To be nobody-but-yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.
~ e. e. cummings
'cause I am done. As I mentioned in my previous post, Kiddo appeared to be starting with a head cold yesterday morning. Well, yesterday afternoon she returned home from school white as a sheet with a low grade fever (99.2) and generally looked pitiful, so we skipped her swimming lesson and I put her to bed early with a dose of Children's Mucinex Cold for good measure.
Now, since it isn't possible for my kid to ever catch anything besides strep throat (to which I seem *knock wood* to be mostly immune) without me catching it too, of course I started with the cold symptoms myself. I can actually tell you the exact moment they began. I was pushing my shopping cart out of Walmart to my car through the chilly, damp air yesterday afternoon (temperatures were back down into the 30s and I was forced to reluctantly pull my winter coat back out of the closet where I'd optimistically stashed it the previous week) and I breathed in. With that inhalation (around 2:20pm), my throat began to hurt. At first I chalked it up to the air, to being thirsty, to *anything* other than germs. I hopped in the car and chugged a bottle of water. Throat still hurt. Dang. I chose to ignore it and went on with my day, because really, it's not like I actually had a choice. The world does not stop because Mommy is suddenly feeling unwell, after all. I drove myself home, unpacked the groceries, herded Kiddo into the house when the school bus arrived, tended to her, etc. By the time she was tucked into bed - 6:50pm despite DST, so I knew she wasn't feeling well - I was listless and sneezy. I still tried to convince myself that it was nothing more than PMS. Because PMS gives you a runny nose and sore throat, right? Hubby got home around 8:30 and we had cold cereal and toast for dinner, then went to bed at 10, and as soon as I rolled onto my side and shut my eyes, I felt it. That inside-the-skull sloshing of all the snot that seemingly spontaneously generated and ran down into my left side sinuses and nostril as they snuggled into the pillow. Ugh. I rolled to the other side and felt the sensation repeat as the tide shifted to my right. Not. Good. As the night progressed, I tossed and turned and woke up to alternatively jam Puffs Pluses into my nostrils or to remove and replace them. (What? You've never done that? I do it all. the. time. when I have a head cold. I'm doing it right now, as a matter of fact.) Around 2am, Hubby abandoned ship and moved himself into the guest room to try to get some sleep that wasn't interrupted by my congested breathing, snorting or snoring. I took advantage of his defection by rolling onto my back so that at least the congestion could reach a state of equilibrium between my sinuses. As generally happens when I'm not feeling well, my subconscious went all Twilight Zone on me and kept parading odd and unsettling dreams through my increasingly congested noggin for the periods I was actually asleep.
This morning, Kiddo didn't wake up until 8:35. I would gladly have slept in even longer if I could've, myself. Instead, I got up, swapped my normal morning attire of ratty sweatshirt-over-jammies for my ratty-fleece-with-pockets-over-jammies so that I can carry a stash of tissues and hand sanitizer with me wherever I go and shuffled downstairs. Kiddo is home from school today (obviously) and we're both pretty pathetic. My sinus headache is throbbing to the beat of the opening chords of Eye of the Tiger thanks to her iPod. I'm presently debating whether to turn on the Wii for her and let her play Littlest Pet Shop so I can go back to bed. (We have a rule: Kiddo is only allowed to play Wii on the weekends.) Oh, who am I kidding? I'm totally turning it on for her as soon as she finishes her breakfast and comes back downstairs.
The end-of-winter cold is unfortunately a bit of a tradition around our house, and one I would gladly skip. It's supposed to be gorgeous out today, Hubby told me this morning as he was getting ready for work. Sunshine and temps in the 50s. I'd planned to do some yardwork (there are enough sticks in our yard for me to build a bonfire) and I was supposed to be volunteering at school this afternoon on a big art project the first graders are finishing up, but instead I'm going to pull down the shades and retreat to my Mentholated Rainforest Cave. And did I mention on top of this cold, I also have *every* possible PMS symptom right now, too?
... to bring you this Extra Special Bout of Germies! Kiddo woke up an hour after bedtime last night and came back downstairs complaining of a sore throat. I dutifully checked the scene out with assistance of a flashlight and it didn't look remarkably red, bumpy, patchy, blotchy, swollen or any of those other things that one doesn't want to see when peering down one's child's esophagus. I gave her a dose of ibuprofen anyhow, as she was quite insistent that it was hurting, and waited out the night to see what morning would bring.
And morning brought it BIG, y'all. A crying kid who stumbled to the bathroom, clutching at her stomach and saying that her "throat hurt so much" that she "couldn't swallow her slobber" (eloquent, eh?) and then promptly vomited and who was sporting a forehead hot enough to fry eggs upon. A quick check of her temperature verified the egg-frying abilities of her skin, as she had a fever of 102.9. Given that she's not quite proficient in oral thermometer techniques (and that she was afraid she was going to vomit again), I was using that more as a rough estimate of her fever and guessing the actuality might've been a bit further up the scale.
Hubby prepared a "barf bucket" (we're full of the elegance 'round the Smith house) and got Kiddo settled in on the couch while I called the pediatrician. Shortly thereafter, Kiddo and I were on our way to the doctor's office to meet the on-call doc. There was one other sick kid there ahead of us, so Kiddo had to nervously clutch her barf bucket and leopard in the waiting room for a bit, then it was our turn. One rapid strep test later it was confirmed: Kiddo has a raging case of strep throat. She wound up vomiting in the exam room for good measure, and he wrote us out a prescription and sent us on our way.
Kiddo rallied briefly, playing Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii with her dad (his reward to her for cooperating at the doctor with the whole "jab the extra-long q-tip down your throat for the strep test" bit) but then she began to fade. She then spent the majority of the afternoon like this:
I woke her up around 4:00 to check her temperature. Even with a dose of ibuprofen (and antibiotic) coursing through her veins, her fever was up to 103.6. Again, with the oral thermometer, so it is quite possibly higher than that. So, now we're doubling up, doing acetaminophen in between the ibuprofen to try and bring the fever down.
The saddest part to me was how Kiddo was really, really upset that she won't be able to go to school tomorrow. She was cheered by the news that if she has no fever tomorrow, she'll be able to go back to school on Tuesday. (Though that sky-high temperature she's presently heating the house with doesn't bode well for tomorrow being fever-free...) She actually cried this morning at the thought of not going to school tomorrow. I wept a small tear myself at the notion that after only 4 days of school this year, her chance for the Perfect Attendance award is shot for another year. Who are those kids that have perfect attendance? Not elementary school kids, I'm guessing....
My biggest concern is that the last time she had strep, it developed into pneumonia. I don't want that happening again. Here's hoping the antibiotic (a new one to us - Cefdinir, which sound for all the world to me like a character in the Lord of the Rings movies) works well and she is much improved by tomorrow morning...Oh, and the icing on the cake of the Super Sick Kid Sunday? The cat wanted in on the barfing action and proceeded to gack up hairballs and cat food (too hastily gulped down, methinks) in three separate places on the kitchen floor. I tell ya, if Hubby barfs, he's on his own.
First of all, I want to wish a very happy Father's Day to all the fathers and grandfathers out there!
Secondly, an illustrated recap of our Father's Day so far....
Kiddo woke up before 7am, so I whisked her downstairs to the family room so Hubby could sleep in for a change. We watched Labyrinth, which is a movie I haven't seen in decades but apparently still know by heart, as I could (and did) recite dialogue and sing the songs right along with the DVD. I *did* own the soundtrack - on vinyl no less - back in my younger days, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. My short-term memory may be shot these days, but my long-term memory is still fully intact, full of obscure things like David Bowie soundtrack lyrics from the 80s.......
Once Hubby woke up, we gave him his Father's Day presents, which included things Kiddo had made for him at school, a tie (because, come on, it's Father's Day - you have to give Daddy a tie, right?) and the new Ghostbusters game for the Wii. Hubby and Kiddo started busting ghosts in short order, with a break to eat a breakfast including bagels I picked up last night at the store. I had been hoping to get Hubby some of the apple fritters he loves but alas, they were long gone by 7pm.
Then, after lunch, I went upstairs to take a quick nap. (Hubby and I moved all of our stuff - remember our stuff?
- out of the storage unit yesterday. In the pouring down, raining hippos and elephants rain. We should've rented one of these:
instead of one of these:
Anyhow, besides the few boxes and odds and ends I still need to unload from the minivan, everything is IN our house. Not *unpacked* necessarily, but *moved in* at least. Woo-hoo! So, Hubby took a 2 hourish nap yesterday after unloading the U-Haul into our garage, and I was still tired from yesterday so I decided I'd nap today!)
As soon as I got comfortable, Kiddo decided to join me for a snuggle. Typically, when Kiddo wants to snuggle during an attempted nap, no one gets any sleep. It becomes a chat, followed by some serious squirming, more chatting and then giving up. Not today...
So yeah, Hubby is the only one in the house who did NOT nap on Father's Day. Next up, some steaks on the grill along with corn on the cob, asparagus and salt potatoes for dinner. Mmmm. The sun has finally come out after days of crazy rain, so perhaps a walk around the neighborhood, too.
Today was one of the first honest-to-goodness, feels like SPRING days we've had this year, so after collecting Kiddo from the bus stop after school, I threw her in the car and we took off for one of our favorite playgrounds.
You can tell Kiddo wasn't excited at all to be out in the sun and fresh air at the playground:
This picture cracked me up because it looks like she was posing, but it was completely candid:
I thought this shot came out kinda cool, the way only her face is in sharp focus and the rest is blurred by motion (we were bouncing on the see-saw at the time. Yes, *I* was on the other end. This seesaw has an industrial-strength spring and also is made of construction-grade metal girder-esque pieces. It can take my considerable bulk without a whimper!)
As always, I caught a shot of Kiddo completing her first slide run of the year...
Now, this park actually has two separate playground areas. The shots above were from the "younger kids" playground, and the ones below are from the "bigger kids" playground. Kiddo has played on the "bigger kids" playground for a couple of years now, with me growing slightly less nervous about a major disaster with each passing year. You see, the "bigger kids" playground has many more bits that seem like a surefire way to blacken an eye, skin a knee or two and possibly knock out a few of the burgeoning adult teeth as well. I tend to be a bit overly cautious about "spotting" Kiddo on such equipment, between her previous gross motor delays and her klutziness inherent to her SPD (her sense of where her body is in relation to space and everything around it is messed up; fortunately this has gotten better over the years thanks to her OT - there was a time when she couldn't even walk through a doorway without slamming into the edge of it, I kid you not), and a general neurosis about my one and only, precious daughter killing herself in a freak playground accident, well, let's just say I tend to be a bit more hover-y than the average playground parent.
This year, I watched from a greater distance than usual, trying to keep my heart down in my chest and not entirely in my throat as Kiddo dashed about the "bigger kids" play area. I did okay when she was over on this:
and didn't feel the same compulsion to keep a hand on/under her while she scaled this:
and I even stayed well out of "catching" distance while she successfully ran on top of this for the first time in her life -
Now, all of those are spots where I previously would've definitelykept myself within catching/spotting distance in the past. I just do not tend to relax when Kiddo is in a spot where there is such added potential for injury. But, like I said, I'm trying not to be such a helicopter mom and I was trying to back off a bit. By the time Kiddo had worked her way over to the swings, my heart was fully back in my chest and I was mentally patting myself on the back for not hovering and Kiddo surviving anyhow.
Yeah.
Silly me.
Of course the exact moment I relaxed completely, thinking what could happen to Kiddo on the swings? - I mean, she has swings at school and goes on them all the time - she went from this:
to a full-on face-plant right into the mulch. She overbalanced, grabbed at the swing and thusly didn't even have her hands out to protect her. Of course *I* was standing a good 4 feet away, out of swinging feet reach, so I couldn't even dive to save her.
And thus, the first Major Playground Fiasco of the year occurred approximately 36 minutes after Kiddo first set foot on the playground. I was picking her up before she even began crying. Her face was FULL of mulch - mouth, nose, ears, hair. Thank goodness she wears glasses now, because I cringe to think what might've happened to her eyes otherwise. She was dirty, covered in mulch slivers and bleeding, but stayed remarkably calm for one who typically busts out her best mini-diva when injury occurs in public. (And we had an audience, too - the park was pretty crowded for a weekday afternoon, including one threeish year old boy who stood six inches away from us as I was trying to dust off the mulch, rinse out Kiddo's mouth and assess the bleeding and damage levels and repeatedly yelled "WHY IS YOUR KID CRYING?" to me. Even Kiddo gave him a "WTF?!" look through her mulchy tears, I mean, it seemed it should be fairly obvious, even to a 3 year old...) We headed back to the car for a more thorough round of first aid (I keep a well-stocked first aid kit in the van for just such a scenario) and then decided to head home where we could get some ice on her rapidly swelling lips and nose.
Oh yes, the damage level was pretty darn good. Two fat lips, swollen nose and a plethora of scratches, especially on her chin and left cheek. After further medical attention and a cold pack (actually, two) at home, Kiddo posed for what Hubby called a "mug shot" when he saw it:
Oh, my poor, sweet baby. Fortunately, she bounced back quickly enough to kick my butt at a consolation round of Mario Kart Wii, and was back in her typical great spirits by bath and dinner time. Also fortunately, she is a remarkably fast healer, so there is a fairly good chance that she will look mostly normal by morning. (She did wish aloud in the car on the way home from the playground for a playground surface that was softer than mulch. I asked her what she thought would be better, and her answer was "Pillows. I mean, they wouldn't have to be *everywhere* you know, just at the bottoms of things where kids might fall. Or jump. That's all.")
Oh, for the record, I take pictures *every* First Trip to the Playground each spring. For example, here is last year's First Slide and First Seesaw, taken exactly one year ago today (on a day that was clearly much warmer, as looking through the folder of pictures I saw not only short sleeves in abundance, but Kiddo enjoying her first ice cream of the year, which reminds me how nice a day it actually was last April 16th!):
I also found First Seesaw of the Year from 2007 - boy, Kiddo just keeps on growing.....!
I hope that you and yours get a chance to enjoy some nice weather this weekend! (Assuming Mother Nature cooperates in your neck of the woods...) TGIF!!
Want to check out more Phriday Photo Phun? Head on over to Candid Carrie's blog for the Phiesta!!
As usual, many random thoughts bouncing around the vast, empty expanses of my brain, none of which seem to warrant their very own post, so I shall commence with rambling for a bit and throw them all into one post now. As they've been percolating for a while, you can consider this a crock pot stew of randomness...
Kiddo's school has been having various events for school spirit, Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday this week. Yesterday, the kids were supposed to all wear their school t-shirts (which Kiddo did, albeit over a turtleneck because it is still fuh-reeeeezing here) and there was a school assembly. Tonight is the Literacy Fair, which doesn't start until 6:30, but which they've hyped to the kids so Kiddo is dying to go. I'm a little surprised at the number of events that they hold for an elementary school that don't start until 6:30 or later. I mean, is it just *my* kid that goes to bed at 7pm on school nights? She doesn't do well staying up much past that during the week. I've told her we will go for a little while, but I also emailed her OT to give her the head's up that Kiddo might be more out of whack tomorrow than usual. Speaking of whack, tomorrow is "Wacky Wednesday" and the kids are supposed to dress, well, wackily. (Is wackily a word? Would just plain wacky be correct? ARGH, I can't decide.) Kiddo is way, way, waaaay excited about the wacky dressing concept, and I'm wracking my brains (which, as I've already mentioned, are mostly empty, having lost the last of my marbles some time in the past few weeks with this whole Project Moving '09 thing) trying to figure out what of her wardrobe will constitute "wacky" enough while not going too over the top. I did pick up some neon colored hair extensions for a buck at Walmart earlier today that I was thinking I could incorporate into a wacky hairstyle of some sort, though it has to be hat-friendly, because, did I mention? It is FREEZING here. (Yes, I was at Walmart again, this time to return the sheer panel I'd bought a week ago for the Window to Nowhere. As of right now, the decision is to leave that window bare - we'll see if the realtor suggests otherwise when he comes... While I'm digressing on the subject of the house, the realtor is coming over on Saturday to take pictures and do all that needs to be done for the listing, which should be up by Monday morning. WOO-HOOOOOO!) So, I've got wacky hair all set, now to figure out from the neck down. Kiddo wants to wear something out of her dress-up clothes, but I'm not entirely convinced that is the best plan. I may pick the brains of other moms at the Literacy Fair thing at school tonight. Friday is "wear your favorite hat" day and I'm pretty sure Kiddo will be going with her pink, monogrammed Mouse Ears from our trip to Disney last summer.
So, anyhow, the house. It is almost done, almost... I've begun looking in earnest at the different listings online and have fallen in love about six times over with properties that meet our basic criteria and are on the right side of town. I've never actually gone and looked at a house (as this was our first house and we had it built) so I'm extra-excited for that part to start. I can't wait to find out if everyone else has killed themselves as much as we have with the cleaning and decluttering and painting and fixing up stuff... I'm a little nervous about the showing of our house, more from a logistical standpoint (what if someone wants to come see the house and I have Kiddo in the tub or she's in bed? What if I can't find the cat and she gets let out inadvertently? How much will people really poke around in our cabinets and closets? Will it be okay to leave the toaster out on the counter, or should I stash it in the basement every time there's a showing?) than anything.
Have you guys seen this? How gross is that? I would pay money to see someone actually eat a can, I think. Not much money - until after my lottery ticket wins the Megamillions jackpot tonight - but real money nonetheless. Ew, ew, and ew. I'd like to buy a can (if they sold it around here) just to have it in my pantry as a conversation piece!
So, isn't the Amazing Race extra-awesome this season? Anyone else watch besides Hubby and me? If so, do you have a favorite team yet? I'm rooting for Mel and Mike and Margie and Luke thus far. I like the new music but I do wish they'd have left in the gongs and rattlesnake shaking of foreshadowing... If you are an Amazing Race addict like me, you'll definitely want to check out Josh Wolk's recaps over at Entertainment Weekly's website, as well as M. Giant's recaps over at Television Without Pity. Both Josh and M. are hysterically funny writers, and real fans of the show, which shows in their writing, too. Oh, and Phil Keoghan also blogs over at EW's website, too. Love me some Phil and his eyebrow.
Speaking of reality TV related things, I'm loving American Idol so far this season, though I'm a little bummed that there aren't going to be enough wild card spots to get all my early-on favorites in to the top 12. I know a lot of people didn't like Nick/Norman, but I loved him, he totally cracked me up. I don't think AI is the right forum for him, but my good bloggy buddy Hot Tub Lizzy suggested to me that he'd be great on Last Comic Standing, and I totally agree. I would like Anoop, Megan and Jesse to all make it into the top 12 though, so obviously I'm going to be disappointed to some extent. Oh well, once the top 12 are done, my pool starts and I can't wait!
Also on the reality TV topic, America's Next Top Model starts tomorrow night - WOO-HOO! I do so love that show. Obviously, makeover week is my favorite, but it's all good, trashy, mindless entertainment. I need that on a Wednesday, given that Lost always twists what's left of my brain into teensy, tiny, pretzeled knots every Wednesday night. Hubby and I are always quoting this bit of Dane Cook's during the commercial breaks of Lost (and ps - that link has some non-PG rated language...). I do love that show, though!
Okay, time to get Kiddo off the bus and see if she had a good enough day today that she gets to whip my butt at Mario Kart Wii for a bit. Happy Not-Monday Anymore, y'all!
Hello, hello world! It feels like forever since I've been here! I've been buried under a mountain of boxes and used Puffs Pluses for the past few days, as I tried to continue with Operation Declutter around the home-from-school Kiddo, who has one heckuva bad cold. I know, I know, it seems like she is always sick, but actually she's staying healthy for much longer stretches than she used to when she was younger. I don't know if it is because of the circumstances of her premature, complicated birth or what, but she does manage to pick up a lot of germs. One of these days, I'll finally get a patent for my stylish yet functional Biohazard Bubble suit and then I'll be able to retire with my wads of cash to my private, tropical isle without fear of anyone ever catching another germ again. Until that day, though, I gamely troop on, Vicksing soles and humidifying rooms, steaming congested heads in the shower and squirting saline spray up Niagara Fallsian nostrils, losing game after game of Mario Kart Wii (yes, even when under the weather, Kiddo still kicks my sorry behind at All Things Wii) and fixing bowl after bowl of chicken noodle soup.
The good news is that Kiddo was able to return to school today, and thus life returned to normal, or whatever it is that approximates normal in my life these days... So anyhow, sorry I've been a bad blogoshpere citizen and haven't been leaving loads of comments or posting merrily away, I'm still here, just a wee bit crazed of late.
Before I return once more to my Mountain of Boxes, I will give you a little piece of Friday Foto Fun. You may recall, I have had hair issues pretty much my whole life. You may further recall my ongoing struggle to grow out the Mom 'Do. (Yes, I know, my hair is pretty much always a Hair Don't no matter what I try...) Well, it seems that I've finally, finally passed the stages of Wolverine Fawcett-Von Beethoven *and* Carol Brady. (And there was much rejoicing: yay.) Here's what it looks like as of this morning:
(Yes, I slapped on a little eyeliner and tinted lip gloss prior to photographing myself. I was feeling kind of icky following this morning's torture session - I mean Zumba class - and wanted to look spiffy for y'all. That's not blusher on my cheeks, either, by the way - just a combination of leftover redfacedness from working out and then walking all the way across the Y parking lot in the stinging, windblown snow. Brrr. Oh no, wait, I mean that's just my natural, youthful, rosy glow... *snort*) (Oh, and see that blank wall right behind me? A week ago, there was a jammed-full-of-stuff bookcase in that spot. Go, Operation Declutter!)
Okay, so I no longer can lay claim to being the illegitimate love child of Wolverine, Farrah and Ludwig. (I'm not a geneticist; you figure out how 2XY+1XX = 1 ilc......) Now I seem to have mid-90s, midsize market News Anchor hair going on instead. Woot. I'm in dire need of a trim again (as evidenced by my vision-impairing bangs) and have been feeling sorely tempted to just cut it all off again. (Chorus of screams: NOOOOOOOO! Don't!!!) (Or should I? Hmmmm.) I'm hoping that it is long enough now that when I do finally get around to going to the hair stylist, she can give me something more closely resembling an actual style, because as you can see above, I still have the dreaded Mom 'Do. Oh well, at least it isn't winging out all over anymore! If anyone has any thoughts on the topic, feel free to share.....
So that's what's going on in my neck of the woods. I have like half a dozen posts in draft form about all sorts of scintillating topics like Lost, American Idol, the aforementioned Zumba class and my ongoing adventures in the ladies' locker room at the Y, but right now, I must be getting back to my boxes - I want to get another load ready to haul off to the storage unit before Kiddo gets home from school. I am going to leave with you with the following video clip, because I've got Latin music on the mind after Zumba this morning and because it's almost Valentine's Day..... Enjoy The One Semester of Spanish Spanish Love Song:
I honestly had *no* intentions of staying up until midnight last night. We wound up not having company due to the rather inclement weather of yesterday, though Hubby did make the run out to our favorite Chinese restaurant for our traditional New Year's Eve dinner. We couldn't manage to play Wii Mario Kart while eating, so we flipped around and settled on the 70s classic That's Entertainment, which is the first of a documentary trilogy I adored as a child (and even rented many, many times from our local video store back when my family first acquired a VCR in the 80s. Yes, I was so hip as a preteen, I rented movie musical documentary videotapes) and which Hubby had never seen. We watched until the first movie ended (they were running all three in succession, followed by one I'd never seen called That's Dancing, which I totally would have recorded to watch today except for the fact that 90% of our DVR space is presently taken up with episodes of Bindi the Jungle Girl, aka Kiddo's latest obsession, and there wasn't room). Hubby then, quite sensibly, went to bed around 10pm. I shut off the TV and headed upstairs when he did, but sat down at my computer "to turn it off" ...and the next thing I knew, it was 11:46 and at that point, I figured if I was still up it would be silly not to stay up the extra 14 minutes. Kind of like getting within eyesight of the peak of Mt. Everest and then saying "Eh, I'm heading back to base camp." (Note: I never in my entire life have or will ever climb Mt. Everest, so this is possibly the most farfetched comparison I could make... I haven't even attempted to scale Mt. Clean Laundry that has reached rather towering heights atop my dresser in ages!) So, I shut off my computer, congratulating myself heartily on my fortitude so that I wouldn't get sucked back into the blogosphere (and/or my 23 current Wordscraper matches on Facebook) again at 12:03am. I curled up on the couch with the cat to watch the ball drop. I was happy to see Dick Clark seemed better this year than last. I didn't have the New Year's show on long enough to be terrifically annoyed by Ryan Seacrest or Kellie Pickler (though whatever genius hired her to speak extemporaneously on live TV must be worried about his/her job this morning) and before I knew it, the ball had dropped. Mission accomplished - 2009 it was!
Why I didn't immediately turn off the television and go straight up to bed at that point, I cannot say. Why I chose instead to peruse the channel guide and notice that Chicago was just starting on IFC and decide to flip over to catch the opening number is beyond me. I told myself "I'll just watch All That Jazz and then go to bed." Then All That Jazz ended and I remembered that McNulty from The Wire played Fred Casely in Chicago and I told myself "I'll just watch 'til the first commercial break and then go to bed." Yeah, one slight flaw with that brilliant plan: IFC doesn't have commercials. The crazy cat and I wound up watching the entire movie, which I will admit I haven't seen in its entirety in quite some time, and the next thing I knew, it was a quarter to two. This is the point at which any sensible, extremely tired, usual-bedtime-is-no-later-than-10pm kind of mature and responsible adult would've shut the TV off and headed up to bed straightaway, but some possessed part of me insisted upon surfing the channel guide one last time before convincing myself it was utterly ridiculous to think I could start watching That's Entertainment III which was starting in five minutes, because then I'd be up past 4am. I haven't done an all-nighter in decades, not counting those nights when Kiddo was ill and I *had* to be up with her over the past five and a half years. Seriously, I am the woman who goes to bed well before midnight even when on vacation in Vegas. I need my sleep.
So, I hefted the cat off of my lap and staggered upstairs to brush my teeth and collapse in bed at a most impressive 2:16 in the morning. Why is it, then, that my body decided it needed to be wide awake at its usual time of 6am?? By all rights, I shouldn't have cracked an eye open before noon, at least... Oh, right - my bladder. Darn thing insists on being emptied like clockwork at 6am. I fought it until 7, but then it became a necessity to get up. I attempted to go back to bed, but the smell of bacon wafting up from downstairs where Hubby was cooking breakfast and Kiddo was playing Diego Animal Rescue something-or-other on the Wii became too irresistible. So, here I am, awake but exhausted, and wishing I could spend the start of this new year snoozing away instead of taking down the tree and doing some serious tidying up. Thank heavens I have a decent supply of Mountain Dew Code Red left over from our drive to NJ last week. I may need to inhale some enormous quantities of peppermint bark as well, for purely medicinal purposes, of course - must get ample sugar in the blood to stay upright!
And thus concludes the cautionary tale I will remind myself of next New Year's Eve: I am TOO DANG OLD to stay up until midnight anymore.
Oh, while surfing the interwebz last night - erm, I mean last year (hee hee, sorry, I love those kinds of corny jokes on January 1st), I came across a video that I swear is exactly how I spent my post-midnight TV watching. I must share it with you now; the only difference is that I was watching a musical, not sports:
Hee hee! So, tell me, blogosphere friends, how many of you made it up 'til midnight? Were you partying or at home in your jammies like me? Anyone have any ambitious resolutions? If you are a Wii owner, are you as utterly pathetic at every Wii game imaginable as I appear to be? (Seriously, the only thing I have aced thus far is the Handbell Harmony game on Wii Music, and this comes after ringing handbells in real life for several years... but by that method, I ought to be much better at Mario Kart, tennis and bowling too...) Anyhow, Happy New Year!
