1. A goddamn cold. Thirty-nine weeks pregnant and counting, and I get a head cold. I guess this is my payback for having had a pregnancy free of morning sickness and most of the other various complaints known to the expectant. Come to think of it, I should probably say hallelujah that it's just a cold.
2. A son (whom, let's be clear, I do want very much) with the Eye Infection That Just Keeps Glooping (which is the part I don't want). On Friday we awoke to a little extra sleep in Connery's eyes. Except that when we cleaned it off, it came back. And back. And more back. I called the pediatrician's office at 8:00:01 a.m. to make an appointment, got him in by 9:30, and had the magic drops by 10:00. School was, of course, right out. We sat around and cleaned his eyes and read and cleaned his eyes some more and waited for things to get better. They are better, but they are by no means perfect.
3. A broken water pipe. On Saturday, Chip went downstairs to break into our son's assorted stores of asthma medication to find some albuterol that I could use, since my inhaler--I think--went missing in the great car-deer-murder-suicide of 2007. When I heard loud and colorful swearing, I suspected that it wasn't because there were too many kinds of Ventolin to choose from. In fact, our first foray into the outdoor watering season had led to a crack in the hose pipe, which then seeped into our basement closet. Luckily, we discovered it before it got major. Unluckily, we had--only the weekend before--moved a bunch of more or less disposable boxes out of the closet to make way for a giant and heavy chest of drawers. That is now sitting in our living room while the carpet dries. That will teach us to neglect our hose maintenance. (Somewhere in that sentence is a dirty joke, but I'm not going to make it.)
4. An endless loop of the following songs in my head: The theme to "Party of Five", which I have never watched; The theme to "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace", which I regrettably have now watched three times; The Chipmunks' Christmas song, which my son is obsessed with. Throw in the theme to "Inspector Gadget" and I should be insane by dinner.