So T and I went to do some errands last night, continuing on in our quest to drop stuff off at Animal Ark but just missing. The air was like soup and I still had that Seroquil hangover.

The ride was interesting, in that T kept yelling at J, who kept punching K, at whom T kept going off. I still don't know what I'm going to do there. I pointed out to T that K had improved noticeably, cleaning her room without being asked, while C tries to skate off whenever she gets the chance. We were on a quest to get cleaning products and appropriate things to put in a care package, plus getting keys copied. First we stopped at a dollar store, then went to Home Depot, where I was much taken with those sheds they have. Then I forgot to have the keys copied and we went home, at which point I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I gave permission for K to sleep at R's house. I and her mother both warned her that if she was running around in the street after dark she'd get sent home.

When I went in the door, I found a blue card from a church in the door. Having made myself clear on that subject to everybody who'd come to the door to convert me, I tossed it away and went into and laid down. I was asleep when someone pounded on the door.

It was C., wanting to know if I'd found the card. "Yes, I did. I'm trying to sleep."

Ten minutes later, it was C., again pounding on the door. "What?"

"I need to go the bathroom."

Oh my fucking God.

K came in to tell me that her mom wanted to talk to me, so I went outside, by now so tired my brain wasn't fully alert. I asked T where she was taking C and she said she was taking her to her uncle's house for something. "God, I'm trying to sleep. I'm going to have to get up to let her in."

T smiled. "You know those keys you got copied? Give her one and she can get in that way."

With visions of C turning on the lights and stumbling around, I gave her one, but T took it and said, "Oh, no, C, I'm holding onto this." Which was a relief. Oh, and did I mention K was there the whole fucking time? "Where's C going?"

T grinned at me. "You must be tired. I already told you and you asked me like three times already."

"I'm whipped," I said. "I'm going to go conk out."

"Get some rest."

"Drink some water," I said back.

So I went back into the house and laid down and turned off all the lights. I was just nodding off when the phone rang.

It was K. "What?" I demanded.

"Can I come over there and get some food?"

"No. I'm trying to sleep."

"BUt..."

"No."

"But whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.....?"

"Good bye."

Thirty seconds later somebody pounded on the damned door, and the phone rang again. "WHAT?"

"I want to get some foooooooooooooooooood." (She hate at her grandma's. "R doesn't have any. THe cops took it all."

"I'm trying to sleep. Go away."

Five seconds later, she pounded again.

Jesus Fucking CHrist. "Go away. NOW."

I called T to tell her this, and she said, "Then tell her the sleepover's cancelled. It was really simple."

So I called K and told her to come home. There followed one of the most frustrating conversations I've ever had. The kid has selective memory and all the excuses down. "But I didn't mean to!"

"Yeah, well you did. IF you didn't mean to, you wouldn't have done it."

"But I said I was sorry!"

"Sorry means bullshit. It doesn't make it okay."

"I didn't know you were asleep! You answered the phone! You always turn the phone off!"

"Except when I hvae to get up to meeting code enforcement people for M. YOu were siting right there when your mom and I talked about this. You knew I was going to bed."

"Well, you answered the phone!"

"Yeah, and then I went back to sleep."

"I can't fall asleep that fast!"

"I'm not you," I said icily.

"But I didn't know you could do that!"

"Then you shouldn't have tried it in the first place."

"But I knocked quietly!"

She pounded on the damned door, not once but twice.

"No, you didn't. And now I'm REALLY FUCKING PISSED OFF, which is sure going to make going to sleep easier. Go your room and don't make any noise."

I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep after that. She cried and whined and kept going to the damned bathrom every thirty seconds to blow her noise---loudly----till I finally told her to take tissue with her into her room. I didn't feel any sympathy whatsoever. I defended her in front of her mom, I listen to her when she talks about boys, and she just doesn't give a shit when I'm trying to get any sleep. Cry your eyes out, I just don't care right now. Oh, and did I mention that her door shrieks when it's opened? Yeah, I don't think the constant movement in and out was accidental either.

C came home and yelled something to her mother from the front step, thereby negating the whole key thing. But I was impressed that she made her way through the darkened living room without one 'ow!' Then she got to K's room and they proceeded to have a talk in normal speaking voices till I yelled at them for that. By now it was eleven, and I'd been trying to sleep since nine o'clock. To say I was in a bad mood would be severe understatement. I told C to go to bed, at which point she called out to me, "One of the cats peed on my pillow."

"Put it in the dirty laundry basket."

Which, as I found out this morning, she didn't do. She put it in the hallway.

I also discovered that despite the forgoing events, K was not happy enough with bugging me repeatedly, she also texted me at midnight to ask about a midnight snack. I might have dozed off. If so, that's the only sleep I got at all last night.

In a few minutes, I'm going to wake them both up to give them a taste of their own medicine. I didn't get one fucking minute of sleep and I have a blinding headache, and I have to be on my toes this morning so I can avoid that city inspector finding out where I live. Then I have to run some more errands. Let's see how they like getting woken up. K sleeps till noon and shouts at C for waking her up. C sleeps till ten and isn't exactly quiet while she putters around the house.

I am not in a good mood.

ETA: I am in even a worse mood now that I've been up and around and discovered that C did not lock the fucking front door last night. "I didn't," she asked. Now, how could you forget that? You unlock the door, you come in, you lock the door.