…but I still had to stay brave in front of my kids!

During some recent house clean-up activities, I was required to change the bed covers on my daughters bed.  Normally this is considered a low-risk task, if you of course consider wearing a hazmat suit for safety reasons to remove the usual hidden dirty socks or other laundry pieces, and this was no exception.

Not too sure why kids need to hide their dirty laundry, but it seems to be a common trend with our kids.  If they chose to be a a little more visible, which happens, then we might see some pretty visible piles of dirty clothes in a corner or smack in the middle of the room.

So, here I was removing the bed covers from the bed, and quickly placing it in the washing machine.  It’s never an easy task given the amount of teddy bears and dolls covering her bed, and she has at times neglected to remove her glasses as well so i have to take extra care.  Once I even found my iPad under her pillow, next to the DS Lite.

Getting the stuff off the bed is pretty easy, but getting the sheet back on the mattress is often a major challenge.  It’s a bit like putting jeans on after they’ve been washed.  They are too tight, but after a few minutes they expand slightly.  That or my arse was getting a little too big and Shaun T has to be visited again!

I successfully forced the sheet over 3 of the 4 corners, and was preparing to manipulate the last sheet corner of the last corner.  And that is always the tricky.

As I grabbed the sheet corner and attempted to squeeze it over the corner, my index finger got caught on some old paint crackling off.  To be more exact, a piece of paint shot in under the nail, which sent spikes of pain signals from the nerves, making my eyes watery.

My first instinct was to scream, drop to the floor, suck my injured finger and call for mummy.  However, that would probably go down badly with my kids as they would be scared for my well-being, not to mention my sanity.

Instead I calmly did a very fast paced speed walking exercise to the bathroom, to wash away the blood and get a Disney bandage on my boo-boo.

The pain was drumming Metallica‘s “One” up the arm, but I was playing it cool, despite the cold sweat building up on my forehead.  Thankfully I din’t feel dizzy, which i normally do when I see my own blood.

The calmness that I had displayed ensured that the kids and wife didn’t notice anything.  That was the original goal, but I was craving some RAoTLC (Ridiculous Amount of Tender Loving Care), or at least just some “awwwwww” attention.  I got neither!

So, I walked into the room where my family was residing and showed them my boo-boo.

I got the necessary affection that I was hoping for, with hugs and kisses.  That made everything much better again and I finished off my clean-up duties.

My finger is still sore.  I still have difficulties typing, but thankfully I’ve mastered the eagle-technique.  I don’t think it warrants staying at home sick or going to the doctor, and I’m hopeful that I’ll get full usage of my left index finger again soon.