The last time I really felt like I deserved one was a couple of weeks ago. Everyone was sick, and my daughter needed to go to the ER at 10:00 pm. She had pneumonia and the flue. They had us wait until the morning to get a bed in the pediatric ward.
I was sick, but less so than my wife who was home in bed. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, and was really, really tired. We couldn’t get a substitute teacher so I did that, then went home and slept.
But then something I did today which was much, much harder.
I closed my browser and stopped reading the Dope before dinner.
To hell with a sticker, I want a goddamn metal for that.
I made a difficult phone call that I’d been avoiding (and it wasn’t nearly so bad as I thought it was going to be).
I filed my taxes.
I flossed, and will do so again today.
I tried parallel parking today and almost succeeded! I was too close to the curb and thought I might rip my tires so I exited and found a pull-in space. I was afraid I would be filmed and ridiculed if I started all over again. :smack:
But I tried!
At 9am (I didn’t start any earlier to spare the neighbours on a Saturday morning) I finished punching nails on the deck. I then sanded the oldest part of the deck from 10am to 5pm (with a short break while my wife got more sanding belts). Having completed the sanding of the whole deck (which took at least 2 full days), we got a coat of decking oil down (~21m[sup]2[/sup]).
Another coat when we get more oil tomorrow, vertical surfaces (i.e. front of the deck) get a first coat, and the rest can be finished over the next week after work.
Since my vacation started 2 weeks ago we have painted the entire house and most of the garage, oiled the deck, installed a new dishwasher and traveled south to Otago and visited my stepson and his wife for 5 days.
I’m pooped, and I go back to work on Monday.
My reward is that next week my wife and I fly to Mexico for a week in a resort on (mostly) the companies dime. I got awarded the trip for performance, and we are paying to stretch our stay for another 2 days, to make the travel from New Zealand to Mexico worthwhile.
I have, on more than one occasion, cared for a desperately ill adult relative, including chasing mom around the house at 2 am trying to prevent her from getting tangled in oxygen tubing as she attempts to find a lighter to light up the cigarette she does not have in her hands which wasn’t much fun. Most recently, caring for my cancer-stricken husband last night who has 1) cancer 2) chemo side effects similar to panache45’s cat and 3) mobility issues. At 12:30, 2:30, and 4:30 am. After spending 12 hours schlepping him around Pavilion B and Pavilion A at Southlake Methodist Hospital getting treatment and, when not schlepping him, on the phone trying to coordinate further care as well as discussing his care with a nurse so I knew what I needed to know to care for him properly. Then we came home to a broken toilet. We only have one toilet in the house. And a cancer patient with mobility issues and diarrhea. And the toilet wouldn’t flush.
And I haven’t broken down crying yet.
Yes, the toilet is fixed. I figured out how to pull off the top of the tank, reach in, and trigger the flush by pulling on the flapper chain until the landlord showed up with the new toilet part.
Somewhere in there I had a tuna fish sandwich and maybe 4.5 hours of sleep.
And I get to go to work for an 8 hour shift today.
Assuming nothing else comes up.
Anyone who claims I know nothing of responsibility or what it means to be responsible for the well-being of another human being because I never had kids gets punched in the teeth today.
And I want my “I adulted today” sticker and t-shirt, dammit!
sticker
shirt
And on a personal note, applauding the snippet quoted above.
Cleaned matted-on feces off my dog’s butt. Twice in two days. As he fought me tooth and nail because his butt was inflamed and sore. Then it clogged up my bathtub drain and I had to use drain opener and toilet bowl cleaner on the tub. Oh, and did I mention that I don’t particularly like this dog, and that the only reason he’s still here is because my wife repeatedly begged me not to send him to the shelter after she was gone?
Because after taking the laundry down at 5:45 and getting coffee and going home I had nothing else I had to do today. But I’m out and about and doing things.
That is very adult of me.
I hope your daughter’s bone has finally been found, and that your eye is better. You deserve a medal for sure.
Thanks for being kind to the poor sore-butt doggie, and for honoring your wife’s request. You also get a medal.
I’m selling my extra car and have bravely put aside my hatred of dealing with the general public instead of taking less money for a quick sale to interested dealerships.
But don’t send my adult sticker just yet, as I’m getting a slew of scammy Craigslist inquiries and lameasses standing me up for test drive appointments – dunno how long I can do this before what little faith I have in humanity is totally crushed.
My husband and I are closing on our house Friday, but today’s big accomplishment is that I’m wearing pants.
Cannot go into great detail, but I work at a 9-1-1 center.
After my day at work today I want the whole damn roll of stickers!
Today I dealt with:
[ul]
[li]A flat tire (caused by own klutziness backing out of driveway)[/li][li]A missing lug wrench and jack handle[/li][li]Making do with a not-quite-the-right-size socket wrench[/li][li]Getting jammed lug nut unstuck from said socket wrench[/li][li]Using bolt to crank jack[/li][li]Getting stuck wheel off without knocking car off jack[/li][li]Getting flat tire replaced; then finishing grocery shopping and run to laundromat two hours late due to delay.[/li][/ul]
I deep cleaned my house because my in-laws were coming by. It’s my birthday week-end.
I turned 47 today.
Hubby reminisced about the 21st birthday party we had for me at his house. I cleaned that place beforehand, too.
I used to be a counselor at a crisis intervention hotline. You have my sympathy.
I’d sacrifice my genitals to be 47 again.
I would bet that might earn some ire from your husband 
What with the biggest one residing between our ears.
Sorry, you don’t get an adulting sticker…
You get a bunch of “Big Damn Hero” stickers and a couple of “illegitimi non carborundum” stickers.