Better is Relative

Today is Day 4 of The Nasty Cold. It started with my own girls, I think, then spread to my sisters kids, who got it BAD, then they passed it back to me. Yay. For a solid week I could feel it waiting to pounce like a cat in the weeds. I had a sore throat and nothing else, but I knew it was coming. Did I stock up on cold medicine? No. Not soon enough, anyway.

Now that I have the proper OTC's, I am feeling much better. But, "better" is a relative term. Right now, "better" means that I am out of bed and wearing clothing, as opposed to being in bed all day still wearing my PJ's. I managed to actually eat my dinner without feeling like I was drowning in snot. Chewing with your mouth closed when you can't breathe through your nose is just not pretty. I should have thought of that before going into the public to eat. Last night we went out because DH is the best husband EVAR and just knew how icky I felt. He suggested it was an IHOP night. I agreed so fast I was out the door before my kids found their shoes. This may or may not have had anything to do with the drool dripping down my chin after seeing a commercial for the new steak and eggs meal. Or my attempting to bribe the kids into cooking because I was too freakin' beat. Or the fact that kids eat free right now.

Even beyond DH, the whole family has been very kind this past week. Chores have been getting done (to some degree) and there hasn't been an unusually large amount of sassing. At least not to me. When things DON'T resemble a war zone around here, that makes me less stressed, which means I am nicer, which usually rolls downhill. By some miracle, the younger two girls have kept their bedroom clean for TWO WHOLE WEEKS! I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that it only got clean because the youngest nephew broke some glass in there and so my sister and I had to clean it well enough to vacuum. It probably has nothing to do with the threats of bodily harm I made after finishing the clean up.

Since things were already running pretty smoothly, Easter was a much better holiday this year than usual. The eggs were cooked THREE WHOLE HOURS before bedtime instead of me setting the water to boil at 8:00 Saturday night. Now that the girls are older, the whole egg decoration process is much faster and involves far less swearing and frustration (on my part.) Even though we let the girls stay up late to finish a movie before we started, the eggs were finished, the mess cleaned up, and they were showered and in bed in record time (for an Easter Eve.) I might have gone a teensy bit overboard in filling the baskets this year, out of sheer gratitude.

One of the awesome things about holidays like Easter is that I have the excuse to cook a feast and I usually have WP over. It had been weeks since I had seen my dad, so I had kind of been missing him. I got really used to hanging with him a few times a week when we lived in the country. Since moving back to the city, I just don't get to spend as much time with him and that makes me sad. I am so thankful that I have pretty good relationship with both my parents and my in-laws. In fact, we've been so close for so long that I feel kind of isolated now that the in-laws retired to Colorado, my mom moved to Ohio, and WP is back in the country.

Family is a funny thing. I know a lot of people who, once leaving home, have tried to stay as far away from their parents as possible. I feel so fortunate that I am not one of those. Even though we have very different views and lifestyles, I still get along with my brother and sisters. I get so jazzed seeing all the cousins running around together acting like the best friends they really are. I love when we are all together and the house is full of grown-ups and the yard is full of kids. The kitchen is full of food and there are Dr Pepper cans and coffee mugs everywhere. No matter how awesome friends are (and mine are pretty darn cool!) there is just something cozy and connected about a family gathering.

I just got word yesterday that my littlest sister will be coming in for a visit during Memorial Day weekend. I am so excited I could just burst! She is finally sporting a baby-bump and I can't wait to rub the belly! Never has a rug rat been more anticipated than this one! I have volunteered to put them up for a night and so I will get to host another big family get-together. If I'm lucky, I can get all of us here at one time for a big, backyard, BBQ Family portrait. That is going to be one awesome shot, I tell you!

Now I'm off to plan the menu and wrangle my own girls into shower and bed time. Then I can head to bed with my new best friend - Nyquil.

Deb