Still Here...

Sorry to have disappeared for so long!  We have been hit here with virus after virus.  One of the worst, which many in our area seem to be fighting, is a bad respiratory bug which comes with any nasty combination of fever, aches, chills, headache, congestion, and rattly cough.  The misery lasts the better part of a week, then wanes, leaving the nasty cough, but then hits again the 3rd week, sometimes nastier than Round 1!  Some we know have had 3 rounds.  I have avoided it, but all of the kids, including Prince Grandbaby, haven't been so lucky.

For our kids, Round 2 brought renewed fever, sore throats, and more congestion, which led to intense ear aches and/or sinus infections.  It is odd for older kids to get ear infections, but our pediatricians' office has been inundated with similar cases.  Prince CuddleBunny has had such full ears, he can barely hear, but didn't suffer too much pain.  Princesses Eager and Sassy weren't as fortunate when it came to the pain, but haven't been as deaf.  The nurse practitioner said the prince may not notice improvement in his hearing for 2 to 3 weeks after starting antibiotics.  It's been 10 days now, and one ear temporarily cleared this morning --he was so excited!  A little light at the end of the tunnel.

Add to all of that, spring sports started this week, and simultaneously, a new bug showed itself.  So far, thankfully, the stomach flu has only attacked Prince Go-for-It.  It was especially sad for him...  For years, he's looked forward to playing on the high school baseball team. He's worked so hard, daily, for months, to make sure he was in top shape and had his skills honed.  Then BAM.  Day of all days for it to happen, he ended up in the nurse's office at school with fever, nausea, stomach and other other body aches on the first day of team tryouts.  When I picked him up, we drove through the mob of excited and eager baseball players headed to an unexpectedly sunny field... but the prince could only go home to crawl into bed.  He persevered through the next 2 days of tryouts, though, and made the team roster.  Whew!  Far from 100%, though, he's back in bed now, resting up between school and a later practice.

I hope you're all staying warm and healthy!  This has been a new meaning of "March roaring in like a lion" for us.  I'm ready for the lambish part!

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I wrote the part of this post you've read above on March 6th! That gives you an idea of how my month is going.  I was going to post it then, but I thought, "Why is this helpful to anyone?" and decided to add a picture of something that really helped the kids get through some of their misery.  Now, on March 20th, I finally have a photo of that item and am determined to finish this post!

This, believe it or not, is IT.

A beauty, eh?  Well, to kids with sore muscles and earaches, it was.  We have, somewhere, a long, cylindrically-shaped, bean-bag-type pad, for lack of a better description, that can be heated in the microwave to use to soothe muscle cramps, etc.  It is often used by the girls for monthly discomfort.  Well, as many things go around here, it is often missing when most needed.  Prince Go-for-It was miserable with body aches, and was asking for that AWOL pad.  This time I eschewed the possibly fruitless search and decided to make one.  If we find the other, I'm sure we'll appreciate having 2.

I went to the sewing area and searched for some tightly woven, sturdy, but flexible and comfortable fabric.  I spied the lower leg of a former pair of jeans that had been cut off below a hole in the knee.  Perfect fabric for this use, and already sewn into an open-ended tube. 

1) I turned it inside-out and sewed across one open end... a couple of times, for strength.  

2) I turned it right-side-out again, and went to the pantry, where I filled it with barley and, because I didn't want to use all the barley, some spelt grain, until it was shaped like a pillow.  

3) I made sure to stop filling with enough fabric free to enable me to sew the top firmly closed... Which is what I did next.  (If I'd had some dried lavender, it would've made a great addition to the filling for a pleasant and soothing odor, too.)  

So in less than 5 minutes, followed by a minute or two in the microwave, we had a new heating pad, soothing Prince Go-for-it's aching lower back and neck.  Later in the week, it was appreciated by Princess Sassy for help with her aching ears.  

I Didn't Know my Rope was Elastic

I guess it's a good thing, but I wish it didn't have to be...

You may have noticed that I've been running quite behind on posting to my blog. It's been the usual busy here lately with work on the garage addition, the baby's arrival, visitors from afar, and the kids' sports and work activities... and then some.  

When the baby was just a couple of weeks old (he's already a month!), he had his 2-week check up (at which he was already a full pound over his birth weight).  Also, his mama needed to check in with the surgeon and her midwife, which resulted in my accompanying them to 3 different appointments that week.  The last of those was on the Friday morning before Princess Eager's first ever soccer tournament game.  The timing was just right to come home from the doctor appointment and get the mommy settled, before zooming off to the tourny in mid-afternoon.

I'd been looking forward to that particular weekend for months, as there was a special celebration for my aunt and uncle's golden wedding anniversary.  But things had gotten complicated! 

Princess Eager's tournament (1 game on Friday and 2 on Saturday) was the first addition to the schedule, followed by a tournament planned as a special treat by Prince Go-for-It's school baseball coach for the 9th graders who'd played together in the spring (2 games on Saturday and 1 on Sunday).  Both tournaments were an hour's drive away... In different directions, of course.   

Thankfully, Princess Artiste had a day off work that Saturday, and volunteered to miss the anniversary party to chauffeur Eager to her games, and to be her cheering section.  Prince Inventive, Prince CuddleBunny, and I took Go-for-It to his Saturday morning game, and Inventive stayed to watch the end before leaving for work, while Hubby, the youngest prince, and I drove out to enjoy the special anniversary.  After the party, Hubby, CuddleBunny, and I watched the end of Go-for-It's 2nd game of the day, before all 4 of us headed for home.  

Are you following?  I told you it got complicated, and I had been somewhat stressed during the week, making the calculations to be sure everyone got where they needed to safely and on time, with rides to and from, and family fans to support the athletes.

The weekend appeared to be nicely under control, and in the home stretch, when Hubby was overtaken by sickness on our way home.  Soon after we arrived, he fell into bed with nausea, body aches, chills, and a fever.  I tried to tend to him while also keeping him isolated, hoping the sickness wouldn't spread, and, exhausted, felt that I was at the end of my rope.  

By morning, I felt very achy, too, and also nauseous, so the end of my rope had extended.  --But Prince Go-for-It had more baseball to play, and none of our younger drivers in the family were available to transport him.  We split duties.  I drove him to his game and back, and crashed into bed while Hubby got up to take him to a baseball team try-out that evening.

Sickness was not exactly the cherry on the cake of our weekend... and also not where my rope quit stretching.  Sunday night I got an email from my sister that my mom had experienced some confusion during the day, and even though it seemed to have resolved, she was taking her to the ER.  It was best to have her checked out for stroke or infection.  We thought it likely that even though she thoroughly enjoyed both, she was maybe just tired from attending the anniversary party the day before, and from hosting my brother and sister-in-law who had stayed with them while visiting from out of state.  

We were not prepared for the doctor's discovery ... a large brain tumor.

Life can change in an instant.  Things like keeping up with blogs take a position even lower than before.  Time with the people in our lives is so precious.  

I am happy to say our 82-year-old mom came through brain surgery like a champ holding onto her determination to "live 'til 100!"  Because it was in her right frontal lobe, the left frontal lobe took right over so she didn't lose any function.  Medical science and the human brain are amazing things, as is the power of so many prayers sent up on her behalf.  

I can't give in to the feeling that my rope's end is met.  Among lots of emotions, I'm torn.  When I'm home, I feel I should drop everything to be with my parents and join my overstressed sister in helping them, but when I'm away for hours or days, things and people suffer at home.  -It's certainly not all about me. 

The surgery was one big hurdle leapt, but we don't yet have enough information on the cancer to know what lies ahead.  God knows, and we rest in that assurance... and welcome prayers for our parents during this challenging and frightening new journey upon which they've suddenly found themselves.

I Know You're Waiting...

I promised more on the oven saga, but things have been buzzing around here.  I haven't had time to sit and write about oven options, but thought I'd fill you in on why:

From NFLrush.com

 - Of course, we had to take time out to sit on the edge of our seats, sometimes groaning, sometimes cheering, then, after the exciting go-ahead score with only about 30 seconds to go, ultimately yelling in disbelief as our Seahawks ended their quest for the SuperBowl yesterday.  :'-(  It seems forever away, but next year will be here before we know it, and with the amazing and underrated Russell Wilson at the helm of the strong, young team Pete Carroll's built, we should be watching them in the play-offs again.



 - Hubby and I, with the help of a trusted financial adviser, are reconsidering our life insurance, and possibly other insurances.  This means meetings, research, phone calls, and will also mean the requisite physicals.  We are arranging part of our savings into longer term "vehicles" that we hope will help us out in the future, while staying partially available if at all necessary for major, unforeseen emergencies.  This requires learning some new terms, like "annuitize" and "single-premium life policy." We will keep some for more likely and smaller unexpected needs, and it's hard to know how much that should be. 

What Is An Annuity? Find Out More

 - We are refinancing our home from a variable rate to a fixed-rate mortgage.  It seems the worst part of any refi is the appraisal, which is today.  It's always 'fun' to have a stranger come and walk through the house, especially when their job is to judge the value, which, of course, looks less impressive if cluttery or less-than-pristine.  Why am I sitting here instead of cleaning?!

 - Prince Go-for-It has had quite a few diving meets in the last couple of weeks.  Because of one, 11-dive meet, he qualified for "leagues," so I run him from the junior high to the high school for daily practice for an additional 2 weeks.  That OK.  We're proud of him for trying this new sport and giving it his all.  I am thankful, though, that the junior high has its own track team, so he'll stay put after school in the spring.  

 - Princess Artiste took her drive test at the driving school on Saturday, instead of at the DMV, which is a new process in our state.  But we can't avoid the DMV completely, so this week we get to brave the afternoon wait there to do the paperwork (and pay more $$, of course) for her official license.  

 - I need to make sports physical appointments for Artiste and Go-for-It before their respective track seasons, and many of us are behind on dental appointments.  

 from Free Coloring Page Site

It's bad when the 8-year-old needs to remind me to call the dentist.   It's probably because he likes to go!


 - Tomorrow, the phone company will be updating our DSL lines, requiring a new modem, which means being without internet for part of the day, followed by the installation of a new modem... by moi.  Then we will have to reconfigure all our devices to recognize it.  Not being a computer whiz, tasks like this seem to take me major time, as the 'instructions' are sorely lacking and these things never want to go smoothly.

 - The Wolf oven also leaves tomorrow.  Hubby doesn't seem to have any idea when he'll have time to adjust the cabinet for its replacement.  Prince Go-for-It's 15th birthday is this weekend, for which he'll want a cake, and probably, pizza.  With no oven?  Hmm...

Oh!  And I haven't printed and sent my Christmas letter yet.  I guess now it's a Start-the-Year letter!

OK, so in the time I've written about all of this, I could've probably written about ovens.  Oh, well. There are also things to share regarding garage progress and Princess Sassy's baby-building, but those will make their own posts on another day.

Spring "Break" - ?

Sorry to be taking another blog break, but I don't see writing time in this week's schedule! 

- Hubby is working on the garage/bonus addition, planning to pour the slab floor for the garage portion, and also is going to try to start a remodel job for a colleague to help pay for the garage.  The car needs oil and maybe brakes.  Trees need planting.  It won't all happen, but after dedicating most of Sunday to putting together a million parts, the compost tumblers are complete! 

 - My mom has heart valve replacement surgery on Wednesday.  I am taking lunch down to their house today to visit with my parents, and also my brother, who is here from Ohio.   

- Wednesday is also the day Prince Inventive is 18 and Princess Artiste is 16. Thursday Prince CuddleBunny is 8!   I still don't have their respective dinner and cake requests yet.

 - Prince Go-for-It and Princess Artiste are due for their sports physicals... Artiste's was Monday and Go-for-It's is Thursday.   

 - My brother leaves to go back home on Saturday, which means my dad will be alone at home unless my sister or I jump in to stay with him from then through next week, until our older sister arrives to help out on the 11th.  I'm at least planning to be there at least that first day and night, as company, plus chief cook and bottle-washer, and chauffeuring between home and the hospital. 

 - Sunday, of course, is Easter. We usually go to Mom's and Dad's for dinner and fun, but with Mom in the hospital, this year will be different.  It will be tough for me to be away for "Easter Eve," and miss the egg and basket hunt early Sunday morning before church.  This will all take some planning, and enlisting the aid of "assistant bunnies." I'll also miss attending church with my family, but we all know that Grandma and Grandpa come first this week.

 - Add to all this, Princess Artiste is pushing to go to the DMV to get her permit, and Inventive needs to renew his permit, then finally schedule his driving test to get his license (put off because he didn't want to have to pay insurance), so that's always fun to look forward to... A few hours in the DMV...twice.  ;-)

Be back as soon as I can...   I wish you all a blessed Easter.

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade."   1 Peter 1: 3 - 4