Wednesday, January 23, 2013

It's been weird lately

Sometimes life is very, very weird. I've been worrying some about money and simultaneously yaying and bemoaning the fact that all I can find are babysitting jobs.

Yaying because while the pay is truly terrible at least it's money coming in the door. Really, if you paid the rock bottom prices for child care that is paid here in Florence no one would be doing math on whether or not it's worth it for both parents to work. It's a no brainer.....but there are still those who hand you the money you more than earned with comments intended to make you feel like you're taking food straight out of their mouths.

At the same time I never in my wildest dreams thought I'd be babysitting at my age. Actually age has little to do with it. I just never really thought I connected will enough with kids to work with them full time. Turns out it helps to be pretty much a kid yourself. Connection made without really trying.

Today I feel like I did when I was single and waited forever for someone to ask me out and when someone finally did men started coming out of the woodwork. Weeks could go by without the need to make or pay for a meal if I accepted every date. But of course it takes that all-important first one to start the avalanche. The same thing happened today with babysitting. Last week I firmed up a two month schedule with one of my moms and today I met with a new mom who wasn't adverse to the possibility of a sort of regular schedule of days and then my first mom sent a request for two months of set days.

So thank goodness there'll be food on the table for the near future. I'd be doing a happy (yet confused, where were these people earlier?) dance but I feel pretty miserable physically. I got the latest bug that's going around and I was feeling pretty bad about it because I was sort of brought up to think that getting sick was really more a character flaw than a physical problem. Leif told me that it takes a few years at least to get used to the strains of colds and flues that happen here so I no longer feel like I could have avoided this bug through determination and a strong mind. My current goal is just to survive it and build up those anti-bodies so that next winter I can skip this whole mess.

Last Friday I started out just feeling tired, woke up feeling nauseous, stayed that way for a couple of days basically not eating because I couldn't keep anything down, then was able to eat a little by Sunday night but I was so weak from two days of starvation. My body doesn't handle starvation well when it's healthy, when it's sick it's exponentially worse. Monday my appetite came back and Tuesday a cough settled in.

This is no slight cough or gentle clearing of the throat tickle.  It's a whole body, toe curling, hair tensing, eyeball bugging cough. I'm sure some perky nurse out there would say "At least it's a productive cough," but that's not very comforting at three in the morning. My core is getting the workout of it's life. I'll have washboard abs from all the coughing and if I can avoid putting on the pounds I lost during my two day starvation/purging period I'll look pretty darn good come summer.

Right now I'd just kill for an uninterrupted 4 hours of sleep. Not the kind I've been getting at the tail end of the night when I pass out from exhaustion, but real restful sleep that will fix all that is currently wrong with my body. My throat feels as big around as a redwood tree and I'm certain just my throat and only my throat is running a fever. My stomach is beginning to hurt from the standing (or sitting or lying, depending on the time of day) crunches I've been doing for the last 48 hours. Just today the veins in my temples have shrunk from the size of garden hoses to a much more attractive earthworm size. I'm hopeful that by the weekend they will have gone back to where they came  from and my face will no longer throb in cadence with my heartbeat.

To sum this up in true Minnesota fashion...(said in a perky voice) I'm sure things will improve now and it certainly could have been worse! Just don't ask me to explain how, because it involves phlegm and exploding blood vessels and a hazmat cleaning crew.

2 comments:

  1. Thrice I tried to write a comment and it failed on my side - shit - you think I'll try again? Only a really good friend would try again. So here is a shortened version because I already wrote a friend-filled nice one 3 times. And now I am pissed off.

    Drink honey and brandy mixed together- it helps. Extra brandy. And then keep it by your damn bed, too. Sit a bit up if you can. A chair that you make cozy or pillows. Damn it! Guess I don't need the damn it there. Re-read it without the "damn it" please.

    Wish you could feel comfy telling the people, straightforwardly,with a small smile (no teeth gritted) "I believe I deserve this pay"

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    1. Linda! Language! On the other hand....I've been thinking in far more eloquent and sailorish language since I started coughing. Tried the brandy, it doesn't seem to help. But then it doesn't seem to hurt either, so I should probably continue the treatment, yes? It has to get better, thanks for your thoughts, three times. :)

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