When Orange Turns to Pale Peach

I've been trying not to yell, 

and doing fairly well.

Orange the color of my day begun

then it fades with the setting sun.

Paler than the palest peach

when control seems out of reach.

Bedtime comes, you'd think relief

but one by one they cause more grief.

"I need a drink", they say, "My head it hurts"

Go to bed you little squirts!

When the last one is finally asleep

I want to hang my head and weep.

One more day and one more night

I've stayed orange, the end in sight.

I recently told all of you that I was restarting my path on the The Orange Rhino Challenge . Well, I've been doing fairly well. I did have one (maybe two) restarts within just the first few days. Yelling is a really hard habit to break. Right now I'm doing OK, although the poor tuna fish probably didn't think so at dinner tonight when I yelled at it. I did not yell at my children, but boy that tuna can heard about flipping over on me when the can opener let go! 

Every day I start out fresh, even if I didn't yell the day before. I let every little stresser the campers doled out to me the day before vanish and start new again. I wake up and my day is Orange. There is orange nail polish on my nails, orange construction paper everywhere, some of the kiddos even have orange shirts. I've put a no yelling sign up on my computer tower, which is in the room I spend most of the day light hours. I think to myself, "Today I will not yell. Today I will be an Orange Rhino."

Yeah, good starts and best intentions. Since the last time I yelled at one of the kids several items in my home have been the objects of my raised voice. Poor defenseless cans of tuna fish, my deep freeze with my head inside, the corner I stubbed my toe on, and the list I am sure goes on. I don't want to be yelling at all. But, removing the yelling at the children aspect is a great place to start. There is no way I can hurt an inanimate object by yelling at it.

By mid afternoon that nice solid orange color I woke up with is about half faded to this dull orange that looks like it's been washed 1000 times with non color safe bleach. But, I breath. I hang on and I watch that clock. Bedtime is sure to bring relief right? 

Nope, by bedtime that wonderful orange color is the color of pale, pale peach. Nearly white. And I'm just about red hot under the collar and wanting to scream until just one of them listens to me. 

So far I've squeaked by most nights (I did say I had to restart a time or two right?). But only just by the skin of my teeth. 

Kermit the Frog once said, "It's not easy being green." My response? "Try being orange with a bunch of kids..."

If you'd like to attempt the challenge, see what it's about, or find some new coping skills you might not have known... Go to The Orange Rhino and see what she has to offer.


And on a bit of a lighter side of things. (Only due to my lack of craftsmanship on this one.) I did manage to make us a small Advent wreath at no cost, we had the items already at hand. My favorite part about it is that there's no open flame for curious Peanut's to burn their fingers on, nor singed kitty whiskers. Next year we'll have a more "traditional" one, but this is perfect for this year.

If you're curious to how I made the wreath, want to know why or how I teach my children certain things, or anything else ... feel free to comment here or find us on Facebook (here). I try to answer everything as soon as I see it and I check everything at least twice a day.