Squeezed tight

I’m feelin’ the sandwich squeeze this week.

On Sunday, we did a 5K at our local zoo. It worked out great! We brought both kids (ages 5 & 8), and though Little Sis needed to take a few shortcuts, both kids made it through the whole walk. They dragged their weary butts across the finish line, and we retired to the car. The kids were ready to go home (it was only 9:30 am), but Mr. Hoagie and I were planning to stay and take advantage of the free zoo admission.

After a granola bar and three minutes of sitting still, they were bouncing around the backseat and raring to go again.

Go figure.

We spent almost 3 more hours at the zoo, then stopped at Olive Garden for lunch. By the time we got home, Mr. Hoagie and I were wiped out because we’d gotten up at 5:45 am. We napped while the girls played quietly in their room.

When I woke up, it was time to address my weekly Sunday dinner with Mom. I try to get together with Mom for Sunday dinners most weeks; it’s the one day of the week that her dining room doesn’t serve dinner, so it’s a good excuse to get everyone together.

Mr. Hoagie wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t join us for dinner at Eat n Park.

I felt guilty for taking everyone out to eat (the second time that day for most of us). I know it’s better for both our bodies and our wallets to eat home-cooked meals (something I used to loved to do; I was quite the foodie before Mom moved into town), but I had no groceries and no energy, so…here we were.

Again (can you tell this happens more than it should?).

On Monday, I was focused. I was up at 5:00 am to go to the gym. Home again by 6:30 am, tagged Mr. Hoagie on his way out the door, and off to get a shower and get the kids ready for school.

Big Sis was a mess that morning. I started waking her up at 7:00 am; by 7:35, she was still in bed. And NOT happy. She pretty much had a full-blown tantrum all the way through 8:15 am. She couldn’t even eat breakfast at home, she was so upset, so I took her to the bus stop and told her she’d have to eat breakfast at school. Even the other parents at the bus stop could tell she wasn’t herself.

Kids were on the bus by 8:25 am, and I was at the post office by 8:30 am. Hit the ground running at work. Staff meeting at 10:00 am, so that meant that I didn’t have time to finish everything I needed to before I left to pick up Little Sis from kindergarten.

We had to come back to the office for a while. Which meant that I didn’t have time (or energy) to go grocery shopping for us and for Mom. And I DESPERATELY needed to. But I couldn’t make it through the store, deliver Mom’s groceries, and get home by the time Big Sis got off the school bus.

So I went home and did two loads of laundry.

By late afternoon, I was tired, cranky, and feeling thoroughly put-upon.

I made it to my Weight Watchers meeting (first time in weeks!), then ran to the office supply store for something for work, and the pet store because Mr. Hoagie announced that we were out of cat food (this morning, he found a bag in our storage room. *sigh*).

That cranky, put-upon feeling lasted through Tuesday morning, when I hit the snooze bar as my alarm went off again at 5:00 am. So much for my healthy streak.

I awoke to find Big Sis in the bathroom with intestinal issues. I’ve had to keep her home from school Monday and today.

And I had to call 10 (TEN!) different people to find someone to cover for me at work today.

And Mom and I STILL don’t have groceries.

There’s dance class tonight AND Girl Scouts. And then I should stop into work to see how things are going…at 8:00 pm. Ugh.

In the meantime, I feel I’m a failure as a mom, employee, housekeeper and chef.

Save me.

Under the Weather

It’s been a crazy couple of days here.

Little Sis has had a terrible cough for weeks (on and off, mostly at night). Plus we’re trying to break her of Pull-Ups overnight, so nights have been rough lately.

I spent most of Tuesday (Inauguration Day) glued to CNN, NBC, and Twitter, basking in the radiant glow of hope and brotherhood.

Wednesday was a whirlwind of errand-running and general catching up. Mom called to let me know that J., the aide that helps her a few days a week, checked on Mom to find her with a fever. J. picked up some Tylenol in the gift shop for Mom, but needs me to pick up a full bottle, plus some cough medicine. I dropped it off that afternoon.

Wednesday night, around 9:45 pm, Mom calls. It’s a little late for her to call to chat. She reports that she’s feeling “a little weak.” I offer to come over, but she declines, saying that she was almost in bed anyway, but just wanted to let someone know. She did mention that the kidney clinic had called to let her know that she’s anemic again, so she’ll need more Procrit (or whatever the equivalent is that they’ve been giving her at the kindey clinic). Apparently the nurse is mailing the prescription so I can pick it up from Mom and hand-deliver it to the pharmacy. Annoying.

I call to check on Mom the next morning. She needs me to come over. Why? Because she’s so weak, she can’t get out of bed by herself. I pack up Little Sis and head over. I get her up, bathroomed, dressed and breakfasted before I head to an 11 am appointment. Then I went to my haircut, where my stylist tells me how sick she’s been, with a 102 degree fever.

It’s going around, I tell her.

Afterwards, I swing by Wendy’s to pick up lunch for Little Sis and me, plus a Frosty and some hot tea for my stylist. We deliver them, then check out a nearby tent that’s selling (bootleg??) Steelers gear. Nope…nothing good.

Off to Sam’s Club, then to two more stores in search of Steelers gear. Three Steelers tee shirts, a case of Sprite and two boxes of diapers later, we stop back at Mom’s, make our delivery, fix her some food (she hadn’t eaten since I last fed her at 10:45 am), and leave to get Big Sis off the bus.

Fast forward to sometime in the middle of the night. I am awakened by both kids up to use the bathroom. I check Little Sis’ bed: soaked. I sop up the worst of it, then find a sleeping bag for her and lay it out on the floor.

This morning I was awakened by Big Sis, who was awake and miserable at 6 am. She was in the bathroom with diarrhea, and freaked out about it, too. I sat with her through four bouts of it over the next hour and a half, then called it: I’d keep her home from school.

But Little Sis still had school. So I got her up on the early side, because I was following doctor’s orders. Her pediatrician recommended that when she has an accident overnight, SHE should wash her own sheets. By hand. So we did. In the bathtub.

I’m not sure it had the desired effect, though. This kid LOVES to wash stuff. Stuffed animals, Barbie dolls, my kitchen sink…all of it. She seemed utterly tickled that I was letting her do this.

But I did make her strip the bed HERSELF, which she wasn’t so keen on, and lug the full laundry basket down the hall to the bathroom. She put all the wet linens into the washer before school and transferred them to the dryer afterwards. Then she took the clean, dry linens back up the stairs to her room. She’ll finish putting them on tonight.

Hopefully after a few days worth of this, she’ll make more of an effort to get to the toilet at night. If it doesn’t kill me first.

Did I mention that I ALSO am not 100%? Sore throat, headache, runny & stuffy nose. Nothing to head to the ER for, but it’s no picnic to take care of EVERYONE else when you’re not feeling good.

I can’t get any sympathy around here….

*sniff*

*honk*

*cough*

*blow nose*

Where have I BEEN?

Just a quick post because I’ve been so neglectful. Where to begin? I’m blogging from my new MacBook, an early Christmas present from my mom and sister (thanks, guys)! Then Mr. Hoagie bought hardware to set up a home wireless network. All that excitement sent me over the edge, apparently, because I spent the next 2 days laid up with a stomach bug. And now I’m preparing to host Thanksgiving: the four of us, plus Chiquita, my sister, Mr. Hoagie’s parents and brother.

And with that, I’m off to brave the crowds at the grocery store. Pray for me!

Sniffling, sneezing, stuffy head…

Big Sis gave it to me.

Snot fills my skull.

I’m going to lie down now….