Day 24: Playing Catch-Up

I got so behind with the snow days and then the girls being sick with the flu that I had to spend a good bit of time playing catch-up. So my picture for today is the screen as I'm uploading the picture for Day 23. It's kind of an interesting situation, similar to the mirror hall at a carnival. I'm blogging about blogging and posting a picture of posting a picture.

Day 23: Packer Fan

Here's Finleigh, the newest Packer fan in our family. She's all decked out in the Green Bay finery she got for Christmas from Uncle Ed and Aunt Jody, complete with a cheesehead on top. Today the Pack played for the NFC championship and the right to play in the Super Bowl. Maybe Finleigh was their good luck charm because they beat the Bears. We'll be breaking out the green and gold again in a couple of weeks for the Super Bowl!

Day 22: High Flyer

Luckily the flu only lasted 4 days for each of the girls. Karis woke up this morning without a fever so she was able to go on Kim & Dana's Great Adventure to Kentucky. Dana needed to go to KY to get her WIC formula for the baby and we figured it would be a 2-3 hour trek right up through NC, cross a little bit of TN and VA, then into Harlan, Kentucky. Well, not exactly. It turned out to be a real adventure! We stopped in Johnson City at the mall for lunch, where Karis got to do the Mall Jump, which she's wanted to do every time she's ever seen one. Once we left Johnson City though, all the roads we took were up the mountain, down the mountain, then back up the mountain. You get the picture. Sometimes we went miles without seeing any houses. We got to Harlan, but then we had to go to Middlesboro because the grocery store in Harlan wasn't set up to handle the EBT card. We had to find another way back to SC because I was determined NOT to go back the way we came. We went down 25E to I-81, which turned out to be so much easier I wondered why I hadn't chosen that route to begin with. We finally got home after 11 p.m. Poor Karis was just recovering from the flu and I know she was really tired but she barely complained at all. She slept most of the time and was a real trouper!

Day 18: Another One Bites the Dust

And now Karis is down. Same fever, same symptoms. I called the doctor, who agreed with me that it's probably the same thing. I have the two of them laying on opposite ends of the couch in the bonus room, watching movies. There are multiple bottles of hand sanitizer all over the house, and I'm kept pretty busy running up and down the stairs. Dana is off to the doctor this morning to get some TamiFlu for herself. Jon is out of town until tonight so he's missed most of the drama.

Day 17: Pitiful!

My poor little Quinner is sick! She officially has the flu (Influenza B). I took her to the doctor this morning and they did the nasal swab. She's been running a fever for a couple of days and complaining of a headache, but flu? I called my doctor and got some TamiFlu, but I'm hoping we can keep the germs away from the baby. The doctor said the best thing to do was quarantine Quinn, so bonus room, here we come!

Day 15: A New Phone

I must be one of the only people on the planet who uses the same cell phone for the term of their contract. At least that's what Dana tells me. Anyway, our contract is almost up and my old phone was turning itself off unexpectedly and without any warning whatsoever, so I decided to take myself off to the Verizon store and upgrade. I was unpleasantly surprised to find that they no longer offer any "free" (after rebate) phones that were worth using and I ended up paying $80 for my phone. I only had 4 decent options to choose from, since Jon won't let me get a Data Plan. I first thought I wasn't going to like the phone I got, but when I found out there was a $35 restocking fee if I returned it, I was determined to find reasons like it.

Day 14: Christmas (a little late!)

We were very sad about the closing of Club Libby Lu a couple of years ago, so when we saw that a new store in Haywood Mall called Club Tabby was offering similar products and services the girls were thrilled. As part of their Christmas present from Dana and James, we took them to Club Tabby today for a makeover. Karis chose the Princess makeover and Quinn chose the Rock Star treatment. For about $30 each they got their hair put up, temporary color and glitter put in, makeup application, and nails painted and decorated. It was a lot of fun, although Quinn was uncomfortable in the false eyelashes. I can see that we will be stopping in there often for impromptu girly fun. Having nails painted is only $3 and to have them painted and decorated is only $5.

Day 13: Baby's in Love

Finleigh has found a new love: The Wiggles! Dana pulled up a Wiggles video on the internet and let Finleigh see it, and she seemed very interested. I'm not sure letting a 3 month old watch videos is entirely appropriate, but when you're nearly housebound you sometimes let such things slide.

Day 12: Cabin Fever!

The roads are still crusty and slippery, although Jon went back to work yesterday. We bravely went out to run some errands and Quinn is at her friend Monica's house to play for a while. As a bonus, when I went to take Quinn, Monica's mother had made some yummy Romanian pancakes (very similar to crepes) with strawberry filling, and she sent some home with me.

Day 11: Piling Up

We ended up with between 5 and 6 inches of snow. Then the freezing rain fell and made a crust on everything, which pretty well took the fun out of playing outside.

Day 10: Snowpocalypse

All over the South, people have been clearing the grocery store shelves of milk and bread in anticipation of a winter storm, and for once, nature delivered on the weather forecasters' promise. We woke up this morning to 3 or more inches of snow on the ground and heavy snow still falling. I measured it this afternoon and we had just over 5 inches of snow. We spent the day playing in the snow, making snow cream, and watching movies. Oh, and eating. Lots of snacking going on here. The powers that be have already canceled school for tomorrow because of the freezing rain that has fallen and formed a crust on the snow.

Day 9: Love That Mousie!

Cats by nature tend to act aloof and dignified, and Sally Hannah is no exception. But this cat is a fool for her stuffed mousie! I tried to catch her doing something silly with it, but she saw me with the camera and quit playing to stare me down. Sometimes she carries it around in her mouth like she's caught a real mouse. She's such good entertainment!

Day 8: In My CD Player

Take one look at what's in my CD player and you could probably guess the age of at least one of my children. I don't exercise my rights to control the music selection in the van nearly as much as I could, mostly because I remember how much I loved to listen to "my" music as a young kid and I want my girls to develop their own tastes too (within reason). So yes, it's bubblegum pop, but it's clean and has a good beat, and it gets them singing and cheerful while we're driving to school in the mornings. That's good enough for me.

Day 7: My Favorite Shelf

I got my pantry cleaned out and (mostly) reorganized. Here's my favorite shelf: the spices. Everything is neatly separated into boxes and it's easy to find what I need. A few months from now someone should ask me to take another picture of that shelf to see what condition it's in! I'm not sure just how long I can maintain it like this.

Day 6: Road Trip

I hauled my camera all the way to Charlotte so I could take a picture of the Ikea building. Amy and I got there before the store opened, but they open the cafe early so customers can have breakfast. Amy offered to buy me a cup of coffee, and then when we got ready to pay the guy told us coffee is free before 10 a.m.! I set myself a budget and only went 49 cents over it, so I count that as a very good day, especially when you consider the free coffee. But I had to put back a couple of items that I wanted to get in order to keep from going over budget, so I'll just have to make another trip in the next couple of weeks. Who wants to go with me? And we'll make sure to get there before 10 a.m. for the free coffee!

Day 5: Organized Chaos

I am a packrat. I will freely admit it. I collect articles and books on how to organize your home and your life, yet waiting for someone to leap out of the pages to organize me doesn't seem to be working out very well. I've also heard that being disorganized can be a sign that you've got some spiritual disorganization going on as well, and that *really* concerns me. Today was the day I chose to start purging in my kitchen, and this is the collection of items that came from what I call the "cookware" cabinet. About 1/3 of these items went into the giveaway box (like the lid to a cake pan I don't even have anymore) and the rest of them went back into the cabinet neatly organized. This job wasn't nearly as bad as the pantry purge I did next, but pictures of that would have scared small children, extremely neat people and Martha Stewart. I also dove into the cabinet above the stove and found a sort of roach motel for candles, because about 35 of them had managed to find their way in there with no hope of ever coming out, since I can't see into that cabinet without standing in a chair. At this rate it will take me a month to get finished with the kitchen but maybe a goal of one room a month is more manageable for me. And maybe the Clean House people will show up before I have to do it all myself.

Day 4: Victory!

Here's one of my deep dark secrets: I love the candied fruit you find in fruitcake. In fact, I've been known to buy it once it goes on clearance after Christmas and eat it right out of the container. Shameful, I know. All it is is sugar and artificial coloring. This is my second small container, and it's all gone now. But here's where the victory part comes in: today I was in Publix and as I cruised by the clearance rack I noticed that they had some candied cherries on clearance (it was a really good price too!). I picked them up to put them in my cart....and then I put them back down. I resisted the urge to bring those babies home with me. I just bought a book called "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst, which is all about replacing your cravings for other things (food, clothes, "stuff") with a craving for God. I've heard her speak about this on the radio several times in the last couple of days, and although the philosophy is not new (you're trying to fill some "hole" in your life, so find out what it is and you'll stop overeating) I think she may have a different approach. At least it seems like God is trying to get my attention on this subject. Stay tuned to see if anything I read actually causes me to change my ways!

Day 3: Bye-Bye, Tree

Today the Christmas tree came down. It looks like a mess, but that's what comes of letting your 9 and 6 year olds decorate it. Each girl insisted on gathering her own ornaments (the 1st Christmas, 2nd Christmas and so on, plus the ones each girl had made over the years) in one area which left the tree looking a little lopsided in places. But as much as I love the look of a well-decorated and color coordinated tree, I wouldn't trade all my homemade ornaments for a designer tree. Each one of our decorations tells a story, from the crocheted mittens my mother-in-law made to the ceramic Converse sneaker given to me by a dear friend.

Day 2: OH to SC

January 2, 2011: We left North Olmstead, OH, for home. Our path took us through Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia (where I took this amazing shot while stuck in traffic), North Carolina, and back to South Carolina. There are spots on it because I took the picture through my van window.

Day 1: WI to OH

January 1, 2011, found us traveling from Milton, Wisconsin, to North Olmsted, Ohio. We were visiting Jon's family after Christmas and had to make a detour on our way home to pick up a "new" van in the Cleveland area. I was fascinated by these little houses lined up in neat little rows, right near the Indiana/Ohio border. And I'm getting to be quite good at taking pictures from a moving car. :-)