Can you hear me now?

Today was not our best day ever as a family.  I had a lot to do in order to get ready for our trip to Tennessee tomorrow.  I acknowledge that the bulk of packing for trips falls to me.  I also acknowledge that my children could probably help more than I give them credit, but that I am a control freak, and I need to know that we are as prepared as we can possibly be for a trip.  So basically, I'm stressed.  Yesterday we spent the day going through the boys fall/winter clothes to determine what they are going to need for the year since we are going to visit my in-laws next week and there is no sales tax on clothing there (we had gone through JC's last week).  Today, the children spent most of the day glued to the TV because I was focused on laundry and packing.  About 5:00 I announced that unless they were watching the Olympics, they were done watching TV for the day.  I also informed them (rather loudly, in my opinion) that there were specific chores in the bedrooms (specifically the mountains of clothes we'd gone through) that I had asked them to do that hadn't been completed.  I was not at all pleased, I'll admit.  I reminded everyone that in order to keep me from being irritated and upset, directions needed to be followed.  I then left for about an hour and a half to the grocery.  I had asked my husband to be sure that everyone took baths and showers while I was gone because it was after 6:30 before I left, and I was responsible for bringing dinner home from the grocery.  I was pretty sure it was going to be 8:30 until we ate dinner and I didn't want the kids up any later than necessary since we are going to have some very long (albeit fun!) days ahead.  I called as I was leaving the grocery about 7:45 to find out where we were in the bathing process.  Not overly thrilled to find out it hadn't even been started.  I got home to find my children parked in front of the television watching cartoons, which last time I checked was NOT an Olympic sport.  I then go upstairs to find that in spite of my rather loud reminders before I left, nothing had been accomplished in the bedrooms.  I calmly (and I'm actually not being sarcastic here...by this point I was really too tired and drained to be upset) explained that I was very disappointed and felt very disrespected that they STILL hadn't listened to my directions.  And then, because I was so tired and drained, my tears began to flow.  That would be when my husband got involved and was not at all pleased at our children's behaviors.  I kept asking if I had been talking too quietly during the day...could they  not hear the directions about no more TV and about cleaning their rooms?  Finally I asked, in my best Verizon imitation, "Can you hear me now?"  We all started laughing and it helped to end the evening on a lighter note.  I know that they are kids and that I should be the adult and not get angry.  And at the same time, I hope that I was able to stress to them the importance of hard work, and along with that showing respect for loved ones.  I'm still drained and exhausted, but not a day goes by when I don't feel lucky to be their mother!