Walking Backwards

Yay! My computer is back . . . kind of. We're still having problems with our internet connection, but my computer is a-ok. Our e-mail server is also still a little off, but its getting better. If you e-mail me from a Road*runner address, there is a 50-50 chance it will bounce. I'm just excited that I can turn on my computer now without something going horribly wrong.

Since I last wrote, we have all been on the mend. Nicholas still has some lingering congestion, but I think that is due to allergies now. The weather is finally turning around, so that is even more motivation to get better. We haven't been going outside much yet, but that will pick up this week as we have to start getting our yard and garden ready for spring.

We got our tax-refund check last week and have spent almost all of it now, sadly. A section of our roof had to be repaired, including the boards underneath, and that ate up most of our money. No vacation this year, it looks like. At least we don't have to worry about our roofing caving in. I have to wonder what we would have done if we didn't get a tax-refund at all. Every year it always comes just in time to pay off something that really needs to be taken care of. Are there people out there who get to spend their tax-refund on something fun and enjoyable? There must be, right?

The house is so busy now and Joe, Nicholas, and I have tons of stuff to do. School is taking up all of my time and I have a project that I am doing for Nicholas' preschool that I need to spend more time on. Add to that all of the daily around the house things that I have to do, and I am becoming overwhelmed. The greatest irony in it all is, now that I no longer am looking for a part-time job, I have been offered two really good positions. That is just not going to happen right now.

WooHoo, back to crazy home life! There is a lot more to say, but Nicholas is demanding my attention so I gotta go :)

I've been sporadic and probably will be sporadic for the next week or so. We're still trying to catch-up from the week of the plague here and I'm approaching my first major paper in philosophy and my first major exam in American lit.. To say I'm a little behind is putting it mildly. The amount of laundry and housework I have piled up behind me is daunting as well. I haven't been updating here, I haven't seen or really spoken to any of my friends, and I haven't been to exercise in over two weeks now. Oh, and I have a computer virus on my machine that I have no idea how to fix or where it came from (I'm on Joe's machine now). Pffffffffffttttttttt. Pardon my pity party, but I am just so overwhelmed. I don't like how I have to play catch-up everytime something goes wrong.

On the other side of the coin, I am doing really well in both of my classes. I have a perfect grade in philosophy and a strong A in American lit.. Yay for that! Joe and I also have no plans for this weekend, but doing stuff around the house. I should be back to normal by next week because of it. Yay for normal!

Before I go off to study and clean and do laundry and etc., I have to write of the horrors I experienced on Sunday. Nicholas was still sick and hadn't improved at all, so when we woke up on Sunday morning and went to check on him, we were horrified to find him with dried blood all over his mouth, down the side of his face, and on his pillow. I, of course, freaked out and started sobbing and we took him to the urgent care clinic. It turns out he had had a nosebleed in his sleep and it drained into his throat and he was coughing that up. He just had a sinus infection. I don't know why people say that children make you young, that experiance took years from my life.

We're still sick here. In fact, Nicholas has gotten worse. Damn flu yuckiness. I took Nico to the doctor yesterday and she gave him a test for strep, but said there wasn't much else that she can do. I do have some prescription decongestants now, so that's good. I really feel like I shouldn't even have bothered with the doctor. I think the primary reason that I feel that way, other than that she didn't really do anything, is that on the way there Nicholas threw-up all over the backseat of the car (anyone with any advice of how to get vomit out of upholstery and car seat fabric, let me know). I had, of course, forgotten to bring his diaper bag, so I didn't have a change of clothes for him.

I decided to make a quick stop at Babies*R*US to buy him a less vomit-covered ensemble. I wrapped him in my jacket and took his crusty, rank-smelling self inside to clean him up. I did not expect the place to be packed. Dozens of smiling, well-dressed, and happy moms were in there shopping with their adorable, cooing infants. I can only imagine the sight I must have been. A sick and seriously sleep deprived mom carrying her stinky toddler in a corduroy blazer all of which had a suspicious, sticky sheen about them. So I bought him this scary one-piece outfit from the clearance section and changed him right there in the store, much to the chagrin of our onlookers. I wanted to tell them that this is what happens when they get older and that they too will be in a situation like this one at one time or another, but I held my tongue. Its better that they don't know the dark-side yet.

Can you believe that that was the most interesting part of my day yesterday? Man, we had better get well soon.

I have always wondered what one of those webpage dolls of me would look like, so I was overjoyed at the opportunity to play with a doll-design tool (thanks for linking to it Andrea:)). While I thought about adding things such as wings and weird pets, it just wasn't me. They also actually had clothes to choose from that were in my closet (my skirt has blue flowers, though). I think it really does look like me. An anorexic me, but me just the same.

Nicholas has requested that I leave him alone to eat his play-doh in peace and I am quite bored with all the Benjamin Franklin that I have been reading, so I think it an opportune moment to give an rundown of the weekend. First, Joe stayed home on Friday because he had worked through the night Thursday, getting home at eight in the morning. Because of this I had to keep the baby quiet all day, not an easy feat when it has been raining so much lately that we have all gone stir crazy. After he woke up we left for Houston and, amazingly, we missed all the traffic. We suffered though a terrible night trying to get the boy to sleep in a different place.

Saturday we sat around the house until about half after two, when we left to see Cirque*du*Soleil. Nicholas stayed with his grandparents. The show was okay, some of the acrobatics were amazing, but I would not have spent as much money as our tickets cost. Everything there was super expensive, too. My small soda was 3.50 and my pretzel was 5.00 (because of the pretzel, I had to get a second soda as well). I couldn't resist the evil temptation of big, soft pretzel goodness, though. We had also promised to get Nicholas something, so we ended up buying him a 25 dollar t-shirt. We ended up spending the money (and more) that we would have saved on a babysitter. Joe and I need to re-think this whole, going-out thing, it seems.

We left Houston Saturday night, even though we were supposed to stay through Sunday. We were all just worn out and, fearing what condition another sleepless night would leave us in, we hurried home. I had to skip the museum of art because of this, but I think it will be there next time. We also didn't get to go to my favorite shopping destination, *IKEA*. Joe and I are thinking about going back weekend after next, but we are really going to have to start feeling better (and getting some sleep) waaaay before then if we're going to make it.

Nicholas seems to be fine, in a relative way of speaking. He never got sick from the fluoride, but we both are now under the spell of some insidious upper-respiratory infection. He is staying home from school today and we are just going to lounge around. Sadly, I don't have the luxury of missing school. Here is to hoping that generic Day*quil works its charms quickly.