Cabin Fever

Symptoms: excessive crying and whining elevated amounts of fighting, excessive messes around the house.

My kids have been off school since December 20 (Dec 16 for the smallest one) and we are ALL ready for them to go back! I have friends who keep telling me that when my children are older these long breaks will be so much fun. I really don’t like to wish away these precious years but BRING ON THE FUN!

I am tired. Tired of planning fun things to keep my kids out of trouble. Tired of yelling at them (yes, I yell at my kids). Tired of hearing them cry and whine. Tired of mediating sibling arguments. I am pretty sure that they are tired too. I realize that if I schedule every minute of their day that they will be too busy to get into trouble, but that is hard to do for 14+ straight days and quite honestly, I have stuff I need to get done.

One would think that the mountain of toys they opened from Christmas would keep them busy for a few days. Not so much. I will say the idle time has brought out their creativity. Microphone stands turn into swords. Blankets laid on the floor become the ocean. Chairs and pillows arranged for an obstacle course. Yes, all very cute and fun – for about 4 minutes. Then it’s back to yelling, fighting and inevitably someone comes to me crying (yes, the microphone stand/ sword resulted in one black eye on E).

My remedy – to call in my savior (who doubles as my sister) to watch the kids for a few hours so I can get my nails done (my toe nails were beginning to resemble claws they had been neglected for so long. And yes, I realize it’s 7 degrees outside and no one will be seeing my toes, but it makes me feel better okay?!). My other solution is to leave town.

While I would love to be hitting a white sandy beach right about now, that’s not in the budget. So, hubby and I are headed to Bloomington tomorrow to watch my Hoosiers try and bring home a big win against the Spartans (fingers and newly painted toes crossed).  We won’t be gone for much more than 24 hours, but by the time we get home on Sunday it will be time to get ready to GO BACK TO SCHOOL. So while I will miss my little angels a whole bunch, it is best that I get out of town for a bit so we can all remain friends.

Lessons I learned today:

• Three hours of ‘me time’ is just what the doctor ordered to cure an acute case of Cabin Fever.
• You don’t need to spend a ton of money on toys for kids; they will find entertainment all on their own (need to remember this before Christmas shopping next year!)
• One of my friends has an adult daughter who has been missing for as long as my kids have been off school. I will gladly take my Cabin Fever over what he and his family are going through right now. My thoughts and prayers are with them during this terrible time and my fingers (and newly painted toes) are crossed they find her safe and ready to come home.