This adorable picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. It’s just that I haven’t seen this sweet face today, so I’m waxing nostalgic. The princess in question is currently screaming to rival the latest horror flick from her bedroom. My headache is growing in proportion to the high-pitched squeal and Beemer is staring at me willing it all to end.
Let me tell you about the past few days.
Sunday, we left Pensacola Beach at 8:50. At approximately 9:30 something happened… an awful something. Ella began complaining about a tummy ache, which given her propensity for avoiding the bathroom, isn’t altogether strange. I comforted her, encouraged her to drink a little apple juice to make her feel better and rubbed her face. Then she threw up all over my arm, and her blanket and her bunny. Oh the horror. SD kept driving and I squealed at him to pull over {sorry, honey}. I managed to clean her up and do the best I could with the carseat. Thank goodness we had washed our laundry the night before and had plenty of clothes to rotate, if necessary. I covered the car seat with a beach towel, strapped her in and put another beach towel over her just in case. She complained about the smell. So did I. Unfortunately, there were three hours and twenty minutes left in our little drive.
Fast forward six hours, it’s storming outside and we’re so happy to be home. We’re even happier that there’s a nap time soundtrack playing outside our windows. Much to our dismay, Ella and Beemer aren’t interested in a nap. Ella slept all the way home and Beemer is beside herself to have us home. I get up, fix a snack and turn on cartoons. The power goes out. Now SD is forced to listen to me scream at the dog to lay down, “NO, you cannot go potty in the rain!” Ella is being reprimanded every 12 seconds and I’m beginning to suffer from cabin fever. I mean I’ve been in a beach house with them for five days.
Did I mention that during this time I handwashed the very expensive carseat’s cover because it cannot be machine washed? I hung it to dry in the sunshine! Then had to bring it in and put it in the dryer when the rain started. But when the power went out all hopes of a clean and comfy carseat cover were dashed.
After an hour of darkness, anger and wet carseat covers, we gave up. I strapped Ella into the uncovered Britax, which now closely resembles the $12 ghetto carseat from Dollar General*, throw SD in the driver’s seat, Beemer in the back and head to Garan’s, may God bless her soul. We indulged in some carseat drying, swimming and running around like crazy persons while mommy got her nerves unfrayed. We managed to end that crazy day with cheap mexican food and a trip to Walmart. Unfortunately, it’s Tuesday now and the groceries are still mostly on the kitchen counter.
Yesterday, SD was supposed to go to work. I had grand visions of getting my house in order and going to bed at eight o’clock, despite the fact that we would REALLY be missing him. Guess what? He didn’t go anywhere. Normally, this would be cause for celebration, but considering that he read a book and played video games and the house still looked like the beaches at Normany, I was less than thrilled. He did manage to cook dinner {even if it was chicken fingers and fries} and win an award for fabulousness when he made me a few gallons of sweet tea. Nothing soothes my soul like good sweet tea.
Anyhoo, he really did go to work today and we miss him. Book-reading, video-game-playing and all.
Beemer had to go to the vet today – nine months late. I mean, I can barely take care of myself and Ella, much less the dog. I felt bad for her because she hadn’t had a flea or heartworm treatment in months and her breath was less than stellar. If they had told me today to brush her teeth weekly, I might have just left her there. Thank goodness, she had no fleas, no heartworms and had managed to lose over ten pounds of fat from her girlish figure.
188 dollars poorer and 105 questions {from Ella} later we were in the car and on the way home. We left bunny there. Crap. I convinced Ella to let me get her tomorrow, but the evening was downhill from there. I burned the pizza, Ella had a disgusting accident in big girl panties {while hiding on the front porch, mind you}, the dog has been barking for three hours straight and the princess had a coronary when I interrupted Wubzy to put her to bed. If it weren’t for Noggin I’d be dead already.
The only bright spot in the day was a coupon code for Overnight Prints, a sweet email from a favorite blogger and more of SD’s sweet tea.
*Don’t get me wrong, I love a little DG and NO they do not carry any carseats, $12 or otherwise. I am sad not to have photographed my ragamuffin seated in the “ghetto seat” because it was priceless. I was mortified and prayed we didn’t get stopped for any reason. The carseat is now rightfully covered in it’s pink, princessy goodness once again.*
