Cold

Recently Jarom asked me if I’d rather have the flu for 2 days or a cold that lingers for 2 weeks. I quickly picked the cold, which surprised him. I explained that since I’m the childcare provider in our house, I’d have to make other arrangements for the kids if I had the flu. But if I had a cold, I could muddle through things.

The question was apparently some sort of cosmic test, as now I have a cold. June has something too – something that makes her wake up 6+ times every night. No me gusta. Jarom let me sleep until the last possible minute this morning, and after he left I stumbled out of bed, groggy, congested, exhausted, ready to give in. So far the kids are being nice – Jarom must have explained that I’m feeling sick – but we’ll see what horrors the day brings. This isn’t exactly the kind of cold I imagined; I was hoping for some sniffles and a sore throat. Not “I want to down an entire bottle of NyQuil and disappear for a week.”

Since that isn’t an option, I’m open to suggestions. How do you cope when you’re not feeling well, but you still have responsibilities like feeding your kids? I think almost everything else in my life can handle a few more days of neglect (the house is not doing well, but it will have to wait), but the kids still need to eat, have diaper changes/be reminded to use the bathroom, take naps; the dog needs to go outside once in a while. Should I just plan on a lot of stumbling around?

EDIT: Wow, just kidding, the kids were not being nice. We’ve had endless talks recently about not taking things that aren’t yours without asking first . . . but the kids thought it didn’t apply to food. They’d finished eating some biscotti (which I gave them) and then took two boxes of macaroni and cheese, dumped the noodles all over Evan’s floor, and dumped the nasty orange powder all over Evan’s bed. Thanks, kids.

Trouble

I got up early this morning – actually, let’s just leave it at “I got up this morning,” which should indicate that it was earlier than I’d like. If I had my way, I’d sleep until 11 every day. I’d made an appointment for the dog to get a haircut, since he’s gotten pretty shaggy again, so I needed to drive Jarom to work.

The kids and I spent a while browsing the pet store, admiring the chinchillas (which Evan hilariously – but unintentionally – called gorillas) and turtles. Then we had a brief interlude at my friend Kimberlee’s house, where Evan demonstrated why a full night’s sleep is important. We left soon thereafter. I called Jarom to ask if I could drop Evan off at the office to spend a few hours locked in the filing cabinet (which I said in jest; don’t report me). Jarom actually said we could come by and he’d take an early lunch.

By the time we were done, the dog was ready to be picked up, so the kids and I got our freshly-groomed dog and headed home. June went down for a nap without a fuss . . . Evan requested a dragon movie . . . and I sat down to see what the internet had been up to in my absence.

I had 5 emails.

Whenever I get an email or a Facebook message, I panic – because I assume it’s someone writing to tell me that I messed up at life (something vague or specific, it would depend on the person) and that I’m a terrible person. So seeing that I had 5 emails really freaked me out.

I can only hope this is NOT a normal response. And I seldom get emails that have any sort of reprimand or even a hint of disappointment. But I still worry.

Actually, all 5 emails I got while I was gone were junk. Turns out I’m not in trouble.

Yet.

Background

If you’re like me, cleaning is not the most interesting or exciting thing you could do with your time. It probably isn’t even on the list of Top 10 Things I’d Do If I Had a Day to Myself. Which, today, I do. My friend Holly let Jarom drop the kids off at her house on his way to work, so they’re stuck until he gets off at 5! Suddenly, being down to just one car is a good thing.

I’ve already caught up on sleep, had several bowls of Rice Krispies Treats cereal, and finished watching Part I of the Anne of Green Gables movie. Now it’s time to clean . . . because I’d feel guilty letting this perfect opportunity go by. Though it is less-than-perfect in the sense that I DON’T WANT TO CLEAN.

The only resolution I made for 2013 is to develop a routine that lets me spend a little bit of time tidying the kitchen every day, instead of a once-a-week or once-every-other-week 3-hour ordeal, desperately trying to figure out where all of our silverware went and why the table is covered in smears of peanut butter. But today I have no interest in working on the kitchen – yet. First, I’d like to get the living room cleared out enough that we can take the Christmas tree out to the curb tomorrow. Guys . . . it’s a huge, HUGE tree. I don’t know how to emphasize that enough. It takes up way too much room, and now that Christmas is over, I want my space back! We rearranged the couches to put the tree up, and [#firstworldproblems] I have to sit sideways or turn my neck a ton to use the computer. Have pity on me and my hard life!

When we moved into this house, I made a playlist to keep me in a good mood while I was unpacking. It gets tweaked and updated pretty frequently, and right now it’s called “Laundry” because that’s the chore I do most often. (And even that isn’t very often. Poor neglected house.) I put it on for background noise – the house really is too quiet after a certain point – but even the music seems boring today! I seldom feel quite this unmotivated. For a while I tried to think of a prize I could give myself for cleaning, but then that seemed even more depressing than just sitting on the couch. Alone. In silence.

As I’m finishing this post up, “Perfect Situation” by Weezer is playing. I don’t claim to keep my playlist updated with current music. The oldest song on there at the moment? “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash. Thank you, Academic Decathlon.