The funny thing about life is that just when you think you’ve got the rhythm down, it changes. And it isn’t the least bit funny.
On Saturday (the eve of my planned Christmas baking frenzy), I shuttled kids to activities, took them to finish their Christmas shopping (twice) and nagged them until they finally wrapped their gifts. Just when I thought I’d get to sit down and relax for half an hour before starting dinner, my husband decided to check into my younger son’s itchy scalp. Oh, how I wish he hadn’t done that….sort of.
Sure enough, some nasty little hitchhikers hatched on his head. As soon as my husband showed me the uninvited guests, I felt my scalp crawl. I swore I could feel them cozying up in my curls. I sent him to get lice removal kits for all of us while I readied the house to put on the market. Okay, I didn’t go that far, but the thought occurred to me.
The worst part of the treatment was the fine-tooth comb – I’m pretty sure I have bald spots now. My husband went through my hair and it turns out, I didn’t have any lice, but I’m fairly certain the experience killed any romance in our marriage 😛
(If not, we’ll get to do it all again in 7 to 10 days to make sure eradication (of lice and romance?) is successful.)
I spent the better part of the day vacuuming, cleaning, and doing 18 loads of laundry. (18 may be an exaggeration, but not much.) I’ve quarantined his favorite stuffed animals to Ziploc bags, where they have to stay for two weeks. All of the bed linens in the house have been washed and dried to a crisp in the dryer.
Oh. My son snuggled on the couch with me this morning. I forgot to vacuum the couch. Everyone is sleeping, so I can’t do it now. I hope I can sleep knowing it’s not done…
(Have I mentioned this was a pain in the $*&^@ and has really mucked with my baking schedule?)
Anyway, it’s 2:43am and this nonsense has been going on for twelve hours. I’m waiting for the last load of have-to-dos that has my pillowcase and favorite blanket. Once they have finished toasting, I will fall into bed.
God, please let me dream of dancing sugar plum fairies, not the blood-sucking, scalp-dwelling parasites among us.
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I hadn’t planned to post, but I couldn’t resist sharing life’s little curve ball!
Has life ever wrecked your plans? If you have a funny/frustrating story, I’d love to read it 🙂
JannaTWrites 
Wow! That is a curved ball. Washing till 2.45 am and beyond – that’s rough.
And I get to wash everything again in 7 to 10 days (not taking chances). Thanks for stopping by, Eric!
Why am I feeling so ITCHY??? And TIRED!!! You poor thing. As if the holidays weren’t stretched tight enough already.
My sister had to do that when my nieces were younger ~ she figured out that the youngest got lice on a PLANE . . . using one of the airline’s blankets.
Ew! Another reason I don’t like airline pillows/blankets… or airline travel, for that matter. I swear, these bugs are messing with my head because just thinking about it makes me feel like I need to shave my head! Thanks for stopping by, Nancy 🙂
Oh, we’ve been fortunate to skate by the little parasites (so far, where’s a piece of wood to knock when you need it?). I work in a school and when we learn one of the kids has them, I get the same itchy feeling. As does my wife sometimes (she’s a nurse). Hope they go away soon and you can catch up on some sleep!
This is our first experience with it and I hope it will be the last! Hope you guys continue to escape the nasty little buggers, J. 🙂
You’re right to post this one, Janna — it’s a hoot! Fortunately, Domer was not among the school kids getting lice. I don’t know how we avoided them, but after hearing of the washing/cleaning/vacuuming involved, I’m so glad we did. Rest well, my friend — you’ve certainly deserved it this time!
Glad you found the humor, Debbie. I’d hoped it wouldn’t come off whiny. I’m still doing laundry today. Oh, and I did get the couch vacuumed 🙂
I never had that experience, but have heard many stories of the process of eradication (just of the hitch hikers, not the romance). Best of luck to you and Merry Christmas.
Thanks, Susan! I’m looking forward to Christmas!
Lice are no fun! Curve balls never have good timing, do they?
No, they don’t, Rachel. I guess if they did have good timing, we’d expect it and it wouldn’t be a curve ball 🙂
My daughter had to deal with that this fall, too. That’s a task no one needs or has time for.
I’m sorry she had to deal with it, too, Patti. I’m afraid we’ll get it taken care of and someone at school will pass it on again.
Oh my goodness! Never mind baking, watch a movie tomorrow. Good luck getting rid of the lice.
Oh, I managed to finish the baking, Catherine. The movie would’ve been more fun, I think 🙂
😉 Oh well at least there’ll be more movies to watch and yummy baking to eat. Take care!
True! I’ll probably see a few movies while offline this week. (Why would I do something productive like work on my novel, right? haha) Thanks, Catherine!
Hee hee! Breaks are good for you, enjoy!
I rationalize it that way, Catherine 😛
Oh Janna, that stinks! I’ve never had that issue but did have fleas once. Well, I didn’t have them, the pets did. It took me two days to scrub, vacuum, spray down, dry out, wash, dry and put away everything and when I was done I was bitter, angry and exhausted. Stuff happens, I get it. I just am not a fan when it happens to me and makes my skin crawl. Hopefully all is AOK and will soon be a distant memory. Eating Christmas cookies helps. I’m sure of it!
I think fleas would be worse, M. This mama doesn’t do bugs, so I go off the deep end when any of them invades my house (or my child’s hair!) I hope we can get rid of them quickly, too. If eating Christmas cookies does help, I should be doing very well tonight. I, uh, had to make sure the cookies were okay to share with my family 🙂
Oh yes, the fun of those fun little creatures. You will get through this and be better for it. Look at it as a way of thoroughly getting t to clean the house before Christmas. I remember those days of trying to find all those wonderful creatures. We’ve been battling fleas which is just as bad and maybe worse as far as getting rid of them. Hope you were able to get everything baked. You need to bring some by. Lolz. Take care and have a wonderful Christmas.
Oh my, I think fleas would be worse – at least lice don’t mess with the animals (according to info I’ve found so far.) I did manage to get the baking done, but my parents bought so many sweets that I had leftover cookies! Hope you had a great Christmas, Sean!
Finding lice on your kid is no fun at all. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and all those pesky lice are history. ♥
Thanks, Kathy! We had a great Christmas, but I’m glad to be home 🙂 I hope you had a nice Christmas as well!
Oh my goodness. I am so sorry to hear about the lice. I used to work the pediatric telephone triage lines at a former job and lice was the most frustrating thing for families. And unfortunately it can recur so bravo to you for washing everything and what can’t be washed has to be bagged up and wait til the little buggers expire. I guess you’ll get your in home movie watching fix in now this week.
Merry Christmas
My husband brought the kids home yesterday, so my mom and I watched about five Hallmark channel movies yesterday. It was crazy! I’m back home now, so it’s time to get a routine figured out again. (Tomorrow, we’ll get to do the second lice treatment. Fun, fun, fun…) Hope you had a merry Christmas, Patty!
Merry Christmas and happy lice removal. Yikes! Sorry for this curved ball. No fun.
Thanks, Diane! No, the curved ball wasn’t fun, but we’re still hanging on 🙂
oh no! I guess you got a more ‘memorable’ Christmas eve than you could have ever planned or imagined. I hope you successfully exterminated those little peskies. Those fine toothed combs are no fun at all. Now, you can say that your husband did run his fingers through your hair (if he has not done so ever!) :-))
I hope they are gone, too, Imelda! We did our second treatment today and if I never go through this again, it will be too soon 🙂
I read this a while back, and I hope you’ve fully exterminated all the little yuckies! What a pre-holiday curve ball you had to catch! 😦
We’re still working on it, Sandra. Crossing my fingers it’ll be in the past soon 🙂