What happens when Mom gets sick for one day?

I was sick on Monday. My head ached, my stomach ached, I had no appetite, no energy, and spent the entire day on the couch not throwing up, but burping up smelliness. Steven was kind enough to drive the boys to school in the morning, so I only had to leave the couch to take Peter to kindergarten and pick up the kids after school. Hannah made dinner. I slept.

Tuesday I was feeling a little better. My head still ached a little, and I was still feeling a bit weak, but I was well enough to get up, wash some laundry and straighten the house a little. I decided not to help out in Peter's class like I usually do on Tuesdays, and spent that quiet time resting rather than exposing twelve kindergartners to whatever bug I had.

Yesterday, (Wednesday) I was straightening the house and trying to get caught up on neglected housework when I realized I had forgotten to go to a breakfast at the school  for John, who was selected "Physical Education Student of the Month" by his PE teacher. Oops. While Peter was at school, I had to go shopping. We were out of kitty litter, and the fridge was looking bare. So I trudged out to Sam's Club to replenish our food supply. I returned home very tired (still not feeling 100% better from being sick), but proceeded to put away the groceries and find spaces to stash our growing food storage (we're nearing a six month supply of all nonperishable stuff!) I was almost finished and ready to collapse when I looked at the clock and realized that the kids had been out of school for half an hour, and they weren't home yet. Ideally on Wednesdays, the boys walk home from school on their own, but one of them has a tendency to get distracted along the way, stopping at playgrounds, petting dogs behind fences, throwing tantrums on the sidewalk, etc. So I headed out, up the street to see where they were. I found them at the top of the hill. John told me that Peter had taken off his shoes earlier and they had a hard time getting them back on him! Ugggghhhhhh! Anyway, we returned home and I was finally able to flop on the couch and rest. Kind of.

That morning I looked inside Josh's backpack and discovered four sheets of unfinished homework! It seems he hadn't done any of his homework while I was too busy (from the primary program and practice during the weekend) and too sick to check up on him. I had asked him if he had homework, and he just stared at me like I was crazy for suggesting it, shrugged and ran off. So, Wednesday afternoon, while trying to rest, I had to keep a sharp eye on Josh to keep him working on homework. I'd catch him playing, and he'd tell me, "I was thinking!" How long can a seven year old "think" about what eleven minus two is? I think he finished one of the sheets, started on two more, and left one still untouched by the time we sent him to bed last night. I don't know what I'm going to do with him.

Today I take Peter to school in half an hour, then I need to go to Walmart to finish the grocery shopping and get some clothes for John who told me this morning that he didn't have a single pair of pants to wear! He finally put on the ones he wore yesterday and I'm left wondering: what happened to all his clothes? It hadn't been that long since I'd done laundry; maybe two days. But apparently he only has three pairs of long pants to his name, and one of those is for Sundays.

So what's the point? I guess that it is hard for me to catch up on everything when I've been sick. I'm really sick for one day, and spend the next four days catching up - getting the house cleaned up again, getting the kids caught up on homework, the laundry situation back under control. The remedy? I guess I can never get sick. Either that or I need a lot more help from my family when I do.

PS. One of Peter's shoes has been missing since Monday. He's been wearing his Sunday shoes to school all week. I've searched and searched, but there is no sign of it.