Brain musings

   It's hard to sit and try to think of something to blog about when I'm so tempted to walk around the house and clean up. Thankfully, I don't spend all day at my tablet, although I should be writing more. This particular week I managed to get sick after substitute teaching for about six weeks into the school year. I'm really surprised I lasted this long, really. My daughter is grateful, I think, because I don't feel comfortable smooching her when I could get her sick. "Yuk, Mom!!", is something I get a lot these days.
   It is about seven weeks into the school year, as of this writing. I'm a bit surprised I haven't gotten sick before this. I've been substitute teaching for more days this year than I did all of last year. I was called in to try to come in to work this week but I had to decline. It's depressing to acknowledge that I'm getting older and actually have to take time to get over illness. I used to just load up on otc crap and power through unless it was almost pneumonia. My iron woman status is rusting. My body has a lot of guts trying to force me to take care of myself!
    It could just be my age or newer, uglier germs but this illness crap feels like it hangs around a lot longer than it used to. Most likely, it's just getting more of my attention. My timing is impeccable, as always. I managed to get sick close to the time I'll be traipsing around my neighborhood with my daughter. My spouse has been sick, too. It's also supposed to rain this year on Halloween.
   I knew this wasn't going to happen. Do I have meteorological information that the average bear doesn't?  No. I spent most of my time two days before searching creation for a clear plastic rain poncho my daughter could wear over her costume. Trick or treating went off without a drop or clear plastic. You're welcome, Gloucester  County. Despite feeling crappy, I worked my *ss off getting my daughter's costume together. Regrettably, the sewing didn't survive the evening for some of her outfit but I'm trying to let some things go, especially since the mission is to look ok for a couple of hours.
   What I really enjoy about the whole thing is the leftover candy, of course.

The Letdown

   It happened again. I worked my *ss off to clean the house and set up our garage for another birthday party. The attendance was underwhelming. It's the turkey's fault. We had a medium sized turkey sitting in our freezer for God knows how long. The freezer it was sitting in was in desperate need of defrosting. I got a small idea of what it was like to go on an arctic expedition. We found a lot of frozen artifacts and it was a miracle I was able to get the bird out at all. What do you do with 15 to 18 pounds of defrosting meat when your family has only three people? Throw a party, of course.
   The party in question needed to happen in the fall but not too far into the fall. We put people in our garage and since the doors stay open, we need warmer weather. Picking a date was a huge pain because a lot of our guests were continuously busy until finally, I just picked a date and stuck with it. Once the invitations went out, people started dropping like flies. I got several texts from people who were going to be hours late! I began to be grateful they were still showing up at all. The whole thing became ungodly frustrating and almost felt personal, although I have no idea why.
   I had enough fun racking my brains for gift ideas leading up to this and now I'm not I'll even see them and half the suggestions were ignored anyway. I really need a better game plan. I am never sorry when I get the house clean, despite the fact that it never lasts. It would feel like there was more of a payoff to all that effort if it was for a grown up gathering. Kids, and my spouse, are oblivious to whetther the house looks good. The birthday princess in question is also a huge fan of sleepovers. I'm always late to the party on these things but it looks like we will be going the small sleepover route for next year.
  It all worked out in the end, of course. The only drawback was a stupid amount of leftover turkey.

This, dear reader was written pre pandemic. Hilarious to think of the things I kvetch about that seem like such small potatoes now. This year, we will have to deal with our first quarantine kid birthday. Now There's a kvetch waiting to happen!