Snap out of it!

So I've been quite the grump the last few days/weeks. Not really wanting to fix meals...we've had a lot of crackers and cheese and grapes for meals lately. I don't feel like doing anything but moping around the house. Can't even bring myself to shop for Andrew's birthday, because I'm stuck at home during the weekends with sickos and ditto to the week. Why not on-line shop? Because I just don't wanna. I don't want hugs and kisses from Jeff, I don't wanna exercise, I don't wanna go out after he gets home from work because it's too dark, I don't WANNA.

Can you hear my whining from over there?

So in a somewhat unrelated event yesterday, I had it out with Andrew. He woke up yesterday with puppy-dog eyes. The kind of day where any request of mine is met with big open pathetic batty eyes and whimpers. When asked what is wrong, he has no response but more whining. He refused to get dressed, play with his sister, even talk to his sister, eat, etc etc. Nothing was good enough, but he couldn't express what was bothering him. After I'd dragged him by the skin of his teeth through the morning, we dropped Lily off at school and headed to the grocery (like we do EVERY Wednesday). He responded with a whimper. I took him by the arm and got eye to eye with him and said,

"You know what, Andrew? Sometimes being in a bad mood is a choice. You can't even tell me what is wrong...which means you are choosing to be in a funk. You need to figure out a way to SNAP OUT OF IT, or you are going to make yourself and everyone else miserable today."

And then it was like you could literally SEE the light bulb go off over my head. Like in a cartoon.

So I made an effort to snap myself out of it. I made homemade soup for dinner. I made peppermint chocolate milkshakes for dessert. I made amends with my affection-starved husband (if you know what I mean). I did two dishwasher loads in a row. I vacuumed the family room. I put pig-tails in my hair and danced around the room with Lily like an idiot.

And then Lily started to spike a fever in the afternoon.

I have a feeling I'm going to have to snap myself out of a lot of future bad moods as well.