Her Bad Mother

Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Physics of Domesticity

The Second Law of Domestic Dynamics - the Law of Parental Entropy - states that one's children will be demanding in inverse proportion to one's level of energy. Which is to say, the slower the parent moves, the faster moves the child, from which it follows that if one has flu, the rate at which one's toddler speeds around the house (and, correspondingly, the decibel level of the noise that said toddler produces) increases in opposing relation to one's general wellness (or, alternative, in direct relation to one's fever and/or one's headache and/or the degree of one's sinus congestion.)

The First Law of Domestic Dynamics - the Law of Spousal Energy - states that the degree of bickering over small matters in the quotidien cycle of a marriage increases in direct relation to the difference in levels of energy between spouses. This is to say that under conditions wherein one spouse has a headache (or, say, a bout of flu from which derives a headache) and the other does not, the latter will be more inclined to disagree with anything said by the former, such that petty bickering escalates proportionate to the intensity of the former's headache.

These laws derive from the hypothesis, suggested by thermodynamics, that that the fundamental object of contention in the life-struggle in the maintenance of the domestic sphere is available energy.

All of which is to say - I'm physically and emotionally exhausted from sinus congestion and headache and less tangible irritants pertaining to the occasional difficulty of navigating life with a partner and need to crawl under the covers for, like, days and so have nothing to offer by way of a blog post.

So if you're looking for actual blog content, you should scroll back to previous posts. You want heart strings and a challenge - check this post. You want a take on pop culture skewed by hormones and maternal empathy - check this one.

Otherwise, you'll just have to wait a day or two until my head stops hurting.

The view from here.


36 Comments:

Blogger S said...

Ouch. I feel your sinus pain.

Hope it's short-lived.

8:30 PM  
Blogger Phoenix said...

I feel your pain, I'm just starting to feel better after five freaking days.

Feel better soon.

8:38 PM  
Blogger Awesome Mom said...

Yuck! I hope you feel better soon!

8:45 PM  
Blogger Karen MEG said...

Even when you're sick you're quick as a whip. Thanks for the quick backtrack/nightmare through Physics 101 LOL!
Hope you feel better soon!

8:59 PM  
Blogger Lawyer Mama said...

Oh man. Feel better soon. But damn, C, if this is a post lacking content....

9:05 PM  
Blogger Heather B. said...

Meh...feel better soon.

9:05 PM  
Blogger Suz said...

Oh geez...my husband had one of these and has had a difficult time getting rid of it. We've been experiencing both the first and second laws around here.

9:12 PM  
Blogger Mom101 said...

And yet...here you are. I'm going to start thinking of you as Her Bad Type A Mother.

Feel way better and think of me rubbing your feet.

9:20 PM  
Blogger Lori at Spinning Yellow said...

I know how you feel, the annual fall sickness has infected us. Hope you feel better soon.

Ditto to what Lawyer Mom said, really, weaving in thermodynamics is lacking in content?

9:48 PM  
Blogger Fairly Odd Mother said...

Yeah, I agree, especially after Fairly Odd Father yelled, "GET OFF MY BACK!!!!" at me last night (hey, I was only asking him to please go play with his children instead of checking his email; what? that isn't helpful)????

9:48 PM  
Blogger flutter said...

Ow.

10:23 PM  
Blogger PunditMom said...

I agree with Mom-101. If I were that sick, I'd just be in bed whining (not that you would do that), waiting for someone (without luck) to bring by the chicken soup or the ginger ale.

Fell better.

10:23 PM  
Blogger Alex Elliot said...

I hope you feel better soon! Somehow I always seem to wind up fighting with my husband when I'm sick. Now, if he would just wait on me hand and foot, there would be no reason for disagreements!

11:01 PM  
Blogger kittenpie said...

Oh, I know. I really do. I have the whole congestion-headache-sore-eyes fandango going on here, too. But I don't have that WonderBaby with the awesome new Big Girl haircut to ogle. so cute! So grownup! (But I do have Pumpkinpie, so, youknow, 'sall good.)

11:12 PM  
Blogger Julie Marsh said...

As much as I adore the 50-cent words I always find here, I think the scientific theorizing is even hotter.

Get well soon. xoxo

11:14 PM  
Blogger Julie Pippert said...

Aww, feel better soon.

Julie
Using My Words

11:19 PM  
Blogger Julie Pippert said...

P.S. Pretty clever and funny and entertaining for a sick and tired person!

Julie
Using My Words

11:19 PM  
Blogger crazymumma said...

ugh.

not that same fluey thing you got last year in the spring?

Nothing like a toddler to devastate the immune system.

I think wonder'girl' and me need a little one on one time while my gals are at school so as to let you rest up.

here's to you getting well. (me finishing off glass of red).

11:26 PM  
Blogger Kyla said...

Be a good example for my kids and feel better. LOL. They can't seem to figure out the whole "staying healthy" bit.

11:33 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So sorry you're not feeling well HBM. Drink some nice warm tea, Vicks yourself into oblivion, and know that we will be faithfully waiting when you return.

12:47 AM  
Blogger motherbumper said...

Laws suck. Period.

8:25 AM  
Blogger Beck said...

Get better.

8:33 AM  
Blogger TSintheC said...

Feel better sweetie.

8:45 AM  
Blogger Jenifer said...

Feel better soon...lots of tea! I'm surprised your head didn't explode with those first few paragraphs!

9:02 AM  
Blogger tracey.becker1@gmail.com said...

Well, if you have to feel crappy, at least the view is good... Hope you feel like yourself again.

9:19 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Feel better!

10:23 AM  
Blogger Run ANC said...

Hey man, your sickie "non-post posts" are better than my actual (if sleep deprived) posts!

Feel better soon!

11:15 AM  
Blogger m said...

Trust you to create two whole theories behind your pain! I hope you're feeling better very soon, and that the dynamics even out even sooner.

12:25 PM  
Blogger T. said...

My husbands theory re: the physics of domesticity.
"Energy can neither be created or destroyed. The reason our children have so much energy is they suck it all from us."

Hope you feel better.

12:49 PM  
Blogger Christine said...

yuck--sinus pain and congestion are the worst. i feel for you.

get better soon1

1:25 PM  
Blogger mamatulip said...

I have only ever had a sinus infection once and I thought I might die, for true.

I hope you feel better soon.

1:52 PM  
Blogger painted maypole said...

hope you feel better soon! I am feeling rather sinusy and tired myself today. blech

5:02 PM  
Blogger m said...

This post is so my life right now. Add aches to the equation and three children. That's my life

6:05 PM  
Blogger Sharon L. Holland said...

Hope you are on your feet again soon.

7:31 PM  
Blogger OhTheJoys said...

Feel better soon, my northern friend.

8:54 PM  
Blogger Damselfly said...

All I can say is, I'm glad you figured all that out for me so I don't have to.

12:22 PM  

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