give us enough time to take the pictures, pick them out, get something to eat, and get home for naps by 1pm. That would have been fine if the people I was dealing with for the next tow hours were competent at what they did. I suppose I shouldn't complain. I mean it's not like Sears is a fantastic place for pictures, but it's easy and cheap, so that's why I go.

We got there at 11 and I ran in and told the photographer we had to run to the bathroom. Even though Lana went right before we left, she has this thing about going to the bathroom EVERY PLACE WE GO. Even if she's already seen it before. So I indulge her, because who am I to say she doesn't actually have to go?

We got back to the portrait studio and I started to change the girls into their dresses. We were ready to go in five minutes, so at this point it was about seven after. There was only one girl working and she was helping a family, who was there before us. They were picking out their pictures, and paying. It was taking a bit longer than I thought it should, but I was trying to be patient, since the girls were starting to not be.

She finally finished with them about 11:25 and I thought for sure she would take my girls pictures before helping the other customer, who also looking to pick out and purchase. I thought wrong. I looked over to see her sitting down talking to this woman, meanwhile, my girls are starting to take apart every prop they had in the studio. At first I was trying to get them to stop and put things back, but then I started to get annoyed and angry at how long we were waiting. I finally said to the girls through clenched teeth,

"Do whatever you want."

Recognizing the mad mommy face, Sonya said, "No, mommy we'll put it back."

"No, really it's okay," I told her. I mean they were bored and I couldn't blame them. We'd been waiting there for over a half hour at this point. I don't know if any of you have tried to take pictures with three kids, especially young ones, but your window of opportunity is not very big. Mine was about two inches from being closed completely. I finally asked the ONLY girl working in my best- I'm getting mad and about to get REAL bitchy- way if it was going to be much longer. She told me five minutes. Uh-huh.

It wasn't until 11:45 that my girls were finally having their pictures taken. Georgia and Lana were on the verge of complete breakdowns. Needless to say, they weren't the best pictures we've had taken, but I was over it at that point and they were all hungry. Lana was starting to lose it because sometime during the photo shoot, I promised her peanut butter crackers. Turns out I did not have those in my backpack, and she didn't want to accept that answer. So she started to whine, cry and throw a good ol' fashioned temper tantrum. I decided we'd come back to look at the pictures and we got out of there to get some food.

We were in the mall and there is a certain restaurant in there I wanted to go to . I won't say the name, but it rhymes with Ronny Jockets. I've been to this location before and been disappointed but decided to give it another chance. It had been a while. I wanted to go someplace we could sit down, but get out in about thirty minutes or so. I should have known better when I walked in and saw how frazzled the ONE waiter and ONE cook looked. Especially because there were only about five people in the entire restaurant. There was no reason to look that stressed.

We sat down and waited about ten minutes before he even got to us to take our drink order. I placed our food order at the same time. Lana will only eat two things. Peanut Butter and Jelly and Grilled Cheese. I try to get her to eat other things and she will sometimes, but those are the two foods she will definitely eat. She opted for the PB&J, probably because she was still jonesing for the peanut butter crackers I didn't have.

I tried my best to keep them all entertained while we waited what seemed like forever to get our food. At least forever for a couple burgers and such. When it did arrive, Lana started to take a bite of her sandwich but it looked a bit big for her to handle, so I offered to cut it for her. When I took it out of her hands I noticed it looked like A LOT of jelly and not much peanut butter. Then I opened it up and saw there was NO peanut butter. Just jelly. Just white bread and jelly. Hello sugar coma!

I picked it up and tracked down the server to show him there was no peanut butter. I was trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he thought I said just a jelly sandwich. Which is stupid, but maybe.

Nope. He came back and told me that yeah, they ran out of peanut butter. I guess he figured this wasn't something he needed to tell me when I ordered the food TWENTY MINUTES AGO! Plus, PLUS! They tried to pass off a jelly sandwich to my kid thinking I wasn't even going to notice??! W. T. F??

He asked if she wanted something else. NO, NO she doesn't need to eat! She's actually trying to lose weight because 26 pounds at 3 years old IS a bit too much! Actually, since it was Lana she probably would have been fine, but nonetheless I got her a grilled cheese, which of course took another 15 minutes. Poor thing. I gave her some of Georgia's grilled cheese while she was waiting.

Now keep in mind, we're about ten minutes away from nap time at this point and they were all getting a little crazy. Usually I would have made more of a scene at the restaurant, but all I wanted to do was get out of there. The girls were at the end of their rope and I still had to go back to Sears and pick out what pictures to order. I just couldn't focus on getting mad at the server there and was pretty sure it wouldn't do me any good anyway, other than being offered a free dessert or something, which I did NOT want. So instead I called the main office when I got home and complained. I figure this should be good for a free meal or two. I can't wait to see what they'll send me.

Picking out and ordering pictures went more smoothly, except Lana started to completely meltdown into a puddle of madness right before I went to pay. She had to pee and was not really happy with my, "just one more minute", answer. When are they old enough to just go by themselves? Is three to young? What if I can SEE the bathroom from where I am?

I managed to finish paying, took her to pee, and we got the hell out of there. We didn't get home until almost 2pm, a full hour past allotted nap time. I had planned on going grocery shopping in the afternoon, but after my morning thought it best to stay home and let them play. Good choice on my part. They could survive without fruit and milk for one morning.

Next time I want pictures of the girls I think it might be easier to hop on a plane to RI and have my brother-in-law do it. As far at the burgers and grilled cheese, I'm sticking with In-N-Out.