Is brought to you by the miracle of medical science.
I am sick. And not happy about it. To say that I’m in a b*tchy mood is kind of an understatement. Maybe it’s that I’ve got some PMS lurking in the background, cos you know, when you’re sick with 100 million other things going on and family coming to visit at the end of the week, there’s nothing like a good ole head cold with a side order of PMS. And did I mention that I bit my front top lip LAST WEEK and it still hurts like MAD? As in every time my teeth brush up against it or I drink or eat ANYTHING, I feel like needles are being shot into my lip? No? Well now you know.
My parents just read this and are reconsidering coming. Sorry. You can still come.
This cold has just been WAITING for me in the sidelines, waiting for my defenses to be down just enough to take me out at the knees.
And honestly, I’ve been fighting it off pretty well, until several nights of little sleep and exposure to, um, an entire population of sick people, just got to me. My immunity wall fell and the cold just tramped on in.
I thought it was just allergies and then I thought that maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. But then the other night I woke up around 3 am and thought my teeth were being pushed out from the inside, such was the sinus pressure. Sitting up, hurt. Lying down, hurt. I would have cried if it didn’t mean that I’d be producing more snot and more sinus pressure.
And then, the obvious smacked me in the side of the head. I could TAKE SOMETHING. Medicine. Yes, I COULD. I had forgotten.
How does someone forget this you ask? Well, you see, for almost 5 years I was nursing or pregnant. (Yes, I know, 2 kids, 3 years apart…. Do the math. I spent a LOT of time nursing, freak that I am). During that time, unless I was on antibiotics, which was rare, I took nothing more than Tylenol or Advil. Even during horrible colds, of which there were a few.
So, the other night when I realized I did not have to suffer through it, with a foggy giddiness I ran to the medicine cabinet to find the box of decongestant I bought Hubster just a few weeks ago. I popped one in, followed by a Tylenol chaser and waited for all of the mediciney goodness to kick in.
If you know me, you know that this is unusual for me. I am SO NOT a medicine person. If you don’t know me, right now, you think I’m some sort of junkie who has fallen off the wagon. I’m not, really.
I know that cold remedies do not make you heal faster. I know that. There is NEVER a good time to get sick. However, over the counter cold meds sure can help you feel a bit more human and when you’ve got 2 kids, school, meetings, etc and really not much of a chance to sit and chill for longer than 10 minutes until after 8 pm (if you’re lucky), well… sometimes you just gotta find some functionality in a box of decongestants. So thank you medical science.
I can’t say they’ve improved my mood much, but the fact that I am sitting here without falling over, is good enough for me right now. I can’t imagine the shape I’d be in right now, if I wasn’t able to get some kind of relief. I know I’ll get a chance to rest soon, and that will help me to truly heal. Though really, as of tonight, so FAR (knock on wood ) I’m feeling a bit better.
As for the kids… I’m sorry I’m in grouchy grizzly bear mode. Really, I am. However, if you’d like to HELP Mommy feel better… please stop WHINING. Constantly, and asking WHY. Constantly. This will vastly help Mommy be nicer.
And Mom and Dad (and Bro), we’re looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. We’re all set. And I promise that I won’t meet you at the door with a growl. And the whole house has been Clorox-d. And I’ve taken a shower in Purell.
P.S. I kind of left you hanging with the whole “Father” bomb. Sorry. Things got crazy busy and I haven’t been able to post. The current update is that he is doing better, apparently off the ventilator and talking. But that’s all I know. And as a further aside, I do not wish him any ill will – and certainly don’t wish him dead. I’m just a bit surprised, more than anything. It’s kind of a weird situation. More at another point, I’m sure.
Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label On the Road. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Bloggin' On The Road
I generally can’t read in the car without wanting to vomit after 5 minutes, but we’ll see if I can write and not destroy my keyboard. (Notes from the road trip)
Hour 1:
At 4:15 am, Hubster and I were up to finish getting ready for the big trip north. (Note to would be burglers - we have a big dog who likes to eat fresh meat, and neighbours who will shoot first and ask questions ... um, never). In the past, we’ve left at the buttcrack of dawn, put the kids in the car in their pj’s and they sleep for a couple of hours while we motor through the sunrise before we stop for breakfast and hey! We’re half way there!
This time… it did not go as planned. Baboo woke up soaked, which required a change of clothes and instead of being half asleep, she was mostly awake and not happy about it. Mouse woke up bouncing in bed with excitement. Clearly, no one intended to sleep.
An appropriate theme song for this morning is Ralph’s “M-o-m-m-y needs c-o-f-f-e-e”. Oy. We tried to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a much needed coffee before getting on the highway, but they didn’t open until 6. Even though the guy on the phone last night said they opened at 5.
It’s now 6:30 am. We’ve been on the road an hour. ONE. HOUR.
We’ve had 72 “are we there yet”s, 2 requests for potty breaks, 1 “I’m ready to go home”. We’ve had 2 “I’m hungry”s. We’ve had NO coffee. (Curse you Dunkin Donuts!) We nearly had 4 meltdowns.
ONE HOUR. Of an 8 hour drive WITHOUT breaks. We were thinking it would be about a 9-10 hour drive with breaks, but now, if the rest of the drive is anything like the first hour, we’re doomed. We may not arrive. Or maybe, not ALL of us will arrive.
So we stopped after one hour at a McDonald’s. It was not our plan, but before someone lost it, it was wise. We pottied, had breakfast and admired an enormous pink plush unicorn that Mouse INSISTED was the perfect item to bring on vacation - if we bought a trailer to carry it. Both girls could have sat on it with room to spare. Ridiculous.
Hours 2-4:
Then, we got back on the road WITH the portable DVD on (I caved soooo early in the game) and they lasted a bit longer for the second stretch. Baboo slept and Mouse watched some of her videos.
I usually plan to save the movies for when they’ve really had enough. This time, “I” had had enough. The thing is, I had a box of snacks/activities/toys – things to entice and entertain them for HOURS – NEW movies, NEW games, NEW colouring books. Travel Bingo, people. No reading required. How fun is that? Apparently not very, judging by my girls’ lackluster responses. They are not impressed and were barely entertained for more than 5 minutes by ANY of my carefully thought out plans and purchases.
Hour 6:
Side note: I did long car trips with my family EVERY summer. How did we do it without tv? I feel like a total cop-out.
However, that doesn’t stop them from asking for something new to do every 7 minutes. Or to eat. Or to ask to see the map. Or to get the crayon/toy/game that fell on the floor. I’m sure that all the contortionist twisting I’ve done counts as yoga. Unbalanced yoga. And while the seat covers may seem nice and smooth, when you’ve got an eczema rash under your arm and you keep rubbing up against the cover, it really isn’t as smooth as it seems. It feels like sandpaper.
Hour 7:
Now we’re about 2 hours away from our destination, we’re hoping that a rest stop was the last break we need. We let the kids run around outside after a bathroom break in a somewhat questionably clean bathroom. Ok, so maybe we MADE them run around. It was beautiful out and there was grass and trees and grasshoppers. We told them to touch every tree and catch a grasshopper. We killed 15 good minutes that way.
We’ve got the tv on, AGAIN, with a LONG movie and though everyone’s feeling a bit frazzled, we’re almost there. And I understand that every minute feels like an hour, especially when you’re 5, but if I hear “Are we there yet” one more time, I may just eat a piece of that red licorice that I’m very allergic to and ask Hubster to just dump me on the side of the road and leave me to die so I can rot away like the 70-odd roadkill raccoons we’ve seen along the highway.
Hour 9:
We arrive. Everyone is in tact. The girls are giddy with excitement at being with Grandma and Grandpa and Hubster and I are ready to collapse from mental anguish and exhaustion.
It feels a bit surreal to be back in our home town, where everything is so familiar and generally unchanged. As we're driving through town, I'm pointing out to the girls where we used to live/work/go to school etc. It feels like a whole life time ago.
And so begins this summer's vacation!
End note: I did NOT vomit on the keyboard, in fact I felt fine. Does this mean I get to get a netbook so I can write while in transit?! Oh, think of the possibilities! Whoo! Too bad I'm too damn tired to think that hard. At least not today.
Hour 1:
At 4:15 am, Hubster and I were up to finish getting ready for the big trip north. (Note to would be burglers - we have a big dog who likes to eat fresh meat, and neighbours who will shoot first and ask questions ... um, never). In the past, we’ve left at the buttcrack of dawn, put the kids in the car in their pj’s and they sleep for a couple of hours while we motor through the sunrise before we stop for breakfast and hey! We’re half way there!
This time… it did not go as planned. Baboo woke up soaked, which required a change of clothes and instead of being half asleep, she was mostly awake and not happy about it. Mouse woke up bouncing in bed with excitement. Clearly, no one intended to sleep.
An appropriate theme song for this morning is Ralph’s “M-o-m-m-y needs c-o-f-f-e-e”. Oy. We tried to stop at Dunkin Donuts for a much needed coffee before getting on the highway, but they didn’t open until 6. Even though the guy on the phone last night said they opened at 5.
It’s now 6:30 am. We’ve been on the road an hour. ONE. HOUR.
We’ve had 72 “are we there yet”s, 2 requests for potty breaks, 1 “I’m ready to go home”. We’ve had 2 “I’m hungry”s. We’ve had NO coffee. (Curse you Dunkin Donuts!) We nearly had 4 meltdowns.
ONE HOUR. Of an 8 hour drive WITHOUT breaks. We were thinking it would be about a 9-10 hour drive with breaks, but now, if the rest of the drive is anything like the first hour, we’re doomed. We may not arrive. Or maybe, not ALL of us will arrive.
So we stopped after one hour at a McDonald’s. It was not our plan, but before someone lost it, it was wise. We pottied, had breakfast and admired an enormous pink plush unicorn that Mouse INSISTED was the perfect item to bring on vacation - if we bought a trailer to carry it. Both girls could have sat on it with room to spare. Ridiculous.
Hours 2-4:
Then, we got back on the road WITH the portable DVD on (I caved soooo early in the game) and they lasted a bit longer for the second stretch. Baboo slept and Mouse watched some of her videos.
I usually plan to save the movies for when they’ve really had enough. This time, “I” had had enough. The thing is, I had a box of snacks/activities/toys – things to entice and entertain them for HOURS – NEW movies, NEW games, NEW colouring books. Travel Bingo, people. No reading required. How fun is that? Apparently not very, judging by my girls’ lackluster responses. They are not impressed and were barely entertained for more than 5 minutes by ANY of my carefully thought out plans and purchases.
Hour 6:
Side note: I did long car trips with my family EVERY summer. How did we do it without tv? I feel like a total cop-out.
However, that doesn’t stop them from asking for something new to do every 7 minutes. Or to eat. Or to ask to see the map. Or to get the crayon/toy/game that fell on the floor. I’m sure that all the contortionist twisting I’ve done counts as yoga. Unbalanced yoga. And while the seat covers may seem nice and smooth, when you’ve got an eczema rash under your arm and you keep rubbing up against the cover, it really isn’t as smooth as it seems. It feels like sandpaper.
Hour 7:
Now we’re about 2 hours away from our destination, we’re hoping that a rest stop was the last break we need. We let the kids run around outside after a bathroom break in a somewhat questionably clean bathroom. Ok, so maybe we MADE them run around. It was beautiful out and there was grass and trees and grasshoppers. We told them to touch every tree and catch a grasshopper. We killed 15 good minutes that way.
We’ve got the tv on, AGAIN, with a LONG movie and though everyone’s feeling a bit frazzled, we’re almost there. And I understand that every minute feels like an hour, especially when you’re 5, but if I hear “Are we there yet” one more time, I may just eat a piece of that red licorice that I’m very allergic to and ask Hubster to just dump me on the side of the road and leave me to die so I can rot away like the 70-odd roadkill raccoons we’ve seen along the highway.
Hour 9:
We arrive. Everyone is in tact. The girls are giddy with excitement at being with Grandma and Grandpa and Hubster and I are ready to collapse from mental anguish and exhaustion.
It feels a bit surreal to be back in our home town, where everything is so familiar and generally unchanged. As we're driving through town, I'm pointing out to the girls where we used to live/work/go to school etc. It feels like a whole life time ago.
And so begins this summer's vacation!
End note: I did NOT vomit on the keyboard, in fact I felt fine. Does this mean I get to get a netbook so I can write while in transit?! Oh, think of the possibilities! Whoo! Too bad I'm too damn tired to think that hard. At least not today.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Greetings from Sunnyville
And so we have arrived safe and sound in Sunny-ville. So far things are going very well. We’ve already been very busy, buzzing around doing all sorts of things.
Baboo has a bit of a cold that seems to make her sound worse than she feels and we’re all holding our breath to see if we’re going to get it. Especially since she slept ½ the night 1.5 inches from my face, breathing and coughing all over me. Yay.
Regardless, yesterday after leaving at the butt-crack of dawn, we arrived here at about 9:30 am, ready to get the day going after hearty and cheap breakfast from McD’s (only because every other restaurant in a 5 mile radius was PACKED). We went and picked 2 buckets of hydroponic strawberries and then found a little farm with a sweet older lady who drove us in her little Kubota to pick some of the few oranges that have not been damaged by frost. The girls had a wonderful time and she and her granddaughter showed us their chickens, bunnies and cows. The girls loved it. Baboo picked an orange off the tree, hugged it to herself, patting it and saying “I wuv you owange” before slam dunking it into the bucket.
Despite the air being cool, the pool is heated so Mouse and Papa went swimming. They both returned a little chilly. We’re not going to get the 80 F weather we hoped for, but the suns’ out, there’s no snow and we can play outside without 17 layers of clothes on. So, I’ll take that.
Today we hit a local playground for a while then headed off to a little carnival with little kid sized rides. We only had to buy Mouse an arm band, Baboo was free and Hubster and I accompanied them. 42 trips on the carousel on a horse now named “Rosie” because of the roses she was covered in certainly paid for the band. We also loved the slide and the twirling airplanes (but NOT going up and down!). We took the girls on a “little” dragon roller coaster and I felt like *I* was going to fall out, I tried to keep sending the junior carnie the pleading eyeball – begging him to stop the ride early. Baboo was so terrified she didn’t start crying until it was done! I did the whole nervous laugh when we got off, thinking God, don’t let me on there again. I know, I’m a chicken. Craziness.
The kids running the little carnival were so young. I kept wondering if they were actually “qualified” to work the rides. But then I thought, well, is there a degree for being a carnie? I don’t know. It all feels a bit shady to me.
Anyway… sending you some sunshine and fire ants from Sunny-ville. And the required neighborhood wave as we pass anyone who happens to be outside. No really, it’s REQUIRED. “Thou shall wave to thine neighbor”. That and driving at 15 mph. Geezers on gigantic trikes are passing us as we wave and weave out way through the park. Ah retired life. It’s good. (haha)
Baboo has a bit of a cold that seems to make her sound worse than she feels and we’re all holding our breath to see if we’re going to get it. Especially since she slept ½ the night 1.5 inches from my face, breathing and coughing all over me. Yay.
Regardless, yesterday after leaving at the butt-crack of dawn, we arrived here at about 9:30 am, ready to get the day going after hearty and cheap breakfast from McD’s (only because every other restaurant in a 5 mile radius was PACKED). We went and picked 2 buckets of hydroponic strawberries and then found a little farm with a sweet older lady who drove us in her little Kubota to pick some of the few oranges that have not been damaged by frost. The girls had a wonderful time and she and her granddaughter showed us their chickens, bunnies and cows. The girls loved it. Baboo picked an orange off the tree, hugged it to herself, patting it and saying “I wuv you owange” before slam dunking it into the bucket.
Despite the air being cool, the pool is heated so Mouse and Papa went swimming. They both returned a little chilly. We’re not going to get the 80 F weather we hoped for, but the suns’ out, there’s no snow and we can play outside without 17 layers of clothes on. So, I’ll take that.
Today we hit a local playground for a while then headed off to a little carnival with little kid sized rides. We only had to buy Mouse an arm band, Baboo was free and Hubster and I accompanied them. 42 trips on the carousel on a horse now named “Rosie” because of the roses she was covered in certainly paid for the band. We also loved the slide and the twirling airplanes (but NOT going up and down!). We took the girls on a “little” dragon roller coaster and I felt like *I* was going to fall out, I tried to keep sending the junior carnie the pleading eyeball – begging him to stop the ride early. Baboo was so terrified she didn’t start crying until it was done! I did the whole nervous laugh when we got off, thinking God, don’t let me on there again. I know, I’m a chicken. Craziness.
The kids running the little carnival were so young. I kept wondering if they were actually “qualified” to work the rides. But then I thought, well, is there a degree for being a carnie? I don’t know. It all feels a bit shady to me.
Anyway… sending you some sunshine and fire ants from Sunny-ville. And the required neighborhood wave as we pass anyone who happens to be outside. No really, it’s REQUIRED. “Thou shall wave to thine neighbor”. That and driving at 15 mph. Geezers on gigantic trikes are passing us as we wave and weave out way through the park. Ah retired life. It’s good. (haha)
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