Just hold it.

A cautionary tale of the dangers of going to the bathroom before grading:

1. Get all documents open to start grading the exams from last week.
2. Go to the bathroom, so I can work uninterrupted for the next few hours.
3. Notice on my way to the bathroom, the fountain in the cat room is making the low-water sound.
4. Go in to refill the fountain.  Notice that it could use cleaning.
5. Disassemble the fountain, clean, and refill (in the upstairs bathroom rather than my normal cleaning location—the kitchen—to save time so I can get back to grading faster).
6. Notice the bathroom sink needs to be cleaned after messy fountain cleaning process.
7. Scrub bathroom sink.  Notice now that it’s sparkly clean that there are some tiny spots of blue paint from L’s bedroom painting cleanups.
8. Realize my crappy hands are not going to cooperate in scrubbing or scraping paint specks off and get sharp scissors to scrape paint off.
9. Put enough force into scraping the last tiny spot off that scissors slide down with enough force to cut cleanly through left index finger tip “pad” straight to little bone inside.  Fuck.  Massive bleeding ensues, messing up the clean sink.
10. Send child to fetch steri-strips and paper towels to contain blood.
11. Bandage up and apply pressure to enormously painful cut to try to stop bleeding.  Continue to squeeze the hell out of throbbing finger while husband and child highlight the series of bad decisions that lead to situation and try to make me go to urgent care for stitching.
12.  Remind them that I have grading and no time for an urgent care visit. Continue to apply pressure and endure family’s superior and condescending smirks.
13. Start grading, with one hand (keeping the other elevated), 67 minutes after above “quick” bathroom visit.

I'm actually done grading and still have half a Sunday left to spend on homeschooling work with L!  There might even be time for some relaxation or wallpaper stripping today!