Livin' On A Prayer

It wasn't the worst day, by any means, but it wasn't the best either. And it certainly wasn't the best evening. Nash had an ear infection come on fast and strong, and he screamed, "Owie! Owie! Ear!" for a full hour before I got him home, had Boyce diagnose the problem, acquire meds, and finally settled him down by watching TV. Gene is working through the night, so having a little boy wake up in addition to Cledi puts me in a difficult (i.e. impossible) position.


Then, the care provider that we have been training for 3 weeks now, invested over $700 in and about 50 hours, dropped the bomb that the job wasn't a good fit for her. And unfortunately all of the reasons that she stated are all reasons that this job is going to be difficult for anyone to handle, and I know that the search for the next one will be equally hard. Cledi is simply a lot of work. I try to be up front about how "labor intensive" she is. In fact, I always call her my Jillian Michaels because just about the time you want to quit, she insists that you keep going. But until you work a few shifts with her, you just can't understand what she requires. So I get a lot of starters and not nearly enough finishers. :( So, here I am, once again up a creek with the care provider situation (which is really just an ongoing drama at this house) and some big gaping holes in our schedule next week with no one to fill them. Not to mention, Cledi has to endure another 50 hours with someone that has no idea how to work with her hoping that they'll get the hang of it.


So, I'm trying to laugh it off by talking to Downi on the phone and my kids are watching Dora at 9:30 at night for the 3rd time through because Nash is disconsolate and I am trying to get him to eat anything (fig bars for dinner isn't so bad, is it?) so he won't be up in the middle of the night. And then I see it. A big, nasty cockroach sitting in the middle of my living room floor. What the heck is that about?? The lights were on. There were 3 of us in the room. Didn't he even have the decency to hide? Or are there so many around that he ran out of hiding places? I don't know. But finding a live cockroach in your house is hair-raising, and, who am I kidding, makes you feel like a lousy housekeeper (i.e. epic fail).

But my dear sweet Eleni (which is actually the only reason I was writing this post) said the family prayer tonight. Beforehand I requested a blessing on Cledi and Nash, and then I added her and myself in for good measure. She prayed for everything I requested and then ever so tenderly prayed that our life could not be hard and it can just be "very easier." And she repeated her request like 5 times during the course of the prayer about how she hopes life can just be easy and not so hard. I have no idea where it came from, and I'm definitely not the type to say my life is hard because I see people living crazy lives every day that make mine seem like a cakewalk, but it was so thoughtful, unsolicited, and completely out of character. Afterward, she made sure to give me a solemn hug and tell me that she had prayed that life can be easier, just in case I had missed all of the renditions during the prayer. Bless her heart.


And bless Downi's heart too. She came over to give me company and help vacuum, sweep, mop, and put down a pest control perimeter so I could actually sleep tonight. Sisters are about the best thing a girl can have!

And if I wake up to any dead cockroaches laying around, you are all going to hear about it!