A week of blog

Only now have I been able to muster up the energy to the attic to post something. I had been coming down with a cold all this week but it really hit me on Thursday. I was weak, couldn't eat a thing, couldn't even keep plain clear tea down. Baby Boy and I ended up spending the whole day napping, gathering just enough energy to pick the older kids up from school.

I get there and my friend's son has this thing where he likes to grab my keys and run to the other side of the school. Usually, I let him do what he feels he needs to do, but I just wanted to make a clean getaway, in case I spewed chunks right there in front of the principal. And what does this little guy do? He grabs the keys and puts them in his mouth. I think I may have caught this bug from him but if not, ewww, I guess I'll be hearing from his mother.

And then husband comes home after a day of golf with my uncle. I could barely keep upright, let alone try to be entertaining.

It's funny. I used to think I was a lousy housekeeper but it really has nothing to do with me, I've learned. I caught one of them (though no one confessed) pouring about half a box of Shreddies into a huge bowl with about three cups of organic 2% and then WALKED AWAY. Then Baby Boy grabbed it and dumped it on himself and the kitchen floor.

But that's not all. After my one day of convalescing, the Friday sunrise lit for me a house in utter disarray. Dirty dishes everywhere (what happened to Mummy's rule of no eating anywhere but the kitchen and dining room?), toys and clothes all over the place. Today, in the attic, I now see that they really saved the best for this room. Husband is golfing again today. I'm thinking of buggering off for four hours on my own when he gets back and telling them, "Here's some garbage bags. There's the washing machine and the dishwasher. This here is a vaccuum and this is a bottle of Fantastic. See you!"

Oh, look! I can see someone's karate gee under the sofa.

The older kids had a Kick-a-thon at their karate school Monday. I held the bags for them as they had to kick it higher than their waist and flat-footed. I sponsored them for a penny a kick, thinking there's no way they could do that much. Wrong! Daughter kicked 690 times. Even my uncoordinated anti-athelete Middle Child cleared 440 kicks in 20 minutes. Half way through, he stopped and wiped his face on my jeans (yeah, thanks) exclaiming in utter disbelief, "Mumma! I'm sweat! I'm sweat!" Seriously, it's probably the first time my little slowpoke has ever perspired.

And yesterday gave me a bit of an adventure, too. Daughter spent the night barfing and suffering with this wicked cold and a barky cough so I kept her home from school. She was totally fine by 10 am but I still thought she should stick around. I took them downtown to buy my mother-in-law a birthday present (I leave it to my husband to get her something - she's HIS mother, after all - but he always leaves it to the last minute and then asks me to do something about it in a panic), and then to Middle Child's favourite restaurant in town. It's a place where they serve all-day breakfast. Man, my kids can pack it away. Combined, they ate four pancakes, four sausages, four strips of bacon, two pieces of whole wheat toast, about two scrambled eggs (that was just Middle Child), and a handful of hash browns each. Oh, and downed with milk. I ate a slice of toast. I'm still a little queasy. Lost three pounds though.

We got home and I thought I'd do a little gardening. I bought some kong coleus, a raspberry bush, some ferns, a hydrangea bush and some boxwood hedging. The previous owners of this home really did nothing but mow the lawn so we had all kinds of five year old maple saplings that I've been removing. However, our next-door neighbours are very elderly. Lovely people but their garden is overgrown with weeds and saplings. Daughter "discovered" a path behind our shed between the chain-link fence that cordons off the two properties. Daughter and I have done our best to keep that back part there clear of weeds but the neighbours? I swear, I want to offer my services but they're very proud people. They get upset when we shovel the snow off their driveway for them.

So daughter is playing in this pathway when she walks into a twig. Poked her right in the eyeball. "Mumma, I'm seeing all blurry." Called this after-hours provincial government number our family physician wants us to call before going to emergency. Was on hold for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, I put some Polysporin eyedrops and that gave her some relief. And the government nurse recommended? Go to emergency. Duh. What a waste of time. Anyway, she was seen pretty much right away (I love living in a small city sometimes) where the doctor checked for a scratch. There was one. Her course of treatment? Polysporin eyedrops for two days.

Maybe it's the black hair but I'm feeling like Wonder Woman.

I'm still not cleaning this room, though.