Today was going to be that day for me, the one where I wallowed in my jammies all day, and gave in to the fact that I am sick. It’s been a pretty bad winter for me, having strep last month, and now this evil thing that has invaded my chest and sinuses. I knew that I needed to take it easy if I was going to make it through the last day until Willy gets home, a day where the healthy lils would be home from school with sick mama.

I should have known that something was up when I woke at 2:30 to a small beast joining me in bed. It was Goose, and she just wanted to be with me. How could I say no? She tossed and turned for almost thirty minutes and was drifting off to sleep when Woo climbed in. He’d had a nightmare, and needed cuddles. I slid into the middle and alternated between settling each back into sleep, until finally I had had enough at 4:00 and brought Woo back to his bed. I returned to bed and got about 30 minutes of sleep before the cycle started again, and this time Woo brought his flashlight. His SUPER BRIGHT, noisy crank-style flashlight. I eventually turfed him again as Goose was waking for the day. It was a LONG night, which made the couch day I’d planned even more inviting.

I drove the lils to school, as I could not walk them. The teachers were warned that they may be tired, but I was confident that everything would be fine. There was just a nagging feeling that Woo was a little off. My day at home was going as planned. I was about to slide into a nap when the phone rang, the call I think I knew would be coming, that Woo was now feverish and needed to come home. I grabbed both lils and we spent the rest of the afternoon on the couch, while they watched me play video games for the rest of the afternoon (stellar parenting moment, I know).

We decided to have pizza for dinner, as I was in no shape to cook. The order was placed a little before 5:00, and we were told it was going to be 45 minutes. That seemed long for our pizza joint, but I just kept playing and the hungry beasts were fine… until the delivery was 30 minutes late. When we called to see what was up, they claimed the it was just coming out of the oven, and would be at my door in 20 minutes. We waited, and when it was more like 35 minutes, I kept my anger in check. I did let the driver know that I wished they had called when their kitchen got slammed, but that I knew this wasn’t his fault, so I tipped him and sent him on his way.

It was when I started serving the pizza that I noticed that they had messed up our order. The lils pizza was fine, but my vegetarian was very much non-veg. I was irked at this point, but I tried to keep my cool as I called them back to let them know that they had not only delayed our dinner, but now I was without a meal. I thought I was doing a good job, until the woman that answered the phone handed it to her manager and said “Very angry lady needs to speak to you”. They were only somewhat apologetic, and offered to pick up the pizza and refund my money. They let me keep the pizza after I explained that I’d touched it and that the rest of my family could eat it, but said they would send the driver back to reverse the charge on my card.

This is the first time that anything like this has happened in the six+ years that we have been ordering our pizza through these guys, so I am willing to give them another shot, and I told them as much. We like their pizza and we really like their drivers, who are always courteous and kind, never fail to ask after the lils or play with them for a few minutes. Still, as I waited for the driver to reappear, I decided that it would likely be a while before we order in pizza again. He was apologetic when I greeted him upon his return. I knew that it wasn’t his fault, and told him so. He offered to refund the money in cash, and it was only after he’d driven away that I realized that he’d paid cash as the money was likely coming out of his pocket, which was not what I wanted at all. Now I feel like a heel. That is the last time I try to take a lazy sick day.