There are a lot of clichés that have come to my mind over the last few days. When it rains, it pours. Don’t cry over spilt milk. An ounce of prevention . . . well, it’s been interesting.
At the end of a busy week, we were all pretty tired and were planning to take an evening to relax and go to bed early. Things didn’t start out so well, though. Hannah was quite sick on Saturday morning, and was unable to keep any food or drink down. She wasn’t getting any better by the afternoon, but I decided to run out to the grocery store to get a few things we needed.
I have a great idea for anyone who wants to quickly and easily destroy someone’s car. It doesn’t take a lot of know how, and it’s quite inexpensive. In fact, I tried it on my own car, but it wasn’t on purpose and it wasn’t my fault.
As I was driving home, a van which didn’t see me decided it wanted to try to occupy the same space as my car, at the same time. As it tried to turn quickly into my lane I honked quickly and pressed on the brakes quickly, and everything was fine. He realized his error and I made it home in one
piece.
I made it home in one piece. The car made it home in one piece. The 4 litre milk jug in the back seat did not make it. Yes, as I was about to get out of the car, a river of the white stuff had made its way to the front seat. I don’t know about you, but the powerful stench of rotting milk is, in my books, reason to get a new car.
Since it wasn’t in my weekend plans to go car shopping, I decided to take drastic immediate steps to combat the milk problem. That meant renting a carpet cleaner, and doing some research into odour control.
As I struggled to clean the car before sundown (I won’t write the part about how the hose was defective and water sprayed everywhere in the car and I had to go back to the store for a replacement and start the whole procedure over again), Hannah wasn’t getting any better. We made a call to the health nurse and I went to pick up something from the drug store. It was closed, but I found another drug store. I got around to supper at about 9pm, and at 9:35pm, on the advice of the health nurse we arrived at the Emergency Room at a nearby hospital.
Don’t panic – it wasn’t quite as serious as we thought it might be at the time. Hannah drank some liquid for the first time in about 25 hours while we struggled to stay awake in the waiting room. By 1:30am we had been told by the doctor that Hannah was not dehydrated, and that she should start getting better by the next night.
The next day was a challenge amidst the bad flu of Hannah, the severe migraine of Jim, and the general exhaustion of all parties. But after all, if you’ve spent $30 on a carpet cleaner, you’d better use it. So, I cleaned some of the carpets in the house, and then “finished” in the car before having to return it.
Hannah was quite weak, of course, so we pretty much had to stay with her all the time lest she fall off the couch or actually want to eat something, or forget what page she was reading in Tolkien. She slept a lot and did very little over the next day or so. The night after the hospital visit we were determined to catch that sleep we wanted, but alas, Hannah was up just about every hour. We both got up the first time, Shari got up the second time, and I would have got up the third time but I was in a coma (just kidding – but I was unaware of what was happening!) so Shari got up the third and fourth times. Just like the good old days of late night feedings, huh?
Hannah was on the mend over the next day or two, and you’ll be glad to hear that she is now eating and acting pretty much like normal, although still catching up on her sleep. Her Dad and Mom are wishing she’d sleep a little more so that they would have the chance to catch up! We’re both feeling a little ill, but it could just be that we’re tired. Do you think we could be tired?
The battle for the car is still continuing, though I have high hopes that I shall win. I’ve learned a little about fighting odour, so ask for tips if you’d like. Did you know that there are little open areas under my car carpet where milk can sit in little reservoirs and evaporate over the course of several decades? Well, it’s true. If this ever happens to you, and you have the cash, re carpet your car.
This morning Hannah woke with a start at 6:30am. We are vowing again, for the 5th night in a row, that we WILL get some sleep tonight. You know what? God was here the whole time, and He allows us the pleasure of laughing in the midst of it all, because He’s got it all in His hands. So although I shook my head many times, I didn’t cry over spilt milk. Not this time.
