Tuesday, October 22, 2013

It's all gone to hell

that's not how you nit-comb, you nit-wit.
TWhew.  What a weird and hard few weeks it's been!  After being very happy with my progress, I just fell apart.  Ate a lot of leftover sock hop pizza or nothing at all, ran around like a headless chicken, babysat my niece and nephew overnight (what an honor -- the first time their mama has left them in 11 months... but 11-month old twins!!, plus Chickadee #1 and #2!!!!), attended my second SJE social event in two weeks (though I wasn't organizing this one, thank God), had the kids home from school on Monday, and then today discovered that we have been infested with... I can't even write the word.  AARRGH!!!  I am so sorry I laughed at an early scene of Bridget Jones:  Mad About the Boy when she discovers that her two children have them.

I am so disgusted and freaked out.  And broke.  Treatment for the chickadees is going to cost upwards of a hundred dollars for a prescription med.  I bought all new pillows and a new blanket for our bed, which came to almost another hundred.  I'm treating myself just in case - another fifteen dollars, plus a replacement for the bottle of olive oil I poured over my head before wrapping it in Saran Wrap.  I'm throwing away all their combs and brushes and am contemplating ditching all the hairbands, hair elastics, barrettes and gee-gaws. I am going to pay someone to clean the car tomorrow.  Laundry is going to kill me over the next few days, and I'm already behind.  I spent the whole day addressing this problem and then worked for a bit over an hour on a project.  I still have remedial laundry to do, and I'm keeping the chickadees home with me tomorrow too, just to be sure they are completely cured, so it will be hard to work tomorrow too.

So, I got back on the scale this morning to find I was at the same place I'd been two weeks ago, after gaining back three pounds.  After I got the bad word from the pediatrician though, I decided Dove Salted Caramel Chocolate bites would make me feel better.  They didn't.  But they were tasty.  So meals today consisted of a cup of tea in the morning (I was planning on eating at home after a planned early morning well-child visit).  Then, at Target, waiting for the pharmacy to process my prescription, I gave in to hunger and anger and disgust with the world and had a sausage and egg biscuit from their little cafe.  Then at home, at 3 pm, one chickadee fed me Medifast cheese pizza puffs while I combed out her sister's hair with a very fined toothed comb.  However, for dinner, we had a wonderful traditional Polish meal in honor of Blessed John Paul II's feast day -- golumpki casserole (I did use the Skinnytaste version), pierogies (only had one), sauerkraut and fresh kielbasa, and smoked and spicy kielbasa.  Dinner was the best part of the day.  And I got to share my love of JPII with the chickadees.  What an amazing man.  He can make me feel better, even today.

Sigh.

6 comments:

  1. Dove Salted Carmel Chocolate bites sound like heaven just about now. (Louse that I am!)

    Love you and praying for you... Kotch

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  2. Col, I'm laughing here. You are talking about head lice, no? Ha,ha, you guys didn't invent it! My kids have had it at least 3 times. There are some parents that don't treat, or don't treat effectively and so there are bouts of it from time to time in the schools. It is extremely unpleasant, I agree, but believe me it's nothing. Instead of throwing away all of your brushes, combs, hair clips etc., put them in a plastic bag and leave them in the freezer for a day (or 2 if you want). It sounds like you are over reacting a bit, and could be making things harder on yourself and your bank account. I do understand the disgust of discovering this for the first time, but it's not that bad. I thought you were going to write "discovered we were infested by cockroaches." I was relieved to read otherwise, ha ha

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  3. I admire you for finding a moment of grace in an extremely aggravating situation. Your title made me laugh because that is how we felt when it happened to us. Lisa

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  4. Also, it does end. :-) Lisa

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  5. It rhymes with mice, right? Been there! (Also had to have a bed bug treatment on our house another year.) You don't need to throw out hair brushes and do-dads... Boil in a big pot of water. 10 minutes, 20 if if makes you feel better. Some of our combs warped, and I think some of the barrets melted, but it was't a total loss. We vacuumed EVERYTHING, especially the bedding areas, plus changed sheets for several days in a row. Threw out the vacuum bag at the end of each day so nothing would come crawling out. I remember putting a lot of furry toys and dress-up in quarantine (life cycle of organism + egg cycle + life expectancy + a few extra days). It was like Christmas when the Monkeys got their stuff back! Laundry laundry laundry. I think I put everyone on a ration of clothing, put everything in their drawers/closets in bags and dealt with it at a little slower pace. It seemed like the end of the world at the time -- my first reaction was to want to torch the entire house -- but we're all still here and not bald either. Oh, and "next time" skip the Rx shampoo; olive oil is just as effective (it smothers the things I understand) with the truly awful chemicals.

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  6. "without" the truly awful chemicals.

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