to bee or not to bee

so, i know i rip on Dork a lot for not pulling his weight and being a typical male who has to be told to do everything and who doesn't *want* to want to do things....but i do feel badly about something i asked him to do that went terribly wrong.

we have an awning over the front of our house, and i've noticed a small wasp nest being built over the past few weeks in the upper corner, nest to the roof. in the vein of "if i want something done, i'll do it myself," i attempted to knock the little sucker down myself about a week ago, but it was kinda hidden under the awning and i couldn't see it and was afraid to just take a whack at it and have it fall down on top of me. after hearing me complain about it one too many times, Dork said he'd take care of it, and he proceded to buy some wasp and hornet spray at home depot over the weekend.

we chatted on the phone yesterday -- i was at work and he had the day off -- and we agreed that we'd go to see a baseball game with our daughter that evening. we talked about what we'd have for dinner and we discussed how my day was going. then he casually mentioned it: he had taken care of the wasp nest. in the process? five stings and a beat up leg. he promised me that he didn't look like quasimoto with a swollen, huge forehead or anything, but i couldn't even imagine getting stung FIVE times. unfortunately, our family's beekeeper outfit was at the drycleaners (OK, that's one thing neither Dork nor I have ever been for Halloween, although we've been many other odd characters...) so he had no protection other than his madras plaid shorts, flip flops and t-shirt (assuming he wasn't out there bare-chested, which maybe i shouldn't assume).

knock on wood, i have never gotten stung and am kinda skeeved out about it ever happening, since i don't even know if i'm allergic to bee stings. but i felt so horrible after he told me what happened, like i was mostly responsible for his ill fated incident. evidently, when he aimed the spray can at the nest, the bees just went crazy and flew at him. he said he was flailing around and got stuck in the hedges (he had to stand in the middle of the hedge to reach the wasp nest, hence the scratches and scrapes all over his leg). i'll bet our neighbors wondered what kind of funky dance my husband was doing outside in the front of the yard!

i dug out the neosporin when i got home from work and gave Dork some tlc for his bee-fighting efforts. but the real kicker to his pain and suffering? the stupid nest is still there, and the little suckers are still flying in and flying out; although i did spy a few dead ones on the pavemet this morning, so his spraying wasn't all in vain. let's hope the effects of the spray kick in over the next day or two so we can knock the nest down before Dork becomes their afternoon snack once again!

kids can sometimes be a pain...literally!

my poor daughter's had a cough on and off for the past few days, and last evening it seemed a bit worse, so i had a bad feeling that i'd be awakened sometime during the night to "mamamamamama" and arms reaching up from her crib, wanting to be comforted.

sure enough, after an evening of last comic standing and fighting off the head-bobs to stay awake long enough to watch newly-crowned idol david cook on leno, i drifted off to sleep for two short hours. her sweet little voice cried out for me at 2:30 am, and we snuggled on the couch for a few hours until she finally drifted off.

ever since she was a tiny baby, she's enjoyed resting her head on my tummy and stretching her legs out in the middle of my legs. she'll often fall asleep like that, and last night, after she snoozed in my arms for awhile, i placed her there in her favorite comfy spot. unfortunately, it didn't turn out to be my comfy spot, because when she awakened at 5:30 am wanting to tune into whatever was on Noggin, I got up from the sofa and a stabbing pain traveled through my lower back and on down into my left leg. i had sciatica problems when i was pregnant with her and they'll sometimes recur when i pick up something (like my daughter) and i'm thrown off-balance. i wasn't expecting that a 26 pound little toddler lying on me would cause such pain!

fortunately, i had no meetings or pressing projects this morning in the office, so i let the hot shower soothe my frazzled nerve endings and let the meds kick in while i stretched out in my empty bed for an extra hour or so. the pain's eased up a little as i sit at my desk in my comfy ergonomic chair, and hopefully it will be a pain-free night as i contemplate what to cook for dinner, spend time playing with my daughter and finally ease into the long weekend. happy memorial day!