covid blues and humble brags

Pandemic strikes!

Mother is at home, without an option to work from it! Teaching two children in the 1st grade & 4th grades. Cannot find a lot of mental space (because there is plenty of time) to be a reader, though this mother has a list of items to be read.

So instead, I, the mother in this short story, have been doing a little bit of exercise to offset the wine drinking from month one.

I made:

• glorious fudge brownies
• banana bread
• velvety chocolate cake for daughter's 7th birthday
• a lot of dinners from scratch; a lot of frozen meals on days when I just cannot

I read: 

• Tea Obreht's Inland
• Emily St. John Mandel's The Glass Hotel

I watched:

• We ditched Billions almost at the end of the first season, so we picked back up there - currently on Season Three
• (Gordon) Ramsey's Ultimate Cookery Course

I did:

• a lot of laundry and dishes; I quit!

I'll be:

• writing here more

This is how you Monday night

Make school lunches while dinner is cooking.
Do dishes and laundry while dinner is cooking.
Help kids with homework while preparing dinner (oops; this one is out of order).
Early showers for the kids!
Make a fire in the chiminea and snuggle with the dog.

31 days in January

Of all 31 days, this family of four was sick for at least twenty-eight of them.

My son's inexplicable vomit on Saturday returned Monday morning as the car was leaving for school.  Ok, in an emergency, the car turned around. It was puke-nado all over again. I stayed home with him, and fears of things like oh...salmonella, diabetes, appendicitis could no longer be casually ignored.

His pediatrician confirmed he just had a nasty virus, and the virus was winning. We bought some probiotics at the doctor's strong suggestion, and I have to say...it was the key to turning this thing around. No more vomit, diarrhea, nausea.

We survived January 2019, and my hair is grayer.

***

I mentioned that I would let you know about my great reads, and I'm almost there! I think I'll round up what I'm reading monthly when I have all my book portraits (ha!) photographed.

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There was also a massive wallpaper removal project that we started last weekend while listening to this podcast; it was such a random thing to listen to -- but soooooooooo good! We're almost finished with the podcast but not the wallpaper. When they say it's going to be a long job, they ain't kidding. But here's a tease; this ugly stuff is gone:

***

Finally, I've been too sleepy to stay awake during every single episode of True Detective thus far (Season 3) so my husband is going it alone. We started the first episode of the the Ted Bundy Tapes on Netflix. Chilling! We're having my folks in town and I'm looking forward to the binge sessions with my husband and dad.

The hits keep coming, and the hack I use to clean up vomit.

I promise this will be the last time I write about misfortune in January.

My son, who was so sick on Wednesday night, eventually fell asleep around 4am after hours of wretching. We stayed home on Thursday, and he was running circles around me, eating whatever he desired and keeping it way, way down. On Friday, he went to school. On Saturday, we decided to keep plans for a play date with his BFF. He had been so excited all week for this play date, and on Friday I even let his friend's mom know that he hadn't been well. I put it in her hands if she'd still like us to come over, and she said sure. Because he was fine, right?

So we arrive at the play date this morning. We cross the threshold of the home and the family greets all of us. And my son says good morning so politely and then...coughs. A few more coughs come out and I realize, he is gagging. And then he vomits everywhere. 

I was taking on what I assumed would be my son's embarrassment: my face flushed and I held my hands over my mouth. My son, in fact not embarrassed, stood around like it was no big deal (it really wasn't; no one made him feel bad - are these friends of ours beautiful people or what?). He was sad when we left, and I was amazed that yet again, for the fifth isolated time in January 2019, one of my two children had vomited.

I am the designated vomit cleaner in my partnership. My husband will not clean it up (unless it's in a car and he rules at that, so...). After I got norovirus when I was seven months pregnant with my daughter, I decided that I needed to get smarter about cleaning vomit if I was ever going to survive the preschool/daycare years. I am ridiculous about cleaning it now!  I always come back to the CDC:

When you are sick with norovirus, you can shed billions of virus particles in your vomit and poop. It only takes a few of these particles to make someone sick. (source)

Yes, the CDC said poop. Just like that. Poop.

I approach cleaning this stuff up like I can SEE these particles. After a vomit, I strip my children and quarantine any linens or clothing they might have puked on. This stuff goes outside the house, and when I can hose it off I will, even if it means the following day. If, after a vomit, they wipe their mouth on a towel hanging in the bathroom -- poof, it goes too. I bleach everything they touch and even things they haven't touched. I take all trash outside immediately. I don't want those particles hanging around! Toothbrushes go bye-bye. If they take a drink, I make sure the cup is soaped up and cleaned up ASAP and then I bring in any disposable cups if I have some leftover from a party. Usually, I do. Then I tell my kids that it's OK to throw up on the floor, but I beg them to make their next pukes in the toilet. They always do. They are amazing. And then, for the next weeks upon weeks, because norovirus lives in the guts for up to a month, I beg them to wash their hands. I insist. Because after the vomiting is over, then there's the poop particles. Oh my, I don't have to tell you about those.

I know, I cannot see particles. But this hack has really helped me keep my hands out of my mouth and off my face until the threat is over and we can go back on living. I wash my hands so often during an "outbreak" that they crack and bleed. Friend, it is worth it. Since my pregnancy in 2013, I have not fallen to norovirus. And my kids have indeed "brought it home" at least once a year since.

And I tried to LAUGH today, but it was fake and I was ashamed of myself.

Really real life: when your word of the year retaliates

I mean.

January is casually flipping me a bird at every turn. This week alone, a shattered glass in the kitchen sent shrapnel in a thousand directions, including but not limited to the soles of my daughter's feet. She threw up (again!) on Monday morning and now, my son's turn. He began throwing up not long ago and while his bowels are empty, he has an unfortunate trait of dry heaving until he cannot physically bear to move. It is going to be a long night for him...he looked at me and quietly said "whyyyyyy".

I don't know, G.

I tried to laugh about it or, find the humor. But I find I've been more of a coach tonight. You're going to get through it. You can run to the toilet! Go, go, go, I am with you every step of the way! You got this. It sucks, but, you are being such a champ.

Meanwhile I am bleaching like a lunatic, washing hands until raw and staying home tomorrow to recover. I hope. One night, done night...and please park it here.

Fireside moment

It's about to get real wintry here, with low temperatures approaching 39. I am enjoying a fireside moment (and eating an apple turnover with coconut milk whipped cream). I kickstarted the shenanigans with a glass of wine, a rare moment in 2019.

Currently in the middle of two books - one about gathering and the other about personal finance. 

Loving both and will share glamour shots soon.

We went to the fair yesterday, fun!  Will share those pictures too. Laughing moment: on the tilting swings with my daughter who noticed we were lucky to be near good smelling barbecue, and having fun all at the same time.

mid January slump-itis

Here we go! Laughing through the mid-January slump where sometimes best intentions are forgotten.

My children are still sick (new sick?) and I didn't know what to do about that today except laugh. Let me get this straight, we're now six days missing from kindergarten? HAHAHA!

I had lunch with a friend that made me belly laugh. She reminded me that she made a joke about a stink bomb once that made me spit out coffee many years ago. That made me laugh even harder!

I thought a meeting was happening this afternoon and it's happening two weeks from now, LOL.

But then there was the thud, and an absence of laughter. A colleague and fellow librarian suddenly died over the weekend. She was missing from work and found dead in her home. My best friend told me the details of how it unfolded. I listened; there was no space for joking. 

This is South Florida's most gorgeous time of year - so I can't really tell you about a slump. I love these days and hope they stretch out as long as possible.