Today sucked. No two ways about it.

It started ok. I had killed my battery the night before by leaving my lights on, so Jason had to jump me this morning. Then, we noticed that my newly planted azalea by the side of the driveway had been hacked to death. I had noticed a neighbor child the previous day with a big stick walking up and down the street. Some leaves were missing from my bush, and I figured it was just childish mischief and he'd gotten it out of his system. Apparently not, and my poor plant met a violent death. The root ball is still in the ground, but I don't know if it will make it.

Mom came over on her way back from Costco, cleaned the house while I got the kids ready, then we headed down to the library (7 books checked out, all for me... muahhhhahahah), then out to walk. Despite the heat and increasingly fussy babies we managed to do our two miles.

I get home and notice a piece of paper on the front door. A stab of panic hits me right in the gut. That cannot be good. I pack in the kids, put Ethan down to bed, then get the note. It was typewritten, and, to paraphrase, 'Your dogs bark all day, every day. They also bark all night, starting at 9pm. In the interest of neighborhood harmony, please resolve the issue'. It was unsigned.

I was furious.

Firstly, my dogs don't bark all day. They are inside the house with me. Secondly, they most certainly do not bark all night. They are inside the house, with us. I hate barking dogs, and I try to keep it to a minimum. So, not only does this person leave me a nasty note, but what they're complaining about isn't even me (there are dogs that bark all the time a few houses away), AND they don't leave me a way to correct their grievous error. I do leave the dogs in the house when I go out, and Tilli in the kennel. Tilli does bark while she's in the kennel and we're not home, but its certainly not 'all day, every day'. Heaven knows I barely leave the house.

I want to move. I HATE this neighborhood. I have a number of explicative that just want to rage out about this. Seriously, this makes me so mad and angry. I told Jason that if I had to work part-time or work at home to get away from this stupid neighborhood I would. I just hate it so much.

So after dealing with that, I tried to calm down and relax before having to worry about dinner. Poor Gwennie, for reasons I do not know, did not want to sleep or be put down. I managed a quick shower, but after that I had to hold her the entire evening. I managed to get dinner prepped before J got home by putting her down, running around like crazy, then picking her up before she got too wound up. It was too hot for my pouch unfortunately.

Jason came home stressed out about the stupid note and some work related stuff and we basically snipped at each other until dinner was ready. Ethan was running around screaming randomly for no reason than wanting to hear himself and I think Jason and I both felt like running out the door.

Luckily, dinner was good. It was shrimp that I brined for 20 min (to help them stay juicy), then tossed in a garlic paste consisting of garlic, salt, cayenne, paprika, olive oil and lemon juice. They sat for about 30 min, then I threaded them onto skewers and grilled them. Only took about 3 min per side. The only downside was that their shells were on (they grill much better that way) so it took some work to eat. I made a Asian salad of cabbage, grated carrot, sesame seeds, cilantro, rice vinegar and sesame oil. The whole thing was extremely healthy and delish. Even Ethan liked his first taste of shellfish and gobbled down the shrimp and salad.

I'm so tired and worn out right now. Just feel like bawling my eyes out. Days like these wear on me and make me think back to how simple life was before I had kids, and even before I had a husband. Its not that I regret my decisions, but sometimes I wonder what would I be doing now? Where would life have taken me? Truly, I do not think I would have done things all that differently, but some days you just want to escape from the moment and ponder the different paths you may have followed.