Did I mention I was tired?

It has been awhile since I blogged. I am brain dead. Yes, that is my excuse. I have been so busy with work, kids, holidays and company that I seriously could not make two sentences that made sense if I tried. Even now I just spelled 'tired' instead of tried. I am subconsciously telling myself that I am too tired to be doing this and I should be under the covers with a cat on me. In a minute I will do just that but I do have spell check so I can catch all my sleepy errors until then.

So... life is busy, but good. We are all back on the healthy side of living. All colds, coughs and worries of flu have gone and we are all feeling fine. Thanksgiving was great. Steve cooked almost everything and then my mother-in-law cleaned up almost everything. That's a win win for me! Dinner was delicious and seated around our dining room table were Steve, me and the girls as well as my mom and Steve's parents. It was small but nice and like I said, I have been brain dead so I didn't have to worry too much about my conversation skills. It was another opportunity to reflect on our lives and to give thanks for it all. Ellie was seated across from me. She is here, she is thriving and we are all blessed. Of course every seat at that table is important and I am so happy that we were able to share this holiday with our parents. I missed my dad and because the dinner was so delicious, we all mentioned that he would have definitely gone back for thirds. Oh how my dad loved to eat. Thanksgiving dinner was one of his favorite activities.

Friday I did a wee bit of shopping at the normal hour of 10am. I was no way about to get up and join the craziness that is holiday shopping in the early hours after Thanksgiving. It was a short but productive little shopping trip. I look forward to getting out when the masses are at work during the next week or so.

In between all of the holiday and family time, I worked. Business has been great and I am thankful but boy I will be happy to get through the next 3 weeks. My new best friend has become the 5 hour energy drink. It really works and I am sure in 3 weeks I will be in a hospital for mental exhaustion...just kidding... no not really.

So I have lots of photos to share but I am too tired to link them. I told you there is a fat cat on a bed waiting for me and it is 1:37 am right now so if I can make it up the stairs and to the end of the hall, that is where I will pass out for 5 hours.

Work, Oprah and New Moon

I have been up to my eyeballs with stationery orders. I am so grateful for all the hundreds of orders because with this economy it is still hard to gauge what to expect. Stationery is definitely a luxury item and people that used to buy without a second thought, seem to really think out their purchases now. I am so proud of our company for having stamina during the last year and for people continuing to tell us about our fabulous customer service, quality product and realistic price points. I am back to working 14 hour days which is fine because as I said I am grateful to have the work and I know it is just this particular time of the year when the holiday orders really spike. Come January I will be back to a normal work day. So working (and working and working) is what I have been doing.

Tonight I will take a break and accompany Emma and 2 of her friends to see New Moon. They are all so excited about this movie. The Twilight series of books is partially responsible for getting Emma through our time in Memphis last year. She wasn't in school and on many days she came with us for early hospital appointments that sometimes lasted 12 hours if blood transfusions were necessary. I recall her taking the books with her and immersing herself in the world of Bella and Edward. She read all 4 books while we were there. I think she read them twice.

I am sad that Oprah is wrapping up her talk show. I know I have 2 years to lament over this but I cannot remember a time without Oprah being on TV. I admit that recently I have only been watching Oprah on occasion but I will always DVR a show that has an interesting topic. I admire her genuine goodness and her spirit to do good things and how she always encourages people to live the best life they can. I saw a news clip last night and someone had said 'the world really is ending in 2012 now that Oprah is leaving TV... it's the Apocalypse' I chuckled at that because it is such a huge pop culture change coming our way. I am sure she will reappear with the next chapter though and bring something positive and exciting back to us.

I still have not taken the camera out for that promised walk. So I took a quick walk in the yard this morning and took some photos of the cats. The ground outside is still saturated with all the rain from last week so I squished my way around and didn't even bother going into the backyard. I have been so busy that I do not even have a photo of Emma without her braces. She got them off this week after 3 years. She looks great, different, but great. I am sure tonight I will get some photos of the girls with their New Moon glow. But for now this is all I have. pathetic I know.

The weather has been on the warm side and this Cosmos and friend (always forget the name of this annual) have started to rebloom.

Pear tree in our front yard that is dropping its leaves quickly. Won't be long til she is bare.

fall flag that graces the front of our house. Santa will be there before I know it.

Phoebe and Kanye entertain me for a few minutes while I dangle a cat toy and try to get a decent photo. Phoebe looks beyond thrilled.

totally random thoughts

I am following Jayne's lead today and just blogging some random one liners.

-cold sores and spicy doritos are not good friend material

-ellie will bend over backwards if she thought it would make me smile

-the jonas brothers show on disney is not keeping it real otherwise the older brother, kevin, would not still be in high school. isn't he like 21 or something?

-the northern cardinals in our yard are so red against the dreary backdrop of clouds and rain

-my neighbor's dog barks at all sorts of inappropriate hours...like midnight

-watched glee the other night. love, love, love it

-you can tell we don't use our living room all that much when i overhear ellie ask emma 'where is dad?' emma says 'he is in that room by the stairs.'

-diet coke with lime does not taste like it should when you are sick and that makes me really really sad

-there's a mouse living in our garage that we named mr. jangles.

-i want to take the girls to see taylor swift in concert

-emma has inherited the slob gene from someone

-ellie wrote me the sweetest note all by herself when i didn't feel good last week

-november is my busiest work month and i have a love / hate relationship with it

-i wish i could decorate cakes like a professional

-i enjoyed watching the alaska experiement on tv last week. don't think i could do it

-kanye needs to get fixed soon because my inlaws will not appreciate his 2 am howling when they come for thanksgiving

-there is nothing better than snuggling in a warm bed right before the sun comes up

-i went through 2.5 boxes of tissues with my cold last week

-i don't like wearing my mouth guard at night

-ellie has enough hair to twirl on her finger now

-somedays living in idaho in the woods sounds like a plan

-the new 'v' tv show fails hard compared to the 80s mini series

-the sun is suppose to come out tomorrow for the first time in days

-i miss living in new england

-all the commercial christmas stuff bothers me more and more each year

-the gayle king show on xm makes me smile

-emma uses more hair conditioner than anyone. ever.

-dinnertime and making meals each night aggrivates me

-i would love to own a really good telephoto, image stability, light weight lens. anyone have an extra $3500.00?

-i have really bad memory recall and i can never remember names

-i get people that i have never heard of that 'friend' me on facebook several times a month. i do not accept their friendship, maybe i just cannot remember them.

-one of my best friends is pregnant for the first time.

-being tired sucks, oh, and laundry does too

-looking forward to going to nyc in december

almost there...

Why does one week of being sick really feel like it could be two or three? I feel like I lost time this week and I am out of sorts. The inactivity that sickness brings to me is the worst part. I hate not being on a schedule.

Thank God we are all getting better. The general feeling of not being 100% has lingered refusing to release its grip this week. Wednesday night I was restless so I turned on the TV and watched Nightline. Ellie was sleeping soundly next to me, tissues and gingerale on the other side of me and on the television were two seemingly heathly men lying in Boston hospital beds, ventilators in place breathing for them as they fight for life. They were taken ill with the H1N1 virus when it quickly went straight to their lungs, causing havoc in their bodies. The numbers for flu are rising and it's so random at times with how it affects people. I am glad the girls are vaccinated and now I am thinking that Steve and I should consider it. It's not good to watch TV shows like this when you yourself feel horrible. The next thoughts that went through my mind were that in a day or two I could be lying in that hospital bed. I decided to go pay my general doctor a visit the next day. She said it appears to be common and widespread. I got it from Emma but it didn't turn into flu like she had but she believes what was viral turned to bacteria and is settling in my chest. So I have some antibiotics and I am feeling better. Ellie still has her hives a bit but that too is improving and I will probably send her back to school Monday.

I haven't taken photos in about a week. My camera is lonely and misses me so hopefully when the sun reappears this weekend I will go on a little walk, camera in hand. Until then... I saw these adorable little turkey cake lollipops on bakerella.com Thought I would share them. The directions can be found in detail on the Bakerella website.

gobble gobble gobble...aren't they adorable with their candy corn feathers?

the takeover

We have all survived the flu or whatever the heck it was that hit our house over the last few days. It started with Emma on Monday afternoon. She was the most affected and endured her illness the longest. She had typical flu symptoms with high fever, dry cough, sore throat and body aches. By Thursday she was feeling better but Ellie and Steve were starting to feel sick. On Friday the two of them lay up in my bed with low fevers and achy bodies. Ellie had a cough and sore throat, Steve just felt spent and had the chills. Thankfully, today they feel much better. Unfortunately, I took their place in the bed today. I don't have a really high fever, it is hovering around 100 and it feels more like a sinus infection but who knows. I still feel horrible. I never ever spend the day in bed and this makes me the worst patient of us all. I have so many other things I'd rather be doing and I get frustrated that I have to take time to get better. Today Emma is fine, Ellie has a lingering cough and mouth sore and Steve still feels a bit run over but we are on the mend. I just had a cup of hot soup and Steve is out getting us stocked up on ginger ale, Theraflu and some sore throat/mouth sore rinse for Ellie. We have a fire going and a new movie to watch tonight and hopefully the doctor fairies will have us all back to normal tomorrow and we won't experience any sickness for another year.

the november invasion

On my last post I expressed our concern regarding the H1N1 vaccine...should we or shouldn't we. I was hoping I would get a sign or something would make me feel peace about the decision. The girls had this Monday and Tuesday off for teacher workshops so on Monday afternoon when Ellie's school nurse called I was curious. I always panic when I see her number on the caller ID when Ellie is at school. The words 'your daughter has had a seizure' always fill my mind. I received that exact phone call last February only a few weeks after Ellie returned to school full time. I so don't want to have anymore of those types of calls. Anyway, Ellie was seizure free and by my side on Monday so I knew she wasn't calling about that...she was calling to let us in on a little secret. She got word that the health department was offering H1N1 vaccines until 4pm that day. The media hadn't gotten the news out yet and when she checked there was hardly any wait time. The vaccines were just available for kids and pregnant women. I figured this was my 'sign' to get the vaccines. The nurse called out of the blue and just thought of Ellie when she heard about the clinic. So Steve and I decided to do it.

Unfortunately, Emma was already sick. She had a fever and just wasn't feeling great. Ellie felt fine. So off they went and they were back within the hour all vaccinated. The clinic was held the next day too but this time the word was out and people lined up at 7:30 waiting for the noon start time and over 1000 people showed up. So, so, so glad we didn't have any line to wait in and now it is finished. Emma does have the flu but it hasn't been horrible. She has had a fever ranging from 99.9-102 and is tired. She also is coughing a lot and has a sore throat. She will be out of school all week but she has turned the corner today and feels better. The rest of us are doing fine but this morning Ellie started coughing a bit. No fever but I am keeping her home. The vaccine takes 8-10 days to build antibodies so I hope we weren't too late. The flu has hit so early this year and the vaccine was a bit on the late side. Here's to hoping Ellie just has a cough.

So in the mix of processing orders today I will be heading to Blockbuster and Burger King and answering Emma's texts (the new sick bell) and taking care of all of Ellie's many 'Hey Mom' questions and concerns. Steve snuck out of here quickly this morning...smart man.

It's November already!!

ellie and friends trick or treat!
She was a beautiful butterfly

Halloween 2009 has come and gone. Ellie had a blast and loved running from house to house with her friends. So much better than being stuck within the St. Jude Hospital walls this year. We had a fun time last year but this was so much better. No Hickman lines, masks, low counts or chemo to have to contend with. Just carefree fun with the biggest worry being about that dark house with the creepy man dressed in black. I'll take that any day over the other!

Today has been raining all day and is on the cold side. The perfect day after Halloween day. Steve brought me in some hot cider when I started writing this and it has hit the spot. I love days like this. I have a very busy work week ahead of me and the girls have two days off of school at the beginning of this week. Fingers crossed they (Ellie really) will find lots of things to do so I can work without too much interruption. I think a video store trip will be in order tomorrow morning.

The other issue Steve and I are wrestling with is the H1N1 vaccine. Ellie is considered to be in the high risk category even though her immune system is really back in full effect now. Dr. Gajjar gave us the standard hospital reply regarding being immunized but he gave me the feeling that he wouldn't do it. Ellie has had so many chemicals in her body from chemo and the newness of this vaccine and everything scares me. Our household is one of only a handful that I know of that has not been hit by flu. It's all around us, in school, in workplaces and in the hospital. Luckily Steve and I don't have to deal too much with public spaces but the girls are in school. They certainly are wise about sanitizing and washing their hands often but am I kidding myself to think this won't affect us. I am praying on the right answer but just not sure what to do. The vaccine should be available at our pediatricians this week. Hoping for some insight soon so I can feel comfortable with our decision whatever it may be.