J is worse

J went to school yesterday. Her fever had been gone for over 24 hours.

This morning when she got up, she didn't look so good. I touched her and she was burning up. She stayed home with me.

I called the playgroup coordinator and told her I wouldn't be coming. There are so few of us now, we try to let each other know if we can't be there because sometimes we'd be the only one there if we didn't do this. She hadn't made it last week because she had flu at her home. She still wasn't able to come, and I told her I couldn't, either. She said the fever had come, gone, and returned with her kids, too.

J not only had fever today, but diarrhea. It was quite a mess.

She's pretty much spent the day in bed. She wasn't feeling well enough to use the computer.

It's too bad she went to school yesterday even though she was fine except for the cough. She probably spread the flu far and wide.

J is better

Finally, J has been fever-free for 24 hours. She'll be going back to school tomorrow. I've been taking K to preschool, so I've been able to keep up with the math that I need to do. J has been playing games on the spare computer, watching TV, and reading. She still has a cough and a very runny nose, but her spirits are fine and the fever is gone.

So far no one else has turned up with a fever. I'd say if it remains that way for another week, we're in the clear.

K has wet herself both days of preschool this week. They're telling me if this continues, they'll make her bring and wear pull-ups. I am so disappointed. She only has accidents at home if she falls asleep. I don't know why she's not asking to use the toilet. I don't know why they aren't prompting her to go more often. J had a lot of trouble in preschool, but they worked with her. J didn't have carpeting in the school, though, I think. Apparently the room where she has "Stay and Play" is carpeted, and K is ruining the carpeting with her wetting. Truthfully, I think it's dumb to have carpeting in a preschool, but I guess it makes the room seem cozier. K isn't wetting herself, though, until "Stay and Play." She uses the toilet fine in regular preschool.

Flu?

J woke me up in the night because she was thirsty but got dizzy every time she tried to get up. I got her water and checked her temperature. It was 102.5 ° under her arm. She's home watching TV instead of going to school. I've noticed she's got a cough, too. I'm guessing she has the flu, and I've heard that if you have flu right now, the odds are it's the Mexican swine flu, H1N1.

N woke up very cranky and tired. He said he didn't stay up late. He didn't have the flu, but I wouldn't be surprised if he turns up with a fever in the next day or so. Someone I spoke with at playgroup Friday said the flu had gone through her family, and for a couple of her daughters, it started with fatigue.

I'm feeling extra tired today, too. It might just be hypochondria, though, or maybe I'm tired because I was awakened in the night.

Assuming Picasa blogs correctly, here is a picture of my carrot cake cupcake. Sadly, this is the best-looking one that I made. They tasted very good. The frosting was excellent. My cupcakes were ugly. Not only do I have no artistic talent but things went wrong.

Last time I made cupcakes from a modern recipe, I had the same problem. My batter overflowed the tin and cooked on. Then it stuck and got messy when I tried to remove the cupcake. In one pan, about six cupcakes were all joined together. What a mess! Obviously, I overfilled the tin. The recipe said it made 24 cupcakes, so I forced the batter into 24 cupcakes. I'd have been better off making a few extras that didn't overflow their cup. Since this happened to me recently, I'm wondering if modern cupcake tins hold slightly more batter than old ones. My tins are old.

A bedtime story for my son

I read my son part of the chapter in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged in which a description of what happened at a car-making plant after the owner died and his communist children took it over, guilted everyone into a vote about running the plant communist-style, and then drove the plant and the spirit of the workers into the ground.

The workers were paid according to their needs instead of their abilities. They became whining beggars because that was the only way to get compensation. The lazy had lots of babies so they'd have more need. The hard workers were punished for their abilities because they were required to perform unpaid overtime. Anyone with ability tried to hide it so they wouldn't be required to provide so much unpaid labor. Those with ability came to resent the needy. They hated every baby born because it meant more uncompensated work for them. Before the company was run communist-style they had rejoiced at co-workers babies and would willing help financially if they thought it was necessary. In the end the communist-style operation drove the company into the ground.

When Nick is much older (probably somewhere around fifteen), I'll have him read the whole book if I can keep him interested enough. It's a great book, but oh so long.

None

My cold drags on, but it's not too bad. We've had cold, wet weather lately, which makes me cough a lot when I go outside.

My Cub Scout treasurer job hid a snag. I just got two $7.40 registration checks back in the mail because of insufficient funds. I had no idea what I'm supposed to do with them, so I asked the old treasurer (who says it never happened to her) the cubmaster and his assistant (his wife), and the committee chairman what to do. I don't have clear direction yet, but I'll make something up.

I got Martha Stewart's cupcake cookbook a couple weeks ago. So far I've only enjoyed the pictures at bedtime. I'm giving some thought to trying the carrot cupcakes very soon. I just might be the only one in the house who will eat them, though. But, even if I am, I will enjoy them very much.

K is crying a little less when I drop her off at preschool. Sometimes she sings me songs she's learning there. She still isn't as well-adjusted as I had hoped she'd be by now, a month into her preschool career.

UTI

I have a UTI. I suspected it when I got up this morning, but I had a lot of things I needed to get done today. I took the kids before school for a cranberry juice run at the local supermarket in hopes of defeating it (but it didn't). After dropping K off at preschool, I went to the gym. Then I went to the office to get the bank deposit, the monthly report, and a certified letter I needed to send. Finally I went to the post office. It was around noon before I got home. Mr. K was home after a job. I asked him if he had anything scheduled for the afternoon. He didn't. He said he'd pick K up from preschool if he needed to if I could get a doctor's appointment.

I called and they could get me in at 1:15. I was very pleased. We got the spare car seat set up in the extra truck just in case Mr. K had to pick up K. I got to my appointment about ten minutes early. They had me in the back within five minutes of my official appointment time (not like the gynecologist's). I got weighed, talked to the nurse, and she sent me off to produce a pee sample.

Once the sample was analyzed, the doctor came and told me I did have a mild UTI. I also am starting to get a sinus infection. She prescribed an antibiotic that will cover both, and some diflucan, at my request, since I usually get yeast infections from antibiotics.

While I was there, I saw a sign about X-ray and mammogram appointments. I asked the doctor if they do mammograms there. She said they do, and agreed that since I'm 40 I should get one. I scheduled one for next week Tuesday when K is in preschool.

I was back out the door by 1:45!

More Like a Real Student

I felt more like a real student today. I had to put a parking sticker on my car so I could go to campus and take a test on campus. Up until now, I have been able to do everything from my computer at home. I got out my backpack and loaded it with what I'd need. I had a couple cups of coffee at breakfast, so I couldn't tell how much of my shaking was from caffeine and how much was from the nervousness of taking a test in person.

I got there twenty minutes early so I could ask if it was the right place. In case it wasn't, I wanted time to be redirected to the correct place. It was, so I went to the library and said hello to a friend of mine who is a librarian there.

For the record, I noticed that most of the young women are much, much fatter than when I originally went to college. Back then most of us were quite scrawny. Now the young ladies seem to be about my size, which is no longer scrawny.

I went to take my test, and found that the notecard of notes I was allowed was too large. Fortunately, I only put four formulae on it in one little area, so the proctor just took her scissors to it and made it the correct size.

I got all the questions correct! I had carefully checked each of my answers as I entered them into the computer. Had I not done this, I would have missed two problems.

I came home, checked my e-mail, looked at the Drudge Report, and decided to blog.

Guys with Smokes

Guys with Smokes
Originally uploaded by greycharleigh

My neighbor is the guy on the left. His best friend is the guy on the right. This picture was one of my Cafe Crowd Project 365 pictures in January. It's hard to believe the year is almost over.

Mr. T got disability

My neighbor, Mr. T, was granted disability when his lawyer appealed his denial. He won't receive any money for a few months, they told him, but he'll get payments going back to 2007, when he filed and was denied.

I'm not sure if that means he'll be moving out of the shed and back into the house. His friend who owns the house is rumored to be losing it soon. I don't know if he's behind on mortgage payments or if he will be soon. I don't know if he'll be able to hold onto the place for what Mr. T can afford to pay in rent. In any event, Mr. T will have some cash for beer and cigarettes soon.

I've got a cold

I've come down with a cold. I think all of us might have one, but K got it first. She seems to be doing better now. J got an ear infection with hers, and I had to take her to the doctor's office to get her antibiotics earlier this week. Her ear pain seems to be gone now.

We will skip church tomorrow. I can't imagine anyone would want me there, coughing on him. Plus, I can use all the sleep I can get.

Mr. K is out with N, selling Cub Scout popcorn door-to-door. They are "blitzing" the neighborhood with his pack. Later today I'll probably take J around a neighborhood near us to sell orders for Girl Scout nuts. We started it last Sunday, but it started to rain so we didn't finish covering the territory I had planned to cover.

My fig crop seems to have played itself out. There are still some tiny, green figs at the tips of some of the limbs, but they are so far behind what we just finished eating that it is like they are a different crop. I'm not sure they'll ripen before the first frost, which will kill them.

Our hardy kiwis are just beginning to ripen. Most of them seem to be on the other side of the fence, so I'll probably go to my neighbor's yard to pick them.