That Time We Were On TV and Everything Fell Apart

Two days ago, as I finished my Body Pump class, my phone rang.  I didn't recognize the number but answered it.  A woman introduced herself as a reporter and promptly the body pump instructor turned on some fun music - loud.  I said I'd call her back and exited the gym.
She called back a little bit later & mentioned she had found my blog (what?!?!?) and a recent blog post I had written about how to talk to kids about those with differences and wanted to do a story on that!  And she wanted to do it on Monday - before 2pm.
Well.
Washing my hair was not on Monday's agenda.  I only wash the hair about 2 times a week... but that quickly become priority number 3.  Priority #1 was to get in a shower.
As I was headed home, a good friend just happened to call from Starbucks and announce she was headed my way with coffee!  This was clearly an answer to a prayer I had not yet thought to say.  We were out of coffee on Monday & I am a relatively new coffee drinker (began the day after I turned 32 because I thought I needed some more sophisticated beverages in my life.)  The caffeine boost was much needed.
Priority #2 was my house.  It was in no shape or form for anyone with a camera and access to television  with said camera to be in.  Dishes were piled.  Clothes were piled.  They were in pretty baskets but piled nonetheless.  ("Housefaking trip #1:  I have pretty wicker baskets.  I think piling clean (or dirty!) clothes in those somehow looks less messy than having clothes piled in plastic baskets.  Plus, when it is sitting out in my house somewhere, the wicker isn't as guilt inducing as that manipulative, evil plastic basket.)  Breakfast dishes were still out.  A giant playmobile spy contraption thing that Will & I have been slowly assembling (why, Playmobile?  Just Why?  Why do you think the toy must come with 5283 pieces?!?!)  was sitting in my living room - where we have been working on it since August.
And also, there was a strange odor.
Also - I had to get to the grocery store.  Because we were out of other things besides coffee.
So, Ellie & I raced through the store & headed home to shower.  I then realized not only did I need to wash my hair but I should attempt to pretend like I know how to fix it.
I got Ellie busy and thankfully she loves to help so together we got busy housefaking cleaning our home - or at least the areas I assumed a camera might venture into.
As I was racing home with Will from school, the reporter called to say she was running behind due to a much more newsworthy story (my words- not hers.)  Whew!  An extra 10 minutes.  We got home, I actually had time to wash the dishes that I had piled in a sink of detergent (housefaking tip #2- I have convinced myself that if dirty dishes are piled in a sink with lots and lots of bubbles, it looks like they are "soaking" & I get away with avoiding dishes longer.)  (And you thought this was just a blog about a family blessed with two kiddos with differences!  Ha!  I'm full of housefaking tips too.  More bang for your buck!)

Then the reporter and camera guy arrived.
At first, all seemed to go okay.
Will loved the opportunity to show off & we headed outside where he showed off lots and lots of tricks.
Then we came inside.
I was outfitted with a microphone.  Ellie freaked out.  She was not a fan of that tiny black microphone on my clothes and began to cry.  Meanwhile, Will decided he needed to bounce around - quite distracting.  So I sent him to his room to play - where he proceeded to pull out every toy he owns with a battery that makes loud siren type noises.
Awesome.
I tried distracting Ellie from the microphone in another room.  She was not having that & continued to cry from a distance.  As I smiled on camera and tried to talk about my motherhood experience, I could hear my daughter crying in the background & I kept thinking that anyone watching this would have one of two thoughts:
1) She needs to get off the camera and deal with that crying child she is totally neglecting.  Motherhood FAIL.
2)  "In my day we would never have allowed our children to behave like that!  She needs to discipline them."  (For the record, I tried my secret weapon mommy voice for public discipline but it was not working and I was intimidated by the camera from actually making a big discipline mommy scene.  I'm sure I was handling it all wrong.)
3) She should do something about that gray hair and why does her hair look like that?

Needless to say, my children felt out of control to me.  I felt like I couldn't form a coherent sentence.  It went into naptime and I had cranky children and mostly it felt awful.  I kept asking for breaks to go deal with someone and I never felt like I fully dealt with anyone.

I later texted an apology to the reporter and begged her to have the camera man edit out the craziness.

That man deserves a raise.

I really believed that it would not make it on the news after a day of government shut down & breast cancer awareness events... but it amazingly did...

So, after a way too long post, I present to you:  "That time we were on local tv and everything fell apart:

Click Here


Curious about the posts that got their attention?  See below. Apparently I wrote a series??

part 1: First Day Fogginess or How We Start School & Introduce a Kiddo With Differences

part 2:  Back To School, Part 2 or How to Talk To Kids About Kiddos With Differences