It's over.

The holiday season, that is. Whew! Even though I planned for an uneventful and low-toy/low-mess holiday it blossomed at the last minute. With granny in the rehab facility to recover from hip surgery (I always feel I should clarify that by rehab I don't mean alcohol or drugs, lol) life was a bit more complicated for that entire half of the family. On Christmas Eve, after several hours at a fantastic gathering, the phone rang, Granny was admitted to the hospital because her incision is infected and she has a raging UTI. They tried to go to mom's hospital but couldn't because it was FULL! They actually turned them away mid transit with granny strapped down in the back of an ambulance! She ended up 20 miles north of here. Mom was there until wee hours Christmas morning. Good thing we decided to have Christmas dinner here huh? We did enjoy ourselves.

My IL's got us a steam mop thing which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. I used it within 24 hours of opening it and even dh likes it. This kitchen floor was gross when we moved in and it's never been really clean. It's kind of poreous so there's probably dirt way down in the little pores from when the floor was new. The kitchen smelled like wet dirt when we were done, weird! But the floor looks good. I still need to go over half of it again, but that can happen sometime this week.

I'm working on a quilt square for a friend who is battling cancer. I'm embroidering something fun. I think the organizer of the quilt is going to sigh and wonder where she will put such a silly square. She was specifically asking for blues and greens, peace and comfort. What she's getting from me is a purple rhinoceros with the kanji for "laugh" tattooed on his rear end. It's a running joke with Jo and I and as much as peace and calm and comfort are important, so is laughter, so purple rhino it is. I know it will make her giggle, and that's exactly what I wanted :o).

Winnie got a lamp from the IL's and a little stool to put it on next to her bed. One of my tasks this week is to get her room set up the way she wants it. I'm thinking this will alleviate some of her sleepytime issues, the fear, seeing faces in things, etc... . The lamp is from a shabby chic collection at Target and it's just perfect for a little girl who is quickly becoming unlittle. Heck, *I* like the collection, lol. I think with a few choice items from the collection we can probably transform her room into a spot she'll love to hang out. Anyone with a twin bed frame and a shabby chic twin headboard who wants to give it away must contact me ;o). I'll be scouring Craigslist for sure. The bedframe she has now is probably ok, maybe it's the boxsprings she needs new, they are SQUEEKY beyond belief. They drive me crazy AND her. They'll go to the curb as soon as I can replace them.

Dh's big snip-snip is tomorrow. I'm getting nervous but mostly because I think he should be. He's not nervous, so I'm doing it for him, kwim? I hate taking meds that make me loopy and he has 2 to take right before we go. Then he's off his feet for 48 hours, that's Friday and Saturday. I think THAT alone has me nervous, lol. 2 whole days without my husband. He got a new computer game that he's looking forward to playing for 48 hours straight. So, not only will I not have my dh, but I won't have the computer to come and whine to you all either, lol. It'll be fine, but I'm nervous. I am not in the least bit sad or upset. This is seriously shocking me. I just keep saying to myself "this is definately the right decision" and the voice in my head says "duh, I already KNOW that, shut UP". I was gearing up for having to tell myself "this is right, this is right, don't cry, don't cry" over and over until I believed it. But I already believe it. Wow. So that's that then.

I was supposed to have WIC today but cancelled because, well, I didn't want to go. My excuse is that Finn has been running a fever. Really I just didn't feel like dealing with taking Neall to work and all that chaos. Imagine my shock when the person I spoke with on the phone to cancel was HELPFUL and KIND and genuinely concerned that I was not going to make it today and hoped Finn was better soon and oh he was so sorry that it would be mid January before he could get me in again. Wow. Never NEVER had that kind of service from the WIC office, lol. I actually feel light and carefree about it at this point. Amazing what a little bit of kindness and a gentle voice can do for you huh?

Finn is running this odd fever. I just want it all to stop. Since October it's been insanity. I've called the exchange at our doctor's office more times in the last 3 months than I had the entire 5 years before this. Ridiculous. Last week Finn threw up in his bed, followed by the runs for 24 hours but no fever or anything. Then a day after that was all done spiked a fever again, complaining of general pain, not the all over pain like flu, just generally not feeling good. Tylenol and Motrin don't touch the fever or anything else so I've been just letting it run it's course. NOW, he's only running a fever during the day. At night it seems to break, he sweats a lot, gets up feeling somewhat well, by the end of the day he's running a 103 fever and feeling icky again. WTH? I don't want to take him to the doctor since there aren't any symptoms other than random pain and a random fever. Hardly doctor worthy. And with impending hormonal fluctuations my anxiety goes haywire and I think "what if he has leukemia or something???". Shut up stupid little voice in my head that's only around during THAT time of month. Lalalala, I can't HEAR YOU.

And Oak's finger is concerning to me. I know they probably can't do anything, but I want them to. It's very swollen, bothers him much of the time now, and he's not using it more than he is using it. Wait 4-5 weeks isn't really what I'd consider a suitable solution. Unfortunately, that may really be the only one. But, as per urgent care's orders, I need to take him to see our regular doctor this week. They will be able to get the official reading of the x-rays and we'll go from there. The urgi care doc said they'd probably refer me to a specialist. So doctor visits will abound in the next few weeks maybe. Fun.

Neall shifts to his new schedule this week which should actually ease things considerably as far as logistics and doctors and WIC appointments and whatever else pops up. In the meantime I'll continue to lose my hair and bite my nails, lol.

So, Happy Holidays to everyone, let the return to the madness begin!