Small Recovery and More Stress

Thanks for hearing me out the other day. I wasn’t at my best me. I’m still not at my best me. It’s interesting that I’m picking blogging up again at the same time that I’m in the middle of the worst week I’ve had in a while. I’d call it the worst year, but it’s only February 4th, so there’s still plenty of time for that to change. Yes, let’s make that cup half full! And top it off with a shot of vodka!

That’s a pretty good representation right there of where my mind is at this week. I’m scattered and stressed.. and above all, still sick. The world feels like its sitting on my shoulders right now, and I’d say I’m drowning, but since I’m so stuffed up it’s more like suffocating. The good news is, I’m in my second day straight at work! Yay! And I’m getting a lot done. Mostly because I have to pack it all in these tow days. I’m back to working from home tomorrow as it is Friday, so who knows how much I’ll get done then. One of my big deliverables for next week is basically complete, but I still have to find time to get the presentation behind it together. Trying my best to keep my head up through all of this.

On top of all the work/ school stuff this week, as I mentioned, my boyfriend totaled his car a few weeks ago and needs to get a new one. Which means he has to borrow money from me to make that happen. Another person to help and support. Here I go complaining again, but it would be so nice if someone could support me for once. I have way too much on my plate and none of it seems like it’s coming off any time soon. Another big issue is that due to the lack of time and now illness, I can’t make it to the gym. The gym is my happy place, where I can forget about life for a while and release some stress. I really need to just bang things out over the next few days so hopefully if I feel better next week I can get back there. Damn I need a break!

At least at work there’s no cats puking everywhere. Talk to you soon!

A Day in the Life of a Sick Mom

So today marks the 5th straight day of being at home with my almost two year old daughter Eleanor. 5 days straight. 5 days is a LOT. Last weekend Eleanor ended up with a fever of about 101 or so along with a cold. She obviously wasn’t the most fun to be around at that point, and my patience was really staring to wane by Sunday morning, after I had been home with her all day Friday and Saturday. And that’s when the cold got me. And when I say got me, I mean GOT me.

Please forgive me for being a bit scattered here. Normally I string together thoughts and words a bit better than this, but today I have a massive cloud over my head and the background noise of my Outlook dinging to let me know I have new email along with the screams of a toddler who doesn’t want to nap are really hindering the writing.

So a little bit of background for you. I’m pretty lucky in that I have a pretty good job that pays me reasonably well and also allows me to work from home. Usually I work from home every Friday, so I can spend more time with Eleanor. My mom normally comes over on these days and helps watch the baby and keep her occupied while I’m working. That part of the work-from-home thing works out great. The big downside to working from home is that you CAN. Which means there’s really no such thing as a sick day. When I’m dead as a door nail, like I am right now, I keep working. Which means, on days like today, when all I want is to stay in my bed with the covers over my head, I’m trying to occupy a 2 year old while still accomplishing what I’d be getting done while in the office. It’s actually much harder than going to work in the first place. Then why did you stay home, you ask? Because the babysitter’s kids are sick too. And I have no one else who can watch my kid, sick or not. My SO CAN’T work from home, so if anyone has to stay home with Eleanor, it’s going to be me. Double edged sword I tell you.

So I guess I’m using this post to reintroduce you to the modern working mother’s predictable complaint. Like.. why is it always us? Why are we the ones taking the largest amount of responsibility towards our jobs, our kids, and everything else? Forgive me.. I do sound like that crappy mom who wants everyone to just do more for her.

Oh wait. The cat just puked in the kitchen. Yessssssss.

You know, I normally don’t complain. Normally I try and go with the flow and not worry too much about all the crappy things that are happening around me. But I hit a wall today. After re-checking all of the major deliverables I have due for work in the next week, along with my assignments for school due Sunday (oh yes, I forgot to mention I’m in online school for my masters degree in Communication), I also need to recover from being sick, find a new apartment, help my SO find a new car since he totaled his last week, cook dinner and clean the house. Can we all have a good chuckle now? I could use one… along with some really good cold medicine that could knock me the f*** out.

So I’m going to stop there. A large number of you have been there before and will tell me to keep on trucking; things will get better soon. Some of you will say.. oh yes, another reason to not have kids, or not go back to school, or not take the more demanding job. But I guess that’s one of the upsides. After 120 hours, I’m still here. I’ll get done everything I can. I may have some emotional or physical breakdown and open a bottle of wine at noon at some point, but hey, I’ll get through it.

I think the baby finally fell asleep. Off to clean the cat puke, pull together a Power Point, finish my taxes,do a conference call, and answer 14 emails. All in about 2 hours. I am SO ON IT. I’ll try to be in a better mood next time I post. Later people.