Sick, Sick, Sick!

Well, the bug that has been running around the house is still on the loose. Katie and I ended up in bed for a few days last week, Mike was also feeling crummy, and David spent Thanksgiving Day in the bed with a fever. Yuck!

Mike and I went to the Dr. on Saturday, and he said that we were all sharing the same virus. He said it sounded like a parainfluenza virus. Basically, a milder version of the flu. David's mom said they used to call it the three day flu, and that sounds just about right. Dr. Kinney told us we shouldn't go out of town for Thanksgiving because it wouldn't help us get well and we could spread it around to our families. He looked at me and said, "You are too sick to travel, and too sick to cook a big dinner." So we spend Thanksgiving day doing not much of anything. I ordered lunch from Cracker Barrel and it was great, except for the sweet potatoes. We sat around in our jammies and watched TV and napped. We missed our families a bunch, but it certainly was a restful day. We are doing a command performance today, although I think the kids are getting a bit restless.

The only up side was that we hadn't found a kennel for Kaylee yet, so we didn't have to figure out where she was going to spend the holiday. She really likes turkey and dressing. And green beans and mashed potatoes. She also spent the day with an orange sweet potato beard. She thought they were just fine and couldn't figure out why I didn't finish mine.

Meet Lars

We have a dry erase board on our refrigerator to help keep up with chores and schedules and such. It also gets used for creative expression quite a bit. My favorite example lately is been Lars. It all started when Mike drew a picture of Lars. The next time I walked by I added Mars. The next thing we knew, Lars was off on all sorts of illustrated adventures. Yes, we are a bit silly around here but we sure have fun!

(If you can't read the story, click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Well, mostly fine...

So last Thursday Nicholas was home sick with a fever and lots of congestion. The Dr. put him on a 6 day course of antibiotics and he seemed to be doing better. Then by Wednesday of this week both he and Mike were feeling pretty puny, so off to see Dr. Kinney again. He put both of them on antibiotics and said no school until Friday.

David was off Wednsday and Thursday until around lunchtime, so it worked out for the boys to stay with him during the morning and then they were on their own for a couple of hours until Katie got home. I was going to take the afternoon off to be with them but they decided they'd rather be on their own. I figured I was only five minutes away and some brotherly bonding would be good. Besides, as Mike pointed out they felt too bad to argue with one another. Of course, I didn't really think that plan through. When I was talking to my principal I said, "Well, they will just be sitting around playing game cube all afternoon so if I went home I'd just be sitting with them and reading a book or something." Then I stopped and said, "Wait a minute, I think they really need me!" But, it was too late. She was onto me.

Mike felt better and went back to school today (Friday) but Nicholas is still having a bit of trouble shaking it, so I'm home with him. I went in to do payroll this morning and made it back in time for David to leave for work by 9:30. Whew! Please keep little Nich in your prayers. He isn't lethargic by any means, just crummy. I think he finally got rid of the fever this morning, but he's very congested. If he's not better by Monday, it's another trip to the Dr to try and figure out how to kick this thing.

I don't suppose all the insulation dust helped much, but thankfully it was the cellulose type. I'm not sure we would have attempted to do the fiberglass stuff ourself. That would have been quite a mess.

Insulation

We finally go around to blowing insulation into the attic this week. When we moved in the inspector had it on the high priority list since the original insulation had greatly disintegrated. (David found a bag when he was up there that identified the original as Mule Hide - "No Kick in a Million feet." We still aren't sure what that means exactly.)

It was quite an ordeal when you factor in all the figuring, buying, loading, hauling, unloading, bringing in, loading in the blower, crawling around in the attic, moving the attic flooring, sweeping, dusting, and more. However, we got it done and our knees seem to be about back to normal. (Which is the best you can hope for once you get 40 year old knees.)

The kids were out of school for fall break, and I don't think this was quite what they had in mind, but they survived all the dust and work and chores just fine.

Japanese maple

Almost all the leaves are gone now, but they were so lovely. Now we get to walk on a red carpet when we come in the front door. Just like celebrities.