Trying To Find The Brightside
I’m not typically one of those glass half full kind of people. If something bad happens to me I have a really hard time putting on a happy face and trying to see the good in the situation.
However, I’m really trying to change that and I’m hoping that in 2009 I will be able to be a more positive person. That’s the plan at least.
I got to practice a bit last night when my daughter’s bout with the stomach flu came back in full force all over my room. My first reaction was to find a corner and sit and rock for awhile. I tend to go all Rainman whenever anyone throws up.
My usual tactic for cleaning it up is to bribe my husband with sexual favors and let him handle it. He has a stronger stomach and likes sex so it is a win-win situation. But unfortunately he was already asleep and wasn’t hearing any of it.
Alas, it was all up to me to handle it and after I got my daughter cleaned up and snuggled into bed I set to the task at hand. Instead of crying (like I really wanted to) I tried to find the good in the situation and here is what I came up with:
-I started with the old standby…at least it is only a stomach bug and not something more serious. I am so lucky to have pretty healthy (albeit germy) children.
-The floor really needed to be washed anyway so this just gave me an excuse to finally get those dustbunnies out from under the bed. And look, I found an earring (that hadn’t been puked on-Hooray!) that I had been missing for months:
-Thank God we don’t have carpet. I LOVE hard wood floors.
-These curtains needed to be washed anyway.
-I really didn’t feel like reading that pile of magazines sitting next to my bed. Now I don’t have to feel so guilty throwing them out. As I went through them to see if anything was able to be salvaged and I found a picture that a friend gave me from May of 2006 that had missed her attack (Hooray):
-Of course this reminded me that Love Lives and McGosling still might eventually get back together. A feeling of peace and calm came over me as I considered the possibility of this.
-My room is essentially spring cleaned for the new year now! Wish that I didn’t have to do it at 3:00am but the motivation was there so I just went with it.
-My daughter was puke-free the rest of the night and woke up feeling better.
Of course I am exhausted and am wondering if I will make it to New Year’s. I’m also furiously spraying everything with Lysol and Clorox so that no one else comes down with it.
We had some plans to go to my mom’s to play games and ring in the New Year but I’m trying to wait and see where this stomach thing is going to go. We leave in a few days for our Disney cruise and I’m paranoid that one of us is going to be sick on the ship or my son will get it right before we are leaving and I will be worried about him the entire time we are gone. I really can’t see me being able to look on the brightside if that were to happen so please send positive, healthy vibes our way.
How about you? Any big plans for tonight? Are you a glass half-full or empty person?
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I hope that the stomach bug is a distant memory for you at this point! I am a glass half full person, unless it’s a glass of champagne, of course, because then it’s empty in like thirty seconds?
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I’m definitely an optimist. There is another approach to these kinds of things though. I used to work at a job where I had to wrap silverware in napkins, hundreds of the things, every night. I realized that if I allowed myself to consciously recognize that I hated doing it that it would become more and more loathesome and I’d become more and more miserable. Instead I allowed it to become more of an automatic chore. I just thought about other things while I did it. When I became a mother I found this harder to do, so I started using an ipod to help me tune out the negative waves. Sometimes a kid is just going to scream and there isn’t anything you can do about it. You can listen to it and think about it and go crazy, or you can plug in the ipod and make a grocery list in your head. I got so good at this I don’t even need the ipod anymore.
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I loved your train of thought in this – sorry the kiddo is sick. I don’t think I’m much of a glass half fuller either – I try to put on a good face, but I tend to just feel what I’m feeling, you know?
We had plans tonight but we’re having some kind of snow storm again and the roads were bad on our way to my doctors office this afternoon – I don’t really want to think about what they’ll be like tonight – so we might cancel. :/
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The first thing I thought of was that I was glad you don’t have carpeting like we do! One of our kids gets sick on a regular basis, and we have GOT to replace the carpeting with wood floors now. It’s on the list for Early 2009.
I hope everyone gets and stays healthy and you can enjoy your wonderful vacation!
No big plans for tonight, but we’ll all stay up ’til midnight (and maybe then some) and ring in the New Year.
I’m generally a glass-half-full person. I’m pretty much an idealist!
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OH heck yea, I am like you, half empty. I try not to be but sadly, I am.
I hate puke and it’s a close race at what pisses me off more, the puking and cleaning it, or having been woken up when I am sleeping good. I am not good at that part of mommyhood.
Staying home tonight. No plans. Will try to watch New Years Rockin Eve, but won’t be surprised if I crash.
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way to upswing your attitude! I am a glass half full kind of person, MOST OF THE TIME. but anymore I am a “why is this damn glass so empty all of the time?”??? kind of person…
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I try to be half full…but it takes some effort for sure!
No big plans here, tonight…it snowed like crazy today and the roads are crappy so we are staying in!
I hope the pukies are OVER!
Happy New Year!
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Good for you for thinking half full! Look at what you accomplished by thinking that way. Look at me talking like Im some kind of glass half full kind of girl. There’s always a first for everything.
The hubs is going to try and get me really sauced tonight…can’t imagine why?
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I will steal a line from Woody Allen here: My glass is full. It’s just full of poison.
Seriously, I’m trying harder (in a Buddhist kind of way) to see the positive in each situation.
Happy New Year, Jen!
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LOL @ I get all Rainman! Typed it and laughed again. The boys went out for some Hawaiian BBQ and I’m catching up on my reader.
Happy New Years Jen, you truly are one of my favorites (don’t tell anybody
)
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I can’t settle down tonight. I have this need to clean right now and it’s just not healthy. LMAO. I’ve literally bleached down every surface of my house and now I’m on to filing every piece of paper!
Yea, no fun here!
I love your blog! You’re always such fun! Here’s to a super fun 2009.
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I hope your daughter is better today and that you all stay well before the cruise! How much fun!
Happy New Year! : )
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I’m generally pretty glass-half-full. My husband calls me Pollyanna if that tells you anything. A stomach bug, however, is more than enough to send me screaming over the edge. I really feel for you, everyone in my house (but me) had it a few weeks ago and it SUCKS. BUT, it does tend to run its course fairly quickly so that’s good! See? Pollyanna.
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[...] @ Daily Mish Mash: wrote Trying To Find The Brightside as she attempted to find that elusive silver lining in the middle of a stomach bug (something [...]