Hogwarts!!!

#UniversalStudiosHollywood

It finally got me too!

06.15 – Someone has force fed me razor blades during the night & they are all stuck in my throat.

06.35 – A very worried hubby brings me Tylenol & leaves for work as I crawl out of bed. Choir starts in less then an hour.

07.30 – We make it to school, I don’t know how, but we do. Younger child & I sit in the parking lot while he does the reading he didn’t have time to do last night because of hockey.

07.50 – I drag my sorry self into school. We enter the lobby where the principal is promoting his retirement golf tournament by setting up a putting green outside the library. He is giving away house points for any child who can nail a hole in one (I learned later that elder child did in fact nail it). We fight our way through the crowd of budding Tiger Woods (not a great example for kids but I have no interest in golf because I’m still sexually active!) & make our way up to his floor. I deposit him in teacher mum’s classroom. She kindly offers to help out with dropping the kids off if I can’t get back to school. This would normally be great but elder child has a Dr’s appointment at 3.30.

08.00 – I quickly exit the building hopefully taking my virus with me.

08.15 – I make it home, call physio to cancel my afternoon appointment, remove the hat that was hiding very bad hair, take a glass of water to the sofa & crash.

09.15 – Knock on the door, I guess correctly that it is the lawn guys & make the decision not to answer as the dog is already in the house going bananas (this is why they knock for fear of my giant teddy bear of a dog licking them to death).

10.30 – I wake up & notice a text from hubby checking in on me about an hour earlier. After answering I take more Tylenol & decide to watch some tv & promptly fall asleep again half way through the episode.

12.00 – I risk eating a banana & a yoghurt because they are soft (I did consider blending them but actually couldn’t be bothered). I watch the end of the episode I slept through & the beginning of the next… falling asleep halfway that one.

14.00 – I check in with hubby hoping he can finish early to do the pick up otherwise I need to sort myself & that could take some time. Thankfully the outside world has been spared of my germs & my unkempt look.

15.00 – A quick concerned kiss from hubby as he drops his cycling bag & grabs the car keys.

16.00 – I am still festering on the sofa but manage to drag my sorry backside off it when everyone arrives home. I actually felt better for moving around but everything is achy.

17.30 – Hubby walks the dog with elder child to his field hockey practice, while younger child goes through the crate of next doors junk. He is excited to find a really cool 3D book on dinosaurs & 2 old soccer books. These were on the top, she very sneakily put a whole load of finance & stock exchange books underneath – surprisingly he was less impressed with these.

18.00 – I have been festering long enough so I go for a bath. Younger child is now making a paper computer for a school project.

19.00 – Elder child returns with his tapeworm having already had dinner before practice & his coach gave them all ice cream lollipops during practice. He has toast while reciting his debate speech for tomorrow & discussing how he should project his voice for the play on Friday morning – which I will go & see germs or no germs, just try & stop me!

20.00 – I think I might eat ice cream because I need something cold & comforting for my poor throat.

Whirlwind Wednesday…

06.30 – As predicted the little guy is quite sick, so now that’s two down.

07.20 – Off to school because elder child has choir. I take the dog with me so she can have a good run in the park.

08.45 – I return to the sanatorium to find the 2 of them lying at each end of the sofa sharing a blanket. I play nurse, although the cat seems to have it all under control (she thinks that lying very close to your head when your sick will help in some way).

09.20 – I do some laundry, some pilates, & finish the wedding card I’m making, in between playing nurse. I answer a call from the hospital reminding me that I have an appointment tomorrow for a joint injection in my knee – not sure why they thought I would forget about this as they only booked it yesterday! Twenty minutes later I get another call from the hospital wanting to arrange an appointment for my joint injection – I swear it was the same woman – she was very put out when I informed her that I have one for tomorrow. She then put me on hold while she checked this, presumably in case I was completely imagining this & the phone call she had made to me earlier. Yes, I was right, she was happy I was telling the truth!

12.00 – I get ready to go back to school & receive an email from the head honcho informing me that she had taken delivery of large donation from a parent who supplies toy stores & she had sorted everything into categories. I am then desperate to get to school asap, beside myself that she will have completely &#%$ed up my system!

12.35 – I arrive at school to find her organizing some prize baskets for a separate stall & she informs me that she didn’t add the donated prizes to my system because she didn’t want to &#%$ it up – PHEW! All is right in the world again.

13.00 – I am knee deep in stuffies when the mum who looked after my table yesterday arrives to help me sort. We get to work counting the prizes & stuffies, then box them up & label them.

Various people are in & out chatting because the room we are using is where the photocopier is – it was all very sociable.

15.10 – The other mum has to leave & I pop up to the lower school to hand over a drink & snack to older child because he’s involved in an iPad workshop until 4.30pm. I happen upon him the minute I walked into the lobby, he apparently was about to call me & declare imminent death by starvation because he had eaten all his food & would be going straight to field hockey after school – honestly, total drama queen!

15.30 – Off to the dollar store again for some supplies we have run out of – rubber bands, clear gift bags etc. I am wilting so I duck into a coffee shop & order a gigantic latte to go.

16.00 – Back at school I’m on a mission. I am determined that when I leave at 4.30pm I will be done, finished, complete! Then… I find a note from the head honcho – she’s rearranged some of the balloon prizes by taking some more out of my general prize boxes – NOOOOOOOO!!!!

16.30 – Mission accomplished. I pick up elder child to find that snacks were provided at the workshop so had been no need for the amateur dramatics – he still ate my snack too of course.

16.50 – Home to change into hockey gear & back out to drop him off.

17.35 – Back at the sanatorium it is clear that the little guy will have to be off school tomorrow. Hubby is already off so he can take me to the hospital, but we can’t take a sick child with us & I really don’t think it’s fair for him to see them sticking needles in mum’s knee. I see that my neighbor is in (they are like surrogate grandparents to our boys), so I pop over to ask if there is anyway they could help out. The answer is yes – great!

18.40 – I have to go back out to pick up from hockey.

19.30 – I am in my pj’s, under my blanket fort eating chocolate & colouring!

High Temp Tuesday!

06.15 – Zombie!

Hubby is properly sick so I saw every hour on the clock & younger child was up in the night with a bad dream.

07.35 – Boot camp leaves the house on time!

07.50 – The boys go one way to their classrooms & I go the other in search of an orange dragon.

08.30 – Another productive morning of donations, the orange dragon was a big hit, then a meeting with the head honcho. We figure out how the kids will pick their prizes & how we will organize them on the day. I declare that during my time on the donation table no parent wants any of the toxic critters near their house EVER! So, if we make them balloon prizes nobody will buy a balloon (this is a separate stall to mine). I should have kept my mouth shut because the critters are now prizes on my stall so at least 3 parents in the school are now going to hate me forever!

09.15 – I check in with hubby to make sure he’s still alive & find out if he needs to see a doctor. He thinks not because he’s a stubborn doctor himself. He decides to wait a bit longer. I stay at school to box up the prizes.

11.00 – Home via the dollar store to pick up some supplies to bag up small prizes, & some coloured beads for the kids to pick out their prizes.

11.30 – I drag hubby off his deathbed to get some fresh air & walk the dog with me.

12.45 – Back at school sorting prizes – AGAIN!

14.45 – I meet with another mum who has volunteered to run the donation table because of course its hockey on a Tuesday.

15.10 – I scoop up younger child & teacher mum’s son. The drill is the same as last week – home, change into hockey gear, homework, eat, out again.

16.45 – Back at school to meet teacher mum & swap the kids over.

17.10 – Back home with elder child & his classmate (teacher mum’s elder child). While dinner is cooking I am punching holes in tickets & adding rubber bands so the kids can wear them around their wrists for when they get stamped at each station/activity. The deal is when they have a full card of 10 stamps they come to my prize table & pick out a prize.

17.45 – Call from teacher mum – younger child’s mouth guard is not in its case or his hockey stick bag so technically he shouldn’t play. She passes me over to the coach (who is a friend of ours) & I agree he can risk of playing without it.

18.15 – After dinner I continue with the tickets & rope hubby into helping – suddenly he’s dying again! The rain starts…

18.45 – It is bouncing down & hubby is glad he’s sick & not stood on the sideline.

19.15 – Teacher mum arrives with the two boys, both are shivering & soaked through, & she is not much drier.

19.45 – Younger child has had a warm bath & is wrapped up in his bed still shivering. Hubby checks his temperature & discovers he’s about to burst into flames – GREAT! I don’t have time this week for sick kids!!

20.15 – Wine!!

 

Manic Monday!

07.40 – Boot camp was brutal this morning, both kids had that Monday morning feeling which made us late leaving.

07.55 – I’m supposed to be at the donation table, all set up, at 8am. Thankfully my office boy had already beaten me to it. Today we introduced another one of our gigantic toxic critters – an ugly green toad!

08.30 – After a sociable start to the day we carry the toxic toad down the street (well I just followed a safe distance behind), I even managed to get the principal to carry a couple of bags – well he was going that way so I made use of him.

08.50 – I sorted out that mornings prize donations so as to keep on top of it.

09.15 – Quick walk around the block with the dog, my cleaner arrives as I’m leaving (love that because I don’t have to carry keys then).

09.35 – I jump in the car to make an overdue trip to Costco. Pull into a sweet spot right outside the entrance & get some very put out looks from a couple of people. I don’t like my disabled label but there are some situations in which I need it, & not pushing a very heavy shopping cart to the other side of the parking lot is the main one. I saw those people again in store, not so quick to judge when they saw me struggling to push the cart, wearing a leg brace.

Once I had finished my shopping I join the extra long line up, then realized I had forgotten something in the isle next to me. I scoot off down there & appear at the other end – tiny line ups ahead of me, & all those people were still queuing at the other side & hadn’t moved. Oh well, I have better things to do than stand around at a check out so I just went ahead.

11.00 – I HATE putting everything away.

13.30 – Finally finished putting everything away. I have an hour before I have to leave for school again, just enough time to grab something to eat & practice my guitar. I deserve a sticker, played The Eagles ‘Peaceful Easy feeling’ almost all the way through for the first time – it’s only taken about 2 months of practicing.

14.50 – Back at school for the first humiliation of my day… My office boy is busy so I have to carry the toxic toad up the street myself. Thankfully I managed to persuade another mum friend & her two sons to carry it back for me. Not a good donation yield, but sold about 30 tickets!

15.40 – Hubby texts me, he’s sick. Fever, chills, coughing etc. etc. Can I go to the drug store. So off I go to London Drugs where I also purchase 2 super size bars of Lindt chocolate (because they were on offer), a bottle of fabric bleach (to remove the brown paint that has still not come out of elder child’s polo shirt), a can of hairspray (again I’m running out & it was on offer), & 4 packets of tick tacks because they were by the till & you always need tick tacks!

15.50 – Back at school I check in with teacher mom about hockey tomorrow & inform the kindergarten teacher that her paint is not as washable as she’d advertised.

16.00 – Pick up younger child from his active games class & we go to the playground to wait for elder child to come out of drama. I chat to another mum who is waiting for her child who’s doing track & field (elder child is supposed to do this but can’t until after the school play!). I make a mental note that we need to leave before the athletes arrive back from the field, why? Well I tell her that it’s because it’s chaotic, but really it’s because I have a ridiculous high school girl crush on my elder sons gym teacher so I need to leave before he arrives.

16.30 – We finally leave the playground. Hot teacher has not returned with the T&F kids, so we make our exit, into the senior school to catch the elevator down to the parking lot & who do I walk into going around the corner? He’s about a foot & a half taller than me so my face meets the lower part of his chest – humiliation no.2!! I think my cheeks are still burning just because he smiled (I swear it was so hot he was a fire hazard) & placed his hand on my shoulder to make sure I was ok (of course I’m not, I’ve just buried my face in your pecs!)

17.00 – Home to sick hubby for dinner (his appetite isn’t poorly that’s for sure!), homework & one last practice for younger child’s talent show trial tomorrow before he packs up his guitar…

Watch this space to find out if he’s picked to perform!

 

 

Viral!

For those of you who don’t know, my biologic, the injection that I take every 2 weeks for my arthritis, is an immunosuppressant. Therefore you would expect me to come down with every bug & virus known to man – especially with tow young kids & a husband that works with sick children. I am normally quite the opposite everyone else in the family seems to get sick but me, I just become more achy & sore instead. However, my elder son has been quite sick with a virus for over a week now. My husband also came down with it, & unfortunately this time so did I.

What is interesting about me this time is that I sound & feel virally, but my body hasn’t responded in the same way. Yes I’m achy but I’m still decorating & putting the house back together after the renovations were finally completed at the end of last week. This morning my cleaner even told me I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing I should be resting. I do not know of this ‘resting’ of which she spoke. I’m sure the reason that I’ve been more susceptible this contracting a virus this time is because I am running on empty. Both my mental and physical capacity to cope at the moment is constantly being challenged by the continuing knee saga. Today I made an appointment to see the orthopaedic surgeon again because I don’t know whom else or where else to go next. I see her in two weeks so watch this space…

 

Because it’s the weekend!

Madness!

I now have two dogs, & two thoroughly pissed off cats because of our new lodger, a sick child, a very muddy garden, & no husband because he’s buggered off to the rugby for the weekend! After one very large glass of wine, a million calories worth of nachos, I am now serious considering raiding the freezer for ice cream. I honestly can’t be bothered to write anything sensible or interesting – sorry.

This is it I’m afraid, until tomorrow…

Sat on by a hippo!!

Evil invisible critters that make my body ache more than ever. Last night I only managed one glass of wine before I had to head to bed. This is clearly not like me, rarely is a bottle of wine left half drunk. I didn’t sleep that well either, but then none of us do when we’re not in our own beds & all four of us are in the same room together. The boys were awake far too early, but there was no way they were putting lights on at 6.30am. When I finally managed to raise myself out of my pit, I felt like a hippo had sat on me in the night.

After packing everyone off to the slopes again, I showered in the hope it would loosen me up & make me feel more human. Nope! But I still strolled out with Tess. I was a bit mean and popped her coat on so I could let her off leash on the Valley trail & she wouldn’t venture too far. Needless to say she wasn’t happy. Normally I would need to wear layers & layers of Icebreaker, & use toe & hand warmers. I knew something wasn’t right when I had to take my gloves off in a chilly temperature of only 2 degrees. I had to unzip my jacket, & I was only wearing a thin long-sleeved t-shirt underneath. At one point I began to feel dizzy & had to sit on a log for a few minutes.

When we got back to the hotel, after walking for over an hour, I felt terrible. I was so hot & sweaty that my shirt was stuck to me, and sweat ran down my brow. I immediately jumped in a cool shower. With the balcony door wide open and sat in only my underwear, I finally cooled down. After more painkillers for my poor achy joints, I began to feel better, fuzzy, but better.

After being around sick people for the last 2 weeks, including my eldest, my compromised immune system finally couldn’t cope. It’s interesting how I don’t seem to get the nasty cold symptoms everyone else gets, my body just feels worse – a lot worse. I think I’d rather have the cold to be honest, there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve been trampled on. I wish there was some way of treating that, the painkillers help but they’re not miracle workers. Hopefully after my quiet day today – writing of course! – I’ll be over the worst of it, just in time to start dealing with increasing pain in my knee again!