Hey, Who Stabbed My Boob? (aka another one of my famous TMI posts)
Life has been very... interesting since The Plumber has been in Fairbanks. It has been a definite adjustment being the only one here to take care of the house and the kids. It seems like every day, I find something else that makes me appreciate having a man around. Like taking out the trash. I HATE taking out the trash. Dragging two stinking garbage cans to the curb, then traipsing all the way back to the back yard to get the loose bags with unidentifiable liquids dripping out of the bottoms. Yuck. And the "bumps in the night". When The Plumber is here, if I hear a noise I just elbow him and say, "I heard something. Go check it out." and roll over. Now, those little noises scare the crap out of me. It's not like I can just ignore them. I mean, what if a burglar is in the house? Or a kidnapper?
I woke up the other night to a loud thunk. When I cracked the bedroom door open, it sounded just like someone was moving around downstairs. I grabbed the gun, (heck yeah, I have a gun!) and stood with my back to the wall in the hall, right about the stairs. And then I heard it. One of the stairs squeaked. My heart started pounding, and I thought, "How do guys do this?" As I whipped around the corner, channeling my inner Jack Bauer and mentally preparing to shoot whoever was on the stairs, I looked and saw....nothing. Again with my back to the downstairs wall, I heard a noise in the kitchen. I whip around the wall and see... nobody. After checking all of the downstairs rooms, I got a drink and tried to calm down. The doors were all locked, just like I had left them, and nothing had been disturbed. We live in a zero-lot line, so the noises could have been transmitted through the walls. And then I realized that I hadn't checked the kids room. What if someone had gotten up the stairs before I came out of my room? Back in Jack Bauer mode, I grabbed the gun and snuck up the stairs. All of my children were sleeping soundly, and no boogey men were in the closets. So I put the gun away, laid back down and tried to calm my speeding heartbeat.
I miss having a man around here.
Another thing that is hard about being a "single parent" with 4 kids is that I CAN'T get sick. Who's going to get everything done if I'm sick? So when I woke up this morning with a sharp stabbing pain in my boob, I groaned. Anyone who has dealt with a breast infection can tell you, they SUCK! They don't just affect your breast, but your whole body is wracked with shivers, aches and pains, and a high fever. The sickest I have ever been has been with a breast infection. This one hadn't gotten that far yet, but I knew I had to get to the midwife fast and get a prescription before it got worse. I dragged all of my kids to her office, and got the prescription, along with advice to massage the area as forcefully as I can and apply heat to it. Delightful! This is like someone telling you that the best way to fix your sprained ankle is to bend and twist it as forcefully as you can. Not a pleasant thing to do. I don't know how readily available Hot Hands packets are in the lower 48, but they are little packets that get hot when exposed to air, and you can put them in your mittens or boots to keep your extremities from freezing in frigid weather. I had a few left over from this past winter, so I shoved one of those in my bra and figured that took care of that.
My boob did look a tad lumpy, but I wasn't out to impress anyone today anyway.
One of the main ways I deal with stress is to cast on projects. It's like a high, and I keep reaching for that high again and again. Sooo...
A few blocks for a Babette blanket.
One sock.
Orangina. The back.
This is just from the last two weeks, there are a multitude of abandoned projects sprinkled around the house and car. I also made a ridiculously large order to WEBS for more yarn, in a late night "Oh, crap howamIevergoingtogetthishousepackedupandsoldbymyself" stress filled frenzy.
Even though the kids are a large part of my stress, they also give me so many reasons to smile, relax, and remember not to forget the things that are wonderful about what we have going here in our family.
I have mentioned several times that we homeschool. We do it through a program that is available here in Alaska called IDEA, where you are reimbursed for a large part of your curriculum, but do have to provide progress reports and work samples to the state. Just this year they decided that ALL subjects needed work samples, not just core ones like language arts and math. This has sent a lot of us scrambling, because how exactly do you provide a work sample for subjects like PE or music? I decided I would have my oldest write a few sentenced about rock climbing for his PE sample, but when I left the room he kept writing, and the result was so cute that I had to share it with you all.
He thinks I'm the "grateste"!
I woke up the other night to a loud thunk. When I cracked the bedroom door open, it sounded just like someone was moving around downstairs. I grabbed the gun, (heck yeah, I have a gun!) and stood with my back to the wall in the hall, right about the stairs. And then I heard it. One of the stairs squeaked. My heart started pounding, and I thought, "How do guys do this?" As I whipped around the corner, channeling my inner Jack Bauer and mentally preparing to shoot whoever was on the stairs, I looked and saw....nothing. Again with my back to the downstairs wall, I heard a noise in the kitchen. I whip around the wall and see... nobody. After checking all of the downstairs rooms, I got a drink and tried to calm down. The doors were all locked, just like I had left them, and nothing had been disturbed. We live in a zero-lot line, so the noises could have been transmitted through the walls. And then I realized that I hadn't checked the kids room. What if someone had gotten up the stairs before I came out of my room? Back in Jack Bauer mode, I grabbed the gun and snuck up the stairs. All of my children were sleeping soundly, and no boogey men were in the closets. So I put the gun away, laid back down and tried to calm my speeding heartbeat.
I miss having a man around here.
Another thing that is hard about being a "single parent" with 4 kids is that I CAN'T get sick. Who's going to get everything done if I'm sick? So when I woke up this morning with a sharp stabbing pain in my boob, I groaned. Anyone who has dealt with a breast infection can tell you, they SUCK! They don't just affect your breast, but your whole body is wracked with shivers, aches and pains, and a high fever. The sickest I have ever been has been with a breast infection. This one hadn't gotten that far yet, but I knew I had to get to the midwife fast and get a prescription before it got worse. I dragged all of my kids to her office, and got the prescription, along with advice to massage the area as forcefully as I can and apply heat to it. Delightful! This is like someone telling you that the best way to fix your sprained ankle is to bend and twist it as forcefully as you can. Not a pleasant thing to do. I don't know how readily available Hot Hands packets are in the lower 48, but they are little packets that get hot when exposed to air, and you can put them in your mittens or boots to keep your extremities from freezing in frigid weather. I had a few left over from this past winter, so I shoved one of those in my bra and figured that took care of that.
My boob did look a tad lumpy, but I wasn't out to impress anyone today anyway.
One of the main ways I deal with stress is to cast on projects. It's like a high, and I keep reaching for that high again and again. Sooo...
A few blocks for a Babette blanket.
One sock.
Orangina. The back.
This is just from the last two weeks, there are a multitude of abandoned projects sprinkled around the house and car. I also made a ridiculously large order to WEBS for more yarn, in a late night "Oh, crap howamIevergoingtogetthishousepackedupandsoldbymyself" stress filled frenzy.
Even though the kids are a large part of my stress, they also give me so many reasons to smile, relax, and remember not to forget the things that are wonderful about what we have going here in our family.
I have mentioned several times that we homeschool. We do it through a program that is available here in Alaska called IDEA, where you are reimbursed for a large part of your curriculum, but do have to provide progress reports and work samples to the state. Just this year they decided that ALL subjects needed work samples, not just core ones like language arts and math. This has sent a lot of us scrambling, because how exactly do you provide a work sample for subjects like PE or music? I decided I would have my oldest write a few sentenced about rock climbing for his PE sample, but when I left the room he kept writing, and the result was so cute that I had to share it with you all.
He thinks I'm the "grateste"!
posted by bunchkin @ 10:22 PM
2 Comments:
At 5:22 AM,
Anonymous said…
Being the "grateste" makes it all worthwhile doesn't it. :-)
At 10:48 AM,
Katrina said…
You are doing a fabulous job! Love the sock!
I feel some of your moving pain; we're packing and moving to our unfinished house in the next couple of weeks.
Hang in there!
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