Glow in the Dark Mini Golf!

Caitlin's in yellow sweats. Brandon's in light jeans and a white shirt. They knew what they were doing this time and dressed appropriately. Caitlin can't putt a golf ball to save her life, but we had a good time.

breathing

I had the most amazing, colossal, knee-shaking, scary asthma attack this morning. Coughing strong enough to bring me to my knees. Gasping for breath. Shaking all over. All from shoveling the front walkway. The walkway! That little, no more than 3 foot long cement path that runs from our driveway to the front door. It took 5 minutes! I'm not sure if it was the cold air (3 degrees), the dryness of the air, or the fact that I'm not over this illness yet. Whatever the cause, it was scary. I was grateful for the inhaler that the doctor gave me last week, and I could feel it opening my lungs. Except for the fact that I had to go upstairs to get it, I was grateful.

Now I'm wondering - should I get on a regular prescription for this stuff? Maybe at least until winter's over? Should I shovel the sidewalk? It is the law around here (and the town newspaper and all the media make sure we know that we're legally liable to clear our sidewalks of snow). Brian's gone for a few days, so it's all up to me. Should I worry that my loud cough didn't wake up Caitlin? Really. She slept through the whole thing. This cough seems loud enough to wake the dead. Would she come to my rescue if I passed out? Hmmmm....

I'm not use to this. My asthma only comes into play when I do sports like soccer, or cross country. Anything that involves running and heavy breathing. So I just don't do things like that, and I have no problems. But this..... this is hard. I'm still sick. I'm having a hard time breathing, and the dry air makes it worse. Maybe no snow shoveling for this girl this week. As much as I love winter and snow, I'm looking forward to the temps in the mid-40's by the end of the week. I want to breathe easier.

Oh My, What a Week!I

I'm writing this before I take my narcotics infused cough syrup for the evening. Why? Because I'm afraid that after I take the lovely elixir of sleep, I'll be unable to type a coherent sentence (or stay awake to see if it posted!). Oh my, what a week it's been! Everyone home, all at the same time, for two extra days. I don't know that I'm cut out to be one of those women who is suppose to be home with her family 24/7. Yet another reason home schooling is not for me.

The week started out normally. We hosted small group on Sunday, which isn't small. Making dinner for 20 people is always a challenge. The kids were so excited that people were coming to our house that they waited outside for 15 minutes for people to show up. You'd think we never had people over! We were okay with them being outside and running around, as the weather forecast showed bitter cold moving in soon. Might be the last time they'd get out for a few days.

Monday was a free morning for me, so Caitlin and I had a relaxing mommy/daughter morning. We're busy most mornings, so this one was a rare treat. We get one Monday a month together. I'd heard about possible school cancellations on Tuesday, so we hit the stores with stealth, stocking up on everything we needed for a few days. By noon it was bitterly cold outside Temperatures had fallen by at least 20 degrees since I'd woken up. By school pick-up it was blowing snow. My fingers were going numb in my gloves as I waited for the boys to get out of class. By 3:15 the notice had gone out that school would be cancelled Tuesday due to extreme cold. Fun.

By Tuesday, I was coughing - hard. No fun. Brian worked from home, and the kids were both home with me. Although it was cold, everything was open, so the kids and I headed out for lunch and play time at the mall. They're too big for the mall play area, but it's heaven when the high for the day is 1 below zero. The roads were steamy from the sun and melting snow, and the sidewalks sparkled with cold beauty. But by Tuesday night, I was miserable.

On Wednesday, school was closed. Again. Below zero. Again. The news treated this arctic blast as if it was the coldest snap we've ever had here. Not so. It's been colder before and there were no school closures. The high was somewhere around zero again. I was deep in the throes of a cold. I barked like a seal. I was sure my head was coming loose from my body whenever I coughed. If I'd had a paying job, I would have taken a sick day and stayed in bed. But I don't get that option. Instead, I managed kids and tried to stay upright. It was just kind of wimpy that school was closed again. I spent a lot of time on the couch. I was able to get in and see a doctor, who said I had inflamed lungs and put my on steroids. Brian was nice enough to make dinner (it was the only way he'd eat!), which freed me up to lay around some more. At this point I was sure I was turning into an old lady. My whole body ached. I had a hard time opening my hands, or even gripping anything. I felt like I had arthritis all over. I'm not sure how much of this was due to my illness or to the cold weather.

Thursday - school was open! Yay! I almost danced, but due to cold weather induced arthritis like symptoms, much coughing and lack of sleep, I decided against it. My joy was short lived when Caitlin came downstairs crying. She was running a 99.5 degree fever and was miserable. Brandon went to school, but Caitlin and I stayed home. We did a lot of laying around together. My cold got progressively worse. The high for the day got up to 27, which was downright balmy compared to zero.

Then came Friday.... the least fun day of all. My cough was so extreme that I was up all night, sure I was going to lose my dinner. By Friday morning I was shaking and crying for no reason. For 4 hours. So, so tired. So achy. So run down. I called my doctors office first thing, and by 3:00 pm I had secured a prescription for some powerful cough syrup. The kind you can only take at night. And some antibiotics. Why does the doctor think I need antibiotics for a cold? She never gave me a good explanation. I'm not planning on taking them. Caitlin was home again with me again, still running a fever. Poor thing! She cried and cried when I told her she couldn't go to school. It was a sad, sad morning here, complete with two crying females. Bet Brian was glad to go into the office! We did what we were good at - more laying around and napping - which alleviated some of the shaking. I can't tell you how excited I was to go to bed that night. And I slept!!!! Yay!!!

So here we are at Saturday. I felt all charged up from sleeping! After three nights of not sleeping well, or at all, I felt like I could take on the world! I was quickly brought back to reality after having to recover from taking a shower, and changed my mind on that. Nope, still not recovered. Not even a little. The kids are back on track. Not sick. No fevers. Just a little cough. And waayyyyy too much energy.

I'm really hoping for a more normal week next week. And I'm hoping this pesky, powerful, persistent cough will be gone. But now.... on to that cough syrup....

Dreaming....

I watched about 20 minutes of "New Moon" last night. For all the hype, I thought the special effects would have been better. I guess they were good enough, since I spent most of the night having dreams about werewolves. Man, I'm tired today!!