latest update

Things have been super busy. Finally am feeling better after last week's strep/tonsillitis/cellulitis. Saw the doctor again yesterday and he gave me the all clear. Isaac and Aspen both got some stomach bug the last couple days. So they missed school, but still had to finish all their homework and go after school to take their finals. Lovely thing to do when you're sick, but had to be done.

Our other busyness has been trying to get my car ready for a 3000 mile road trip. New tires, check. Oil changed, check. Then the alternator died, which killed the battery. Took them in to be repaired. Decided to rebuild the alternator to save money. Finally got the car back. Two days later, the alternator is broken again, on a Friday night. Of course mechanics don't work on weekends. Took the car back in on Monday, they fixed it again. Got it back late Monday night. We were getting ready to leave today. The alternator is STILL broken. Good thing we hadn't left yet.

I should have just paid the extra $100 for the new alternator in stead of the rebuild. It's probably not going to be done until late tomorrow. So instead of leaving Wednesday morning for Utah, we won't be leaving until Friday I think. I guess we'll just live it up at home for the first part of our vacation. I already told the schools that we would be gone, and church and work. So it looks like we'll be hiding out until the car is fixed. It's a good thing we weren't on a strict schedule. But, still, I wish cars didn't have so many problems.

So, my family in Utah...we won't be there on Thursday. We'll keep you posted.

Gorillaz

Nate and I went to see the Gorillaz in concert a while ago. (Just barely got around to getting the pictures off my phone.) I wasn't really excited to go. Nate had been playing some of their music for me while we were driving around and it was a bit annoying. But I went anyway, because Nate was really excited. Turns out, they are better live, at least I thought so. We had a great time. Luckily there were no chairs in front of us so we could sit to watch. I'm too old and tired to stand for two hours in the nose bleed section just to watch a concert. But it was fun. And I'm glad that I went afterall!

Update

So I finally broke down and went to the urgent care last night. It turns out I have strep, tonsillitis, and cellulitis in my throat---which left unattended could lead to not being able to open my jaw or swallow, and then could abscess.

Fabulous! I guess I've been saving up for the past 20 years to get really really sick.

But thankfully they gave me a penicillin shot and a double dose of oral antibiotics for yesterday. And they said I could take stronger painkillers (which have really helped but which make me nauseous, as do the antibiotics if I don't eat first, which is painful to do and, consequently, takes a long time.)

This morning, at least the body aches are gone, hopefully some of the sore throat pain will be gone tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to go see another doctor about the cellulitis.

I'm glad I didn't try to hold out until Monday.

Today I am grateful for:

1. priesthood blessings
2. urgent care office that was open late on a saturday (most close at 4 or 5 --crazy)
3. nice doctors and nurses
4. antibiotics
5. painkillers
6. hot baths
7. wonderful husband who hasn't complained, even though he has so much to do that hasn't gotten done because he is taking care of me and everyone else.
8. kids that are still behaving nicely

Please keep us in your prayers. We're going to need it for the next few days. Hopefully no one else picked up my sickies.

Things I'm grateful for while I'm sick

I've been sick for the past couple days. So sick it makes me cry. I haven't been this sick in maybe 20 years. And I don't deal with pain very well. At least not sore throat pain. Can't swallow, can't eat, can barely drink - only do it because I don't want to get dehydrated. Nothing tastes good. My head is all stuffed up, my jaw hurts, I have some massive tension headaches, dizzy, nauseus, and my whole body hurts. Basically have the flu I think. But these are the things I am thankful for this weekend:

1. Advil
2. Tylenol
3. Sudafed
4. Chloraseptic - spray and lozenges
5. Kids that are helping out and being nicer to each other than normal because I am sick.
6. Friends that are picking up the church assignments that I was supposed to do this weekend.
7. A husband that is picking up the slack on this very busy weekend, even though he has a ton of his own stuff that he needs to do. Including helping one forgetful son with his science project that was due two days ago but wasn't paying attention and didn't do it over Thanksgiving like he was supposed to; taking Hazel to have breakfast with Santa; and then to a birthday party at one of those inflatable bouncey places.
8. A big bathtub.
9. Two water heaters.
10. A kind husband who was willing to bring 5-gallon buckets of hot water from the bath upstairs to my bath downstairs when my hot water ran out halfway into filling the tub. (They are on different water heaters.) That was the icing on the cake.

Lights

I thought ahead a little on this one. I heard that it was going to be a bit chilly the day after Thanksgiving, so I decided to put up my house Christmas lights on Thanksgiving Day morning. I didn't want to have to freeze my fingers while trying to hang lights. And I figured that I was only one day early. So I did!

Sadly, my lights are slowly dwindling in number. This year I lost a whole strand due to burned out bulbs. Unfortunately, they don't even sell the size/shape of bulb that I have. So this will be the last year for them. In the week since I hung them, 5 more have burnt out. I guess next year I'll have to bite the bullet and buy new ones. But for now, the outside of the house is lit and decorated.

Great Deal for Me

Have you heard of Groupon? Did you hear about Oprah's groupon for Nordstrom Rack? Basically I paid $25 and got a $50 gift certificate to use at the Rack. So this is what I found for me! Franco Sartos. I love a good deal.

Trimming the tree

The tree is trimmed.

There are even presents under it already. One of my children is really excited for Christmas and is really on top of things.