I had a revelation yesterday: I’m stressed. Normally I don’t feel stressed, I just get sick. So this is an improvement. But still. Last week I mentioned my stressful dreams and how I was confused by an elevator panel. Here’s the offending tech, by the way:
But the stress dreams and distracted confusion have continued despite having done well on my first two tests.
On Thursday evening I didn’t realize until I was walking into the Y with my almost-14-year-old that I was, in fact, wearing my slippers. As you can see in the photo, they’re not exactly discreet. Nothing says “I’m here to swim” like purple, fur-lined chenille.
Night before last I dreamed my teeth were falling out.
I guess it’s the intensive workload of my class, so my mind is constantly preoccupied and I’m trying to squeeze in moments of study wherever I can. But also my dad is having an outpatient procedure today, so that’s weighing on my mind. And one of my dear cousins in Northern Ireland is about to say goodbye to her boyfriend for a period of several months as he awaits a heart transplant in isolation in England. But it’s probably the classwork, right?
For example, here is my 4-year-old helping me study the skull while we watched Encanto:
I really want to meal plan and do some meal prep to make evenings go more smoothly, but I…haven’t. No brain bandwidth for it. Yesterday I realized I hadn’t gotten anything for my 9-year-old’s Valentine’s Day party, so I ran out to Walgreens where there were zero boxes of Valentines remaining. I bought a couple of bags of Reese’s and found a cute little free printable Valentine to go with.
Oliver: “Except, we can’t bring anything with peanuts.”
So then I went to Walmart. Zero Valentines. I bought a box of individually packaged Goldfish crackers and found a cute free printable Valentine to go with THOSE.
I dunno man, all these many tasks I’m trying to do at the same time just feel like too much. There should be a word for it. Manytaskering, maybe.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the name I came up with for this blog (Through a Hedge Backward) fits my current state of mind. A commenter (hi Mari!) found it an amusing reference to this Homer Simpson meme1:
In actuality, “Through a Hedge Backward” came from something my Nanny used to say when I was generally disheveled (frequently): “You look like you’ve been pulled through a hedge backward!” I can’t divorce this statement from the memory of having my head yanked around as my hair was rigorously brushed.
My husband can testify to how frequently I climb into bed at night only to find that my underwear has been on inside out all day. I once discovered around noon that not only were my pants inside out, they were also backward. Unmarked t-shirts are a crapshoot. More than once, I kid you not, I’ve put on a sweatshirt only to realize the hood is dangling beneath my mandible in the submental region2 like a convenient feed trough.
Pulled Through a Hedge Backward it is. I may not arrive at my destination in style, I may be perplexed by the elevator or be in the wrong footwear, but I’ll get there in the end.
Also, I’ve done a lot of writing in the past elsewhere, so I plan to link to old from the archive stuff, too. Here’s one I wrote about my Nanny, the inspiration for the blog name: My Nanny Has Dementia.
I looked up the context for this meme and found the creator’s childhood fantasy of interdimensional hedge hopping incredibly charming.
Here’s an example of me learning skull bones while typing a blog post.
I too thought it was a reference to Homer Simpson. I like knowing the real story!
Hope life settles to a manageable pace. I liked the slipper pic! Last Sunday afternoon a friend was stopping by to drop off some oranges and it was the first weekend in many years where I was just sitting around in my pajamas in the afternoon. She lives 5 mins away so I did my best to look presentable in that time— right after she left I noticed my sweater was inside out. Busted.
I swear there's a kids' book from the 70s or 80s that specifically talks about crossing into another world or dimension through a hedge. I'll have to see if I can track it down.
Also I cannot tell you how many times I have risked leaving the house in my slippers. Only actually happened once, though... so far.