Please do not be alarmed...

I've had the most surreal obnoxious day.

First we missed the school bus. We were two minutes late, but since we are usually 6 minutes early, that should have given us four minutes of breathing room. But the bus never came. I began to wonder if I somehow missed daylight savings time, or some weird unusual catastrophe that caused a school closing, or I had somehow entered into the twilight zone. Finally, after calling my mom to ask her if she'd heard anything on the news, I just drove Juliette. She was initially panicked at the idea of walking in to her classroom all by herself, but she handled it just fine (although I had visions of her wandering the hallways alone all day).

Then I ran to work to get some things done before rushing out to class. At some point I realized I had no email, I hadn't received any email in days, and I should be getting email... so something was wrong. With ALL of my email accounts all at once. My work email... not working. My email where I teach... also not working. I could send email, but not get it. The one exception... my yahoo mail, which normally I hate because it is so bulky and slow.

Next, at the end of the day Juliette and I went to get Cosette at day care and I was confronted with this flyer in her cubby:

Your child has been exposed to head lice!
Please do not be alarmed, as this is a common occurrence in group programs.

What are head lice?
They are tiny, like little sesame seeds
They do not infest animals.
They do not fly or jump, but crawl at high speeds.
They are not an indication of poor hygiene or parental neglect.
They infest people regardless of social and ethnic status (the one notable exception being the black population of North America).

Say what? what, exactly, does that last one mean? does that mean the "black population of North America" does not get infested with head lice? or that they do get infested with head lice? I don't get it! Why is the "black population" different from the "white population" in sensitivity to infestations by head lice??? Anyway, despite the extreme scalp itchiness that was precipitated by this flyer, so far I don't see any tiny clingy sesame seeds on Cosette's head.

And finally... I think the cat has worms. I will not explain to you why I think this, but suffice it to say, it was not a pleasant discovery. I will call the vet tomorrow.

Now I am closing the computer, putting away the papers I've been grading, and try to put this day behind me.