The wall…

September 24, 2008 Savvy Spoonie 7 Comments

I hit it.

I never actually believed there was one, but yesterday, after I returned from my CLE, I got dizzy, and nauseated, and faint. I ended up spending the night at my mother’s, as I didn’t feel capable of caring for my children. It seems I may have worn myself completely out.

Now, in my defense (yes, I feel I need defending here), I have spent the past two weeks caring for sick kids and getting very little sleep. Then I cleaned my entire house on Monday, from top to bottom, with antibacterial cleaners and bleach to rid the house of any remaining spec of Hand, Foot, and Mouth virus. Then on Tuesday I read that vinegar was very effective at getting rid of it, so I cleaned it all again. I re-mopped the floors, re-wiped the cupboards, tables, chairs, and walls, and even borrowed my mother’s carpet cleaner and ran vinegar through the carpets. Then the house smelled like vinegar so I re-mopped with a lavendar rinse to improve the air. (Okay, on reading this over it does strike me as insane, at least a little.)

Yesterday I topped it all off by attending a 7 hour CLE on Child and Family Investigation for my business.

So I can see why I might be less than chipper when I got home, but I never been so bone weary and weak before! I had to ask friends if they could come walk my dogs, and I had to stay with my mother, because Lee is still out of town and I was afraid of losing consciousness. Literally. My vision kept going black around the edges and I kept breaking into a faint sweat whenever I stood up.

Oops.
I may have overdone things.

Today I feel a little better. I slept, and then spent the day eating well and reading romance novels on the couch while Otter played at my feet. (He still has blisters in his mouth, but he is getting better. We may have to cancel all our kid oriented weekend plans if the blisters don’t go away in the next two days. I don’t want to give Hatchet’s twins Hand, Foot, and Mouth for their first birthday!!)

I didn’t do anything, no cleaning, no work, no cooking even. Just simple resting and ordering in. I guess I should a little more of that more often.

Monkey, Otter, parenting

Scylla’s Law…

September 22, 2008 Savvy Spoonie 2 Comments

Every single time my husband has left town, be if for business or pleasure, something has happened to make the time here without him more challenging. For example, my husband went to Thailand for a week or so the during my first year of law school. His friend was getting married, and he was invited to attend the wedding. I couldn’t attend with him because the wedding was scheduled over my first ever week of law school exams. We talked about whether or not it was more important for him to stay and help me through exam week, but ultimately decided he should go.

All would have been well, except that his mother fell and broke her arm the day after he left, and I was stuck caring for a child and his mom, while studying for and taking my first ever law school exams. Hence, that trip will always be referred to in my mind as the trip of resentment.

This theme continues whenever he leaves town. Somehow the universe decided that I am to be tested when he is away. Okay, that is fairly egocentric of me, I am sure the universe has better things to do than test me. Clearly, the universe just has a really sick and perverse sense of humor, and I make for a good laugh.

When Lee left for the Rails Conference a few weeks after Otter’s birth I had a heck of a time handling all the kids and pets on my own. The last time he left town for business I was in the middle of starting my own business and had to find sitters to watch the kids as I interviewed people. Oh yeah, and Monkey got sick.

SO… this time Lee is gone for four days, well, three and a half. Otter had been sick all week with Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease, courtesy of little Lily’s daycare center. We thought he was better, all back to normal, until four hours after his Daddy left town. He yawned, and I saw blisters inside his little mouth.

Well…. fuck.

I promptly canceled all playdates and got some low acidity yogurt to tempt him with. Of course, all he wants to do is nurse. Now he has a racking cough, a crackly little voice, and sore blisters inside his mouth. His plaintive cry of “Mama” is heard constantly through my house. Monkey’s nose began to run this morning and she claims to have been sneezing all night.

So, Murphy’s law is “what can go wrong, will” and mine is “what can go wrong when your spouse is out of town and you are alone with the kids, will.”

It sucks, but hey, I have my own law!!

Weekly Winners

Weekly Winners…. crochet edition.

September 20, 2008 Savvy Spoonie 14 Comments

♦

The holidays they are fast approaching. This year I plan to make many of my holiday gifts, either via the camera, or the crochet needle. Of course, I hate waiting to give people their presents, so the first holiday gift I made was promptly handed over to it’s intended recipient, who was then coerced into having her picture taken in said gift:

She was quite pleased with the colorful addition to her wardrobe.

Of course, I absolutely love that she loved it, and was tempted to make several more just to get another huge smile and thank you. Isn’t it awesome when your hard work and creativity are appreciated?