If I didn't laugh, I'd cry.  Believe me whenever I say that, because it's true .

For starters, my car died today.  Starter went out: it wouldn't even turn over when I turned the ignition on.  Wonderful, I reemmber thinking (sarcastically, of course).  That meant only one thing: I would be late for taking the children to their dental appointments. 

After I got the kids up (after much cajoling and bribing), I threw them into the car (well, not literally; you know what I meant!) ... only to my horror to find out that the danged fool thing wouldn't start. 

I ended up having to have my neighbor take me, and all she did was bitch and moan about her gadabout husband and her bratty, whiny kids the whole time.  Then Derek, my oldest (he's eight) spilled his cherry Kool-aid down the front of his white t-shirt, which now made him look like he'd been the subject of a gruesome murder (and I was the murderer!).

It was embarrassing having people look at me when we walked into the dentist's office.  I am sure they were wondering what I could have possibly done to my son. 

The Kool-aid on his shirt looked like blood.  A lot of blood.

The kids, it turned out, needed fillings ... all three of them.  One needed only one; the other two at least four or five.  I groaned.  More money to be spent: money that I really didn't have. 

After we got back from the dentist's, I decided to go shopping.  The store was a madhouse because there was a huge sale going on.  Wall to wall people as far as I could see.  We weren't there five minutes before the youngest, Tarinda, who is five, decided to throw a fit because I didn't get her the pink stuffed toy bunny she wanted.  I grabbed her and walked out, the other two children following close behind me.

I then had my neighbor take me home: I was exhausted; I couldn't take any more.  I flopped on my couch and cried.  Oh, I tried to laugh, but it didn't work out too well.  All I could do was think of the disaster of the day I had experienced, and the tears quickly came gushing out.  It was a horrible, terrible, awful day, one of the worst days I had had in a very long time.

I would be so glad when it was over ....