We Forgot (For The Second Year In A Row)

I must have smoked some crack yesterday or something. I agreed to go in to work today and put in some overtime. The overtime part is acceptable but the part about trying to work on a day Kenneth is on duty is the part that would make a crackhead smile. Normally Kenneth and I never work on the same day. Since I work 12 hour shifts it is too hard to leave at 6 AM and not get home until 8PM and try to handle the kids without him here. He works 24 on then 48 off. We are already in the poor house with all of Anna's medical bills so hiring someone to stay with the kids more than just a few hours in them morning is just not an option. Anyway, when I heard my boss say they were short handed today I said, "I can come in after I take the kids to school/daycare but I have to leave by 5." She was grateful. At about 6 this morning as I started getting ready for work I knew I had made a mistake. Anna was already awake and whining. I managed to kiss Kenneth good-bye and then get in the shower. I got the kids ready for school and fed and then realized we had 1 missing chihuahua. If it were my dog I would have said to hell with the little rat and left it outside. Since it is not my dog I freaked out. About 30 minutes later the dog reappeared. It was a good thing I was in a hurry because that meant I did not have time to beat said chihuahua. So I get the kids dropped off and still have 2 errands to run on my way out of town. I manage to get behind every 90 year old driver in town. I finally made it to work. It had to be a better work day than yesterday- I had a dead patient before 9AM yesterday (luckily after that things can only get better, right?). Work went fine today and I headed home and got Anna picked up from daycare and then came home and retrieved Carly from the neighbor's house. I then remembered that I had to go back to town (about 15 minutes away) because I had forgotten to pick up my blood pressure medicine and Anna needed Pull Ups for daycare(not that she is potty training, she just wants what all the other kids have so I pay twice what diapers cost so she can fit in. NICE)! So I did that, fed the kids some healthy McDonald's grub, got to go through the drive thru line twice because we got boy toys instead of girl toys and I could not handle the meltdowns, got them home, got them showered, got Anna medicated, snuggled with them briefly, and then put them to bed. I folded one load of laundry, ate some dinner, got Anna's feeding hooked up, and now here I sit. I am so freaking exhausted. If I ever have the idea to quit the job I have now to opt for a 9-5 M-F please please please shoot me! I do not know how people do it. If I had actually had to do homework or cook dinner or god forbid throw in soccer and ballet and I would have been sunk. I got the kids to bed 30 minutes late as it was. So I will stick with this 12 hour shift thing. I realized today that it is a blessing! It is exhausting while doing it but so worth the trade off. On the days I am off I have from the time school is out until bedtime to get everything done and on the days I work everything is already done when I get home. And thank God for my husband who does laundry and dishes and helps with the kids. He called me this morning to tell me that they had been discussing wedding anniversaries at the station and he suddenly realized that today was our anniversary and wanted to wish me a happy anniversary. The sad part? I had forgotten too! Maybe we'll celebrate this weekend, if we remember...