Apparently the stress is getting to me

So say we all.

Last night I warned Matilda at 8pm that at 8:30 she'd need to go into her room, and put away the folded laundry so I could make her bed.

This is a task that should take 10-15 minutes at most.

At 9:30 I went to check and make her bed and her room was still not put away and she was talking to Jacqueline about her new skirt which she was modeling.

I scolded her back to her room to finish up. A half hour later, I hear her shrieking in terror in her room. Usually means a spider. I go running in there and there's a yellowjacket on her leg.

I shoo it off but I can't even walk into the room because she has actual drawers pulled out and clothes are strewn everywhere.

So now I'm waving a small broom around in there trying to flush the wasp out, evacuating her to the living room and yelling at her at the same time because she turned a 10 minute cleanup into 90 minutes of worse chaos.

(What she was doing was that she was "feeling motivated" to clean up all the other clothes which were on the floor because she's been so depressed, and sort which ones she wanted to get rid of. Which is laudable, but a very poor choice to do before bedtime.)

So now now I'm ranting like a mad man, Matilda is shaking from adrenaline (and being yelled at), JZ is trying to calm her down and I'm bagging up all the clothes on the floor (two laundry bags full, almost all of it clean and folded still) so I can get around in the room to make sure it's wasp free.

In sum: Chaos! Shrieking! Wasps! Yelling! Adrenaline shaking! Ranting dad lecturing about room cleaning! (In the tenor of the dad on Christmas story yelling that his wife used up all the glue on purpose) Sobbing daughter talking about her depression!

I just wanted her to clean off her bed before bedtime.

Ultimately she wound up sleeping on the couch.

Hec, I'm sorry for all the frustration. The clothing thing sounds very much like an ADHD thing fwiw.

Oh, man, Hec. How unfortunate for all of you!

Yay for puppy pooping outside, meara! Boo for chronic jaw clenching.

I have decided to not fast today and to work but only kind of halfway - the way I would if I was working from home instead of taking a sick day during normal times if I was feeling not well but not really totally sick. Hopefully this will allow me to catch up on some of my longer term work projects rather than getting mired in all the little stuff that must be done immediately as it comes up...

Anyone up? Seems cruelty to hope for insomniacs but here I am.

Aw, I was up but not here. Sorry. I do miss the old night shift sometimes.

Oh, jeez, Hec that sounds like a heck of a night. You never know when your family will produce emergent phenomena.

{{Hec & family}} Ah, the whole life would be so much easier if you did what I said and it was all over in a few minutes sitch.

I'm sorry I missed you, Cass - I was awake at 4!

Theo, if you can take the day, keep it wrapped and iced and elevated and stay off it as much as you can. Sprains can linger. Signed, managed to sprain both wrists on a Pilates Reformer.

meara, is a custom nightguard a thing your insurance would help cover? I made "You want how much for a piece of plastic?!?" noises when the bill showed up for mine, but it really has helped with the headaches. (Also TMJ physical therapy, but a lot fewer insurance companies will pay for that.)

Hec, that is entirely too much tsuris for the pre-bedtime show. I hope the morning's better.

-t, that sounds like excellent self-care.

It was so good to see Ken yesterday, despite the circumstances. We made food and played board games and watched The Repair Shop, and I walked him back to the ferry and came home slow, past the yoga studio (I went down to listen to the stream and pat the doors), and picked up some horse chestnuts from the trees near the corner.

You never know when your family will produce emergent phenomena.

It was a phenomenal amount of suck.

Ah, the whole life would be so much easier if you did what I said and it was all over in a few minutes sitch.

This is very true and yet we are both battle wearied enough by parenthood to know how rarely that easy path is taken.

I hope the morning's better.

So far so good. Matilda slept well on the couch. I got her up and she's in the shower and I'm trying to get her parked in front of her computer in the next....six minutes. Hmmm...

Wait, I do have good news: Matilda got straight A's on her first report card. No missed assignments. Which is pretty good for online classes.

Wow, she already has her first report card? Go, Matilda!

I super don't want to work today though

IT ME! I am web surfing and monitering email. We can all use slack days when nothing is pressing and AFAIK nothing is pressing at my work.