My no good day started about 1:00 a.m. Monday morning. Sunday evening we went to dinner at my in-laws house, we got home late and I didn’t get to bed until about midnight. The house was a mess when we got home and I took sometime to pick it up a bit. The week had been hard, I had sick kids the whole time and Saturday I spent all day sewing only to have baby boy start throwing up at about bed time. Much of Sunday was spent holding him and not keeping up on the housework.

I fell into bed at about midnight, exhausted and in need of a really good night sleep. At 1:00 am I was woken up by the sound of squawking birds! Argh, the chickens were going nuts, and not only was I worried something had gotten into their coop, I was worried about them waking up the neighbors, one call to the city from a neighbor and they would be gone. I jumped out of bed and looked out the window, the chickens were all a flutter, but nothing was in the coop, they quieted down and I went back to bed.

Dadzoo was clicking…he doesn’t snore that often, he makes an annoying clicking sound, and he was just clicking away. I nudged him to roll over, and he did, but kept on clicking, and clicking and clicking…sigh…. I thought about relocating to the couch, then remembered that punk #2 was sacked out there, she had become sick at grandma’s house. I just rolled over and tried not to hear Dadzoo clicking and clicking.

At about 2:00 a.m. I hear frantic yelling from the bedroom. The kind of yelling that makes you jump right up, out of the dead sleep and run. I found punk #3 vomiting in a bowl (thank goodness I had listened when she was going to bed and gave her a bowl because her tummy was upset). I held her hair, patted her back and got her a warm cloth when she was done, tucked her back into bed and stumbled back into bed myself.

Dadzoo was clicking….

At 2:30 I was once again hold hair and patting #3’s back. I stumbled back to bed.

Dadzoo…sigh….clicking

At 3:00 more hair holding, back patting, warm wash cloths. I sure hate it when they are throwing up like that. I sat next to her, patting her back until she fell to sleep. I then climbed back into my own bed.

And guess what….Dadzoo…once again….clicking! ARGH! I put a pillow over my head.

At about 3:45 Dadzoo poked me and said “Sarah is crying again.” Once again I get up and take care of things and climb back into bed.

Dadzoo wasn’t clicking….THANK YOU!….so I settled in, I can sleep for about 3 more hours and the next day I will be able to take a nap. (That is why I let Dadzoo sleep and I take the night shift, I have the option of sleeping during the day, he doesn’t)

Then I hear something. It can’t be? I hear a rooster crowing! At 4:00 in the stinking morning, the sun isn’t even up yet and one of my HENS is CROWING!

I almost got up and rang that chicken’s neck myself.

I put the pillow over my head and finally feel to sleep.

At seven I get up and cook breakfast, while frying eggs I notice the sick kind of chills in my back. You know the feeling, the “I am getting sick” feeling and my tummy…not so good. I get the one child off to school and settle the sick children on the couch and start laundry. After lunch I did a hair cut, then tried to take a nap, but I was too achy and my stomach was really bothering me. For dinner I made soup and everybody (except the one child that was feeling just fine) only looked at their dinner. We ate a little broth and some rolls that I put too much salt in.

I declared that everybody was going to go to bed early and that I was going to take a hot bath and hit the sack early too. All the kids were really good and got ready for bed. I had them all tucked in at 9:00 and was headed off to my bath (by this time I was feeling pretty bad, with chills and a very yucky tummy). Baby boy stared crying, my 9 year old when to check him and he had thrown up all over, everywhere.

There went my early bedtime.

My 9 year old was fabulous! She got a towel and started the bath tub, then sat with baby boy while I cleaned everything up and put the bedding in the washing machine. I send Punk #1 back to bed and I took the baby downs stairs to hang out with Dad while his “blankey’ was washing. We had been down there about 15 minutes when he puked again! Another clean up, another change of clothes (he had gotten me that time) and Dadzoo took him and got him to sleep.

Finally at 10:30 I made myself a cup of Chamomile tea and took a bath, a very long, very hot bath, it felt so wonderful! In the middle of my bath I heard the baby cry, but I just ignored it, Dadzoo is very capable! I got out put the baby’s blanket in the dryer and feel to sleep in the couch while it dried. When it was done I gave my sleeping baby his favorite blankie and fell into bed at midnight.

I slept like a rock, until the HENS started crowing at 6:30….maybe we will have roast chicken for Thanksgiving dinner.

Note: Dadzoo did help with the dinner dishes and helped get the kids to bed, when baby boy had his bout (the second this week) of throwing up he was working his second (or is it third) job in his office. That man works so hard for us!

I would like to start over as a newly wed, knowing what I know now. I would have spent less and saved more. I would have been a better housekeeper and wife. I would have kissed my babies more and played with them more often.

The great thing about life is that we are always reinventing ourselves. There is always tomorrow. There is always the next day to try harder, work harder, play more and enjoy more. So instead of looking back and wishing I could change what was, I will do much better to look forward and change the things I have control over.

What if this gets as bad as some people say it will? Are we really headed for another Great Depression? And what does this mean for me and my family? We don’t have enough food stored or money saved. We have way too much debt, our house isn’t paid for nor our land big enough to sustain us.

Since I was a little girl I have been taught about food storage and keeping out of debt. I haven’t listened to this council until the last few years, and now we are left lacking.

I am working my best to live a better life, to live a more sustainable life, but I feel as if I am a lap or two behind in a huge race and I just can’t catch up.

I guess the only thing I can do is do my best from now on. We are coming up with a plan and we are changing the way we live our lives, drastically. At least drastically from where we were. We are buying less, using less, saving more and praying that it will be enough.

I know this may sound really strange to some people and that I shouldn’t worry so much, but I feel something pressing on me, there is a low level of dread that sits in the back of my heart. I feel so unprepared.

So what do I do?

Just my best and hope that The Lord does the rest.

What are they? How do we find it?

We all know people whose lives are a series of one bad thing after another. Some people are happy and upbeat, optimistic and you would hardly know the sorrow and discouragement they have faced. Others are sad, discouraged and sour, they don’t exude happiness and their general life view is jaded.

Why is that?