Trying Something New!

Hi All!  Yes, I'm still here!  I got severely derailed from writing by, well you know, life.  I am doing Follow Me Monday to get back into the swing of things!  Thank you to Nan at http://beonefineday.blogspot.com/.

Let's see, we've had illnesses, my husband traveling, Halloween, car trouble, more illnesses, Cub Scouts, more Cub Scouts, homework, leaves, a lot of attitude and hmmm, that might be about it!

I decided to jump back in where we are here in our lives.  Last Monday, I woke up with the nastiest case of pinkeye I had ever seen, heard about or read about.  For those who don't know what this is, it's another word for conjunctivitis. It involves itchy, burny eye(s) (it can be in one eye or both eyes) with nasty secretions and it is HIGHLY contagious.


Both my eyes were stuck shut when I woke up, puffy and MAROON red.  No joke.  In fact, when Harry noticed how red my eyes were, I then told him that I was not his mom, but actually a MONSTER!  GRRRR!!  The poor thing was NOT amused, in spite of his obsession for Halloween.  I apologized, but could not give him a hug because I was contagious.

I found some antibiotic eye ointment that Harry had used several weeks ago and started using it.  I know it's a no-no to use someone else's medicine, but I was desperate!  It was SO bad AND I didn't want to spread it to my family.

I didn't end up needing to go to the doctor because it cleared up in a few days.  I really think the culprit was some mascara I used last Saturday night for Dave and my "date night".  It was so severe, so sudden and it was in BOTH of my eyes.  I have since thrown out all of the makeup I used that night.  I had no idea that the "experts" who say to throw out your makeup every few months are RIGHT!  I thought they were paid by the makeup companies to say that!  The "eyes" had it, folks.

Andy is back to school today.  He was sent home last Wednesday with suspected pinkeye.  His was only in one eye and from what I read, I suspected it was viral pinkeye, not what I had.  This turned into a sore throat, the nastiest cough he's ever had and a low grade fever.  Thursday, he had Veteran's Day off from school and Friday he was still fevering so he finally returned today.  So far, no phone calls from school!  This illness knocked him on his keister.  Andy does NOT slow down for ANYTHING!  Last winter, when he had pneumonia, the doctor said he could do "activities to his tolerance".  Well, he shoveled our entire driveway, which is long, voluntarily, with a fever of 103!  Not this time.  We're talking lump on a log.

Lilly has been suffering too, from a lack of attention.  Well, her definition of not enough attention not ours, but it's still something she's feeling really deeply.  Since about the middle of last week, she has been giving us a hard time about going to school stating that she "doesn't feel well".  However, we cannot substantiate it with a fever or any other symptom so we've been sending her in telling her that she could go to the school nurse if she really felt terrible at school.

She decided that the nurse was mean and that she was going to stick it to us by staying at school and "not learning anything".  My husband and I are thinking, "OK, well, we've done OUR job by law in getting her there!"

This morning, she came to us with a thermometer reading of 100.4.  She explained that she had taken her temperature and it was first 100.1.  Now, after having a drink, it was up to 100.4.  She hadn't been downstairs yet to heat up any hot drinks using electricity via the stove or microwave.  Our hot water tank is NOT set that hot because we have kids, so drinking the tap water upstairs couldn't have done it.  How, according to the laws of physics, can a temperature go UP after taking a sip of water ANYWAY??!

The answer is, it cannot.  We retook her temperature and it was 99.4.  We took it once again for good measure, 99.2.  Off to school, young lady!  I think we fell for the "thermometer under the hot water tap" trick.  In that case, the tap water COULD increase her temperature!!

The moral of the story is, never trust a 10yo with a temperature taken by her own hand, especially when her brother has been sick and allowed to stay home from school.

Happy Monday, Everyone!  Make it a Good One!