the liquor cabinet in the floor.

I asked for clean rooms. Someone tip toed out of the house in an effort to avoid being held accountable to the room cleaning deal. Took me a bit to realize she was gone. Much like parents to toddlers, it’s the silence that tipped me off. It was far too quiet and it had been a good bit since there had been any yelling of obscenities. That’s a very good indicator that Daytime Emmy Nominee has left the building. 

I went that way to confirm her absence and noticed she hadn’t done a thing I had asked her to. So, now that I’m already irritated, I’ll just clean it for her. My cleaning always involves a trash bag and this cleaning would be no different. I summon Sassy Britches to appear with a trash bag. Being it’s not her room I’m cleaning, she was crazy prompt with the request. 

I made it one trash bag deep, which really is not bad at all, given some of the things I’ve been unlucky enough to encounter. Daytime Emmy Nominee is typically pretty tidy. Most of the trash was various vapes and supplies, along with food trash. Oddly enough, I didn’t locate any dishes or silverware. Figured while I was at a deep clean, I’d vacuum out the cold air return that sits in the floor in that room. Much to my surprise, I found a pretty decent stash of empty and mostly empty liquor bottles. I’ve determined where two of the three bottles have come from. One has yet to be claimed by its rightful owner. Good times I’m having over here. 

We’ve made it to December 28th and today was the first day since the 24th that Daytime Emmy has not been AWOL. All my little high school aged ducklings return to school January 8th. By then, I may need my own liquor cabinet in the floor. Ideally, I get a few days in a row of household peace. A mother can dream. 

I actually ended up driving myself to the ER a few nights ago. I was two days deep into a migraine attack, and at what I hope was the peak of the holiday trauma drama around here. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke. My only potential vice is iced tea. So when the ER doc asked me if I had used any substances, I had to laugh. Every time I’m asked that, all I can say is, “No, and I’m not sure why that is.” That opened the dialogue about what I’m sure would be considered my stressful lifestyle. That conversation, paired with my now high blood pressure problem, earned me an EKG and some extra lab work to check my heart health. Oddly enough, that four hours of fluids and a migraine cocktail, (less the sedative drugs because I drove myself), was the most restful four hours I’ve had in a long time. Having met my deductible, it was also a cheap “vacation”. Cheap for me, maybe not so cheap for BCBS. Sorry, not sorry. 

I’ve decided that for the rest of the holiday break, I’m going to fill as much of the free time as I can with community outings! Today was terrarium building at the local library. I loaded up 5 of my little ducklings, who would have preferred their bed over an outing, and headed out. We made it to the library, on time, and I am totally ready for two hours to myself that isn’t going to cost me a million dollars, while the ducklings get to bond and hopefully not try to kill eachother in public. They all file down the steps and just as I am about to pat myself on the back, they are all right next to me again. “MOM! They are out of supplies.” Of course they are. Now, instead of obscenities coming from Daytime Emmy Nominee, they are flying about inside my head. 

We all file back into the car and now, not entirely ready to admit defeat, we head to the local thrift store. We get inside and the ducklings look at me and almost in unison I hear, “What’s our budget?” I held my ground and explained that the bank of mom was closed. This was a use your Christmas money trip only. No one had a cow, they all made responsible, or fairly responsible choices, given their mental ages and I spent 4.00 on myself. 

I’m calling today a win.