Hope and heartache

[ClingingToHope]

Thanks for responding Mishka, I was feeling a bit lonely. Awest and I have been keeping up a good correspondence though.

D10 and D7 have had a bad run of illnesses so far this year. D10 has always struggled with respiratory stuff. You have to keep the house really, really clean -- and that's not happening with me not there. In fact, it's going to get worse. She's allowed them to push her into buying two guinea pigs to go along with the dog and the cat. Remember, she works 60 hours a week.

Not that I was a clean freak. But I kept the dishes done and the clothes washed and the dog hair swept so W could spray down the counters and tables.

Last night I had them and checked both their heads since D7 had lice last week. One nit on D7 -- yeah -- 7 nits on D10 -- boo. Turns out W didn't check their hair Monday or Tuesday. D10 said she sat in the living room watching TV Tuesday.

Of course, I don't have a lot of room to talk. Last night, after our latest round of D talks, I spent about an hour talking to my aunt and sister to cheer me up.

I know I have to stand my ground on the kid stuff and I'm getting ready to. I always justified it in my head before that we were a team and it was OK to put my job at risk for hers.

You are right. I can't be doing that. W actually shocked me last week by staying home with D7. Tomorrow, if D10 is sick I can't miss work and I looked up that in Illinois it is illegal to leave a child home alone younger than 14. That seems a bit much. I would think 12 and under. Still, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

People keep telling me I need to document this stuff for the D negotiations. I guess I am on this site.