Unwanted Visitor

The stomach virus fairy has been visiting our house this week. My 9 yr old has been out all week and FINALLY went back to school! She actually went for a little while yesterday but came home early because she had stomach pain. Most of the days she just had stomach pain and a fever but Monday night until 10am Tuesday was spent vomiting almost non stop (I would have been concerned but my niece had already gone through it last weekend). I sympathized a little with her when she wailed "I haaate MEEEEEEEE!" early Tuesday morning as another bout hit.


She has already missed several days for summer vacation. Her school starts in July and our family reunion was in August. Nobody else had it as severe *knock on wood*, just tummy discomfort.

I won a $45 off $100 Old Navy coupon at Seeryrus Mama and couldn't pass up that deal. I had visions of me puking in the landscaping out front and scuttling across the parking lot to my car, hunched over like Igor, but shopping passed w/o incident. My daughter is now the proud owner of a brand new school coat (in school uniform colors of course), pajamas, 2 pairs of slippers, and more. Plus I managed to pick up an extra pair of uniform pants for my middle schooler. My youngest gets a lot of hand me downs so she was happy to have some new things just for her.

Dear cold,

I do not appreciate this being day 1,000 of my now perpetual cold. Ok, I kid but it certainly feels like the thousandth. I realize that the last few months have been filled with cold friendly sugar fueled holidays. Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now Christmas. Unfortunately I have not eaten nearly the amount of immune system lowering sugar that would warrant this intrusion.

Surely I have eaten enough garlic, onions, and mega vitamins to loosen your hold. I've grown quite attached to breathing through my nostrils that you have now blocked off. The dizziness and fever are not enjoyable. Especially since I smacked my head on the stove vent this morning when I leaned over a pot to inhale steam and fell forward. Oh and last night..are you proud of yourself for causing me to look in the fridge for my toast instead of in the toaster?

Furthermore, I do not think you and your henchmen need to infect my children every other week. Certainly, I realize that you love this comfortable home, and that my family are wonderful hosts, but I would like you to vacate the premises. NOW!

Your unloving host,
Dani'

P.S. Take your threatening bacterial buddies with you.

Sunday Giveaways

*Grumble* *Grumble* I have a cold. Thanks Frog or dh.
Why is it that when I get a cold I feel fine off and on leading me to run around and do actual work. Then wipe out a few minutes later. Actually pretty much every illness or injury makes me do that. I RESENT holding still! At least when I have to.
Case in point:
high fever? Time to put move the furniture around and put together a book shelf!
broken foot? lets go hiking! In my defense I didn't know it was actually broken until after I hiked into the woods a few miles then carried Monkey, my then 2nd grader, back out on my back (she spiked a fever).

Ok, here are some giveaways for today. After this I may go outside and dig holes so I can transplant my raspberry bushes before the temps drop again, and hit Home Depot for paint to paint the kids' clubhouse...wait is that a bad idea?

• Thanksgiving Swag at Bellaziza's Favorite Things-ends midnight Dec. 1 PST
• $85 gift card to Red Ruby Rose seen at Bloggy Giveaways-ends Monday Nov. 24 HURRY!
• Jean Bourget Outfit from TylerandTallulah.com hosted at Bellaziza's Favorite Things-ends Nov. 24 midnight PST HURRY!
• coupons from Bargain Briana-ends Mon. Nov. 24 around 11pm PST
  

where I have been!

Frog still has that bacterial thing with another cold on top of it. She got better for a little bit then worse and spiked the almost ever present fever yet again and started up with the cough. Arrgh. I really hate that cough. So her antibiotics are changed again.

She was supposed to go back to school Wednesday but then her ear started hurting at the middle school carnival (her sister's) Tuesday night and she started hallucinating w/a fever AGAIN. Around 3 in the morning she started banging on our door because she had a bad dream.
In it she fell down the stairs and the monster in our closet under the stairs was trying to get her.
I quickly realized she was hallucinating when she started asking what things in the room were (she saw a furry person crouching down..that was the laundry hamper) and said she was "seeing stuff" bubbles and red and green lights.

Then this morning she had a sore throat and was extremely tired but I think that was from singing in her bed late into the night. Frog sings all the time, she is actually pretty good at it.
I probably should have sent her today, she is fine now.

Hot Springs, hot Frog

Frog is sick again. She came home from her friend's house and promptly spiked a fever. The horrid cough is back too. Arrgh!

Here are some pics from Friday and a few misc. thrown in. Remember I went to Hot Springs? My grandparents rented a big Lincoln Towncar(?), a glittery plum with yummy cream colored (heated) seats. That would so not be happening around here. The kids would turn the seats multicolored (trash chic) or a lovely dishwater gray so fast!

Chit Chat and Thursday Giveaways

We have been hit with a cold front! As I type this it is FIFTY DEGREES, at least according to my Weather Channel Desktop. I have the free version which only allows you to receive weather for two locations but that is enough for me!

Frog is in a vicious mood today. She has a sinus infection and very swollen tonsils so is on antibiotics. I hate using them but she has been sick over a month now and she is only allowed like 9 unexcused absences a year and her school does extended year. Her weird cough is finally breaking up.
One of Monkey's teachers called again because she is not doing work in class. Reading books? Drawing?..pretty much the usual.

In other news, my grandma is in town this week. She flew in from Seattle last Thursday.
We went to the Oppelo Flea Market. It is kind of in the middle of nowhere but is full of booths and has all kinds of neat old stuff.

Anyway, enough about me. On to the giveaways!

• Quaker breakfast products at This Mama Cooks the Quaker Oatmeal Living Proof Kit includes Two tubes of Old Fashioned Quaker Oats,Two boxes of Quaker Oatmeal To Go Bars,Two boxes of Quaker Oatmeal Squares,Two boxes of Quaker Instant Oatmeal-ends midnight MT on October 30, 2008

Update on Monkey

Yes, she has the strep and is on day two of laying around. In fact she hasn't been up yet today. Before he saw her throat the ped suggested Mono. I suppose all the sleep is good for her.
My MIL still wants both kids this weekend. Monkey will be able to watch tv (we don't have cable) lay around, and be spoiled just as well there ;). More so in fact..there is always lots of junk food and goodies at MIL's!

What...not sick?

I have been sick for quite a while, pretty much constantly since July, and finally went in yesterday. Not one to use antibiotics, I was skeptical that they would work at all. I got the 3 day kind and about 6 hrs later it was like a miracle! My voice started to come back (I have had no voice and a gross raw throat forever it seems!), my throat didn't feel quite as much like there was nails stuck in it, and the ever present fever is down today..yippee!

Monkey is home from school yet again. Sleeping. She has been sick even longer than I have, has had a weird rattly cough since the 11th when she last went in for that prolonged fever thing, and spiked another fever yesterday. ugh. So she has an appt. today to see what is up. I hope she doesn't have pneumonia. Frog is really prone to that but Monkey hasn't had it in years.

Parties and sore throats

"I'm to sexy for this blog." Smoothie is ready to party.
Oh the things he has to put up with around here! ;)
Sorry, I am a little behind with the giveaways. Monkey is having a party this weekend and I am trying to get everything done for it! Unfortunately I finally got dds' sore throat thing..this will be interesting.

Just about enough!

I have had just about enough of sickness around here. First Frog had a raging fever (see "Why Is the Room Getting Bigger" for more on that!). I took her to the ped Monday to get a school excuse. She was able to go back Wednesday.

Thursday: I went into Monkey's room to make sure her alarm clock had gone off and was startled to see that she had turned into a Pumpkinhead .
Her lymph nodes were swollen underneath her chin and her face was swollen from sinus probs. She stayed home due to mortification potential (well that and the mild fever and cold but in middle school potential mortification comes first). Of course the swelling went down as the day went on.

Frog took the opportunity to get on my last frazzled nerve last night. (Monkey escaped this opportunity, she was on her best behavior yesterday..no middle-schooler drama). Frog watched Annie and apparently now wants to live in an orphanage. She moved out over the summer. To the shed/clubhouse in the yard. Because she "didn't like rules". That lasted...oh about 20 minutes. Frog is my dramatic "spirited" child. She has always been this way. From birth. I am wondering how 8 is going to be. She turns 8 on Oct. 12. Hopefully she will become more agreeable. I have had just about enough of this argumentative 7yr old stage!

Of course I couldn't help kissing and tucking her in again after she was sleeping. She is lucky she is cute and has a lot of redeeming qualities.

Why is the room getting bigger?

My youngest dd, Frog, came home from grandma's early w/ a fever. She is fine when her temperature is down but gets loopy when it spikes. Both my kids have a tendency to hallucinate with high fevers. Years ago my oldest had a raging fever. She was fine when she laid down for a nap. A little while later she started freaking out! She sat straight up in her bed and started screaming while pointing at something. Turns out she thought her knees were on the other bed in her room.
Well a little while ago Frog was sitting on the couch and started looking around worriedly "Why is the room getting bigger?" Hmm..guess we are in for a rough night!

Her fever went down again and she is in my bed trying to rest. I am going to take her in tomorrow, she has already missed a few days of school and you can only have 9 unexcused absences. Plus strep is going around at school and she has a sore throat and arm and leg aches.