Friday, December 07, 2012

losing it

Lots of people have mentioned that they missed the blog posts.  Me too.
It has been hard to find time to do this.
A few things have changed but most things remain the same.
The things that are the same:
-A doctor's appointment every week or two (5 total from Nov.27-Dec.27, including the twins and me) really cuts into our routine....again, no one is very ill but there are some things that should be watched.
-We don't really sleep through the night--at 18 months.

The things that are different are good things:
We have found a marvelous home day care where the twins go to play each morning.  This means I am slowly digging out and beginning to consider returning to part time work in a very low key way.  Stay tuned: I am teaching a couple of classes in the new year.

The professor is almost done with his semester, so he is going to help the boys through the night for a while.  I have only rarely gotten more than 3 hours of sleep at a time, so this will be huge. Toddlers frequently wake up once or twice a night.  I have two.  4 wake ups a night--not unusual.

Here's a short story to illustrate our title (losing it). It ends well.

I am a person who does not lose things.  This is important to my identity! I had my parents' house key (the same one), for about 30 years, from age 8 onwards.  Eventually, they changed the lock...but it took 30 years. :)

Twice recently, I have lost my keys.  This was huge.  My house keys, car keys --the whole enchilada.  The first time I was panicked and did not know how I would pick the boys up from day care.  In fact, both my friendly daycare provider and I considered a mile long walk with a double (or triple, in her case) stroller  to return the boys home while I panicked and searched.  It was already icy and snowy here and while the boys have warm sleeping bags on their stroller, I just couldn't face it without a thorough search.

On the third trip to retrace my steps, I found my own keys.  They were right next to the compost bin.  Buried in the snow.  Yep.  Whew. Lucky.

Then, on Monday, something worse happened.  Again, in a sleep deprived haze, I headed out the door at 7:15 to walk our dogs.  I remember very little of the walk in the dark.  When I got home, I stood at the back door.  No keys in my pocket.  Oh NO.

The professor loaned me his car key (the only other one) and I got the car going and headed on with my day.  Unfortunately, I've had a bad cold, so I didn't feel well enough (or rested enough) to cope with making a new key on my own.  A friend jumped to the rescue, and rushed off through freezing rain to get my (chip encrusted) key made.

This solved the immediate problem, but on Tuesday and Wednesday, we discovered that the copied key only worked every so often due to the electronic chip security issues.  What's worse than losing your car keys?  Trying to start your car in winter here with two toddlers in it and having the key not work. In fact, this just makes me afraid. Snow started in early November this year and this weekend's temperatures will be in the -20F range.  (dang cold)

On Wednesday, there was a slight thaw, it was around freezing, and the twins took their nap in the stroller while a helper kindly went with me to post "LOST KEYS" signs on my dog walk.  Bear in mind that by then, I had walked the dog walk 5 or 6 times (a mile each) trying to find keys in every snow drift.

Wednesday night, a young man (no older than 10), let us know he had found the keys. Hurray!

My car now starts consistently with its original key.

I slept a bit more last night as the professor handled the baby wake ups.  I am still sick but hopefully getting better.

Things, for the moment, are good.

I waited a long time to post so I could say something cheerful.  (That is hard with 2 years without sleep) Here it is.
Have a good one...and be grateful if you have your car keys, please!

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2 Comments:

Blogger Jackie Corrigan said...

Great to have you posting again. It is a very cold winter thus far, but you (and the twins) will survive! Best wishes for the coming year.

December 7, 2012 at 12:37 PM  
Blogger Ruit Farm North said...

It's wonderful to have a blogpost from you again! Hope the winter isn't too rough.

Happy Hanukkah!

December 7, 2012 at 7:00 PM  

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