I had a relapse last night. And by relapse I mean several things, but especially my neck and spine injury which I managed to aggravate somehow just as I was feeling better. 😟

Actually Sunday started out relatively nice and calm. I was working on my book cover which ended up exactly as I desired it, and I was doing some editing as well as writing when I suddenly remembered that my daughter needed some new clothes, mostly undergarments. This meant a trip to Walmart because Walmart apparently is allowed to stay open as an essential store during lockdown whereas Winners is not. Winners has better clothes for teens, both boys and girls, and much better quality, but they were not deemed essential because apparently kids stop growing during pandemics…The logic defies me and I could carry on complaining about the idiotic decision making from the politicians but I’ll stop right now. Ugh 🥴

So we went to Walmart and got in without having to line up, picked up the few things the girl child needed plus some dog treats and some frozen blueberries and I found socks and undies for the boy blah blah blah by the time we left the store 40 minutes later the lineup was around the corner. Sigh.

On the way home I drove to the drugstore which has a post office in it to return the Amazon brace for my neck that didn’t fit. By the time I found parking on a side street I realized I should not be driving a car. My neck has not healed. It had felt better by this weekend, especially compared to last weekend, but the arm movement while holding on to the steering wheel and driving, and parking… let’s just say it was not good for me.

We got home and I announced to the teen boy he will need to take the bus to school this week. No driving for mom.

In the meantime, my girl child had received a clothes order from a store containing 11 new articles, mostly tops but also two bottoms. She tried everything on and and modeled it for me and I was impressed that her measuring was so accurate that all the pieces fit. She was happy, I was happy, and I showed her which clothes needed to be washed by hand and which ones could go in the machine.

A new phase has begun. Gone is the athletic wear, which she wore for 12 solid years. Now she’s discovered fashion. 🙂

It was during the laundry extravaganza that I made the mistake of entering the kids rooms. They each have a room in the basement which is located close to the laundry / bathroom down there. The rooms have windows and are just big enough for a bed a side table and a closet.

Prior to covid they didn’t really spend that much time in their rooms. They were busy with school, sports, friends… Now with covid they spend a lot of time in their rooms and it’s been challenging because they don’t have a lot of space. But as these things go they’re teenagers now. Teenagers, from what I hear and see, apparently don’t mind a mess and so when I stepped into my daughter’s room and saw the squalor I may or may not have had a fit. (I had a fit. And a meltdown. My bad. Sorry not sorry but in hindsight mostly sorry.) 😥

She freaked when I took the vacuum cleaner out and started sucking up all the dust bunnies. I really shouldn’t have done that because it bothered my neck more but I couldn’t stop once I started. It was like I was possessed. I also discovered a few things that initiated some conversations between us about letting me know before she goes shopping that she’s going shopping. I can see that she’s going to be a very independent kid as she turns into a full-fledged teenager and I’m going to give her the freedom that she desires but with limits. And this is going to be another challenge for the both of us to learn how to navigate.

This morning I woke up at 3:00 a.m. I went to the kitchen to pop some Advil and heat up my bean bag to wrap around my neck and then made some chamomile tea in the hopes I could calm down and go back to sleep. Somehow the dog heard me and joined me on the sofa.

An hour later I went back to bed and was able to sleep. But guess what woke me up…

Puppy sneezes. 😵

Have you ever watched a dog sneeze? It’s this whole body contortion followed by head shaking and snot flying. God. I’m lying there trying to wake up slowly so as not to re-injure my neck and the husband must have let the puppy out of the crate because Tucker jumped on my head and simultaneously sneezed all over me.

Anyway I got up and made coffee, then came back to bed to relax for a few minutes. I will need to take a shower shortly. 🙃

What will today bring? A lot of stress, some silent treatments, and depending on my neck situation, some decluttering and cleaning (which is why stress and silent treatments. Trust me no one wants anything to do with me when I’m in declutter mode…😐).

But. If I can’t move around too much today I’ll sit at the computer and continue my editing.

It’s so begins the month of March. It’s been almost a full year since covid arrived in Canada and I can’t say things have improved. If anything things have gotten worse. But, we must focus on the fact that we are still employed, we are still healthy and never had to deal with any illnesses at all, and despite the social isolation all in all were doing okay. Which doesn’t mean that our mental health is intact. I can pretty honestly state that all four of us are suffering from various degrees of mental health issues as a direct result of these continuous lockdowns we’ve been subjected to.

Let’s hope for better days.