problem solving skills

Things were crazy today.  At 7:50 a.m., my three-year old locked us outside of the house - in p.j.'s.  I was busy adding more yard waste to our bin - trying to beat the yard waste truck.  After almost two hours of trying everything possible, I called a lock smith.  He handed me the credit card carbon copy to sign and I immediately teared up upon seeing the total: $169.00.

All I could think about was the little tiny bits of money I had saved with each food purchase I had made during the last two months.  How painstakingly I had watched sales, clipped coupons, compared prices, drover further for better deals, and avoided Costco, (which, by the way, I decided doesn't have such a negative impact on my monthly food budget after all, so I decided it is okay for me to go to Costco this month - Yes!).

My husband was quite sweet when I told him about the lock smith.  Then, he said, "I think I would have called our landlady first - I bet she has a copy of our key."  (She lives a few blocks away.)

No, no, no.  That thought didn't even cross my mind during the entire ordeal.  I always avoid the most obvious solution, and then quickly welcome the most painful one - with open arms.

The lock smith must have noticed the huge tears welling up in my eyes and asked if everything was okay.

I let the tears flow as I waved to him with a smile as he drove up our hill.

But, I really was grateful to be back inside of the house.

After this, I was just a bit discouraged by my complete lack of problem solving skills, but I couldn't let it bother me for too long because my kids' elementary school science fair is tomorrow, and we had to work all afternoon to complete their experiments.

My jaw aches from chewing bubble gum.  My head aches from the incessant pounding of a basketball.

I quickly flung aside all other duties or worries as we conducted their experiments and then brainstormed the thoroughness of the experiments, possible confounders, poster designs, necessary research surrounding the experiments, possible graphs for the presentation of both experiments, etc.

My goodness.  Maybe I should have discouraged them from entering the science fair until it is required of them.  Or, better yet, maybe I shouldn't have waited until the day before to start them.

(Little note here:  Dad got home before 7 p.m. and delved into the experiments.  And he was amazing.  He had great ideas and made it all much more enjoyable.  So, the life of a resident isn't ALL work work work, even though I may often paint it that way...)