She's Glad She Didn't Swallow The Blessing Theory

Whoever said that internet relationships aren't real never came around last night to witness me dead as a dog with the flu that I swear I caught from Judy over at Anybody Home. She apparently got the flu so bad that she hasn't even been able to post anything on her blog. And Judy always has something to post about.

It seems that my posts have mostly been reports about all the stuff going tets-up around here. The bernina. The washing machine. And now.... brace yourselves.... the Pfaff sewing machine that I borrowed from my endlessly helpful friend Cheri totally seized up and froze like a Manitoba garden hose in January. Then I myself went tets-up.

Friday morning the coffee didn't taste so good. Not that there was much oppurtunity to take that all in. I had to take Jane into the city for an appointment and had counted heads and carseats carefully to make sure the whole ordeal was doable. But then a child showed up who wasn't supposed to show up. And then a child who was supposed to show up never showed up. This is about the time I started remembering that I didn't feel so good. But not before another child showed up in a nightie and no clothes in her bag. It looked like it was going to be a swell day. And did I mention that Micah had an ear infection and Sam was moaning about his throat 24/7?

So, grinning ear to ear, and running a little late, we packed into the van and headed off to find an address in the big city. Thankfully, the kids were amazing. They squealed with excitement at every truck and car, barn and returning robin. There were toys at the orthotics office that were different from the toys at Joyce's house. There were juice boxes to enjoy. And the promise of a few minutes of joy at McDonald's playland if all went well with the clock.

And that was the next thing to go wrong.
As I stood in line to get the fries, and Jane stood guard in playland, a certain pre-schooler under my care climbed to the top of the structure and puked on the yellow slide.

I assume somebody else's kid went sliding down after her.
I know for sure that I didn't.
I hate those structures.
I hate the idea of all those grubby hands and bums and feet and mouths all crawling around on the same layers of plastic, trapped in tiny spaces that no sensible adult would ever crawl into to disinfect.
So, I didn't crawl into that pukehole either.

What I did was drive home........ No, weave home. I was soooooooooooo tired I could hardly stand it. And my stomach felt disgusting. I had to eat graham crackers to stay awake, but my stomach wasn't that grateful. Thankfully, all the kids felt exhausted as well, and fell asleep in their carseats. Then, thankfully, they stayed asleep as I carried them, one by one, back into the house. Then I collapsed onto a foamy on the floor and that's the last I remember of that.

I must have managed to regain consciousness enough to pass out snacks, change diapers, count heads, and kiss babies out the door at the end of day. But then I re-joined the washer, the bernina, the pfaff, and half my kids in the land of the dead. I dreamed about the three bears in the oven at the cabin trapped with a 6 foot 3 man goddess. They were behind the mashed potatoes, vintage curtains, and re-usable quilts, stashed up above the plastic platters. Then I woke up, and went upstairs to bed. Me, my nasty stomach, and my spinning head.

I've been told that if you do things like sew bags and send all the proceeds to a country far, far away, that "blessings" will befall you. I'm gladder now than ever that I never put a whole lot of stock into that theory. I'm sort of glad that I was doing it because I wanted to, mostly regardless of what was in it for me. Well..... that's not entirely true. I am human after all, and I don't mind positive attention.

For now, we've got a lead on a machine in Winnipeg that doesn't belch smoke.
Oh. And did I mention that Sam started puking into the garbage can this morning?
I may as well assume that the bernina was sold on the trading post, and that I'm about to sprout more facial hair, and that thrift shops have been banned.

But then again, just because I don't think that "blessings" are immediate, it doesn't mean that I don't know that life comes in rhythms. Right now there are some annoying inconveniences. Later, we'll have a series of exciting and positive stuff. But to think that we all don't have ridiculous amounts of blessings is just crazy. (Ever watch the news?) I just think that our motivation should be a little more community oriented than simply what we ourselves will get out of it.

You'll have to excuse me. I feel a nap coming on.