We got all our homeschooling done by 10:15. Two math programs, Latin, the Fall of Rome (and a concurrent discussion about Constantinople), reading and writing. I was giving myself all kinds of mental high fives. Fantastic job, me.
I told the kids they basically have the rest of the day to swim, play outside, to just enjoy the fact that I am their mother. There was the little matter of a messy room but that is easily remedied. Told the kids to clean up before their day of ecstasy and went about my business of the next round of adoption paperwork. After an hour of mounting frustration, calling different companies and departments of health and never once speaking to a person, no matter how often I pressed '1,' I went to call the kids to lunch. The room looks like a rabid weasel has been set loose. Perhaps two weasels. Both rabid. I told the kids to clean up, this time lowering the level of nice. Warnings were repeatedly given on not messing up one's room.
Lunch, quiet time.
Side note: It's hardly ever actually quiet time. There is a note of irony every time I say that phrase.
During quiet time, Kate came out to ask me a question (a necessary one, as they always are during times of rest or sleep). She went back in and closed the door loudly. Noah's room is right next to theirs so I went in just to tell her about the door acoustics. The floor is covered with toys and clothes. The door will hardly open as Jack has towered books and toys behind it. Sometimes I think of how, when Jack was tested a few months ago, he scored highest in listening comprehension. Ironically, I said "What?" several times after being told this. It still confounds me.
After a long, frustrated tirade on obeying and such (even after their eyes glaze over, I still rant on. I can't help myself), I went back to my adoption paperwork. Here are some highlights:
An employment verification documentation was signed in one state and notarized in another. It's a fail.
Our marriage certificate from NY state is $30. It will take about 3 months to get here. Of course, we can expedite for a mere $45 - it will only take a month! My, so fast! Our birth certificates are each $10, and each have it's own long, complicated form to fill out.
Wait for it.
After we get the certificates, we send them back to whichever state they came from and for $15 each form, they get sealed. Then we send them to Tallahassee, where they get sealed again for $15. Then they go to the Chinese Embassy in NY, where they get sealed again for a fee. Then in China they each get stamped and verified. For a fee, of course.
If that doesn't make you want to stuff chocolate in your face, I don't know what will.
Side note: Thank goodness I had chocolate. My mom, who I love (not just because she brings me food), brought some over the other day. She told me it was to make s'mores. Which I did, just without the graham crackers. Or marshmallows. Or fire. Thanks for the s'mores, mom!
So there I was, downing chocolate bars and feeling my yoga pants get tighter (which really helps with the bad mood, by the way. Being too fat for yoga pants is no way to be).
To cap off the day, I had statistics class tonight. Let me tell you something. Nothing cements a bad day like sitting in a community college classroom taking notes on bar graphs. The teacher is passionate about statistics, going on little rants about surveys bias and whatnot. I never realized that statistics could be so sinister. She makes it sound as if they're in an office somewhere, plotting to mislead people over population data. "Excellent," they cackle with delight, "distort the graph using irregular widths!" And she was emphatic about not using pie graphs. Apparently, they are riddled with deceit.
You know what? With my s'mores and my pie chart, I'm feeling a little better.
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