The “no sleep monster” reared its ugly head.
Not for me. The “stop waking me up as I am happy sleepy” fairy was alive and well with me.
But for Declan. At one in the morning, Declan began poking me to let me know he was awake. And continued to let me know at regular intervals throughout the rest of the early morning hours.
In and out of light sleep, I began to think about my day. I felt very negative besides being constantly reminded about Declan’s being awake. There would be no hot shower. I would only eat gross cold food. I would have to wear cold, wet clothes.
Only one of those things was true, though.
Our clothes dryer is broken. For some reason, the loss of this one appliance had taken over all other machines in my mind, and it felt like the end of the world. I am an avid clothes washer.
I have a good purpose for being this way. Four days previous, I walked into a high school boys’ bedroom and gagged. I set out to find WHAT and WHERE the offending stench was originating.
After cleaning all the linens and still holding my nose to enter the room, I located a pile of unwashed football gear sitting among clean clothes that had yet to be put away.
Loads of offense, defense, and everything in between caused the dryer to quit. The smell in the bedroom is gone, though, so that’s a win. For now, at least.
Since the show must go on in terms of washing stinky clothes, creative hanging procedures are in place to dry the clothes. But try as I might, most clothes dry stiff as a board or are still a little damp the next time they are worn.
After careful consideration and assessment, Dr. Google helped me to determine what piece I would need to order to fix my dryer. I reviewed a few “how-to” YouTube videos and now sit and wait for the new piece to arrive feeling thankful that I live in the time of both YouTube and Google.
The sit and wait are legit. Besides sitting and waiting for my new dryer piece to arrive, I am sitting and waiting for the next time I have to drive.
I am realizing that football and COVID do not get along very well, and like everything else regarding COVID, the rules don’t make sense.
The boys get dropped off at 7 AM to tackle and sweat all over each other. But, because of COVID, they are not allowed to eat lunch together and need to be picked up at 11 AM to go home and eat lunch. They need to be dropped back off at 1 PM to continue tackling and sweating. Then to be picked up at 4 PM. Then for us, the night sports schedules start.
I’m not able to go anywhere substantial or get much done. I just drive.
And wait for my new dryer piece to arrive.
Oh! And it’s prank week. So, there’s that.
Walking into the house one afternoon with two fistfuls of scotch tape, Bob told me that he noticed the tape all over his wheels after he parked the car. When he went to take it off, Declan came running outside yelling, “I pranked you! Yeah! It’s PRANK WEEK!”
So far, Declan has taped the bottom of the front and back door to trip someone as they try to walk outside. He’s taped a picture of Kermit to the bottom of my computer mouse, so I get frustrated and wonder why it’s not working properly. He put cardboard under the toilet seat (which thankfully I caught before anyone else missed it). He saran wrapped Bobby into his room. Put skittles at the bottom of a flipped-over cup of water to offer candy to someone. He cooked a batch of “Brown E’s” to offer.
But my favorite Declan squeak came when Bobby couldn’t figure out why his Gatorade tasted weird until he dumped it out to see two eggs had been cracked inside.
All are followed with the same yell. “It’s PRANK WEEK!”
Realizing Declan was not going to go back to sleep, since he said (again) he would not be able to go back to sleep, I got out of bed. To get ready for a full day of sitting. Driving. Waiting. And trying my hardest to see the next prank BEFORE it finds me.
Oh poor you, Robyn, what a week! Lack of sleep makes everything so much worse too. Hope it gets much better for you soon! 🙂
Thank you, Alli!
I’m sorry Robyn. Had to go a month without the dryer. Wow that was frustrating . Then add the sleep. It’s nightmare. Your doing a great job.
Thank you! The no dryer thing is not fun but hopefuly I’ve got it fixed. The part arrived last night and I spent my evening putting it in. Seems to work okay. Big test is with a regular load today. Fingers crossed!
No sleep and prank week probably don’t go together really well. Declan should watch out for the really POed monster mom.
Oh, I know! He already knows to steer clear of Catelyn. He hasn’t pranked her at all. I’ve tried to put myself on that list as well.
Ben is on a no sleep kick too. Like ZERO sleep last night. I doze… when I’m allowed🤪
Thank goodness he has no idea about pranks. He just collects boxes and sets up “London” on ever inch of floor space, and heaven help anyone who moves a single box. 🤯
My driving is the Miss Daisy type and luckily it’s a short trip.
I miss having a dryer. Ben killed all our outside hangers, so anything beyond a small load goes across the street to the Quarter Lady, who is still being nice. She even smiled during the short duration of no masks.
School starts 8/30 here. Come on GLYSB!! 💃🏼
💕🌻
Same date for us. I can’t wait!
It has been a bit since Declan was SO off his sleep schedule that I don’t think he remembered “this is what we do when you can’t sleep.” Namely, grab your device and watch something and let mom doze.
My driving trips aren’t that long they are just numerous. And lately, getting the kids places and then back have taken over my days. I guess, just a couple more weeks and then the bus can take them – for the whole day!!! 🙂
Oh no, I’m so sorry, Robyn. 😔 That sounds like such a rough week. I can only imagine and relate what interrupted sleep must feel like and how it messes up the rest of your day afterwards. I hope it gets better.
Having the dryer go out sucks, especially with teenage odor. I’ve definitely been guilty of that during my teens. 😆
The covid rules for anything just seem weird these days – and those football ones are no exception!
I hope the rest of your week gets better and you get a full night of sleep soon!
Thank you! Thankfully, the part came in last night and I spent the evening watching YouTube and installing the part. Hopefully, all is well and dry clothes are a norm again.
Oh my gosh – the teenage odor. I couldn’t believe he was just throwing his dirty clothes in with his clean ones. Agghhh! That is an odor that permeates. My dryer definitely failed in due cause!
The rules are so weird. They don’t have to wear a mask when they are on the football field but they do when they are inside in the weight room. I get that. But the entire marching band is sitting around eating together at lunchtime – why can’t the football players? Whatever. I am just glad that my schedule allows for so many trips to and from the school!
I’m glad you got the dryer situation all sorted out quickly.
I keep forgetting the US started school already. So early! We start September 9. I hope it’s going well so far!
That sounds so exhausting! The rules about CoVID never made sense to me. Around here, last year, they were able to play football, but the band and cheerleaders weren’t allowed to travel to away games and I’m not even sure they were able to participate at home.
I hope you are able to spot the pranks before it gets you. Have you tried pranking Declan to see if that makes him realize that they aren’t all funny?
I hope the dryer part arrives soon and you are able to fix it easily.
I love that you find humor in all of this.
Thank you! Thankfully, the part arrived last night and as the family sat and watched TV I watched a play by play on YouTube and put the new part in. Dry clothes at last!
I should prank Declan. Thankfully, Declan has targeted Bobby for his pranks. He is good natured enough to laugh at them where I can really get annoyed. “Don’t break me or the house” is what I keep saying to him.
Yeah, I don’t get the rules. When I am there getting Bobby at lunch time I see the entire marching band is sitting around eating lunch. Why can’t the football players go sit somewhere outside and eat too? I just don’t get it! Oh well. I guess I should just be happy that my schedule allows for me to go get him. I feel bad for parents that are unable to.
I’m glad you got the part in and you now have dry clothes. It is amazing the things that we “can’t do without” once we have them.
Let us know if you do prank Declan. Of course, that might open up the option to start pranking you instead of Bobby. Maybe it’s not such a good idea….or you could encourage Bobby to prank him back. Hummm
Wow. The band gets to eat together, but not the football players. Yeah. That makes no sense and if I were a parent who didn’t have a schedule that allowed for the lunch time pick up, I’d be really upset to see that. Maybe the football players should bring an instrument and pretend they are in the band for lunch. That’s crazy.
It is crazy. Same thing happens every time we lose electricity. So lost without it and so thankful to have it back – until we end up just taking it for granted again.
I think Bobby will have to do the prank – good point. He probably would want some payback at this point!
I HATE pranks. It’s like a barely-legal form of assault…
Agreed! I have figured I just need to watch Declan as he can never hide his excitement while watching his next victim near his latest prank. If I see him smiling at me as I move throughout the house, I know something is up!
You are the epitome of patience!
Maybe Prank Week can be revised to a more tolerable Prank Day…? Although I did rather like the Kermit taped to the bottom of your mouse prank. Might steal that one…!
I was wondering why my mouse wasn’t working only to turn it over to see a smiling kermit. I wasn’t too mad about that one. Kermit made me smile too!