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?

I hate to be a Downer

I really really do, so I'm not going to spend time complaining or belly aching. In the interest of staying relatively complaint free I'm just going to state the facts. I'm in the doldrums, I'm feeling blue, overwhelmed and awash in the fuzzy heads.

I've taken steps to detour around what could be a downward spiral. I'm creating on a daily basis. I'm brushing my teeth and applying minimal amounts of makeup I have plans to colour my hair. I'm getting out into the sun shine and making plans for the spring and summer garden. I'm not sure if it's just that time of year or just me so I'm asking for advice.

When you're not feeling rosey pink what do you do to snap out of it?

Updates and a litany of woes

from the sounds of my title you'd think this post is going to be a pretty negative one. Well, it may be a little on the long side, but I like to think that I can usually find the positive in most situations. I'm pretty sure I've been able to do so here. To make up for the lack of photographic illustration I'll be posting a word free post to make up for it.

Before we get started, help me celebrate one whole year on Etsy and enter my giveaway! The deadline to enter is rushing this way, you don't want to miss out.

Besides the news of my Step Dad's heart problems last week we've been hitting a streak of weird bad luck but more on that later. My Step Dad is home and on the mend. It turns out my Mom saved his life by getting him to the hospital as fast as she did and there are going to be some changes in lifestyle and diet there. It was very hard to be out of the loop last week in regards to wanting to be there getting the blow by blow after they got home and knowing that he's going to be OK make up for it.

In other news over the last three weeks I've lost my mobile phone and had it stolen. How is this then? The phone slipped out of my pocket on the bus and was found by an unknown and dishonest girl who; after answering my phone and assuring me that she would give it to the bus driver to take to the lost and found instead took it and made $60 in texts and phone calls in two days. Lesson learned? Cancel the mobile if or when it gets lost again. Fortunately, when we finally called to cancel service to the phone our provider was good enough to delete all charges to our bill that were not our own.

The day after the Peanut's birthday party we decided to hit the Jazz festival at David Lam Park in Vancouver. We used to go every year for an afternoon of good music and people watching. When I was pregnant we decided on the Gastown venues so I wouldn't have far to waddle and we'd be closer to the Seabus if the Peanut decided to show up a week early. Since then we've missed the festival, and this year was no exception. After we moved into the new place after the fire, the ball joint in the left front of the car broke causing $400+ to fix. On our way to this years festival we passed the library downtown and lost the right side tire to the other ball joint. One very loud noise and some fancy driving by my husband later we were double parked on Georgia with tourists posing in front of the car and pointing at the tire. We've since donated the car and joined the Car Co-op with very positive results.

Have you ever been awakened from a deep deep sleep by a creepy crawling sensation? Like say some unknown insect type thing has somehow entered into your ear at the ungodly hour of 3AM?

For those who have pondered this and other survival questions I will tell you:

You get that little bugger out by any means necessary, as fast as you can.

Then you attack your ear canal with an arsenal of things that should never be put into your ear based on years and years of professional medical opinion ie. elbows, q-tips, hot water and hydrogen peroxide if you have it; among a few other things.

What this does, is give you a little peace of mind while you stew over the possibility that the bug you squished out of existence while trying to get it out of your ear canal did not

A: have a friend who got in undetected and is setting up house out of reach of the above mentioned ear contraband.
B: bite you in the ear while you were mercilessly removing it from existance.
C: start to nest in there because you really value the ability to hear things.
or in a related to C option D: come from a nest that was (as in option A) previously undetected by you.

Then you visit a Dr, who thinks your story is very interesting ie. something he's going to tell all his friends in order to make a sensation at his next cocktail party; and examines your ear with that really nifty ear and throat instrument so that he can tell you that everything is clear up there, not even a thin coating of earwax to be found.

Then, and only then do you consider the irony of reading about someone who had a bug crawl into their ear the week before and being totally grossed out by it, and having the same thing happen to you and being totally grossed out by it (or is that irony? Ever since that Alanis Morrisette song I can never tell for sure)