The Lost Day

Saturday felt lost by the end of the day. I woke up with a sore throat and a headache. On the upside, we had our first snow of the season. Very exciting! It wasn't just a dusting either; it was a nice blanket and more falling through the morning. Julie and Everest wanted to go outside as soon as they were done with breakfast.





I had a lot to do before writers group, not to mention that I didn't feel up to going anywhere. Heath ended up taking the kids and Nancy to the fall festival at school. Their grandma has been coming with us to the fall festival for the last few years, so it's kind of a tradition. Thankfully, Heath took the camera and got some pictures.





My young writers group met from 2-4 p.m. at Panera as usual. We're on our 5th session; just one more left. We got to see Legossi, Dolphin, and Legossi's friend Zoe for a brief period. That was really nice. The writers group writers were a little unruly that afternoon, or maybe I just had less patience because I was sucking down cough drops the whole time.




Back at home, Nancy was watching the kids because Heath went rock climbing. I got the kids showered and made some soup and quesadillas for dinner. Heath got home while we were eating and helped get them into bed. He had some work to do, and I still wasn't feeling great. Decided that the best thing to do would be to rest for the evening and go to bed early.

I watched a few episodes of Warehouse 13 (lots of fun campy syfy-ness) and called it a day around midnight. I was probably asleep in less than five minutes.

Doctor's Visit

Friday, we finally took Everest to the doctor. He'd been coughing and getting worn out all week. Turns out that he has strep too. Oh yeah. It's making the rounds. Everest really loved being a patient though. He did a fabulous job following instructions.




We picked up the prescription at Target after wandering around the store for 20 minutes. Not too bad. They had a fun time even though we didn't buy anything. My mom called us while we were there and invited us to meet her for lunch.




I had a tutoring appointment at 5:00, then headed out to small group. After group, I went to Legolas' house to chat for awhile. Puella was catching up on school after being sick, so it was just the two of us.

Incredibly, I went to bed as soon as I got home, which was great because the next day was going to be quite the exertion...

Easter Weekend, part 1

Friday started out fairly well. We had lots to do but wanted to integrate family time. Heath took Everest to get some new play shoes; he has snowboots and sandals that fit and needed an in-between. Julie went to the bank with me. (It was a teacher work day, therefore no school for students.)

Afterward, we met up at the park and let the kids play for about an hour or so. We all had a fun time. It was really nice to have all four of us there. Someone had to go to the bathroom, and that ended our time there because finding open facilities turned into a longer chore than it should have been!




Heath took off to get some work done at the school while I took the kids to the library, then the church to print programs for the Good Friday service. Because each of the kids had gotten a new book at the library, they were able to sit on the couches and read while I did all the printing. Everest did get a little antsy, but overall, he was pretty good.




The kids were getting hungry for lunch by then, so we stopped at McDonald's. I let them play for about 45 minutes. Actually, only Everest played. He gathered up 3-4 kids, and they just climbed and chased all over the place. Julie wasn't feeling well, so she sat in the sun and counted cars. Sounds so sad, but she was content to sit in the sunshine.

We had set up an appointment for 2:20 at the doctor's office. I kept an eye on my iPod for the time. Unfortunately, the time was off by about an hour because (I figured out later) it had completely rundown its battery the day before and this apparently messes with the date and time functions. Eep! When we got in the car, the clock read 2:53!

We hurried to the doctor's office anyway, hoping that they would have a later appointment. Thankfully they could get us in at 3:50. I didn't want to wait until Monday to get Julie on medicine if she needed it for her cough. Turns out that she has strep throat! That meant canceling attending the two birthday parties she had planned to go to this weekend.



I was thankful to know that there was something we could do about it though. The doc gave us a prescription and instructions not to share any food with anyone and cover her cough. No wonder she hasn't been herself this week! We went to Target next to pick up her prescription.



By the time we got out of Target, it was almost time for my tutoring appointment at 5:00. I couldn't believe how fast the day was blowing by. I called my student's mom and asked for a 15-20 minute extension on our start time so I could get home and get settled. She was very understanding when I told her the situation.

When we got home, Heath was back, and he took over to get the kids fed and showered. Since I'd started the appointment late, I finished late. Heath had Everest in the shower and Julie was already washed up and in her PJs. We would be severely late for the Good Friday service if we were going to try to make it.

I admitted defeat, and we just had an extra long snuggly bedtime, which was also wonderful. I worked on some freelance stuff for awhile, then got a text from Puella saying that she couldn't make it for Muse. Legolas suggested that we meet at Old Chicago--her treat. I headed over there around 10:30, and she arrived after she got off work, around 11:00.



We had a lovely time chatting as always and made plans to workout in the morning. I read and played a game for a bit before going to bed, even though I returned after midnight. Probably should have just gone straight to bed, but...oh well.

Sick Day, take 2 + more musing

When Julie was sleeping hard and still feeling hot to the touch on Monday morning, we decided to let her stay at home for one more day of recovery. Both the kids were up at 9:00, however they just snuggled up in bed together quietly. I let them play some games on my iPod for about 30 minutes while I folded the last basket of laundry. They actually did a really good job sharing. (Yes, it really is that dark in their room even at 9:00 a.m. They have a blackout curtain.)



I gave Julie's some fever reducer, then we went downstairs to make raspberry waffles. Everyone seemed to perk up after the nice hot breakfast. The kids watched some shows after that, just relaxing, and around noon, we went to the school to pick up Julie's homework papers.



When we got home, we had lunch while Julie started in on her worksheets. She made some good progress, but she got eventually got too tired to concentrate. Both kids went down for a nap. I talked to my mom on the phone for awhile, did some freelance work, and got dinner started.

The kids were up around 4:00 and chilled out for about 40 minutes until Heath was home and dinner was done. We sat together and had chicken with apricot sauce, bread stuffing, and salad. It was quite tasty if I may say so!

Heath took over with the kids and dishes while I started in on some website stuff for Donita and the Monday night chat. I'm about to continue on with webmastery for the rest of the night, but I wanted to get these blog posts down.

Though blogging may seem like frivolity of time to some, I really find that writing down the days' events and sharing them publicly is an excellent way for me to process life, remind myself of what I have accomplished, and connect with people.

Connecting with people is so important to me, and as a work-at-home mom I must do whatever is necessary to stay in contact with friends and family. Thanks for reading and being a soul who cares. :o)

Everest's Sick Day

Early Thursday morning, Everest came into our room to sleep in our bed. I'm not even sure what time it was, but it wasn't light out yet. Heath and Julie got going fast enough to get her to the bus stop on time. Hooray! Everest was running a fever again and generally feeling icky, so I let him sleep in our bed until he woke up just after 10:00 a.m.

He didn't feel like eating, but I had him take some medicine and take his shirt off to cool down. He laid in bed quietly, awake, for another 20 or 30 minutes until he decided that he felt okay enough to get up.

He got all set up in front of the TV, and I basically let him snooze and watch shows all morning. Sometimes you have to do that when you don't feel well. Plus, I didn't feel too bad about it since he didn't want any TV at all on Wednesday.



In the afternoon, I was able to secure my venues and finalize the promos for the writers games events that I'll be doing during spring break in March. I'm rather pleased with the results of my work! You can see it HERE.

After feeding the kids, I took off for the gym while Heath put them to bed. Yes!! Yet another reason why it's great to have him home in the evenings again. :o) This is the second day in a row this week. I haven't done that in months and months! I am determined to keep up the trend.

Tonight, I've been chatting with Midget via IM, and we're about to watch an episode of Eureka.

Cold Day 1

Tuesday, school was canceled on account of "dangerous temperatures." It really was crazy cold. Heath and I decided to go to the doctor's to find out if these coughs and sniffles required prescriptions.



As it turns out, whatever we have is nothing serious. The doc gave us a prescription for some heavy duty cough syrup. We had to wait about 30 minutes at Target for the medicine, so we wandered around the aisles with the kids. In the toy sections, we found some disturbing girl toys and accessories.




What in the world are people giving their little girls these days? I was absolutely flabbergasted. Even Julie could see that the dolls' modesty was nil and that it wasn't right to make yourself look like a zombie. :o/

After we got back, I headed out to Panera to work on the church magazine. Heath's class was canceled for the night, so I had the rare opportunity to be gone from afternoon to night on a weekday. It was still bitterly cold outside, and quite chilly by the window where I'd set up shop at Panera. I need to get some fingerless gloves for such occasions.




When Panera closed at 9:00, I packed up and went home, by way of Old Chicago. The car was running like sludge, and the extremely low temperature by the time I got home just had to make me laugh.



Julie was still up when I got home, but she was making Valentines for her classmates. I guess she had been really good all night, so Heath let her stay up. She did eventually go to bed though, with Heath and I following shortly after. It was so nice not to have to stay up so late on a magazine week day!

Wednesday Productivity!

I remembered something I did on Monday that was fairly significant as far as daily goings on goes. When I got home from taking Julie to school, Heath said that he had made an appointment for me to see Dr. H about my cough.

Everest came with me in the afternoon (and was a very good boy indeed). Dr. H confirmed that I had bronchitis and prescribed some medication for me to take for 10 days. We dropped it off on the way home, and the kids went with me to pick it up after dinner on Monday.

So that was something from Monday.



Today, I pretty much stayed on task the entire workday. Got the online giving form and page all set up on the church website, plus answered a lot of emails and sent some newsletter type emails for a couple pastors. A very productive day!

We met my parents for dinner at Applebees tonight. They kids had a fun time and everyone enjoyed the food. When we came home, the kids had a hard time settling down, but it was only because they were having so much fun together. That makes it easier at least--better than them directly disobeying or fighting.




Later on, I called Joy and talked to her for about an hour while I straightened up the house. It was nice to get an update from her because we haven't talked in what seems like ages. Now I'm trying to get a few more tasks done tonight before my own bedtime.

Something else I decided almost definitively today: I am going to start making Weight Loss Vlogs again. When I stopped making them around last November 2009, that's when the real decline in my workouts began. I really think that because I lost the accountability of having to report to someone (albeit a small audience), I lost my motivation to keep my schedule up.

There were several other barriers, but I think the accountability thing was the main setback. That's something I can control, so I really need to do what I can to make at least a short vlog every week and get motivated again.

Heath suggests that since I still have this respiratory thing going on, I should wait til next week, after I've been medicated for several days. So that should be an adventure. :o)

SNOW! (and other stuff too)

After dropping Julie off at school, I went straight to the church to get some magazine articles read/edited before my two meetings. Productivity was high, and by time I got home, I was halfway done with the editing.

My mom stopped by later in the afternoon to bring me some wonton soup and mangoes with rice. YUM! I might as well admit that I have been feeling under the weather for the last several days--a hacking cough and non-stop nose. It smacks of the nasty thing I get every year that requires a trip to the doctor to truly get rid of it.

But that all will have to wait til after the magazine, by gum.

Julie was in a fantastic mood when she got home from school. She showed us all her take home papers, then we let the kids watch a show upstairs while Heath had a phone meeting in the kitchen. I got some more work done before I had to break to make dinner--deli meat and cheese quesadillas. The kids liked them, but they didn't sound particularly exciting to me. I ended up making egg drop soup for myself.



Meanwhile, Julie and I played chess, then she finished her homework under the watchful (and scary) eyes of a cat. There's something sort of disturbing about the evilness of Simon's soul reflecting on the kitchen table. o.O



And the biggest news was that while all our daily doings were going on, the sky grew darker and grayer until at last, some sleetish type precipitation was falling from the clouds. Then finally--SNOW.



Welcome back, winter! I <3 YOU!

Stay-at-Home Day

Thursday turned into a stay-at-home day. I had originally planned to go to the office, but though I got plenty of sleep, I was still experiencing some lag in attention span in the morning. (Later realized it was the lack of caffeine; how very sad!)

Everest and I had breakfast together while Heath slept in. Then I had him play independently while I did some work. Later Heath tried to get him to take a nap, but he just couldn't seem to settle down.

Heath and Everest got Julie from the bus stop so I could continue working. Since I had so much to do, I decided that it would be a lazy day for the kids. They were going to be able to watch a movie after Julie finished her homework. So Julie was diligent and got it all done, including her reading.




They watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and I eventually took a break to bake a frozen pizza for dinner. It was easy-going, and both kids went to bed fairly easily.



While I was working tonight, Julie got up twice due to being nauseous and sick in her bed. She handled it well though--didn't freak. I changed all her sheets and blankets and got her tucked in bed again. So maybe it was a stomach bug after all.

I was feeling incredibly productive tonight and one thing led to another, getting quite a bit of household and freelance stuff done. After both of them being sick, I decided to give the kids new toothbrushes, which led to taking the toothbrush container down to be washed, which led to doing all the dishes, which led to cleaning leftovers out of the fridge, which led to cleaning out the coffee pot, which ld to setting up coffee for tomorrow, which led to deciding to shut down downstairs, which led to straightening up downstairs, which led to turning off the lights, which led to changing a light bulb...

Not to mention that I accidentally turned the coffee ON instead of putting it on the timer, so then I had to make a pitcher of iced mocha for the fridge. *snap* Ah well.

All in all, I finished a formatting job for Heath and also got Donita's newsletter ready to go. Wrote 400+ words on my NaNo novel, which I know isn't enough, but it's 400 words I don't have to write later. Folded all the laundry while watching The Dresden Files.

And now I'm all caught up on my blog entries too! Which is great because I have a very special house guest coming to visit us this weekend, and I want to be able to update daily again.

Kind of a Big Deal

Wednesday morning, I stopped by Starbucks, then went into the office, planning on working straight through on the church magazine. The plan didn't quite work out though, as the final push on the big, last minute project I started this week slammed into my day like a sledgehammer.

It came down to the fact that I had to spend the rest of the day settling things with a local printer in order to get something rush-printed. I about had a breakdown at the prospect of having to stay up all night long, working on the magazine. I really didn't want to do that.

But at the last minute, the senior pastor gave me permission to postpone the magazine release by a week! The project had that much priority. It took me about an hour, plus a teary breakdown, before I consented to letting the magazine go for a week. It's never happened before. But I couldn't see any other way it would work. There's only one of me, and I'm the one who has to do most of the work.

With the help of one of the ladies in the office, we were able to get all the necessary calls, emails, and everything else done so that part of the project could be handed off to the printer.

This resulted in my afternoon being MUCH less stressful, for which I was quite grateful. All day, I had been feeling illness coming on, and this would help me get well sooner.

We had dinner at Applebees with my parents that evening. It was Kids Night, and Julie and Everest had fun playing at the table. Julie brought her NaNo story to read to Nana and Papa. Afterwards, we ended up going to their house to hang out. It was really fun, but I kept the kids out way too late.




Around 10:15 that night, I was laying in bed, IMing with Midget, when I decided to just "close my eyes for 10 minutes". When I woke up at 1:30 a.m., I felt more ill than before and incredibly tired. I said "hey" to Heath, who was working downstairs, brushed my teeth, took some cold medicine, and went back to bed. Probably some of the best sleep I've gotten all week!

These days must really stop disappearing

Monday was November 1 and the beginning of National Novel Writing Month. This is officially my 6th year doing NaNo, and I have won in the last five. I don't think it's possible for me NOT to do NaNo at this point, thus, the Cat trudges through.

Though I must say that having Julie participating with me makes it MUCH, much cooler than in years past. To celebrate the first day of NaNo, I picked her up from school, and we went to Panera for the annual November 1, all-day write-in.




Some rearranging had to be done to squeeze us in because there were quite a few people there, including Nia, Twinkie, and Legolas. Such fun! Julie wrote some at school and then at the write-in, composing almost 300 words in the first day! I'm so proud of her progress and enthusiasm. (You may recall that her goal is 100 words per day.)

I only achieved somewhere around 800 words for day 1, but that's all right. I've been known to make word-count leaps and bounds in November. This year will be no different!

Monday night, Everest threw up two or three times for reasons unknown. I'm really glad that we were staying up late to work on stuff because we heard him right away. Poor boy!

Tuesday morning, I called in sick to my meetings because I was going to take Everest in to the preschool at church. And of course, if he was going to be sick again or had something catching, we didn't want to take him there. Heath took off for his morning meeting, and I nursed the little man back to health. Overall, he spent a lot of time drinking apple juice and laying around. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do in order to get well.



Tuesday afternoon, I had an online consultation with another writing student. While I was meeting with her, the kids did crafts downstairs. They were so excited to show me them when they were done.





Tuesday evening was spent catching up on NaNo and working on a super-important, big project for the church. It was a last-minute deal, but still very interesting work. We stayed up late that night too. We really must stop doing that...