….what’s the “o” stand for? Oh my god, it’s early.

the kids have been staying up altogether too late (two passover seders will do that to you. and orthodox seders don’t start until late. like 8:30pm late). and getting up altogether too early. anything in the 5’s is completely unacceptable. we are tired. we are so tired, we don’t even know what to do with ourselves. our friends want to go see Blades of Glory, but i don’t think i can keep my head up for more than 10 minutes.

Every time we visit my mom, we go in with the same attitude. it’s going to be great! they are going to be so excited to see the kids! we aren’t going to fight! we are going to get a little break! we are going to go shopping! and every time we go, we are wrong. wrong. wrong. usually, by the end of the trip, we have convinced ourselves that we won’t ever do it again.

you see, my mom is excited to see the kids. for the first 5 minutes. and then she’s done. she’s tired. they are too whiny for her. she gives them the gifts she’s bought for them (clothing, mostly…which is not all that exciting for them, however) and then she retreats to her library and her room. or the kitchen, where she passive-agressively mumbles to herself about how we shouldn’t put our kids to bed so early and we should give them as much sugar as they want. sugar! sugar! it’s good for them! and spends zero time with them at all. yesterday afternoon, they disappeared. disappeared!! Their grandchildren are in town for the first time in six months and my mom and stepdad went upstairs to take naps. even though we are the ones who got up at 5 am. They stayed in bed until after 8. So, we bundled the kids up (it’s FREAKIN’ snowing here!) and took them for a 90 minute walk around the city. we could easily have done this at home. in Toronto. we didn’t need to come to Milwaukee for this.

there probably won’t be much shopping…since as of now…we have no vehicle tomorrow (even though my parents have THREE cars). my mom is working. my stepdad is working. my brother is following my parents orders. poor guy, he’s almost 22 and they still treat him like he’s 12. “Michael, it’s time to wake up!” “Michael, you know you really should say hi to that girl over there.”

i’m sorry for being so irritable. the matzo that’s plaguing my system certainly can’t be halping, either.

pray for me that the kids sleep past 5 tomorrow. pray. please.