Top Five Reasons this week has started off better than last week:

1. My car now fits in the garage. No more weather to deal with at 7:30am. This is sort of a seasonal thing for us–the summers of 2006 and 2007, the strollers and assorted wheeled vehicles sort of took over our 1 car garage. This past weekend, the car took the garage back.

2. I got my sample of Dunkin Donuts coffee in the mail and savored every drop. OMG. Everyday will start off better now that I know I can buy this at the grocery store. Best coffee–EVER.

3. My first foray into gluten free play dough was a success tonight, so MAM’s class will no longer be deprived. Miss A agreed to stop using play-do for a couple of weeks to see if MAM’s symptoms cleared, and of course they did….so tonight I made some dough for the class to use. I used sorghum flour, which doesn’t make it as stinky as regular homemade dough.

4. A crazy matter was cleared up at work today, so there is one less stress there.

5. My kitchen table is currently completely clean. This gives me hope that it will remain tidy throughout the week. No promises though….

I’m Out

Thoughts that actually went through my head last night, while driving home with a sleeping toddler in the backseat at 11:30pm:

Oh crap. I didn’t post today. Did I post today? No, and I haven’t even checked email come to think of it. If I don’t make it home before midnight, I’m out of NaBloPoMo. Gee, that didn’t take long. Isn’t only November 8? Maybe I can just jump on and post that I’m too tired to post. Oh wait, no, I can’t do that–the previous post was PPP and so I have to make sure this one is long enough to get my post approved. That was a fun post to write, I wonder if there are any new opportunities posted there? Oh geez it’s 11:50 now. I’m not posting when I get home. I’m out. Oh well. It was fun while it lasted.

So there’s the story…poor planning, really, is what led to my downfall. I could have posted early in the am before work, but some how it didn’t cross my mind at all till driving home that night. Why were we driving home so late? MAM was at a friend’s house (we shared a sitter) while the grown ups went out to a church dinner auction. It was big fun, even though we weren’t big winners.

Can I accomplish anything, really?

It’s been awhile since I’ve had a week like this–high drama/issues at work, quasi-sick child (she’s been home yesterday and today–more on that later), BgK has stuff every night this week–it just can’t be over fast enough.

Before the week began, I got an email from a friend who’s coordinating lunch for a volunteer group that’s doing some training. She put a shout out to our little cooking group (mind you, we haven’t really gotten together since July, but that’s ok, we’re tight) to see if we could, between the 8 of us, round up lunch for about 15 people. I knew I couldn’t swing much, but I thought a simple fruit salad wouldn’t be out of the question.

Little did I know.

It’s now 4pm on Thursday, and I realized about 10 minutes ago that it wasn’t going to happen. So I called a neighboring pal who was going to drop off some apple cider for the cause, and talked her into picking up a fruit platter with my name on it. God love my friends.

So onto MAM. Since her fever on Friday, she’s run on and off–still a crazy diaper rash, tired, cranky, needy. Yesterday I took her to the doc, which was just bad. Bad as in the nurse needed to help hold her down so the doc could look in her ears and swab her throat. She completely freaked out–it was awful. After everything, I got the directive, “Now just collect a urine sample and bring it back to the office this afternoon.”

Um, excuse me? Urine sample for the girl who just threw a fit the size of Texas? The girl who is potty trained but refuses to pee on the toilet at home? The girl with the raging diaper rash? How do you think I’m going to do that? Turns out, they make bags for such things.
Picture the world’s smalled vacuum bag, with adhesive.

She was so worn out after the doc’s, I thought for sure she’d sleep the afternoon away. She might have, had I not fasten a bag to her nether region. When I put it on, she simply said, “Sticker?” I said yes, put on a pull up and thought she’s be out like a light.

I was wrong.

In about 10 minutes she was jabbering…I walked into to find her naked from the waist down, with her bed soaking wet, the bag nowhere in sight. Oy.

After regrouping, I just showed her the specimen cup. I presented the idea.

She bought it. She refused to sit on the potty, but she stood there, cup between her legs, and sure enough, she went!! We got the specimen!!

And the doctor’s office was closed for lunch. Thanks folks.

We waited for the lunch break to be over, picked up the Rx cream, and turned in her specimen.

After all that, it was negative. All they could say was, “It’s probably a virus.” Thanks. After a total of 4 hours in the waiting room, specimen collecting, and pharmacy hopping (of course the first pharmacy didn’t have what we needed), we got the verdict! Another freakin’ virus.