Trying to find a sliver of humor to Martha's series unfortunate events of 2011

Without a doubt, it has been a rough year. We have not, however, lost our sense of humor about it all. Let's say it's a coping mechanism for us. After all is said and done, laughter is the best medicine.

March
Spring brought me such a NOT nice surprise. To say that I loathe bugs, insects, any creepy crawly things is an huge understatement. I kid you not when I say that one day I completely lost control and found myself yelling at the top of my lungs to some invading insects, "This.. is.. MY.. HOUSE!!!!!! This included some stomping, like a child throwing a fit. We called pest control. Problem solved.

May
I spent Mother's Day weekend in the hospital with a really bad kidney infection. I ended up with a roomie that reminded me of a Chatty Cathy doll. Really. She could not.. stop.. talking. Oh- and she kind of looked like her, too.

June
I had a really bad reaction to poison ivy, oak, and sumac. A friend said that it happened to her several times in her youth. I had just finished parking my car (from having been to the ER) and was walking home with Liam when she said that her reaction to poison ivy was so bad she looked and felt like the "swamp thing", with all the oozing and everything in the heat of summer. Despite the severe swelling and my own oozing face, I managed to laughed out loud. Some people that passed us by at the exact moment I laughed, gave me such an alarming look. There I was, no doubt looking indeed like a monster and laughing out loud, too. Yep, I must have been just as scary as the "swamp thing."

So, I was on some strong meds for the inflammation and whatnot, that made me really dizzy. Exactly a week later, I tripped over some slippers and fell flat on my coccis bone, very nearly braking it. It was quite a trip, too. I started from one end of the living room and ended up falling in the dining room. When I think about that fall now, even I laugh out loud. If it would have been caught on tape, it definitely would have made it on AFV.

August
A freak hailstorm shattered the rear window of my car. It happened only in this area. Manhattan apparently experienced bright sunny skies during our hailstorm.
Bill: "Maybe you should have ran out there and moved the car to a safer location, like the underpass of the LI expressway."
Me: "I thought about it, but considering the hail was the size of golf balls and baseballs, we would have gotten hurt. Don't you think?"
Bill: "Well, you guys could have worn the bicycle helmets."
Now picture us, with bicycle helmets running out into the hailstorm as everyone was running away from it.
Um... no.

Lastly, the hurricane called Irene that put a tree on our house. Bill and I called several tree removal companies for estimates. We had to make sure they were licensed and insured. During the selection process, he said we should forget about this one particular company because he thought they were "shady". Then, I said that I was "leaning" towards another company anyway. We both turned to look at each other and suddenly started laughing, only my laughter ended up in bawling. Two days later, one of our neighbors came over to ask us why that tree was "still sitting on our house". My immediate thought was, lady- please don't make me scream in your face. We explained that we were scheduled for the removal on that Thursday because all the tree removal companies were booked solid. I guess we needed to call a tree removal company the moment the tree fell on the house. She also told us that she thought we should all "chip" in and remove all of the trees from that abandoned property next door. Hurricane season is not over and heavens forbid another one of those trees should fall onto mine or our any of the neighbors' houses... "knock on wood".

One of my favorite websites, Scouting NY, did a post on what New Yorkers would consume as Irene passed over New York City. I seriously could not stop laughing. Apparently, New Yorkers refuse to accept the possibility of the power ever going out. Why didn't I think about taking photos of our empty supermarket shelves? It really was a comedic sight. People planned to hunker down as if a blizzard would be hitting us instead of a hurricane. We are not used to monster hurricanes up here in the northeast. Some thought of having fun with it, like Super Bowl weekend. Even I get it.

So this is the list of Martha's series unfortunate events of 2011. I seriously hope I won't have to add to it. If I do, I might have to ask the reader/s (if any) to vote at the end of the year on the one considered worst.

Hey, humor me, I have got to laugh to keep from crying. Sure, there is a subtle (or maybe not so subtle) hint of cynicism, but I have to find some humor in it all somehow.