Oh boy,

So last weekend the Peanut woke up coughing a nice phlegmy cough with a mild fever, by last Monday she was dripping from her nose and by Wednesday her nose was spouting green. On Thursday the green was less opaque and was turning orangeish in colour, she was still coughing but the fevers were gone. And we are headed into day nine of her cold and there seems to be no end in sight. We're out of tissues and using TP (toilet paper) I'm considering getting out her old receiving blankets to make her some flannel hankies. This is the worst cold she's had and she's turned into a little emotional terror. If Mommy does something she's asked Daddy to do she melts, if she wants milk with her breakfast she doesn't ask for it she melts, if I can't find the toy that she was just running around with she melts... you get the picture.

My patience is like a yo-yo since I am not a martyr and there are lots of hugs being given out to soothe little egos and hurt feelings and sore noses. Somewhere in there the husband caught something and spent most of yesterday in bed and will probably stay there today as well. So far I've kept it at bay despite having boogers wiped onto my hands, being coughed on with impunity and sharing kissy kissy faces with the Peanut. My white blood cell count must be at an unusual high, keep your fingers crossed that I'm not jinxing myself.

Friday night we had roaring wind and heavy rain. At one point I was sure that I felt the house being shoved a few inches and I know that I saw the double glazed windows bow in a few times. We hunted for eggs yesterday and the Peanut bit the ears off her first chocolate bunny. I cooked my butcher's ham with a Dr. Pepper Glaze, garlic mashed taters, peas, carrots, salad and apple pie for dessert. The ham was big enough to feed about 8 so we're going to be heartily sick of ham by weeks end. My Thyme has sprouted and I think the pumpkin or maybe it's the watermelon but I think I'll have to try again with the rosemary.

In other news I have a photo shoot planned for the middle of this month. I'll be shooting a local metal band for their website and possibly their EP cover. It's a freebie meaning I'm doing it for free and to have my name in the credits. The guitarist is also in one of the husbands bands so it's a networking thing too. I'll be researching the work of Anton Corbijn to get ready and I'll be posting some of the finished shots here.

How was your weekend?

Saying Goodbye when you aren't there and cough and a fever

were just a few things I did on the weekend.


Last week was a little rough, but things seem to be easier now. My Cousin's funeral was held on Friday in the community hall that was used for our Grandpa's service. He was buried with our Grandparents and my Dad, which; I was told by my Aunt, was comforting; leaving him to be close to all of them.

I couldn't make it, as I mentioned last week our single income budget wouldn't allow it but I did my best to say goodbye on my own in my own way. What do you do to mark the passing of a loved one when you can't be with the rest of the family?

Of course with my mind on other things the Peanut got a little less attention than usual and to make up for it, she decided to bring the focus right back to where it belongs with a nice cough and fever combo (which as of this morning has developed into a leaky nose, cough and fever trio).

I'm a little tied up with booger wrangling and temperature taking today. In other news, the newest return of my 5 Question feature was a huge success, with lots of hits on the post. If you haven't read it yet go on over to it and let me know what you think. I'm really looking forward to next months feature.

So to leave you on an upbeat note here's what's been happening with our seedlings over the last four days. I couldn't be more excited about it... or impatient for the rest of them to show themselves

f f f f f f f f f f freezing

It's been a long standing joke among my friends and some family members, that my hands are generally one or two degrees colder than those of a corpse.

I am fond of saying that I can cool down a lukewarm beverage just by swirling my finger in the glass for a moment.

My feet are also little blocks of ice on a regular basis.

Because of this I have always always always adored warm weather and hot beverages. Winter is not my friend; except that I love being a cozy warm building watching it snow outside. The best thing about being pregnant other than the fact that I was incubating another small life was that I was finally comfortable in the deep of winter.

Growing up, the best place to be at Grandma and Grandpa's was between her portable dishwasher (which she never ever used) and the gas stove. There was a 1.5 foot gap between these appliances where there was a large metal heating vent set into the wall. I remember huddling in that little space and the heat surrounding me in that kitchen with the scent of chocolate cake and baked ham in the air, or toasted crumpets and honey, or English muffins topped with tuna and cheddar smothered in chutney. OK some of those aren't really scents but they are the flavours I remember in that house. (I can also remember watching my Mom singe the hairs off her arms over the gas flames on the stove, that smell was not so enticing)

One of the downsides to living in an older house is that instead of sharing a wall with at least two neighbors and an inside hallway all the exterior walls are subject to what's going on outside and right now it's pissing down rain and windy cold. My hands are literally a pale shade of blue and my fingernails are showing a ghastly purple tone.

I'm wearing a brown t-shirt underneath a 100% wool tunic underneath a large zip up fleece jacket and I'm contemplating putting on the hand knit 8lb sweater my great aunt knit for me 14 years ago on top of it all. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure that the house temperature is set to a normal range, that most other people would be very comfortable sitting in short sleeves and bare feet. I'm just lamenting my poor circulation and wishing I was either pregnant again or going through menopause in order to enjoy the hot flashes.

You know you've aclimatized when

I'm originally from Central Alberta where winter weather is full of snow and frigid temperatures, wind chills of -40C and blinding white sun reflecting off of the frosty snow drifts. You'd think that a minor wind chill of -15C would be a balmy temperature for this girl wouldn't you? Not so much. But then even when I lived in Alberta I always thought that the people dressing in shorts and no coats at the first sign of thawing, when the thermometer read 0, were just plain nuts.

So I've lived on the west coast for about ten years now and I find it cold when the temperature drops to 5C. I miss snow and love watching it fall. So when we get a snow fall I experience a sense of pure bliss, and I love going out in it unless I'm in the midst of a cold/flu fight, which it turns out I am. So on Saturday night I was at once pleased and annoyed with the snow fall. I'm still sneezing, coughing and blowing my nose at least once every 5 minutes so going out and enjoying the crisp air and icy snow is right off my list of things to do and when the weather report included a wind chill warning I decided to hunker down at home instead of head off to Playgroup 17 blocks at the bottom of Lonsdale Avenue.

Call me a wuss and a suck but I'm acclimatized to the mild Vancouver weather now and -15C is now a frigid temperature. Not to mention that my little bundle of activity isn't ready for that kind of trek out of doors. Now if we still lived in Alberta that would be another story entirely.

In the past we've headed to Alberta for the holidays and always returned with a new sense of how warm our winters are in comparison, for a good two weeks after walking out of the Vancouver Airport and breathing in the moist not too cold air I can appreciate the balminess of the air and how delicious it feels on the face as opposed to dry stinging cold. This year we're staying put and I'm not only going to miss seeing family and friends but also the chance to know what true winter feels like.