A Reminder to Slow Down

It was bound to happen.

I was super stressed. Chris has been traveling a ton, so I'm flying solo much of the time. We have so much going on constantly. I am over-extended and worn out. So, the universe has delivered a forced slow down, especially for me.

 Mama is sick, and that is never a good thing.

A few weeks back, I took the kids to Cedar Point for HalloWeekends. I was feeling like crap, but there was no backing out. Chris was out of town so I was on my own. I forged ahead because I refused to disappoint the kids, and it was a really great opportunity. And a wonderful thing happened. After walking around the park for hours upon hours, I actually felt better. Ha! I beat this thing! I felt rather...invincible.

Fast forward to this past week. Chris was gone (again). I had two sick girls. I was starting to feel like crap (again). I forged ahead, because I had to. And now, here I am, not getting better. I'm re-visiting my youth, when I was down for the count with respiratory ailments on a regular basis, when struggling for breath was a way of life.

We have a house full of asthmatics, which means the proper tools (a nebulizer) and drugs (Albuterol) are on hand. So I gave myself a breathing treatment. Because, you know, it feels good to breathe. And...yuck. I hope this is not how my girls feel when they take Albuterol, because my heart was racing, I was jittery, and my teeth were still chattering the next morning. It did seem to help with the breathing thing though. Also my wonderful husband went to the store late at night and woke me up with two cold tablets and a glass of water because he could tell I wasn't sleeping well. Those tablets have been helping too. I'm just worn out, congested, and not real happy with the breathing situation. I haven't slept this much in years. Napping even.

So, see Universe? I'm slowing down. I'm resting. But enough already, okay? I've got a busy week ahead. Lots of driving little people back and forth. Meetings. Errands. Household maintenance. Fun stuff, too, like Disney On Ice. I'm even going to defy you a little bit and continue going to the gym, but I'll take it easy.Who knows, maybe I'll sweat it out. Also, I don't mean to sound all self-important by mentioning how busy I am. This is just my life. I enjoy relaxing, believe me, and squeeze it in whenever I can.

Thank you for the reminder. I do realize that sometimes I need it. Thanks also for allowing me to be well enough that I can still function on an as needed basis. I will continue to strive for balance. I will also continue to rest, because dang it, I'm tired. Hopefully one day it will fully sink in, and then you can quit sending me these annoying reminders.

Under the Weather

I haven't been this sick in years. Like coughing, congested, stuffed up head kind of sick. As a child this was basically my everyday existence. But as an adult, I don't really get sick like this anymore. Today it occurred to me that I should have gone to the doctor this week. That's how often I get to the doctor - I had forgotten it was even an option. And also an indication of how cruddy I've been feeling, because I really don't like going to the doctor. 

As I've been choking and struggling to breathe, it's brought to mind memories of having severe respiratory infections or pneumonia when I was a kid. There were times I'd be laying in bed all by myself, literally gasping for breath because my airways were all blocked up with snot and mucous (lovely visual, no?), and thinking, "This is it. I'm going to die."

Bethany's been battling a cold, Lucy and Connor have coughs, and Mathilda is sick with a respiratory infection. She's on three kinds of meds, including her second course of antibiotics in two weeks since she just had an ear infection last week. On top of the antibiotic, she's on steroids and breathing treatments three times a day. My baby girl being sick and miserable is infinitely worse than being sick myself. I can't stand to hear her coughing and choking, knowing exactly how she feels. And it's maddening feeling like crap and caring for a sick kid, particularly when she doesn't sleep all night, like last night. I was thinking how odd that I'm sick like this when I haven't been in ages. But then I realized it's helping me be patient with Mathilda when the medications are making her surly and hyper, when she keeps me up all night with her fussing and wanting to cuddle, and when she is clearly feeling really yucky but can't quite express it in so many words (often resulting in frustrated tears). Because I know I'm feeling quite like Mathilda right now, and she is just a little thing who can't help herself  or communicate clearly. I don't want my girl to feel like I'm feeling, and I know she is feeling even worse. I have a new perspective, and for that I am thankful.

Now hopefully she'll get her stinky little butt to sleep soon, since she hardly slept last night and hasn't napped all day today. Which means she's so over-tired that she's totally slap happy: singing, talking about cookies, squirming around, listing all the people she loves over and over again, piling up pillows so she can climb on them and then roll off, and in general doing everything she can to prevent anybody else from getting any sleep too. With any luck we'll both be feeling better tomorrow.

Ditching School

Have you ever received one of those letter from your child's school, the ones that look something like this?

     Dear Mrs. George,

     Your child, ________________, has missed ___ days of school this year. If she misses one more day, we'll see you in court. BOOYA!

     Sincerely,
     The Administration

For the three years Bethany and Connor went to their old school, I got these letters regularly. The purpose seems to be to put enough fear in parents that they send their kids to school at any cost. At the same time they make sure to let you know that your child had better be fever free for 24 hours before you even think about sending him back to school. So which is it, they want sick kids at school, or they don't? The funny thing is that I'm pretty sure one of the main reasons my kids were sick so often was because all of the other parents were also fearful of getting one of these letters, so the end result was a whole lot of sick kids in school on a daily basis.

The implication of the letter also seems to be: We know you're using said child in either A) An underground child labor ring, or B) As an underage top secret liason in your drug selling endeavors during school hours. Or else that you, as the parent, are too drunk, stoned or otherwise irresponsible every morning to care whether your child goes to school. Basically I felt like a really horrible mother and got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach every time I opened one of those letters.


This is the third year at the new school, and I haven't received one of these letters yet. I'm not sure if that's because my kids haven't missed as much school or just because this school district has a different way of doing things. Like not threatening parents with truancy trials because their kids stay home when they're sick. 

But I'm so afraid to get a letter that my kids have to be pretty darn sick to miss school. Like puking, or with a raging fever. A cough and runny nose are not getting you a free pass, guys. In fact, my kids have had coughs on and off for weeks. Sore throats, tummy aches, headaches, you're going to school. Every day I'm stymied: is the teacher hating me because my kid is coughing in class? On the other hand, they might have coughs until May, and there's not a whole lot I can do about that. I'm telling my kids to drink more water, have a cough drop, and rest after school. Because what if I keep my kid home just because of the sniffles or whatever, and then a couple months down the road, she comes down with something more serious that really requires a few days off of school? It's a daily dilemma around here this time of year. 


It used to be that I believed it was my right and privilege as a parent to keep my kids home as I saw fit. Now I'm afraid to keep my kids home because I want to avoid court thankyouverymuch. I had to go to court one time. There was a warrant out for my arrest because of a snow emergency parking ticket. (You can stop laughing now.) I found out about the warrant when I went into the court building to pay the parking ticket, so no I was NOT arrested. The experience of being under a judge's scrutiny is not one I'd like to re-live anytime soon, or ever. I've heard horror stories of truancy officers following kids to school everyday, and parents losing their kids because of just one more tardy or absence. If I weren't afraid of those stupid letters and the threat of court along with them, my kids would definitely be ditching school a lot more often.

Weekend Rundown

Well let me just be honest here. I've had better weekends. Since the sickies are cycling through my house I've been caught in the monotony of making Jello and washing pukey sheets and blankets day in and day out. But of course that's not all there was to it.

I spent Friday evening at the kids' elementary school helping out with the Scholastic Book Fair. By helping I mean I tried to make sure the books stayed on the shelves, and that they more or less stayed where they were supposed to. I couldn't believe how many times I found kids stepping on books, and at one point I had to give a kid the I-mean-business-look when he spilled water on a few books and tried to sneak off without doing anything about it. When he realized I was on to him, he very politely got some paper towels for me so I could dry off the books. Good boy. The Book Fair is an absolute mad house, which is good for our school because they earn books based on how many they sell, but not much fun for a person who hates crowds, such as myself. I stayed to help clean up afterward, which was no big deal because I had a  lot of help. Bethany and her friends hung out, doing whatever it is 5th grade girls do, while I worked. The rest of the kids stayed home because 1) Two of them were sick, and 2) It was a mad house (see above) and there's no way I would have been able to look after Mattie.

Saturday I seem to remember being very, very tired. I suppose because of the puking that was going on during the night. The day is a blur. I just remember doing lots of laundry and driving kids around. Chris got a call from a friend asking if he'd be interested in having (as in for FREE) all of his Star Wars Lego sets because he was sick of them. I mean look at that.
<----------------- Go ahead, take a good look. That's a Millennium Falcon there! Connor has been wanting that for ages, but for some strange reason we've been reluctant to dish out the $150 for it. And all those other ships too! So the remainder of the weekend was like Christmas, with Lucy, Chris, and Connor playing Star Wars and Mathilda ticking everyone off because she kept knocking stuff down on the floor like the pint-size trouble maker that she is.


Sunday started off as a continuation of Puke Fest, with a little Dog Poop Fest thrown in for fun. Bethany was off to Cedar Point for the day with a friend, so we didn't even see her until late at night. We haven't had the full report yet, but from the gist of what she said before she fell over into a deep slumber, I'm pretty sure she went on almost every single ride. That's my good brave girl. Where did she come from? Actually I was very worried she was going to wuss out and leave her friend high and dry with nobody to ride with. But nope, she overcame her genetic predisposition to be terrified of amusement park rides. 


So after I got everything and everybody cleaned up Sunday morning, my mom picked me up and we went to a Women's Expo show at a nearby community college. Which turned out to be a bunch of people very aggressively trying to get us to buy new windows, Tupperware, and spa treatments. So we just found a table and sat and chatted for awhile, before leaving to do a little shopping.

When I got home, Chris took Connor to get a new pair of shoes. Several months ago, he got him a pair from a local skate shop, which Connor wore for months before we realized they were two different sizes. Chris had talked to the owner of the shop a couple weeks ago and was told to bring Connor in & he'd give him a new pair of shoes. Which is a really good thing because the new Airwalk shoes Connor got for school, just 6 weeks ago, are totally falling apart already. I emailed Airwalk with some pictures of the shoes. We'll see how much they care about customer satisfaction and selling quality shoes. I'll let you know if I ever hear from them.


That was about the extent of my oh-so-exciting weekend. Did you do anything fun?

Flashback Friday: Sick Days

Last night Chris and I were trying to impress upon Bethany and Connor how much things have changed since we were kids. It is like a whole new world of instant gratification and constant connectivity. My mom was born in the 50's, and

yes, a lot changed between the 50's and the 70's, when I was born, and there was surely a generational gap. My peers were not being drafted into the Vietnam War and protesting for civil rights. Maybe parents felt like they couldn't relate to their kids' newfangled ways when I was growing up, but my kids are living in such a vastly different world than we were living in at their age that it's difficult to even get them to comprehend.

Chris had an idea this morning that we should start doing Flashback Fridays with our kids. When they get home from school, they'll only be allowed to do things we would have been able to do at their age. No iPods, no PS3, no Wii, no internet. However, we're not starting this week because when you have multiple sick kids in the house it's not a good time to rock the boat. 

So yeah, earlier in the week Mathilda was sick. She's better now, but a couple days ago I got a dreaded phone call from school to pick Connor up because he wasn't feeling well. Turns out he's got strep throat. And this morning Lucy came downstairs at 6 a.m. to tell me she threw up. Good times in the George household. I've two home sick from school today, and praying with everything I've got that Bethany doesn't get sick. She has big plans this weekend and she will be heartbroken if she gets sick and has to cancel.

When I was a kid I spent many, many days sick at home. Think two weeks of chicken pox agony, multiple bouts of pneumonia, frequent bronchial infections complete with trips to the E.R. for shots to help me breathe, and a mysterious illness that was very much like mono but not mono and kept me home for at least two weeks. This is what I remember from those days: BOREDOM. Up until 3rd or 4th grade, I had my pick of television shows from 5 or 6 channels. Soap operas and Phil Donahue, the child's version of Ambien. That's about it. I also loved to read, but I could only do that for so many hours because I generally had bad headaches and vomiting to contend with when I was sick, pretty much regardless of the specific type of illness. Then we got cable, and my television options opened up considerably. I thought so anyway, but then I didn't have today's cable television to compare it with. If I felt well enough to sit up or get out of bed, I could get out a deck of cards and play solitaire. To keep in touch with friends, I might make a phone call or two in the evening. If the line was busy or no one answered, I was out of luck and just had to wait and try again.

My kids have been a vision of health compared to me when I was a kid. Which is funny because I was an only child and didn't share germs with three icky siblings. But when they do have the occasional sick day, they have no idea how good they have it. They have at their disposal entire channels devoted to children's programming, but that's only the beginning. Then there's On Demand, Net Flix, and our huge collection of dvds and Blu Rays to choose from. If they get sick of watching television and movies, they have Leapsters, iPod Touches, and Gameboys to play with. If they're feeling well enough to get off the couch, there's the computer and the endless wonder of the internet. And then of course the PS3, Wii,and XBox 360. They can resort to books too, and if they finish their book or don't feel like reading anything we have at home, they can always download a book via the Kindle app. To keep in touch with friends, they can make a phone call, just like I did. If no one answers at home, they can leave a message, but then they can also track the friend down by calling the cell  - or even the parents' cell if the friend happens to not have one (yet). They can email, text, FaceTime, IM, and Skype each other.

It truly is a different world. So I'm thinking maybe I'll start doing regular Flashback Friday posts. Do you have any ideas for future posts? How was your childhood different than that of your children?

Butterflies

I'm a little ahead of myself this week, and I keep thinking it's Friday already. I don't normally want to skip ahead, but I think I may have some vicarious stage fright. Bethany's talent show is tomorrow night, and I'm trying hard not to think about it because thinking about it makes me vaguely sick to my stomach. Her partner has been over several times to practice, and they swear they have been practicing, but I've noticed lots of chasing the ice cream man, dressing Mattie up like a doll, and "breaks" to play Super Mario, and I've not actually witnessed much at all in the way of rehearsing. My instinct is to step in and oversee and advise, but no one has asked for my help. So I'm shutting up and letting them do their thing. If they botch up their talent show performance it's not the end of the world. No matter what, I'm bloated full of pride for my daughter, because as a 9-year old little girl there was absolutely no way in h-e-double hockey sticks that I would have ever even considered for one millisecond getting up in front of hundreds of people and singing a duet. So. Deep breath. It will be over soon.

After her Easter fever scare,turns out Mathilda started coughing a little last night, and then it got much worse throughout the day today. She did seem kind of okay for a couple days once the fever broke, but now I'm thinking she might have an ear infection or bronchial infection after all, so we'll be off to the pediatrician tomorrow. It really seems like that poor little thing is always sick. The most ironic thing is that Connor, my only child who was not breastfed at all, is the healthiest of my children. The one who was nursed the most is sick most often. Things that make you go hmmmmm. So my retrospective guilt for not nursing my son is somewhat offset by the fact that it appears he did not catch my sickie cooties. 

Also, I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy for my awesome friends today, one of whom agreed to add to her already crazy hectic morning and babysit Mathilda at the last minute today so I could work at Lucy's preschool, and one of whom called me up out of the blue this afternoon and told me she has something for Mathilda that we were planning on buying her very soon, and now we don't have to. Love you guys! 

Now I'm going to go and try to power through the slow beginning of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo so I can get to the awesome part that everyone keeps telling me about, and also try my hardest to remember to put the laundry I'm washing in the dryer before I fall asleep so that Connor can wear some clean clothes to school tomorrow. 'Cause I'll feel really bad if he has to rummage through the hamper for some jeans to wear. Mommy guilt=the gift that never stops giving.

February Is Fun

I am having a Fun February. And there are lots of great things to look forward to in the coming months. Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Friday afternoon Lucy, Mathilda, and I met Lucy's friend John from preschool at The Bounce House. Bethany was there a couple weeks ago for a birthday party, and Connor was going the day after us for a birthday party. So yay for Lucy & Mathilda, they got a turn too.

Mathilda refused to actually bounce on anything, but she had fun running around like a lunatic and "playing" video games.

Lucy says she and John are getting married someday. I don't think John has anything to say about it. He's a boy who likes princesses, why waste time looking any further?

Mathilda has been talking a lot. She started saying "I scared" last week when Connor was chasing her around the house with his snake Webkinz. Now she says it all the time, sometimes paired with "I cry" while adorably covering her eyes with her hands. Lucy has been teaching Mathilda how to play her Leapster.

Mathilda shares Bethany's love for snazzy accessories.

Lucy has also figured out how to get Mathilda to do her breathing treatments without fussing.

Mattie is sitting in a doll stroller, which Lucy has thoughtfully equipped with many comforts, such as a pillow, a blanket, a lovey (Zoe), a cup of water, snacks, and lots more.

I have wheezy kids. Well except Connor, I don't think he's ever wheezed. I myself was a wheezy kid, but I always blamed it on living with smokers and being constantly subjected to the toxic fumes of second hand smoke. (Have I mentioned how thrilled I am that Michigan is now Smoke Free? Love it! Sorry smokers. Well, not really.) My kids are never around smoke and yet they're still wheezy. But not as bad as I was. My poor mother spent many late nights in emergency rooms with me. That has only happened once with Bethany. Imagine how sickly my babies would be if I forced them to sit in a metal box and inhale poison on a daily basis (in other words, sit in the back seat of a car while the adults in the front seat are smoking and forcing me to suck in all of their nasty smoke)? Hurray for progress. And for the record, my mom didn't smoke, just pretty much every other adult in my life.



Here are a couple sneak peak promo shots of Bethany's new band. Unfortunately, only one other band member was here for the photo shoot.

Do me a favor and pretend you don't see the mess of my basement storage room. Thanks.

Fellow band-mate and non musician, Marissa.

Speaking of musicians, Chris's band The Smiths United played on Friday night at The Old Miami downtown Detroit. I went and some of my friends went and it was really fun. Except that the sound was taking forever and the opening band started way later than they were supposed to and played way longer than they were supposed to and I'm old so I get tired early. Our friend Jerry was there taking pictures with his new super-awesome-and-I'm-so-jealous camera and mentioned to me that I should start a blog about being married to a musician. Ha, yeah I should have done that like 12 years ago. How many nights of my life have I spent sitting in hole in the wall bars in Hamtramck? Wait, that's a trick question, don't strain your brain trying to answer. But for all those nights in dumpy Hamtramck pits, there have been some really awesome high points, like seeing Chris sing on the big stage at Pine Knob (DTE? what's that?), and shows so packed that getting to the ladies room required strategic maneuvering. I don't know about a blog, but good idea Jerry.

I Think The Universe Is Trying To Teach Me A Lesson

Oh what a week this has been. 

The media had us Michiganders in a panic for days, expecting the blizzard of the century. No wait, The Blizzard of the Century. Schools were being closed and trash pick-ups were being canceled even before the snow started. Grocery stores were running out of milk, cars were crowding gas stations. The snow started Tuesday evening. Judging from my friends' status updates on Facebook, plenty of people were disappointed in the so-called blizzard and thought it was actually pretty lame when all was said and done. That's probably because they weren't out driving in it at 3:30 in the morning. We did get a lot of snow, but things didn't get as nasty as everyone had predicted.


So just as the snow really started coming down, I was feeling really sick and Chris was putting the kids to bed. Suddenly I felt really sick, and I sat up a little bit (I was laying on the couch) to reach for my bowl (I learned my lesson last time I was sick, I wasn't taking any chances of passing out again and finishing off my front teeth). And that's when things got nasty, but not nasty in the way you might be thinking. Instead of throwing up, I got really lightheaded and my hands started getting this tingly-numb feeling and pretty soon I couldn't move them. They were clenched closed so tightly they hurt (a lot!) and I couldn't open them. I started calling for Chris because I was pretty freaked out (that might be putting it mildly...) and the numb-tingly feeling started spreading throughout my whole body. Chris called my mom to come over and then he called 911. 

If you know me, you have to know I had to have been beyond terrified to let Chris call 911 for me. I don't want anyone going to all kinds of trouble for me, not even paramedics who have made a career out of helping people. Because I think that's for other people, people who really need help. Well this time I was one of those other people. And you know what, it's pretty scary being one of those other people.


So the very nice paramedics got to our house (and so did my mom - thank goodness she lives very close) and checked me out & I started feeling a little better. They asked me a bunch of questions and took my vitals and said they were okay and that it would be alright if Chris drove me to the hospital so I could avoid being carried out of the house on a stretcher and scarring my kids for life, and also so we could avoid a massive ambulance bill. They helped me out to the car and Chris drove me to the ER of the major trauma center in our area, figuring it would be the best place to get me whatever care I needed. If you live in metro Detroit you might have an idea what hospital I'm talking about and you might be laughing to yourself about what damn fools we were to choose this particular hospital. I was still feeling extremely sick and made Chris bring a bowl with us, which he was just so happy to carry around the ER. However, I was not about to be seen puking all over the place in public and I was in no condition to be sprinting to a bathroom, or even a waste basket. Sorry Chris. Even though I never needed the bowl, it made me feel better knowing it was there.


Despite the fact that the ER was very quiet that night, this was where the waiting and waiting and waiting portion of the evening began. By the time I saw the doctor my hands were getting better and I could move them with effort. The tingly-numbness was mostly gone. The doctor ordered a urine test, some blood work, and an EKG. I got an IV which helped and I felt okay enough to doze on and off while we waited and waited and waited some more. After the first IV bag was empty, some machine was beeping and beeping and driving us crazy for a long time so Chris went to pester a nurse to do her job, um I mean get someone to help. The nurse came in and saw my blood pressure had dropped to 70-something over 40-something, which, in case you're wondering, is really not very good. So she started up another bag of fluids. And then we waited and waited and waited. And then another nurse came in when the second bag had been empty for awhile and saw that my blood pressure and heart rate were okay and ruthlessly ripped my IV out. Perhaps she thought I was unconscious and wouldn't feel it. But no because then she really confused us and told me to get dressed and she'd be back in a minute with my discharge papers.


Hmmm. Okay. I got dressed and she brought in the papers which read "dizzy spell - cause unknown." And she started telling me drink lots of fluids, don't stand up too quickly, etc. Alright, but why did my whole body go numb and then there's the matter that I couldn't move. Because that's actually why I came to the ER. And actually something very similar happened to me just a couple months ago (when I fainted that time, my hands started to do the same thing) but this time was way worse. And I'm pretty sure we told the doctor all of this, did he not hear us? Was I being confused with another patient? What about my test results? Shouldn't some other tests be done? Was this because we don't have insurance?



Just to clarify, I know and love many nurses (and other medical professionals) and I respect what they do and everyone (except the IV ripper outer) was kind to me. But I do feel that I was blown off. I'm not a person who abuses the ER. I haven't been a patient in the ER in about 3 decades. I didn't ask for drugs. When I was told I had a "dizzy spell" I pretty much lost it. I was totally without shame by this point and so the sobbing began. Because this was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me, and I was (am) so afraid of anything like this ever happening again. Next time could be worse. What if Chris hadn't been home? What if I had been home alone with my little girls? I wouldn't have even been able to get myself off the couch and use my hands to pick up the phone and call 911. This was a maddeningly frustrating experience. And then we got to drive home at 3:30 in the morning, hoping and praying the whole way that our little car wouldn't get stuck in the snow.


So this is what I'm thankful for, because yes I'm going to put a positive spin on this so my friend Angela doesn't give me a hard time for being negative. I'm thankful (so thankful!!) that Chris was home when this happened. I'm thankful the paramedics came quickly. I'm thankful my mom was home when Chris called and lives close so she could come be with my kids. I'm thankful we won't get charged for the paramedics since they didn't transport me. I'm thankful I didn't puke all over the ER. I'm thankful the horrible feeling in my hands eventually went away and I'm now able to move and use my hands almost normally (they are still weak and a little stiff). I'm thankful we made it home safely without needing to call for a tow. I'm thankful Chris was able to get me an appointment with a neurologist on Monday. I'm thankful Chris made all the necessary phone calls because I really (no, really) hate making phone calls. I'm thankful my friend suggested I see her chiropractor husband on Friday and he was so nice and helpful and gave me hope by telling me that my spine is a mess (so maybe my brain is okay??). So now I'm just hoping somebody can tell me something to ensure this never happens again.


Maybe the universe is trying to tell me that I am worthy of being a priority to myself. I got so sick in November and passed out and never even went to the doctor because I'm fine. I'm a healthy person. No one need bother themselves for my sake. I don't have insurance, I'm not about to rack up medical bills. Well okay, I guess the universe was not satisfied with that response. Second warning, loud and clear. Although I'm a person for whom it's an effort to not constantly think of mortality, I now have this sudden clarity that something could happen to me. And that I really do need to take my health seriously. I want to be here for my kids. I have a lot I want to accomplish in my life (have you seen my Life List? And I'm just getting started!). So this is a turning point for me. I will definitely do whatever I need to do to make sure another episode like this never happens again. It's a pretty good motivator. Thank you, universe. 




 

Has Anyone Ever Actually Sold Their Kids To The Gypsies?

I love having my kids home with me. Snow days are fantastic, school breaks are lovely. Sick days, on the other hand...not so much. My big kids have strep throat and the antibiotics have started to kick in, so they're still sick enough to miss school tomorrow but well enough to follow me around the house all day and drive me batty. Oh my gosh they never stop eating. The very second they finish one thing, they are pestering me about what's up next on the menu. Lucy and Mathilda love to do everything their big brother and big sister do, so they have joined in on the fun too. Four kids taking turns begging me for food all day long, and well I pretty much got nothing done all day that didn't involve toasting bread, pouring Vernors, making Jello, cutting up apples, and washing dishes. Cause all that eating uses up lots of dishes.

Luckily, they love t.v., so at least I don't have to entertain them all day while I'm preparing and delivering food, and perpetually cleaning up the kitchen. Well Mathilda does love t.v., but she also loves mischief  plus she seems to have me confused with the cruise director, so I spend a lot of time sort of pretending to play half-ass games with her while I'm simultaneously doing ten million other things. Sorry Mathilda if you're scarred for life. Someday maybe you'll be a mother with kids home sick from school and you'll understand I didn't mean you any harm. 

So I'm wondering, does anyone actually have a number for the gypsies, or should I just put a golden lantern on the porch or something so they know I have wares to offer them? Anyone???