You Give Me Fever

Lauren has been sick this week - nothing major, just a cold, but she's been running a low-grade fever the whole time and can't breathe thru her nose at all, which is making her really uncomfortable. She stayed home with R on Tuesday but now her fever is gone and she is acting normally, but still congested and has a lower appetite than usual. I always know when she's truly sick because she doesn't eat. Normally she eats like a horse - she'd eat 24 hours a day if I let her. She was up at 5am this morning, saying she had a bad dream, but honestly I think she woke up because she couldn't breathe well. Poor baby.

In the mean time, I'm desperately trying to keep every one else in the house from getting sick because a sick boyfriend and a sick 5 year-old whining at the same time would make me contemplate climbing up a clock tower and thinning out the neighborhood.

Just kidding.

Maybe.

I'm plying Ashlyn with Vitamin C and zinc and having her wash her hands on a super frequent basis. Thank god for Coldeeze lollipops. So far it's working - no runny nose or fever in sight.

When Lauren has a fever, it always makes me go into hyper-vigilant mode because both my girls had episodes as toddlers with fevers that required trips to the ER - Ashlyn had a febrile seizure (which is pretty common, but very scary to witness) and Lauren had a high fever.

How high?

105.9

One-tenth of a degree below brain death.

This is when I learned that even ER staff freak out when they see that high of a temp on a 2 year-old. I also learned that it IS ok to double dose a child with Tylenol and Motrin at the same time to keep her temp down... to keep it from killing her. This is also when I learned that getting a chest x-ray (they wanted to check her for bacterial pneumonia) of a squirming, feverish toddler is very similar to torture with medieval devices because they put her in a plastic tube to keep her still. THAT was fun.

Fortunately, it turned out that she just had a secondary ear infection.

Why was it a "secondary" infection you ask? Because I had taken her to the ER two weeks BEFORE THAT because she had an ear infection (and a throat infection and the stomach flu ALL AT THE SAME TIME) and had been treated with anti-biotics then and she seemed to be well. But looks can be deceiving, because apparently the anti-biotics weren't strong enough because that damn ear-infection hung around and popped up again 2 weeks later with the FEVER FROM HELL. (That was a really fun month, I tell ya. My then-husband was stationed in Korea, too, so I was dealing with this all by myself.)

Funny thing is, those were the only ear infections she ever got.

But, man, were they doozies.

And to counter that last post...

This quiz restores my faith in myself (like horoscopes, I only believe in them when they are convenient).

And yes, I'm smiling smugly.

You Are Bad Girl Sexy

Girl, you are nothing but trouble. And that's hot. You've got the classic bad girl sexiness mojo going on. And your badass attitude makes men fear you - and crave you. Don't give into people who say to tone it down. You're perfect as is.

What Kind of Sexy Are You?

I'm a Domestic Goddess... and a Nerd

R and I had a nice, quiet weekend alone. We went to the movies on Friday and saw Superman Returns. Saturday I went shopping and Sunday we went and got hair cuts (mine was just trimmed), went out to eat and went to Best Buy and got another cable modem for the desktop downstairs.

Wow, how thrilling was that to read?

Have I settled into domestic bliss and forsaken my flirtatious clubbing days? Maybe. I used to want to go clubbing so that I could dance for hours as an outlet for my excess energy (because I am usually PUMPED UP on Fridays after work). But now that I am dancing 2-3 days a week for bellydancing, I no longer feel the urge to sweat my ass off at a club while trying to fend off drunk guys.

You know what was the highlight of my weekend (besides spending time with my honey)? Buying a new sewing machine. But at least I was sewing bellydance costumes and wasn't making curtains or something.

I'm a domestic goddess AND a nerd. Woooooooo. Sexy, eh? Not so much.

Yes, I can sew. And cook. And decorate cakes. I can make household repairs and run the grill all by myself. I'm not even scared of bugs. And because of my job field, I am quite astute technically, as well. I install and hookup and troubleshoot all things technical in the household. Not that R can't do it, but he has little patience for such things.

In truth, the only reason I need a man around is for entertainment value because, I have learned one absolute truth over the years as an adult.

Vibrators, my dear readers, can't mow the lawn.

Or open pickle jars.

Whew - I'm glad that's over

It's been busy busy busy here in Mishaland.

I had my last Brownie function last night - at a moonbounce place. There was a huge slide, a large moonbounce, a boxing ring, and an obstacle course, plus air hockey. I joined in on the fun and played on all the equipment because I am 9 years old at heart. The slide was pretty steep and fun. The obstacle course was... not good for adults over 5'6" because the obstacles were like this: /\/\/\/\. Squeezing up and down thru there just about killed me - I was racing my daughter. The moonbounce was really fun and running around it in circles was like a combination of running in the water and running in on the surface of the moon - you had to push off really hard using your thighs, but then you went flying. Must be why they call it a moon bounce, eh? I'm so smart it kills me.

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Speaking of energy and kids... have I ever mentioned before that my older daughter has ADHD? Well, she got it from me. I didn't realize I had it until she was diagnosed, which happens in most cases. When she was tested, she came back as being more on the hyper-active side than on the attention-deficit side, which surprised me. I've always known that I had a short attention span, but now that I notice my behaviors in my own life, I think I'm more on the hyper-active side, too. For example: in dance class, we will go thru a choreography a dozen times and we will all be sweaty and tired, but I will still jump up and down in place, waiting for the next go round. When the kids have some kind of physical activity, I always participate with them instead of sitting on the sidelines with the other parents - be it sports, dancing, just running around playing, swimming, etc. Part of the reason is because I want to be INVOLVED in their lives, not just watching from the sidelines, but still. I'm not in super-good shape, either. If I were to make an honest assesment of myself, I could stand to lose 10-15 pounds. I'm not a couch potato, but I don't work out. I just have ALOT of pent-up energy. I never really thought of myself as hyper-active, but compared to the other adults in my age-group, I guess I am. huh

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I ran my last round of training this morning to my company's sales team. It went well and now all the preparation and setup tasks that I've been working on for the last couple weeks are done and I can get back to my regular goof-off schedule. I'm typing in my blog and scarfing chocolate birthday cake as I speak, and I have the last book in a 3-book series to read later this afternoon. Ahhhh. This is more like it.

Of course, I'd rather be home napping or laying around the community pool (well, floating in the pool with my eyes just above the water like a hippopatamus would be more accurate) because it's one of the jungle-hot days here - the heat index is at a balmy 97 degrees.

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I am working on a "20 Things I Hate" post because I was tagged by Nikkilicious. You beeyotch. Now I have to come up with 20 things I hate. Hmm. It's funny because I'm so laid back, I rarely take time to obsess about I don't like, so I may have trouble coming up with 20 things. But on the other hand, I may get annoyed and pissed off as I write so I may end up with more than 20. I guess we'll see. I'll be posting it soon. Maybe.

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And last but never least:

Farewell, Charlie. I will miss reading your take on life.

Be well, my friend.

Dinner Down Undah

R and I went out to eat with an Australian couple that he knows from work.

They were great - really friendly and outgoing. We talked for hours and I have learned 3 things:

1. Even tho Australia is a very laid back place and has good weather, I will never live in Australia. Australia is even more expensive than Maryland and they tax the SHIT out of you.

2. Love of The Simpsons by the male part of the species is universal.

3. Swear words are a lot more amusing to hear when it is said with an Aussie accent: to wit, deeeckhead and wankah.