It's The Little Things...

...that make you crazy.

First thing Monday morning I saw a police car outside my house setting up a digital speed limit sign on the highway. Before they even left I noticed a most irritating chirping, siren-like sound. Our house is set quite a ways off the main highway, and it was so loud that when I was talking on the phone the person I was talking to could hear it. I figured it was a siren that went off when people were exceeding the speed limit to scare them a little. It scared me when it went off, which was like every six cars or so. After about ten minutes my nerves where set on edge.

My mom graciously asked me if I'd like her to call, and see if they couldn't come and move it or something since I was busy dealing with sick kids. Typical of government agencies, she got the run around. Nobody knew who put it there. It said "SHERIFF" right on the front so they were the logical culprits. But nobody at the sheriff's office knew anything about it. So my mom called the DOT. They didn't have a clue either. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore so she called the Sheriff's office back. They eventually came out to check it, and discovered that the breeze from the passing cars had been causing the anti-theft device to go off for the past three hours, and that someone from their department had indeed placed it there.

Alrightythen.

That afternoon, I went to check my email, and it wouldn't let me sign in. My email address and password are linked to everything that I do on my computer. I have a Family Safety device that I have to sign into using my email address and password which automatically changes when my password is changed. Before I can even get online I have to sign into that.

"Frustration" doesn't even begin to cover it.

I finally figured out how to manually turn that off, and was able to view my blog and facebook pages until it asked me to sign in again. The entire time I kept thinking it had to be a glitch with my email that would eventually get worked out.

Tuesday I took my four youngest children with me to vote. They were all sick.

Fun times.

Wednesday I woke up with an optimistic outlook. After I got Josh off to work and the kids fed, I sat down to attempt to check my email once again. Nothing doing.

I had so had it.

I got on the phone with my phone company, and had them reset my password for me. As soon as I got back in I realized that someone had hacked into my email and ebay accounts, and had been bidding on ebay like a madman. I probably had fifteen or more emails from two days worth of bidding. Posing as me, the man had said that he had a son who is a missionary in Nigeria, and would like the thousands of dollars worth of stuff sent directly to his son, but that he would be paying in US funds.

I spent the next seven hours "fixing" the problem which included getting a new email address and checking account, and changing all my passwords.

Nice.

I probably made a good dozen phone calls during that time period in which I didn't have the privilege of speaking with one. single. person. who spoke the English language. I kid you not, they couldn't u n d e r s t a n d m y w o r d s.

In the meantime, Isaac was in the background crying because he was sick. There was a short lull, and then full-fledged screaming ensued because he had sprayed aerosol hairspray in his eyes and Dillon and Alia were trying to give him a bath to fix it. Furthermore, the dude figured out my new password as I was speaking to the people trying to help me fix it, and managed to send out several "I HAVE PAID" emails to people who had already been notified by ebay that the transactions were null and void.

By the time I was finished, except for the grace of God, I would have owed a cuss jar about a hundred dollars and been thrown into hell for murder. I wanted nothing more than to reach through my phone, choke the living daylights out of the person on the other end, and blow up every automated answering service in creation. Not to mention the hateful thoughts I was having toward the person who caused all this trouble in the first place.

Thankfully, today is a new day. One in which, Lord willing, I will only be speaking with other's whose primary language is English, and dealing with people who have something productive to do with their lives rather than wasting it messing with other people's.

Today, it is the little things that are bringing me joy:

~My mom and dad have my four oldest. It's just Isaac and me.

~He thought it was such an adventure to sleep in our closet last night (he cannot be left upstairs alone. I shudder to think...).

~He woke up before daybreak again so we came upstairs to read while Daddy slept a little longer. He found leftover popcorn from the night before, and asked if we could watch a movie instead.

~Later, I headed out to let Pepper out of the garage telling Isaac to stay where he was on the couch and to please be quiet. When I came back in, I heard him in our room telling Josh that he had made him breakfast. Josh said, "You did!" To which Isaac replied, "Yeah, 'cocorn!!!"

~He came upstairs this morning carrying Josh's cell phone, declaring that he was Daddy's big helper, and asked me to give him "Daddy's 'nola bers" so he could hand them to him on his way out the door.

~He was getting into baking soda after I had given him a shower in Daddy's new bathroom when I reminded him that he had just gotten a bath and to stay out of things. He replied, "'Got a shawr, Mom. Shawr."

~He has been entertaining me by teaching his teddy bear not to tell him "No!" He acts all flabbergasted that he won't obey. LOL

~He got to go out to lunch all alone with Mommy, and boy did that ever make his big brown eyes sparkle!

~He's been my velcro buddy all morning. Right now he is laying on the floor trying not to fall asleep because he doesn't want to take a nap without me.

I'm off to snuggle and cherish these moments with my little boy, who all too soon will become a big boy, and then a man. Choosing to invest my time and emotions in moments that will last forever; gifts from my Heavenly Father that no one can ever even attempt to take from me.