Sniff! Cough!

The rumors of my demise are untrue. I am just very sick with a cold. My throat hurts, my nose runs, my sinuses burn. Thus, posting has been delayed. Feel free to enjoy the pictures from my cousin’s wedding, below, if you have not already seen them. It was a beautiful wedding!

I will post again when I am feeling better!

I am a bad, bad person

Many, many times you, my blogger friends, have commented on what a good person I am. Well, I have a confession to make and it may make you re-think your opinion of me. Here goes:

There is a child in my neighborhood whom I dislike as much as some of the adults whom I consider to be my enemies.Everything about this child annoys me. I can’t stand to hear her voice or look at her face. When I drive down the street and see her playing in her front yard, I shudder and the hair stands up on the back of my neck. When she rings our doorbell, I always make someone else answer the door. If she plays inside my house, I always retreat to my bedroom. I answer her questions civilly–but with great effort. If she asks for a drink of water, the thought of saying no always runs through my head. If she touched me, I would probably feel the need to shower.

Why do I dislike this child so much?

Well, for starters, she is a spoiled little brat. I once asked her to throw away a paintball she found in Bump’s room. She pretended to throw it away and stuffed it in her pocket. When I told her I had seen her pull her little trick, she batted her eyelashes at me and begged to keep it. I told her to throw it away again and she pouted and cried and thought that technique would convince me. I finally told her I was going to get her mother and she finally threw the paintball away and stomped out of the house.

This child also has an annoyingly shrill voice that grates on my nerves. I find myself clenching and grinding my teeth together when I have to listen to her for any length of time. I feel for the people that have to live with her and wake up to that irritating, shrill, squeaky voice every day.

She also is the type of child to covet everything my children have. Today, Bump was playing with some Silly Putty. I could hear her irritating little voice (through the walls) say, “Where’d you get that? Can I have it? Please? Pretty please? Aw, I want it!” ARRGHH! The child has PLENTY of toys! That is not the problem. It is simply that she only wants what my kids have.

It doesn’t help that the child has ADHD, either. I can normally handle other ADHD kids, though. It is just this child I can’t stand.

And wouldn’t you know it? This child whom I despise adores me. She looks for opportunities to follow me around. I have never been comfortable with abject adoration. I don’t handle it well even when I like the person who has fixated on me. It is even worse to have this devil’s spawn bent on worshipping me.

Despite my covert feelings, I have never been mean to this little girl. As much as I dislike her, I can’t stand the thought of crushing her fragile ego this early in her life. She only moved to the United States from Mexico City about a year ago and her mother is recently remarried. She has had to work very hard to improve her English in order to do well in school. It has also been a huge social adjustment for their family to move here from Mexico. I know that so many changes have probably been difficult for her. I don’t want to add to her stress. She is just a little girl, after all.

So, I hide in my bedroom when I can and send others to answer the doorbell. But when I can’t avoid her, I try to be nice and answer her questions and scoot her out the door ever so gently. I have struggled with my dislike for this child for months! What kind of person has such strong repulsion for a child? What does that mean? I am not the type of person to fall all over myself over just any child. I like kids. I especially adore my own kids and my niece and nephew and my best friend’s daughter. I really, really love newborns. But I am not the type to volunteer to babysit children I barely know or to offer to work in the church nursery. However, I am also not the type to run from children as though they were all Satan’s spawn. I generally like children pretty well.

I just don’t like this one irritating, spoiled child.

So, now you know. Heather dislikes one little child enough to take drastic measures to avoid any sort of communication. And you thought I was so good.

Observations Of My Day

1. I woke up after having a nightmare that my ex-preacher was going to bury ten adorable puppies alive. When I begged him not to bury them alive, he threw gasoline on them and set them on fire. It was a horrible dream.

2. When I looked in the mirror, I realized that the medicine I applied to the blood-sucking pimple that has taken over my face has burned my skin and now I have a red mark that is even bigger than the pimple.

3. The above-mentioned blood-sucking pimple has spawned another blood-sucking pimple right below it.

4. I was late to my orthodontist appointment. I typed my name into their computer (that’s how we have to sign in) and sirens literally went off and the computer informed me I was six minutes late. Then, the receptionist informed me that, in the future, I would be rescheduled if I was more than five minutes late.

5. The tech who worked on my braces asked me what color elastics I wanted on my braces this time. What am I? Twelve?

6. As punishment for being late, I assume, the orthodontist waited to see me until last . . .

7. Which made me run late for my pedicure.

8. At lunch, there was nothing good to eat so I was forced to eat chicken strips and french fries which are hardening my arteries as I speak. Also, they set out a bowl of Baby Ruth bars in the cafeteria which meant I also had to eat one of those (although I did share it with my friend).

9. I have a gazillion charts to review and I really don’t want to review them. But, if I don’t, it means I will have about two gazillion to review by next week. Thus, I have to do my job.