need a battery recharge

My batteries are running low tonight. It was a day of more than usual stress. I got rear-ended while stopped at a red light. The truck behind me was stopped too but the driver decided it was time to go when the left turn arrow turned green, even though our lane still had a red light. I didn't even see it coming. The kids were with me. Luckily we were all belted in and no one was hurt, but now 10 hours later I'm starting to feel twinges in my neck and back. The back end of our car is damaged, but the big GMC truck that hit us seemed completely unmarked. It did make me think about driving a bigger/safer car. Ironically, we just made two trips for car repairs last week and thought we were all done with car stuff for a while. The battery in the Prius died at 107,000 miles and the warranty goes to 100K. Figures. $3000 is a LOT for a battery with a 1-year warranty. It kind of undoes the savings you get on gas. I'm kind of disillusioned with car stuff right now...

In addition, I'm getting drained dealing with Alex's frequent tantrums. She is better than she was, but some days, especially when she's tired, she reverts back to the 3- and 4-year-old level - screaming, hitting, kicking, and even biting. Once she loses her temper, it is very rare that we can "talk her down" or get her to calm herself. And she can lose her temper on a dime, unpredictably, with no warning and sometimes no fathomable reason. We can and do give her choices, give her time out, take away privileges, talk to her about it afterward, etc. But I know she needs to teach HERSELF to control HERSELF and I feel at a loss as to what else we can do. The only encouragement I have is that (1) I know she is smart, and a good intellect will be on her side (2) she IS showing improvement as she gets older, even if it's slower than I would like.

I'm probably also feeling low because I'm getting over a cold. I've cut down on my workouts and I've been staying up too late. So hopefully I can start next week feeling better. My life demands a lot of energy and when I don't have it, I miss it!