This is no big deal really, but it just aggravates the crap out of me today. First of all, I love them all, I really, really do, but being inside with four cabin-fevered kids has worn my patience to the breaking point. I fixed a great lunch. We had all kinds of finger food - bagel bites, taquitos, mini chimis - we pretty much ate ourselves sick. Not one hour after lunch, my daughter comes to me wanting a snack. no, No, NO!! My son happened to be upstairs at the same time when I told my daughter that if she or anyone else asked me for food again today before supper was set on the table, they would take a nap. Our walls are thin, so I know my stepkids heard me too. There's no way they couldn't have heard me because I was YELLING!!!! So, not 10 minutes later, Truelight and I hear the freezer door in the basement being dropped repeatedly. I yell downstairs and ask why they are in the freezer, then my son admits that he has a popcicle. I ask who else has a popcicle, and my daughter pipes up that she does. Silence from the rest of them until my daughter rats out the others and then they speak up and admit they have popcicles. So, they all get sent to their rooms. However, Truelight is going to let his kids out a little sooner because he didn't think they knew the rule. Okay, I understand my kids were blatently disobedient, and they deserve their punishment, but DAMN!!! My son - the oldest - is usually the ringleader. He will do something wrong, and they will be his willing, brainless minions following whatever he does. How many times do we have to tell them that they are responsible for their own actions??? Why is it always mine that get into trouble? They deserve the trouble they get into, but why are excuses ALWAYS made for the others? There is a rule in the house that if you want a snack, you ask for it. It's been the rule for 3 years. Why is it so different now? Just because I said something to my kids just a few minutes before they got into trouble, why should it be any different for the stepkids? After all, they still know the rule?

Sorry, just venting, but I feel like locking myself in my bedroom with a big bottle of soft red wine. I'm a closet fan (shhhh, don't tell anyone - I make fun of obvious fans) of the Twilight series, and I just bought the fourth book. Sounds like I may spend the rest of the day wine-ing and reading.