Repairmen And Pinkeye And Naps, Oh My!

I'm still here! There's been a mutiny of sorts by the labor-saving appliances in this household - both the dryer and the washer joined the dishwasher on the endangered species list, so I've been too busy beating our clothes clean on a rock by the creek (and, boy, did that piss off the golf course people - who knew they considered that to be trespassing?) to find time to blather on about my woes here. Fortunately, the repairman showed up yesterday and fixed the washer for free and the dryer for almost free, plus gave me a long lecture on the maintenance requirements for both machines - requirements which render the moniker "labor-saving" just a tad inaccurate, I believe.

Anyway, he looked at the dishwasher also and extricated a 50-cent paintbrush from its innards. He took the time to point out to me what I already knew - that throwing out the dirty paintbrush and buying a brand-new one might have been more cost-effective than replacing the now jammed dishwasher motor. In other words, sometimes frugality can really bite you in the butt.

I managed to refrain from pointing out to him that stupid people like me are the ones who keep him in business. Aren't you proud of me?

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Tonight was Theo's high school graduation ceremony. The speaker, for reasons unknown, found it necessary to tell us how great homeschooling is. You know, those of us in attendance already knew that. Or we wouldn't have been there. Sheesh.

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We were supposed to go strawberry picking today. We couldn't find a place and we were getting a late start, so we decided to visit the zoo instead. We had a tradition of Larry taking the kids to the zoo whenever I was home with a new baby, a tradition that worked well for me because I hate zoos. They smell like animals and poop. But no new baby has come along in 4 years, so we thought we had better break with tradition and go anyway.But by the time we got to the zoo (which took a while), the parking lots were all full.

Okay! Plan B! Or, really, Plan C - drive across town and visit an air and space museum. Museums are better than zoos, anyway - they have air conditioning and no animal smells. But it took forever to get there. And you know what? I hate being in a museum for more than 45 minutes. I have the attention span of a gnat.

It was not a good day.

By the time we got home it was past my nap time. I don't know what's wrong with me lately; but if I don't get a nap between 4 and 5 PM, I can't even function. I LOVE MY NAP! I NEED MY NAP! I AM CRANKY AND UNBEARABLE WITHOUT MY NAP! Apparently, if you have had a napping baby/toddler for 17 years, it rubs off on you. And it sticks. No one needs a nap in this house anymore but me.

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Time for bed. I've got to be awake and alert tomorrow so that I don't mess up anyone's medications - we've got two outer ear infections and one pinkeye patient, and all those little bottles of drops look alike when I am sleep-deprived.

No vomit, though - and for that, I am grateful.