Would you like cheese with that w(h)ine??

Life is kicking my butt and I am going to blog-purge. No need for anyone to really read this... it is mostly for my sanity!

The disclaimer for all of this is that although I am whining up a storm here, I am truly, honestly, deep down grateful for everyday that I have been given this past week. I had an amazing trip to Reno, spent one-on-one time with a very special friend, met incredible people at the clinic, learned more about cancer and the treatment of it to add to my arsenal of knowledge and resources, and came home to people that love me and were glad to have me back. In the worst of what has been happening lately, I know that within a few days, my load would be lighter and my life would be brighter. For that, I am grateful. Now to dump all of this here so I don't have to carry it around anymore. Maybe then I can actually blog about the great stuff from Reno!

*Okay, so Chris (right) is on Day 13 of being sick, Scott (left) gets it while I am in Reno and Aimee gets it as we are driving home from LAX together (center, on the other couch sound asleep). Fevers of 101 to over 103, extreme fatigue, nausea and no appetite, and a cough that apparently lingers on. I return from Reno to a house full of sick bodies, dirty dishes, dirty socks, and germs everywhere! We have a sofa and a love seat and 3 sick people, that all need to stay apart so they don't reinfect one another! Not to mention that I am exhausted (flight was delayed on Friday night and I didn't walk through the door until 10 p.m.) and would have loved a germ-free place to rest. I don't even think I have had a "welcome home" kiss from any of my clan. How sad is that?!?!

*The interior of our house is being painted... every single door and every piece of moulding around the doorways. The painter is spraying the mouldings, so he has masked off every pass-through with a 3'x3' plastic cubicle (right). In addition, there is plastic, protective brown paper, and blue painter's tape EVERYWHERE! It is covering the floors, carpet, walls, ceiling... plastic and paper are hanging from the ceiling. Our furniture has been moved around and is completely covered with huge sheets of plastic, making everything out of place and easier for us (me) to slam into. There is plastic over our medicine chest, shower stall, linen closet, coat closet, and several of my kitchen cabinets. I can't get out towels, pots, pans, or even find my washer and dryer! I have a family of sick people and I can't wash anything or cook for them without messing up what clearly took all week to set up. Why in the world did the painter decide to start painting with the oil based product on a Friday when all of us would be home all weekend to smell it?? Oh, yes, and we actually checked into a crappy hotel on Monday night because it was so bad at home and none of us could get any rest.

*Fine layer of dust from the sanding is everywhere, btw. Can't even imagine how long it will take me to put everything back and get everything clean! Did I mention that these cubicles have a slit in the middle of them and we get to duck down and slide through? Fun!

*Ran around for 14 hours on Saturday; shopping for healthy food since my hubby and son had been living on Taco Bell and Wendy's for a week (thank you to the wonderful folks that brought the food to them once Scott got sick), taking temps, dispensing meds, refilling orange juice and water cups, doing laundry (once I found my washer and dryer), unpacking, stopping by nearby hotels for the best rate so we could escape the painting pandamonium when it resumes, doing a week's worth of dishes (ewwww...), cooking for 2 hours to have meals ready to go during the week, and satisfying the dogs and their neurotic need for time with me since I had been away and left them to live in illness/painting hell.

*Painter is a great guy, but has been acting strangely this week. He has shifted his hours to starting at 10 and leaving at 6. Makes it kinda hard to get a family underway with him still there and wet paint everywhere! This started while I was away and I hesitate to say anything since it seems there are personal things going on for him. He was actually telling me that his sister is in the hospital and although she is okay, he actually teared up when he talked about his nephews and trying to teach them to be good kids! Good grief, what is going on?

*Because Chris has missed 7 days of school, I emailed all of his teachers to ask them to work with me on his missed work. He is so conscientous that he was starting to get stressed and overwhelmed about what he missed. Well, that isn't good if he needs to still recover from this bug. Of course, I heard nothing from any of the teachers, but they all took the liberty of hitting him with make up assignments when he returned to school yesterday. I have now taken my concerns to the Head of Curriculum and she completely agrees with my efforts and is willing to help me; however, she says it will take her a few days to get things sorted out. So what do we do about the Bible, Science, History and Vocab tests that he has this week and is not ready for??

*Arrived at work yesterday to find offices #6 - #10 all flooded. 3" of water and soaking wet kind of flooded! Fortunately, I am in #5 and had no water. It was a zoo around here for the next 3 hours as the owner of the bldg., the Fire Dept. (they were called in to suck up the water) and the tenants were all in and out of my office asking me questions about what I saw and who I thought was at fault. The toilet in #6 (sweet people) was running and overflowing when I walked in there with the owner, so he immediately blamed them! The sad part is that they have someone in the office at all times, and this was the one day that everyone attended a workshop. :o( I tried to tell the owner (who is very cheap) that I really felt there was a bigger problem within the building plumbing. He blew it off as he wants to bill #6. Hours passed and everything finally calmed down. I used our office bathroom and when I flushed the toilet, it plugged and backed up. Fortunately, I was able to shut off the valve before it overflowed, but I had to go get the owner and report it to him. Of course, he was totally upset because it meant that I was right... the problem is in the building, not just one office! Sure enough, the plumber came this morning and rootered a HUGE wad of tree roots. Thankfully, my office is in tact and my toilet is happily flushing!

*Frank is serving on jury duty, so he is not in the office. All phone calls and important matters have to wait until he is released at night. It also helps when we share the burdens of the office. lol He is probably glad he missed all of the action!

*I worked on Sunday from 2 - 8 p.m. and when I went to drive home (in the dark) only my parking lights would come on. I couldn't get the little knob to move over further to the headlights. I drove home in the dark and hoping that nothing worse happened. Chris and I (since he was still out of school) took the car to the mechanic and luckily it was a simple fix. A little piece from inside the knob dislodged and was jamming things up. A touch of glue and we were on our way!

I am done purging! I feel a lot better. I have given myself an attitude adjustment more than once by thinking about the blessings in the midst... loving family who will all mend in time, no pee-pee water in my office and a quick drop of glue to fix my lights. Basically, life is full of tough times. When those times seem to hit at once, I sometimes succumb to the pressure. I know things can always be worse, so I count my blessings! I am off to make tacos for my family. I ate a yummy healthy salad for lunch today which made me think of Shauna and our gourmet, fabulous meals we made together. I went to the batting cages last night with Leela, which felt great. Perhaps tonight I will go for an hour walk after dinner?

If you are still reading, I am sorry. lol That is unless is helped you purge a little of your own stress or feel better about the lack of stress you have.

Hugs to me and to everyone else!
Shanna