Wild Week

Original image.

It seems like only yesterday that I last wrote a Delusional Thursday post, when in fact it was several weeks ago. The days are flying by so fast at the moment, that I'm pretty sure that if I blinked I would miss a few. I'm always saying that I'm a bit of a fruitcake, but seriously, with the rate that time goes by, and the amount of things I have to fit into those blink-and-you'll-miss-them days, it's no wonder my head doesn't always know where it's at.

Take the last week, for example. We are currently in high virus season, with bug after nasty bug making their rounds and causing most people to sniff, sneeze and cough on a regular basis. We are also in pre-Christmas season, so public transport is nuts, kids are starting to get hyper, and parents everywhere (including moi) are working any extra hours that they can get their hands on in order to fill their children's stockings to the brim.

On top of this, my household are part-way through a hospital/doctor/dentist visit marathon, or so it seems. Now usually I only work three days a week, so I normally try to schedule any medical appointments to fall on my days off if at all possible. That's not always the case though, as certain appointments are assigned to you and you end up back on a (usually long) waiting list if you try to re-schedule. This being the case, my timetable for last week went something like this:

Wednesday 9th November:  No work today, but dreaded dentist visit looms. Six injections in my lower mouth and one in the top to be endured before a twenty-minute scale and polish session. I'm mortally afraid of dentists, by the way, so while this wouldn't be anyone's favourite way to spend their morning, it's one of my worst nightmares. I'm still cringing now, over a week later. *shudders*

Thursday 10th November: Normal working day, with a 12pm till 6pm shift. So far so good.

Friday 11th November: Normal working day, with a little bitty 2pm till 6pm shift. Son was supposed to have an orthodontist appointment today which had to be rescheduled due to him having to sit a G.C.S.E. exam. Son is really poorly with flu-like symptoms, but has to attend the exam or I will be fined. Meanwhile, hubby is being a good friend and accompanying his mate to the dental hospital for some emergency treatment. Son is sent home from school as he is ill. I am at work and hubby is still being a good friend, so son is told to go to nanny's. Unfortunately, he goes to wrong nanny's (unbeknown to his parents), so we have mild panic attacks about his whereabouts and start wondering if he has collapsed somewhere on the streets. Or, at least, I do anyway. It's not good to be stuck at work when you are worrying about your kids.

Saturday 12th November: Crazily said 'yes' to overtime and have to work the 2pm till 10pm shift. The shift went like clockwork until 9.30pm, then everything went tits up (as we say here in Cardiff). I won't go into detail, but needless to say, I won't be working this shift again any time soon.

Sunday 13th November: Another overtime shift of 2pm till 10pm. OK, so I said I wouldn't do another one again, but I'd already agreed to do this one so I had no choice. The shift was fine in itself, but not being used to working these extra hours, I'm pretty tired. Especially as Sundays are nuts at the best of times for parents, what with school preparations and what-not, which usually take up Sunday evenings but had to be squeezed into a crazy hour in the morning before I left for work.

Monday 14th November: Normal working day, with a 12pm till 6pm shift. Also, appointment at doctor's for myself fitted in before going to work.

Tuesday 15th November: Day off! Yay! Only, Tuesday is shopping day, when I do my weekly thing of hunting for bargains and trying to buy a week's worth of groceries on a limited budget. Also, hospital appointment for myself to have my wrist x-rayed as I've been having a lot of trouble with it for the last five months or so.

Wednesday 16th November: Day off! No work, no hospitals, dentists, or any other appointments. Maybe I can actually clean my house and relax for a couple of hours. Only, son is home from school again, his cough having kept him up all night and causing some sickness. Hubby is also full of the stupid virus and sneezing and coughing like mad. Daughter is also home for a while as I am waiting for the doctor to phone back with some advice for her. Eventually I take her to school an hour late and then make my way to the doctor's to pick up a prescription for her.  So much for my doctor-free day.

Today my son had another orthodontist appointment, which had to be cancelled due to his virus. Hubby has dentist again tomorrow (he went yesterday too, did I forget to mention that?), and I am working overtime again both Saturday and Sunday. Not the dreaded 2pm till 10pm shifts, but early morning ones instead. Then my son has a hospital appointment with his A.D.H.D. specialist on Monday.

Phew! OK, this might not sound too much to most of you, but trying to remember all of these appointments when a) not all of them sent written notice of them, and b) I am a nightmare when it comes to writing things down, can be tricky. Re-scheduling things to fit in with my regular hours can also be tiresome. Add the overtime at work, and the annoyance of public transport not arriving when it should at this time of year, then this last week has been manic.

I admit, things are not always like this, but if it's not medical madness, or overtime madness, it's general family madness. It's no wonder I'm a fruitcake!