It's always brighter in the morning

I'm one of those people that tend to think that the world is going to end when things start going wrong. Luckily for me, I have a very level-headed husband at my side. Last night was one of those nights where a few bad things collided together and made me want to hide under my covers and let someone else play mommy.

It started with the vacuum. I pulled it out and started to clean the floor. Within a couple of minutes there was a nasty burning something kind of smell filling up the house. I'd wait until Pedro got home and he could look at it and figure out what's going on.

Later, right before bedtime, I had Bri and Eric in my room watching Dora while I read. Eric starts complaining that his tummy was hurting. And then he puked. All over my bed and the floor. Bri got thrown in her crib with a bottle to keep her out of the way. Eric was quickly stripped out of his now yucky jammys. Towels were used to clean up most of the mess. I poured baking soda on the rest of the mess to soak it up out of the carpet and neutralize the smell. Towels, jammys and our comforter were thrown in the washer. We made Eric a bed on our floor and gave him a puke bucket. He quickly fell asleep.

Now, in my haste, I forgot that my washer is not all that big. And in the middle of the rinse cycle came a new burning smell. Much more potent than the burning smell of the vacuum. I opened the laundry room door and out poured lots and lots and lots of smoke. Sigh.

Eric had another attack of the pukies a couple of hours later. Another clean up, a bath, and dirty towels thrown in the back yard. And then I realized I have this mess of baking soda and crystallized yuck on my floor and no vacuum to use to clean it up. Great.

So here I am thinking the world is ending, and my husband is over on the couch happily watching the Orange bowl. What?! Don't get me wrong, he was absolutely wonderful with cleaning up the messes and making Eric feel better. But once it was all over, he was happy as could be. And I'm a big ball of stress just waiting for one more thing to happen so I can explode! He quickly came to my rescue. Telling me that I can use the attachment on the vacuum to clean up the baking soda (worked, but added more burn smell to the already awful aroma). He took all of the unfinished clothes out of the washer, put them in a basket and set them in the back yard so they wouldn't add to the stink. And then he reminded me that Eric eats so little that there probably isn't anything in there left to come up.

So, after that big old rant, today I am grateful for:

1. PEDRO! My manly man who doesn't mind cleaning up puke, can figure out that the vacuum needs a new belt, and can keep his head when I lose mine.

2. Friends. Friends who let me borrow their shop vacs, and friends who offer to do a load of laundry for me at their house.

3. Savings accounts. So I can go shop for a new washer and know that it's not going to break the bank.