May I take a nap now?

So let's see here: I haven't really gotten my mental health day yet, but since Johanna finally went back to school on Friday, I did have like three hours to myself, which was kind of awesome. Um, I used them to clean house. Boring! Except the whole house stayed clean for those three hours and I got to listen to really loud music, so win.

Also: Am I the only one who knows how to load and unload the dishwasher? Looking at you, family. This isn't rocket science.

And: I hate daylight saving time. PICK A TIME AND STICK WITH IT, jeez. Quit being drunk, Congress.

Moving RIGHT along...

Because I'm a magnet for the odd, I was privileged to get a close, personal view of fossilized dinosaur poop right at my own desk last week at work. Um, gross. Also, how do you KNOW it's fossilized dinosaur poop, dude? I mean, no, I'm not trying to argue the fact that it's fossilized because clearly, yes, you have a point there, but how do you know it's from a dinosaur? I would imagine it would be, ahem, bigger than that. No, you cannot make me touch that, so quit asking. And how is collecting this stuff a good idea on any level?

Thank God he only brought in three specimens and not the entire collection.

Story #2 (HA! Get it?): Johanna recovered from her ailments just in time for the last skate night at school. I was glad because I'd volunteered an entire week prior to take money at the door, and I was thinking that going alone was not really something I wanted to do. Actually, going at all was not something I wanted to do, but my conscience gets the best of me and I volunteer to do stuff. I don't know, it's a character flaw. Anyway, so Johanna and I went, and it was kind of stupid because the other volunteer came with her son, who wanted to take the money, which was fine if you don't mind a kindergartener trying to count back your change, whatever, over it, so all I really did was sit there and periodically yell at the fifth graders to STAY OUT OF THE FOYER. But eventually I got to go sit down on the bleachers and take in the whole awful scene. Skate night was nearly over, and I was trying to figure out the chances of me getting the skates off Johanna before the last song actually played when the fire alarm starts blaring. Nice. So Johanna was a boss and whipped off her skates and was out the door as directed in no time, except she was worried that her school was burning down and didn't quite believe me when I was all, no, it was probably just some idiot kid.

She took issue with my word choice, but I wasn't feeling very giving at that particular moment, even though it did get me out of there more quickly than I'd have ever hoped.

P.S. I bought some honest to God vanilla-flavored creamer at the grocery store this morning and am thinking about making another pot of coffee just to use it. Mmm, coffee!

Forget short sleeves

**Update**

March 6, 2013. No one wants spring anyway. Oh, wait...

I'm tempted to follow Skilly's lead and just curl up in a ball and take a nap. It looks delightful. Instead I'm sitting here trying to decide what to write about while my stomach churns and Johanna's My Little Pony cartoon* plays right outside my door.

It's been a hell of a week is what I'm saying, and it's only Wednesday.

Johanna has been home since last Thursday with various ailments. First it was two days of pink eye. She recovered for the weekend, but then Monday morning she woke up complaining that her stomach hurt, she felt faint and dizzy and she was pretty sure she was going to throw up. I've learned to listen to her because when I don't, she tends to drive the lesson home in some dramatic fashion, like puking all over a hotel lobby (looking at you, Disneyland!). She hasn't thrown up, but she has no appetite and she's actually sitting still. Johanna is a constant whirl of motion and she refuels quite regularly, so the mere fact that she has no interest in foodstuffs of any sort and has been on the couch is alarming.

Also: What is up with the snow? This is our second day, although yesterday it didn't add up to much. The ground is now completely white. It's a bit hard to take because Monday was beautiful--I wore a short sleeve t-shirt!--and shivering isn't as fun as you'd think it'd be.

Well, the end, I guess. Fingers crossed Johanna is well by Friday because I actually volunteered to help at Skate Night. Oh, the irony if she's home and I'm not...

*For the record, she can watch The Mighty B! all she wants. The lead character is voiced by Amy Poehler and the dialog is awesome. That's a cartoon I can get behind.

**Update**
March 7 -- I need a mental health day, people, like, bad. Johanna is home AGAIN, but the good news is that she's more herself today than she has been for the past week, so that's a win. She even ate two hard-boiled eggs. The bad news is she's watching old Blue's Clues shows on the iPad, which I'm pretty sure means she's broken. Except it's not My Little Pony, so I can't complain. Much. Also, I still have a little crush on Steve.

I stopped by the school to get her homework this morning and was instantly surrounded by concerned classmates asking about Johanna. I was all, do you know how Johanna has a lot of energy?, and they were all, yes!, and then I was like, well, she's been just laying on the couch, and they were like, oooooh! Clearly they understood the severity of the situation, bless them.

The kind of bad news is that Abby is now complaining of various symptoms, and I would have kept her home from school today except she wants to go to a basketball game verses the other middle school this afternoon, so she was like, if I can keep myself from puking in Lily's parents' car, I can do this. Um, that's from back in January when we had Norovirus, but what she's failing to remember here is that she DID puke all over the couch when she finally made it home, so I'm not sure if this is a good analogy, all things considered.

Anyway, thank God for grandparents. They've gone above and beyond for a week now. Truly, we are blessed.

P.S. I should also report that even though it's like 35-degrees out, it's also sunny and mostly clear, which does a lot for my emotional well-being. But I still want that mental health day.

Lesson NOT learned

You'd think I'd have learned my lesson after last Sunday's massive Spring Cleaning extravaganza, but apparently not. Today I'm concentrating on the master bedroom. I'm not sure when I last dusted in here, but it's been awhile based on the pictures I was able to draw in the dust.

So I'm sneezing a lot is what I'm saying.

Where in the world is Ron Swanson?

I've got a sack of giveaways started (it amazes me that no matter how much I chuck, there's always MORE to get rid of), and I'm sorely tempted to take down an entire picture wall, except it's REALLY ugly behind the frames (um, we had some issues hanging the pictures, I guess) and I'm not sure I can emotionally stand to look at that crap for however long it takes to redo it. I'm thinking next fall/winter, we'll do a Sort of Redecorating project. Nothing major, just paint and tearing down the wallpaper and redoing everything hanging on the walls. Eventually Eric will see this post and we'll all be on the same page, so no sense mentioning it just yet. The boy is outside doing yard work and seems quite happy despite his red nose. I'd hate to kill the glow by mentioning another inside project. Because I think he's really tired of painting AND being inside.

In other news: Johanna's eyes are looking better, Abby just got out of bed, Skilly can't decide whether to come in or stay out, my parents are picking up our moldings today, and I really, really just want some chocolate.

Now, to vacuum.

P.S. Had some Bad Ass coffee this morning, Ann. Mmm!