Uh oh. Until this point I've had it pretty easy. My life was in a regular swing of reasonably predictable days and reasonably low stress levels... but this week, everything has been amped up and I'm not dealing with it the way I should.

Anniversary?
My wife and I just passed our 4th wedding anniversary yesterday. I say "passed" because we didn't really see each other all day. It's not SO bad... we've got great plans for this weekend. My wife is taking me out to eat at the restaurant where we met (Rei do Gado - Brazillian place downtown) and my gift to her is a mini vacation out to Catalina Island where we were married. We're taking a boat out on Saturday morning, staying in the hotel where we were married, and returning on Sunday night. Cool, eh?

Let the Stress begin...
Some friends of ours just moved down the road from us. They're a nice couple with little boy C. who is about the same age as our son. C's mom, S., recently found out that she is pregnant and she has had a rough time with morning sickness.

Yesterday evening around 5pm, S. calls my wife to say that she can't stop throwing up. She is horribly dehydrated and her husband needs to take her to urgent care. My wife, of course, agrees to help. So, now we've got two 2-year-olds at the house.

I offer to pick up dinner on the way home so she won't have to worry about cooking. She suggests the family meal at Pat & Oscars again - which is chicken, salad, cheese pizza, breadsticks and pasta. Not great but not horrible.

School...
Unfortunately, I'm not able to help out as much as I could ordinarily. I started back to school this week... Usually on the first week, classes aren't too intense - but I wasn't so lucky this time. It's a class on project management and the instructor has assignments due EVERY SINGLE DAY of the course. Who the @*(# does that?! I've got a 1400 word paper to write this weekend, and a team project of about 1000 words plus acres of reading.

Usually I do the majority of my school work on Saturday and Sunday, but since I'm going to be on Catalina those days, I'm having to bust my butt in the evenings this week. Class just started Tuesday, but I've got to write both papers tonight.

Adding to the Pile
A few other minor irritations come up. The cable company screwed up my bill and charged me $430 instead of $140, so I had to call to get that straightened out.

I paid $60 for some software a few days ago. The download link they sent me didn't work, so I spent 20 minutes on hold with tech support only to have the guy come back on the line and say, "Okay - I've got it figured out... here is what we're going to do..." >CLICK< The line disconnects. I sure hope that was an accident.

I bought a brand new iTouch media player (Its an iphone without the phone). For some reason, every time I try to download movies to it, it causes my computer to crash.

And to top it all off: My dog pooped on the carpet, then ate it... and threw up. Whee. Get the white coats - I'm done.

I'm so spun up about everything that I fix a huge plate of dinner (plus dessert) and chow down.

Stress Cleaning
By 8:30pm, wife has our son in bed, and is walking C. back to his home. S. still isn't home and hasn't called so we have no idea how long she'll be gone.

What stressed me most was knowing that my poor wife could be up all night and then face a full day with our son, bright and early in the morning. I checked my work schedule but couldn't take a sick day to help...

I power through some more homework... and then take a break by cleaning the house. (When I'm really stressed out, I just start mindlessly organizing and cleaning things.)

Between the food and the stress, I was exhausted, but not sleepy, so from 8:45pm to 1:30am I cleaned the entire house top to bottom (except for our kiddo's room).

I ate a snack pack with some milk and collapsed in bed. 15 minutes later Amy comes home. I'm already passed out so I don't even notice.

S. Is Fine
S. took 4 IV bags of fluid before coming home. She'll be fine, but they're set her up to go to a hydration clinic on a regular basis.

My wife is home with our son. It's lunch time now and I can only hope they are taking a long nap.

As for me... I'm eating my usual faire and will do my best to keep a grip when I get home.

--B