I
should have been writing all week to keep sane instead of living on Facebook
and Netflix. We’ve been sick. Not horribly, terribly sick where all I do
all day is shovel baby Advil down throats while taking temps and cleaning up
vomit while worrying about dehydration, but enough to keep the washer going
(and kill my ecstasy at being caught up on the laundry), and everyone in the
house (save for the few times they escaped the house and I had to round them
back up). It’s the you-think-everyone-is-better-but-then-someone-randomly-throws-up-or-spikes-a-fever
kind of sick that keeps you guessing. So
even though no one has vomited or had a fever in 24 hours now, I’m still not
letting anyone outside, and kind of waiting on edge for the next victim to
surprise me. Maybe I’ve been in the
house too long.
While
being trapped entombed, um…while lovingly taking care of my sick children
in our home, I have noticed a few problems (read: railed to my husband over the
phone about the mess in my house until he consented to let me get rid of
anything I want to) that need to be addressed.
Since my husband’s “okay”, I have been going through books, games,
clothes, and getting rid of half of everything.
I
have yet to tackle the cookbooks. I will
be sad to see them go, but the truth of the matter is, with the rare exception,
anytime I’m looking for a recipe I end up looking on the internet. It’s easier.
And faster. And I get more
variety very quickly. And each recipe
has ratings. With tips. So really, they are going to need to go.
My
minimalistic tendencies should be well-honed by the time I get to 70. By then the grandchildren will be screaming
at their parents as they are dropped off at my house “No! Not Grandma’s house! It’s SOOO BORING! She has nothing in her house at all and there
is nothing to do! She doesn’t even have
a couch to sit on!” In the meantime,
there are 40 tabs up on my phone. House
plans at 1500-2000 s.f. (with 4-5 bedrooms), couches a roomba can fit under, cleaning
droid reviews, and a fruitless google search for how to have only 100 things
and still raise 5 kids. Did I mention being in a house for 5 days with sick kids makes me want to burn down the house, or at least throw everything away?
On
an entirely different note- I read a most wonderful Ensign article about going
to bed early and rising early. My best
friend called me and tipped me off that I should read it (does she know me or
what?!). I have struggled for years with
not only the bad habit of going to bed late and getting up as late as possible
(and detesting mornings with everything that is in me), but even to cultivate
the desire to go to bed early and get up early.
I know it’s a commandment- it probably goes hand in hand with “thou
shalt not kill”, but nevertheless it has been one of my problems for years and
years. I would try every now and again,
but always ended up falling off the wagon in short order. Now, I read this Ensign article and was
greatly inspired and motivated to change.
I even toyed with the idea of hanging the article in a frame in my
bedroom (I still might!). I set a firm
bedtime for myself, and stuck with it…only to be awakened several times by
children who had thrown up in their beds (I was pretty awake by the time I was
done cleaning up children, changing all the bedding, and throwing a load of
wash in), a teething baby, and a humongous cockroach that I could hear in the
laundry room from my bedroom (the ensuing war was not pretty), and a couple of
false alarms (that had me running upstairs to prevent as much of the mess as
possible) by a fitful sleeper. All of
this tells me that God has a sense of humor.
Or he’s just testing me to see if my resolve to keep his commandments
will hold.
And- a personal update: I'm fine. Really, emotionally, physically, doing great. The emotional angst over the miscarriage ended almost as soon as it was over- well, a couple of days after, and I'm happy to have the opportunity to become more physically fit and work on being healthier before getting pregnant. My leg is also improving rapidly. The limp is almost gone, except going up/downhill and the occasional ridiculous attempt at running after a child. Running. Ha. The stairs are still hard. I can't kneel yet. But I am working on it- stretching, strength exercises. Real life is good therapy.
