Riding Lambs…

So much for the lamb I was hoping we would be riding out on for the remainder of March. I was really confident that the back nine of March was going to be a lot easier than the lion full of staples, mice, and barf brought us on the front nine. I was wrong. Really, really wrong. But, nonetheless, she persisted. Sweet Jesus, please let the last bit of March quit roaring in my face. 

Friday night, I was home alone with the kiddos as they nursed their coughs. I was busy doing the world’s hardest Body Back HIIT workout in preparation for me to teach it in the morning. Such. Good. Pain. Hubs was out with some friends, and the house was a mess. I didn’t care as we were planning on having a relaxing weekend. I was #momdreaming of nice weather so that hubs could take the kiddos for a walk and I could clean the house. Sad, I know. 

I am perpetually cold, so I went to bed in a hooded sweatshirt. I knocked out pretty well and was all set for my workout in the morning. 

Fast forward to 3am. I wake up to a symphony of sounds that were all too close. I was groggy and the first thing I notice is my 15 lb cat bathing her self rhythmically on my chest. I look to the left, and hubs is cuddled in a ball with the also rhythmic sound of his CPAP machine right by my head (romantic, I know). I glance down at my own feet which are cold and see the boy dog snoring away at them. (he is a cavalier and probably also needs a CPAP machine) One more being completes my bed orchestra and its girl dog, pacifying on her leg as she does nightly. (she is a hyperactive jack russel-beagle mix). So there I am, laying in bed, cold, with an orchestra of 4 other beings within 6 inches or less of me. My, how a king sized bed gets small quickly. 

I wake hubs up and ask him if its cold in there. He tells me that he noticed an hour ago that the furnace is off. Oh crap. This can’t be good. But it can’t be too bad either, right? 

I got up to go teach, and checked the thermostat. It was 58 degrees in the house. Omg. I called my dad on the way to work to see if my parents could take the kids while we problem solved. Hubs is working all day after i get back from work. I go teach class, come home, and hubs informs me that he has been puking all morning. Great. Does anyone have any more salt to pour in my wound today? Not only am I the single parent for the 19th day in a row, but now my partner is out of commission. 

I leave with the kids and hubs waits at home for a company to come out and take a look. I get about 75%  of the way to my parents when he calls and tells me we either need an expensive repair on our 12 year old furnace or a new (even more expensive) furnace. Dear lord, what is option C? There is an option C, right? Nope. Nada. 

After a heated discussion on how we really can’t pull $5k out of the air, I finally calm down. I head back to the house to set up space heaters in the mean time while hubs is at work. We need to wait until Monday to do anything as the parts store was closing and we needed some time to make a decision on what to do. 

We took a deep breath and through a series of #crazywife texts, decided we could use space heaters until Monday when we could make a non slap knee response. Man, did I go into mom mode. Angry mom mode. I shampooed the carpet on the stairs, cleaned, and did as much physical work as I could while waiting on answers about the heat, my kids to be dropped off by my wonderful dad, the space heaters to kick in, and hubs to get home. Which, by the way, hubs was feeling better after work. 

At the end of the day, though it may seem like it is a worst case scenario, we are lucky that we are able to look at options. While Comed is loving our space heater temporary fix, we were able to figure out how to have a permanent fix to our heat. Sigh. Here is what I learned about crisis this week: 

-Ask for help. I have such a hard time outwardly asking for help as I have mentioned before. Thank goodness for last minute help!

-Take a breath and make a decision on your time if possible. Be creative in your approach. 

-Physical activity beats stress. I need it- whether shampooing carpets or working out. 

-Kids sense stress and act our accordingly. S screamed bloody murder for an hour on Saturday evening. I almost took her to the ER for an ear infection. I think she was channeling my stress level and projecting it. To all of WalMart and the general zipcode of 60047.

-Persist. Keep going. You have to. Adulting is hard, but someone’s gotta do it. I found myself crying in the parking lot of Walmart after buying 2 space heaters while feeling that I failed my kids. Suck it up, buttercup. You can’t give up. Go shampoo the carpets. 

-Life will go on. We will have heat. We will make it to the next week. And March can go take a hike. And PLEASE BE THE LAMB THAT B IS RIDING.