never a dull moment, and always have clean hair...

Because, like Charlotte Claire said today in the waiting room at the Urgent Care Center, "This is not what I expected to be doing today." Char was unlucky enough to get a kitty scratch right on her eyeball today, right out of the blue...she was lying on the couch staring at the mama cat, and mama cat just reached her paw out and took a swipe.


So four degrees out and snowy, off we went to get it checked out. Of course I talked to Emily first, Em is almost a nurse practitioner, and has friends in hospital-y places. I texted her pics, she forwarded them to an eye dr. friend, and the verdict: go to urgent care, get it checked out, so we did. The cornea has a small scratch, so to Walmart for a prescription for antibiotic drops we went.


It hurt her quite a bit when it first happened, the she felt a lot better, but we went in anyway in case my A#1 diagnostic skills missed anything, and because of the possibility of infection. And here's the thing: These things only happen when I really need to wash my hair. I was planning to do it today. With such cold weather, I shower each night before bed, then wash my hair separately every other day in the sink, so as to not go to bed with wet hair. And today when Char got scratched, my immediate thought was Oh Great My Hair's Dirty, I Can't Go To The E.R. So shh, I did wash it quick while waiting for Emily to call me back. :) (once when Sam was about 9, and I was knee-deep in little ones, he got smacked in the forehead with a baseball, and oh the gaping tear, I almost fainted, I am not good with blood, and also my hair was dirty, and the thought of loading 12 or 13 or however many kids into that big van and driving to the E.R. was...well, let's just say I waited until Paul came home and let him take him up. This was before cell phones, and he didn't pick up the phone at work, so I hoped he was coming straight home. Imagine his surprise and delight when he walked in the door then right back out with poor Samuel...oh, Bad Mom Award.

Walmart. Oh Walmart, I hate you but love you so. The pharmacy shuts completely down for lunch break, and that's when we arrived. So poor us, we had to wander around and fill the cart with 75% off Christmas clearance. Just for the record, I refuse to buy wrapping paper and store it for a whole year, no matter how cheap. It's just not that expensive to buy next year. I will buy ornaments if they're pretty, and gift sets, sure. I got a nice bath set today for the girls, for $3.74, with body wash, lotion, spray, and a pair of purple slippers. We got some chocolate, and an apron for Evelyn, for less than two dollars, because the other day she saying she needed one. We got half and half, bagels, butter, and two new bins to store the Christmas ornaments in.

Home...ah, home. I was particularly happy to pull in the driveway today because the roads were awful! It is so cold here in the northeast! It was below zero this morning, and in the lower single digits...and when lake effect snow is falling, the road salt doesn't work, and there was a car off the road right as I left the small city...then another one. Oh dang. I was thankful I had the truck, and it has four-wheel drive.

Anyway. Tonight, I am going to bed early...because I have to wake up and be out the door by three a.m. THREE A.M.! Is there a more unGodly hour? The temperature at that time is forecast to be -7 f (-21.6c). We will board our bus to NYC, and go to Citi Field for the hockey game.

Oh joy. Oh yippee. I'm trying to have a good attitude. It sounded fun when I signed up, ha. I have a new red Coleman thermos from Christmas, I will fill that with hot coffee, and hope to heck there is a bathroom on that bus, a five hour trip it is. And then we have to work outside in this cold, so we are dressing in layers...I am hoping this work doesn't involve stairs, I do hate stairs, in a much more intense way than I hate Walmart.

There is a party going on here tonight! Mirielle and Margaret are coming over, and having lots of fun with the younger kids. Sonja put chicken wings in the oven, and I bought them dips and chips and pizza rolls and good drinks. I hope I sleep through this party, so I am not too exhausted at 2:45 when the alarm goes off. Because I don't sleep on planes, and prob don't sleep on buses.

Camille and I made brownies, they frosted them, and declared them yummers, and I am abstaining. Can you just smell them? The whole house is chocolate-y and one little piece of the crusty outside part, oh dear, no, I cannot. I am behaving today.

Yup, so bye for now. Pray for us on our little journey, that we don't get frostbite, and that I don't encounter too many stairs...