Feral Socks

It never fails. Every time I do laundry, I end up with stray socks. So at some point, I got the brilliant idea to turn an old laundry detergent container into the "Runaway Sock Bucket". Every time there's a stray, it goes in the bucket. And when it starts to overflow and irritate the crap out of me, I dump it and attempt to match all of the strays.

Today, after it overflowed on me YET AGAIN, I decided to go through it and get them all matched. And I was reminded once again about how much I loathe socks. More specifically, I loathe socks in the laundry. It doesn't matter how careful I am - there are always strays. And I am convinced that the stray socks become feral and reproduce, turning into these strange varieties of socks that I have never seen before, like the small white ankle sock with a blue sole - I know for a fact that no one in this house has ever owned a pair of socks like that, so where did it come from?

But, I got the ones that had matches matched back up into pairs...threw away the feral ones that have been residing in the bottom of the bucket for the last few times that I have gone through this process, and ended up with only a small pile that are still strays. Hopefully as I continue to do laundry every day for the rest of my life over the next few days, I can get them matched up too.

Seriously - if someone were to invent disposable socks that didn't cost a fortune, I would SO be in the market for them. Buy them, wear them once, throw them away. End of my feral sock issue. And if they were one-size-fits-all and I could buy them by the case, I would be thrilled beyond belief.

Someone get on that, please.

I can't even be sick in peace.

WARNING: This post contains a self-indulgent pity party. I feel like crap and I feel like whining. If you don't like whining and complaining, don't read it.

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A while back, I posted a little bit of a rant about being a single parent. Today was another one of those days where I really wanted to take the whole Single Parent thing and throw it out the damned window.

I didn't feel good last night. OK, honestly, I felt like death. I went to bed at 9:30 under multiple layers of clothes and a super thick cushy blanket that was in the dryer on high for an hour, and still shivered myself to sleep. I woke up a few times during the night, drenched with sweat but still cold. My alarm went off at 7:00 this morning, and honestly, all I wanted to do was cry. I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything.

I yelled for Alex to get up (luckily he's a light sleeper) and he got up and got himself dressed for school (another bonus) and then announced that his bed was soaked. Great. Add another couple of loads of laundry to the list of things to be done today.

Anyway, he got himself ready for school and I threw on a scuzzy sweatshirt, picked Daniel up (still in his PJs) and we headed to the van. I drove Alex to school, praying the whole time that none of the staff would flag me down for some unknown reason and ask me to come inside for a quick meeting.

Daniel and I got home a few minutes later (the entire school run for Alex takes all of about 6 minutes) and he put a movie in and I laid back down.

Now before anyone gets all sorts of pissed off at me for laying back down, keep in mind that I do not have a bedroom in this house. I sleep on a futon in the living room. So if the kids get into anything, I hear them - I'm not that sound of a sleeper, sick or not. It's not like I'm locking myself into a bedroom at the other end of the house or on a different floor.

Anyway, I laid around and relaxed for a little while longer, but I couldn't stay there. I had too much to do. There was laundry that had to be done (I refuse to allow peed-on sheets to lay around and ferment) and dishes that had to be done and just stuff that had to be done.

And guess what? When I'm sick - no one does it for me.

I took Daniel to school and then came back home and straightened up a little bit because one of the staff from his school was coming over for a meeting. I was starting to feel somewhat better by this point so we got the meeting out of the way.

And then of course I had to go back and pick the boys up from school...then we came back here for a bit, and then we had an errand to run, and then I decided to take them to the park for a while. I figured that the fresh air would do me some good, and maybe it would wear them out enough that they would go to bed early.

And considering the beautiful weather that we're having again today....

Apparently he didn't get the memo that it's November 1 and he needs to take his van and his annoying music and go away.

Unfortunately, due to the brutal heat and dryness of the summer, we aren't getting the beautiful colors of fall. We're getting wilted leaves that then fall off of the trees.

So anyway, they played for about an hour and had a great time, and then we stopped at Wendy's to get some supper and came home. They ate, they got a bath, and they went to bed. Mission accomplished. Even though I still feel like regurgitated dog poo, at least the kids are fed, bathed, and in bed - and now I can do everything else around the house that still needs to be done.

Because no one else is going to do it.