moving forward

This week has been a calm between storms.

Last week, we were busy with all manner of craziness. (I don't think I ever even mentioned staying up until 4:30 in the morning trying to figure out why the zillions of pictures I had scanned for a slide show were not actually scanned.)

Next week, we have end-of-Brownies, end-of-baseball, end-of-kindergarten extravaganzas, as well as an orientation night for parents of rising 1st graders. If you count when I was actually IN 1st grade myself, this will be my FOURTH trip through 1st grade. I GOT IT. Seriously.

Now if someone wants to have a rising 6th grade orientation to re-teach me algebra, THAT would be awesome. I totally DON'T GOT THAT. But this is a new (to us) 1st grade teacher, so it will be nice to start buttering her up now. Because my mGuy is the cutest and we need to get that established early on. There is also another graduation thrown in there for good measure and a Brownie field trip to ... somewhere... ifIcouldfindthepermissionslipIwouldknow.

And, of course, swim team has started. So on top of feeding a bunch of kids who act like they haven't seen food in 15 days when they get home from school and harassing them to get their homework done and ohmygodturnofftheTVbeforeIripthecableoutofthewall I also have to get them to practice on time.

So what was I saying?

Oh yeah. This week has been pretty calm.

It was a good one to pick to throw in a lifestyle makeover. Here are the goals I accomplished:

I exercised nearly every day. And it's ok if it's not every day. In the past, I would try for every day and give up once I broke my streak. This is only going to get harder once school is out, but I love how much healthier I feel when I am exercising. (Even though I hate the actual exercise itself.)

I wrote down my food intake every day. I will keep this up for awhile. If I didn't know the calories/fat of something when I ate it, I looked it up later and noted areas where I could do better.

I strived to make healthy food choices. Not every single thing was healthy, but I passed up the chocolate chip cookies and ice cream and goldfish crackers because I was keeping track of those calories.

I drank water every chance I got. I'm not sure what exactly this does for you, but I'm going to keep trying it. It makes me pee a lot, I can tell you that much!

Here is what I learned:

Bottled Frappuchinos have 180 calories and THIRTY-ONE grams of sugar. Gah! (This nearly crushed me.)

My regular walking route is 2.75 miles and it takes me an hour. I mapped it on this cool Google feature. I'm going to make up some other routes now that I know how far I go in one hour.

I need to eat snacks. That way I don't get so hungry, I shove the nearest thing in my mouth. Such as a half gallon of hummus.

Don't wear a jogging bra for 48 hours straight. It HURTS. I was about to call for an emergency mammogram because, dear GOD, the girls were hurting, until I decided to try taking off the bra. Ahhh. Those suckers are TIGHT. Support the girls, but then, set them free.

And now, I'm off to buy my mini-Playmate cooler.

in the swim

Swim team practice started yesterday. My kids have tried swim team before. And they always drop out about 4 seconds after the coach says, "For warm up, we're going to swim 20 laps."

But this year, spurred on by watching Michael Phelps win his Olympic gold medals, they stuck with it through the whole practice. We'll see if they make it all the way to an actual meet.

But after just one afternoon at the pool, I am reminded what a crappy pool mom I am. I have no healthy snacks. Organic chocolate milk boxes. Juice. Fruit. Cheese sticks. Granola bars. I had nothing. I considered it a small miracle I had 4 kids in bathing suits and towels and we got there on time.

But I've got to get my pool act together. I don't even have one of those mini-Playmate coolers. I totally need one of those. And I need to find something for the kids to drink other than sips from my warm Diet Coke. ("When I was your age and we were thirsty, we had to drink pool water!" That so doesn't fly anymore.)

One day, last year, I sat next to my friend, J. (The one who had to kick my bra off her foot.) She had a cooler with cheesesticks, little packages of nuts, popcorn, mini-water bottles, lemonade. All manner of little organic and healthy treats. (She was sitting next to my friend, D. who had a little cooler full of Amstel Light. An excellent combination of friends to have. Despite the fact that they don't have the plague sit near the baby pool.)

The only thing in my bag (note I didn't say cooler, because I don't have one) was 3 bags of potato chips and the aforementioned warm Diet Coke. They weren't organic chips or sweet potato chips or anything. Utz. Full of trans fats. And a half-eaten Fruit Roll Up, which, if you've ever had one, really has nothing whatsoever to do with fruit. And once it's been half-eaten and then dropped back in the pool bag, you really don't want to see it.

This is the year. I'm going to be the Well Equipped With Healthy Snacks Mom. Or maybe I can get away with just continuing to strategically place myself near my Healthy Snack Mom friends.

Pomp, circumstance, rock and roll

mGuy is a funny kid. He is incredibly earnest. And thoughtful. He plans and prepares for things. And if he wants something, he will pester you until you want to rip your eyeballs out. (Or give him what he wants.) He also loves to pretend.

One of his latest fantasies is being a rock singer. He sings Roxanne. Except, he says Wocksand. And he can't read, so when he plays Rock Band, he just keeps screeching WOCKSAND. WOOOOKSAAAAND. It's cute, but oy. If he doesn't learn another song I. am. going. to. lose. my. mind. (And really? Could the next one not be about prostitution? What's next Rock Band? Ride the White Horse?)

We've also been talking a lot about graduations and what the different gowns and colors on the hoods mean. He REALLY wanted to try on his cousin's graduation regalia. She indulged him with the mortarboard.



Then I remembered that I still have my gown, hood and mortarboard from my library school graduation. It's the most expensive outfit I own, and yet, it was worn once and probably never will be again. So I gave it to him. He was thrilled. He made himself a diploma and has been "graduating" every day when he gets home from school.



He's also spent quite a bit of time in the dentist chair this month. And has quite a bit more time to go. (Our dentist will be buying a Caribbean island soon, I predict. And I will be selling lemonade on the street corner. Sugar-free, of course.)

On one of those visits, Little One needed a check up. Despite all the doctors she has seen in her life, she is completely unamused by people poking around in her mouth and does her best to bite the dentist's fingers off. (The poor woman probably really NEEDS a Caribbean island. And by poor, I mean, the woman who now has all our money, but quite a few bite marks on her fingers.) We thought having mGuy help out might calm her down.

It didn't. But he did look cute.



I wonder what color hood he would wear if he graduates from dental school? (Maybe I should concentrate on getting him through kindergarten first.)

Eyes wide open

Between all the partying and entertaining this weekend, I went to see Dr. Phil.

No. Not THAT Dr. Phil.

My eye doctor. And once again, I walked in with fears of glaucoma and macular degeneration. I can't see anything. I can't see far, I can't see near. My peripheral vision stinks and to watch TV, I have to turn off all the lights and hold my left eye closed. And seriously? Once I sit down on the couch in the evening and turn the TV to something other than Disney, it's dark and I have one eye closed, I'm only one eye away from being sound asleep. Which is what usually happens. (Unless it's Jon & Kate + 8, because that's a trainwreck and who can look away from that?! Even with only one eye.)

Anyway, once again, Dr. Phil advised me that I do not have macular degeneration or glaucoma or any of the other maladies I have been googling. I just need bifocals. (SOB! And by the way, those adorable frames I am wearing above? You can't wear cute fashionable things like that with bifocals. You need basically safety glass/goggle thingies for that. SOB again!) My near vision has gone downhill fast and my far vision has actually gotten a little better (which is I guess what happens when you get older and that near vision starts going... so wooo! By the time I'm 80, I may not be nearsighted anymore! Things to look forward to?). One eye is worse than the other, which explains the watching TV with one eye closed thing.

Whew.

He was surprised however, that my eyes had gone downhill so much in just a year. So he started asking about my health. Any new prescriptions? Blood sugar ok? Any weight gain recently?

Wait, what? Weight gain?

He said your vision can change quite a bit with even a 10-15 lb. weight change. And yes. My weight has changed. And it did not go down. And it may have been more than 10-15 lbs.

Gasp.

I don't know if this is what has caused my vision difficulties, or if it's just bad luck, but that was the rallying cry I needed to hear.

Before I turned 40, I decided that, on my birthday, I wanted to weigh what I had weighed when I turned 30 (before kids). I didn't quite get there, but I got close and felt really good about myself and how I looked. That year, I worked on upgrading my wardrobe and looking a little more put-together. But slowly, over the past 18 months or so, I have slacked on my healthy eating. I have gained that weight back, PLUS some. I am not happy, but couldn't get motivated to do anything about it.

I've also discovered that as I have gotten just a little older, eating healthy alone no longer does the trick. I. have. to. exercise. (I accidentally typed HATE to exercise. Yeah. That too.) I hate exercising. The whole thing seems silly to me. We've gotten so far from burning calories in our daily lives, that we have to do artificial activities like running on treadmills to burn off all that we eat. Ridiculous, right?

Yet, here I sit. I am NOT burning off all the calories I consume. So dumb as "exercise" may seem, I need to do it.

I am a great one for making a proclamation and sticking to it for a day or two. Or maybe a week. Remember my Lenten resolution to exercise 3 times a week? That lasted exactly a week. I'm not going to make any proclamations until I have actually DONE something. But I have a few goals for this week and I'm going to try to stick with them. I'll report back later on how I did.

I do need to constantly remind myself, that exercise is like putting money in savings. You always pay yourself first, then pay the bills. The laundry can wait, the dishes can wait. I need to pay myself first with exercise because it leads to better eating and more energy. And who doesn't need more energy? Seriously?

For motivation, I am re-reading The ELFF Diet (ELFF being the very complex formula, Eat Less Fatty Foods!), from fellow Silicon Valley Group mom, Carmen, who also writes Mom to the Screaming Masses. I read her way back when she started the ELFF Diet blog and somehow lost track of it. She lost 70 pounds in 17 months. And she has SIX kids. AND she works. If she can find time to make it work, I really have no excuse.

I had to buy a bathing suit today. I had been desperately avoiding this task. I broke down today and did it. But I ordered two. One that will fit me now, and one that will fit me soon. Very soon.

I'm crazy.. crazy for you... - updated!

I have lots of great things to write here. All in my head. And no time to write them down. It's a crazy, crazy week here at the Party. And today. TODAY!? I am hosting an interstitial graduation party for my college-graduating niece. (Between the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony and commencement - she's a smart one, that girl. For which I take FULL credit. She TOTALLY takes after me.)

I posted all about it at DC Metro Moms, so hop over there and take a look. You may need a xanax afterward.

And now, I'm off to Costco and Value Village and I have to clean my entire house and make food and buy ice. And even? Take a shower! Like, right now!

I'll be back again soon.

Perspective

Whenever I have to deal with rude people, thoughtless people, inconsiderate people... all I have to do is look at this...



Because these people? Are all kinds of awesome. The Buddy Walk for Down Syndrome was a fabulous way to spend a day.

New Perspective

I've been having a frustrating couple of days lately. Dealing with inconsiderate people. Rude people. People who don't think. No big deal, just a few annoying situations that have converged on me all at once.

In college, Rocket Man had a friend who would say that road trips were good for changing your perspective. So I'm hitting the road. Although it will be nothing like a college road trip, as I am taking the younger 3 kids with me. (Hold me.)

We are going to celebrate a 50th wedding anniversary (and the longer I have been married, the more I realize what an ACCOMPLISHMENT that is) and then take part in a Walk for Down Syndrome, with our wonderful cousins, one of whom is an adorable little girl with Down Syndrome.

I'm hoping there are no big bridges between here and there, but honestly, I am afraid to look. A new perspective is more important.

See you next week. (When it's back to work on the armoire.)

This project just may kill me

If you want to see the update on my project, go here.

Two weeks ago, I signed up for a Procrastinator's Party on The Inspired Room to help me get going on my armoire transformation. Of course, in those two weeks, I had QUITE a few volunteer projects for school and neighborhood going and totally underestimated how much free time I would have.

When I saw Melissa's reminder yesterday that reveal day is today, I freaked! Then I ran to Home Depot. And then I got down to business. (I procrastinated even the Procrastinator's Party, gulp.)



Here is my very crooked Before photo:



I DID sand and clean the whole thing before yesterday. So it was ready for painting. I primed it before heading out to get the paint.



Ignore that little strip I missed.
I just painted right over that later!

My plan was to do a crackle finish, which means, I needed to do a whole coat of blue paint. Then a coat of the crackle medium, THEN a coat of the creamy white paint on top. And since I've never done crackle, I did a sample board to test my technique. Good thing, because, my friends, crackling is not for the feint-of-heart!

I am NOT a meticulous painter. Rocket Man - meticulous doesn't even BEGIN to describe his painting technique. It is nearly scientific. And perfect. (And it takes a long time, but who can rush perfection, right?)

Me? I'm a slap-a-coat-of-paint-on-it kinda gal. In most cases, a halfway-decent paint job is better than none at all, right? (That sound you just heard was Rocket Man falling to the floor.)

Well, let me just say, with crackle, there is no room for error. You only get one shot to coat your surface because the second pass with the brush messes up the finish and gets it all gunky. (Think of painting on top of tacky glue. As that is pretty much what you are doing.) And I'm a paint-over-my-mistakes kind of painter. So a GIANT ARMOIRE might not have been the best choice for my first crackle job. (Something tiny and completely flat would have been good. But what is like that??)


I finally got the hang of it over on the right there.

So after testing it on my sample board, I decided I was better off removing the doors so I could lay them flat and work outside. (Did I mention I am painting this thing in our cramped bedroom with a wall and a dresser jammed up on either side? No? I didn't? Well, yes I am.)

Once I removed the doors, I realized I should probably paint the inside of those too. (See? This is becoming Pandora's box.) So now I have to sand and prime those. Most of the inside will have lovely wallpaper (see below), but the edges need paint. And now I'm debating To Crackle or Not To Crackle on the inside? You and I are the only ones who will ever see it, right, Internet?



Also, I'm planning on leaving that two-inch strip around the door panel blue. And out in the sunshine, I realized, I am not so wild about that blue. It doesn't matter under the crackle because you really can't tell. But I will need a darker blue for that strip. And I've got to keep the crackle medium off there. Which will involve a lot of taping. See what I mean about Pandora's box?

But, the good news is, I started! And I although I may be a bit lax on my painting technique, I am quite compulsive about finishing things like this. I don't know how many coats of paint it will take (did I mention the polyurethane that goes on top?) or how many more weeks before it's done, but it ALREADY looks 100 times better than it did when I bought it. (And can I just remind you, it was FIFTY-NINE dollars? $59!)

When I'm all finished, I'm thinking of turning my drop cloths into curtains, a la Layla from The Lettered Cottage. Is she brilliant or what? (I'm using the inside of the drop cloth to splatter my paint so that side would be facing the window!)

Unwrapping the everyday

I feel like I pick up 100 of these every day. I find them everywhere. In the car. The bathtub. The laundry. Even stuck to the underside of the soap at the bathroom sink.

I'm not sure how two little girls can use so many ponytail holders, but they do. I try to keep them corralled in a container, but it's a hopeless endeavor. If we ever move out of this house, one day, I'm sure the new owners will find many of these. In closets, behind radiators.

I was looking at mGal the other day, playing with a friend, just a year older. While mGal is still little girl, her friend is transitioning into young lady before my eyes. I know our time is not far off. And while she will always be My Little Girl, very soon, she will no longer be A Little Girl. And her sister will follow just a few years behind her.

And at some point, mom's brush, a container full of Goody ponytail holders and a bottle of detangling spray will not be all it takes for them to get ready for the day. And there will even be a day, not as far off as I would like it, where there will be no more ponytail holders to pick up off the floor. And the table. And the sink.

And while I may silently mutter under my breath as I pick them up now, when that day that comes where there are none to collect, I will dearly miss doing it.



This post is part of Tuesdays Unwrapped at Chatting at the Sky.

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. Eudora Welty

I was reading Emily at Chatting at the Sky the other day (she is The Nester's sister, by the way - what a talented family!). She had a post about taking pictures of herself, because she is always the one behind the camera and there is no photographic evidence of her role in her childrens' lives. (And there is a REALLY cool photograph of her which I tried to replicate, but I so totally could not!)

In the comments, a woman named, Loretta, posted this:

I was diagnosed with breast cancer a little over four years ago, when my daughter was 14½. I fought it for well over a year and had nearly three years of remission, but it came back with a vengeance at the end of last year and I am now stage IV. Suddenly I’m realizing that my daughter will have very few pictures of the two of us together and even fewer of all three of us. My husband and I came late to parenthood, adopting our daughter when we were in our mid-30s and had been married nearly 17 years. Now that precious newborn baby girl is turning 19 in less than a month and I am very sick & going through chemo again. How I wish we’d taken lots & lots of photos of all of us, at all stages of her life! Don’t let the years go by, thinking you’ll wait until you lose a few pounds or get less busy. Let someone else hold the camera sometimes and get in the shots with your kids and spouse. It’s definitely worth it!

Whoa. Such wisdom born of such suffering. I have been avoiding the camera as I'd like to lose a few pounds. And it's not hard, because I'm always the one WITH the camera. But if something were to happen to me, my kids would have precious few pictures of me. Especially WITH them.

That is one thing I have always loved about the NieNie Dialogues... her blog is FILLED with pictures of her, especially WITH her kids and her husband. She was the master of the self-portrait. I hope she is still taking pictures, even though she is recovering from her burns, because her kids will never be this age again. And even though she might not look like she hopes to look one day, this time in life will never pass again, and she is THERE, thank the Lord, so I hope her kids can one day look at the pictures and remember it.

Several years ago, a relative got a cancer diagnosis. They had two young sons. He was the picture of health, and their family was strikingly beautiful. They had been meaning to get around to getting some family portraits taken, but when he was diagnosed with cancer, they decided to put it on the back burner and wait until he was feeling better.

Well, you know what? He never did feel better. And he never looked like himself again, either. He was sick and gaunt and lost all his hair, including his beloved moustache. And not long after, he died. And his wife wishes that she had run out, the moment he was diagnosed, and had some family pictures taken. Because things were never the same again, and she would like to look at photographs of when life was good and be able to remember exactly what he looked like then.

I have told that story to people I have known who have been diagnosed with cancer. It's a hard story to tell, because it implies that they will never be well, and look well, again. But you know, the same advice is true for all of us.

This moment will never pass again. My kids will never be this age again. And even though I'd like to lose some weight, or I have a pimple, or my roots are showing, my kids will not care. They will want documentation of their lives. And their lives include their mom. And so I must allow myself to be part of the record keeping.

(After I read Emily's post, I went to Little One's Mother's Day tea. And being the one who always has the camera, I took a picture of each mom and kid pair. But then, I passed my camera over to someone to take a picture of ME and Little One. She wasn't happy about it and it's not a "good" picture of either one of us, but now there is evidence for her. I was there.)

Five things

Inspired by Her Bad Mother, I'm joining in on The World According to Mom project. Where bloggers around the world are writing 5 things they love about motherhood.

So often, we focus on the challenging aspects of motherhood. The contradictions, the relentlessness, the isolation, the exhaustion. The body fluids. It goes without saying that we love it despite the challenges, right?

Right.

But for today, I'm writing about what I love. Join in if you like and post your link at Her Bad Mother. (And here!)

1. Spontaneous I love you's. There will probably come a day when my kids will not be so forthcoming about their love (or maybe they will even hate me?), or when they won't each be the president of their own little Mommy Fan Club, but for now, I can't even say how awesome it is to walk though a room, laundry, plunger or laptop in hand and get a random but heartfelt "I love you, mom!" (Or, "I wuv you!" as the case may be.) Little One usually throws in a "so, so much" and her winning smile (if I can see it under all that hair). I try to remember to pay them back in kind. Randomly.

2. Handmade cards. There is nothing better than a handmade card. Handprints, unintelligible writing, coloring outside the lines. Love. I've already seen a sneak peek of one of my Mother's Day cards, and it's priceless. (Stay tuned for a future post.)

One of my favorite cards was one that mGal made a few years ago for Father's Day. It said "On Father's Day, there is no grass cutting." Except there was some awkward spacing, so it actually said, "nogr ass cutting." Which made its way into our permanent lexicon. Rocket Man and I still say to each other "Get your nogr ass over here."

3. Childhood pronunciations. And let me say, WRITE THESE DOWN! They are so adorable, you will NEVER forget, right? But you WILL FORGET. Your kids will keep doing adorable things and there is only room for so much adorable in one brain. Write them down!

Some of my favorites: Wally Pockies (for Polly Pockets), Mary Mary Girl doll (for American Girl doll), restaur-nant, hosible (hospital) and fratten (red - I know, WHAT!?).

4. Milestones. I don't mean rolling over, crawling, walking. Those are great moments too. (And write those down too! You will not remember who did what when if you have multiple kids. Trust me.) But the milestones I'm enjoying now are the First Communions, first homeruns, first Christmas pageants (ok, maybe not always that one), preschool graduations.

I've always cried at the drop of a hat, but I am a blubbery mess when I hear a chorus of kids start singing O Come All Ye Faithful, or walk down a church aisle, hands folded, in First Communion finery.

5. Bedtime cuddles. I'm not sure how long this will last, but at 11 years, I'm going strong. I try to lay down with each kid at lights out time and spend a minute or two whispering and cuddling. (Ok, Big Guy is not a cuddler, but he still likes to whisper with me.) Sometimes I'm so tired, I don't make it past the first bed before I'm sound asleep myself, but those are moments I wouldn't trade for anything else in the world.

What do you love about motherhood? Share in the comments, post on your own blog (and then get your nogr ass back here and share the link here in the comments so I can go read it) and share on Her Bad Mother, if you are so inclined.

And Happy Mother's Day! I hope you get a good card!

Good Burger

I don't know what was better... the company or the food. Normally I would automatically say the company, but OMG the food was SO AMAZINGLY DELISH! And when I tell you who was there, you will REALLY see how good the food was because the company was QUITE AMAZING!

Ok, what? I'm losing even myself here.

The fine women of DC Metro Moms, and other DC area bloggers, descended on Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill last night for some dishing. I must admit, Good Stuff Eatery is owned by a Top Chef, but I had absolutely NO IDEA who he was because I spent the whole day yesterday googling symptoms of swine flu and putting antibiotic drops in Little One's ears. Even though I planned on looking up whotheheckis Chef Spike and perusing his menu before I went, I didn't. So I was completely unprepared.

If you want to know about Chef Spike, here you go. If you want to go to gastronomic HEAVEN, go to Good Stuff Eatery. I had the Free Range Turkey Burger, which was dripping with juice, just as if it came from the fattiest part of a cow. But I'm sure it was completely fat free. Turkey, right? With avocados and muenster cheese and ruby red tomato slices. Gah! And Spike's Village Fries which were seasoned with thyme, rosemary and cracked pepper. And possibly heroin because I could not. stop. shoving. them. in. my. mouth. Seriously, it was embarrassing. Oink.


Photo from Passion and Art, who I didn't even get to talk to!

And did I mention the milkshakes? Because it is worth a trip for the milkshakes alone. Next time, I am going to fast for the entire day so I can fit even. more. food. in. me.


Chef Spike and Devra. They are BOTH adorable, no?
Photo from Devra.

But besides the food, the COMPANY. Also amazing. There was chatter. A. LOT. OF. CHATTER. OMG - we are a LOUD group. I was thrilled to meet Robin from My Life As It Is, Sandie from Urban Mama (don't tell her, but I have a crush on her), Michelle from Wife and Mommy, J.J. from Caffeine and a Prayer, Amy from Amalah, Amie from Mamma Loves..., Amy from Le Shallow Gal, Amy from Teach Mama (Seriously? What is UP with all the AMYS?) and Laurie from Laurie Writes, who bytheway wrote the MOST AMAZING post about Maddie and Thalon (I was going to do a whole post about how much I loved this, and how she said exactly what was in my heart, but I could have never put into words the way she did, but my words to even link you there just paled in comparison, so it never got beyond a pathetic draft (Laurie writes, Sue sucks), so go now! No wait! Grab a tissue. And read it!).

I got to chat with Diana from Caffeinated, Whymommy from Toddler Planet, Sarah who was without her Goon Squad, Delora from A Spiced Life, Devra from Parentopia, Aimee from Smiling Mama (ZOMG, another one!), Jodifur, Nicole from BananaBlueberry, KC from Where's My Cape (who once again had the best. purse. ever.), The Great Stimey, Leticia, that Tech Savvy Mama and Jessica from A Parent in Silver Spring, who gets the award for THE. BEST. SHOES. (I didn't actually look at anyone else's shoes, but I'm SURE hers were the best. Snakeskin stilettos. Dude. Freaking awesome.)

There were many more awesome, funny and talented women there. I know I am forgetting people, but it's only because my brain function was completely limited by the fact that all my bloodflow was diverted to my stomach to try and digest the massive amount of food I had put there. So forgive me!


J.J., Amy (Teach Mama), me (SEE THAT SHAKE?) and Sandie
Photo from Devra.

I must say, it's nice to party without my six every now and then. And thanks to Devra and Sarah for organizing this shindig, Spike for enduring the deafening noise we made and feeding us some of the best food I have ever eaten and to Quaker Oats for giving some deserving moms a night out!

(And holy crap that was a lot of linkage!)

Whine

No swine flu here! Just a strange fever-y virus. And some junk in the ears, which looks like it's clearing up. But now we are free to roam about the cabin country.

Thankfully, it didn't stop me from enjoying a fun night out with the DC Metro Moms. Can I just say? We are a FUNNY crowd! And? Loud. Really, really loud. I'll write more on that later because I made so many new friends, my brain is still a little scrambled. And I haven't eaten. Thankfully, Quaker sponsored our fun, so they sent us home with gift bags of Life cereal and Chewy granola bars. Guess what's for breakfast?

Good thing because I haven't done any REAL grocery shopping since my very random act of kindness. Skeerd. But today's the day. One box of Life cereal and some granola bars won't last long in this house.

Swine or whine?

Little One has been sick since last week. She doesn't actually get sick all that often, other than ear fluid issues. But I had a cold the week before, so I figured she caught it from me.

But she had a high fever and sore throat, which I didn't have. If you asked her what hurt, she said, "Everyfing." (Is that not the MOST pathetic fing ever?)

She's been lethargic and glassy in the mornings, more perky in the afternoons and then feverish and crazy at night.

And? She has been sleeping ALL THE TIME.

I KNOW! Little One? Sleeping?!

On Saturday, we got the word that the school just a few houses down from us was closing because a teacher is believed to have swine flu. Hmm. We've had no interaction with this teacher because my kids go to a different school, but we have LOTS of interaction with neighbor kids who have this teacher, or whose siblings do.

Little One was definitely not getting worse, and it seemed she was slowly getting better. After soliciting free medical advice from a relative, (NOT Dr. Google - I KNOW!) I decided it wasn't worth pursuing anything over the weekend. I certainly didn't want to spend ANOTHER lifetime four and a half hours in not so urgent care. Especially if they were going to make us wear masks over our faces.

By Sunday, she was complaining about her ears. Like REALLY complaining. Sticking her fingers in them and screaming. I thought the tubes were supposed to fix this problem?

So I figured I would take her to the doctor today to get her ears checked and casually drop the 2-degrees-of-separation-from-swine-flu-bombshell while I'm there. In the meantime, I sent the other kids off to school this morning. If there's even the remote possibility that they will be closing down our school for 2 weeks, I am going to make sure they spend every. last. second. there before that happens.

To be continued. After I have to drag FOUR kids to the pediatrician this afternoon. If you happen to go to the same pediatrician I do (you KNOW who you are), you should probably stay away today. And maybe even tomorrow.

(Photograph from the Times of London)