It's Finally Friday!

1. We're going out to see Percy Jackson finally tonight! It was rescheduled from last Friday when Miranda and I were very sick. Since then, of course, Marshall and Alex have joined us (see below) but now that we're all drugged and the house is clean, it is safe for our new sitter to come and meet the kids and Marshall and I to go to the movies. Woohoo!

2. The trash men finally came this morning. Yeah! Trash pickup was suspended last week because of the snow. Am I the only one who is excited to see all the garbage go away?

3. My crocuses are blooming! Spring must be coming. Of course, it's a little patch under the eaves so it's not covered in snow like the rest of the flower bed, but three flowers are a great start!




4. I have been happily watching the Olympics every evening and most afternoons and my children have been remarkably tolerant. Pbskids.org is your friend, really. Keeps my children happy for ages. At least through a few rounds of Biathalon and Speed Skating and... Snow Boarding? And I thanked my husband again because it's just gorgeous in HD.

5. I have discovered a new show on Nick Jr. that I love even more than Alex and Miranda do: Olivia. I am busily filling up the server with every episode available.

6. I am finally going to post a progress picture for White Lilies on Red since I have to download the crocus picture anyway. Page 2 is going much faster than page 1 so I must be getting into the rhythm of this pattern. It is still gorgeous and I love it already.


For some reason, Blogger has twisted the photo sideways and I don't know how to fix it. So, cock your head to the right and you'll see it correctly. Sorry.

7. Lent has begun which means Easter is coming which means my parents will be visiting soon! Yeah! I am going to try to post about thankfulness again this year. Maybe not every day, but at least every other day.

And here's Jen.

4 For 4

In the last week, everyone has been to the doctor (in separate appointments at two different doctor's offices--who needs efficiency when we seem to have already replicated the bug without even trying?) and we are all taking some form of anti-bacterial medication. The stuff Marshall and I are on is so scary I vomited up the first dose. Miranda hates the taste of hers so much I have to be holding a cookie or piece of candy to get her to even open up her mouth. Alex hasn't tried it yet; he'll get his first dose tonight. And Marshall is presently at the dentist and I'm going tomorrow morning after I put the kids on the bus. So it's been a real happy week here. If you've been wondering why I haven't been returning your phone calls or such, that would be why. Of course, a week ago, I felt like I was going to die but that feeling only lasted for about 48 hours. It was worse than swine flu (did that last June) but only slightly.

On a happy note, the house cleaner was here yesterday so it doesn't look awful like it did at the beginning of the week. One parent who is feeling even slightly sick cannot manage two house-bound children (still have all that snow, or, at least, most of it) and clean. It's just not possible. And God bless Mimi the Great who spent most of Friday here driving me and Miranda around (Miranda got sent home from school with impetigo and thence to the pediatrician's) and then cleaned and vacuumed. She really is the best.

If you have never felt like this about your children

I'm sorry, but you're not a real parent. Or your children are artificial.

Bill Cosby - Himself

I leave the room for a moment to use the facilities and when I come back, the two of them are stomping popcorn into the carpet. The very same popcorn Miranda had asked to eat and I had just, before my departure, given her a bowl of which to eat. Did you know popcorn is too big to fit in our vacuum cleaner and it jams halfway up the pipe? Me, neither, until now.

Does Everyone Describe Their Day In Terms of Blog Posts...

... or is it just me? I found myself folding clean clothes on my bed this afternoon, reviewing my day as if I was mentally composing my next blog post. It was a little weird.

Because of the huge amounts of snow that fell again on Saturday (nearly 2 feet, again!), there was a delayed opening for school today which mean Alex got picked up at 10:20 am and Miranda has to stay home. Although, since she has a runny nose, I'm not sure it's really a bad thing. And, get this, there's another storm coming, starting tomorrow night. Chances for school on Wednesday are probably slim. I was supposed to have a dentist appt. this morning that I had to reschedule because both kids were home at the time and I'm supposed to have my yearly ob/gyn appt. Thursday (which is a reschedule from the last snow day in December) and I'm starting to wonder if I'm actually going to get there this time.

Still fighting off the flu. I went to the HS Super Bowl Pre-Game Party at church yesterday afternoon and ran out of energy about 2/3 of the way through the party and had to sit down. I did enjoy watching the Super Bowl last night with Marshall and his dad although we watch it skipping most of the commentary and commercials. Cool halftime show (even though neither Marshall nor I can listen to Tommy since Alex's diagnosis). But we all agreed nothing beats U2's show in 2002.

Am caught up on laundry and dishes but the house still has paper and toys strewn all over. I've had no phone calls from my cleaning lady yet this month (since I'm only once a month she squeezes me in when she has the time) and am starting to feel a little desperate to hear from her. I am a person who needs outside motivation to get things done so all of our clutter only gets sorted and put away when I know Adriana's going to be here to clean up after me. (Of course, she will put away the clutter if I leave it, but then I won't know where she put it. Better to move on ahead of her and clear the way, as it were).

Really need to work on posting those pictures. Sigh. I need a morning without Miranda (she's kinda camera-happy these days and not reliable to leave along with it) or an evening with energy. Chances of the latter seem even slimmer. Sigh.

And Another Friday Sneaks Up On Me

1. But I have an excuse this time: on Tuesday evening I came down with the flu. Not swine flu, mind you, I had that misery in June. No, just the usual flu which is a really bad cold plus a fever and body aches. Ugh. Neither of my children have more than the sniffles, though. Strange, but I'm not complaining. My poor husband is starting to feel it, though. The man was already tortured on Wednesday when he had to stay home with the children because I could barely crawl out of bed and left a trail of used tissues where ever I moved. Pray for us because...

2. The mother of all snowstorms is coming in tonight (but wait, you are asking yourselves, didn't we already do that in December with the 2 feet of snow we got the weekend before Christmas?). The forecasts are as grim now as they were then.

3. And Sunday is a really big deal at church because the Youth Group has a massively large pre-game party. It is a great outreach for us because our students bring their friends and have a great time and we try to lure them back again for regular Sunday Night Live events. Our party spirits aren't dampened, yet, but the snow hasn't started. Yet.

4. Since tomorrow it is going to snow all day, I took Miranda to the grocery store with me this morning (she had no class because it was an early dismissal day so Alex happily got on the bus this morning without his pesky sister, something he asks for frequently) and I have never, I mean never, seen Shop Rite that full. We stood in line for half an hour, inching forward. And there were more people behind me when I finally checked out than there were when I started. It was bad. The store layout doesn't really allow for crowds to line up in that volume. Miranda was amazingly well behaved, seriously. Of course, I cheated and kept feeding her interesting things. Not to mention rewarding her good behavior afterwards with french fries from McDonald's across the parking lot.

5. Trying to catch up on cleaning the kitchen and living room and laundry. Am I the only one who has to vacuum their living room (essentially, a play room) every 2-3 days because her children are so messy?

6. Need to sew up holes in Alex's clothes. Or pay my friend Rachel to do it. Depends on how handy I'm feeling later. Somehow I never hand down much of his clothes. Too many holes or stains.

7. Then there's that cross stitch I haven't worked on for a week. Although I did manage to suss out my thread issues last weekend and bought the rest of the colors I needed. Really need to take that picture.

And here's Jen.