Life, Interrupted

I'm upright and dressed. I ran errands while my son was at preschool this morning and now the van is parked in the garage after having picked him up and brought him home once again. Finally, a normal weekday in our house.

Last Monday, I had just gotten home from a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend in Minneapolis with my college friends (interrupted by a two-day music teacher's conference on Thursday and Friday). I felt fine during my trip until the plane ride home when I noticed an annoying tickle in the back of my throat like I'd swallowed a spoonful of sand. No amount of ginger ale and pretzels could get rid of it. I got home from the airport and noticed that my son, who had just been getting over a cough when I'd left, was starting to cough a lot more again. And that was the start of a long and useless week.

Three doctor's visits, and myriad of cold medicines and two antibiotics later, my youngest and I are finally starting to feel like human beings again. This morning was his first day back to school in a week and my first night's sleep in as much time that was spent entirely in my own bed. Thank goodness my only obligation last week was getting my daughter to and from school, and even that took all the energy I could muster. On top of which, my husband had work-related obligations and had to use the van all week. I think crawling in and out of a two-door Chevy Cavalier to buckle car seats should be an Olympic event. It's probably for the best that I didn't have much contact with the outside world last week. I've retained more friends that way.

Hoping to blog about happier memories of our time out here in the days to come. Right now though, all I want to do is nap.

~Paula

Life in Suburbia

Greetings! My husband keeps reminding me that I haven't posted in a while. I think he just enjoys getting non-work related e-mails when I (used to) post something new. I guess my lack of blogging activity means we're  getting settled into our new life here in the 'burbs and he hasn't gotten anyone fired lately. Well, that's nearly true, but I'm not at liberty to discuss. Since I've got time on my hands today as my youngest is home from school with a cold, I'll try to bring you up to speed without putting you to sleep. I said try.

We've celebrated two birthdays in our household recently--my daughter's in December, and my husband's big 4-0 in January. For my daughter's celebration, we put aside our disdain for one Chuck E. Cheese and brought 5 little girls and a little brother through the gates of Hell and back and lived to tell about it. I think the video speaks for itself. FUN CHECK!

The New Year's Crew

Christmas found us back in Minnesota and catching up with many family and friends. It was 18 days (yes, I said 18) of brown grass and mild temperatures interrupted by a New Year's Eve snow flurry in the Twin Cities. To say that this winter is strange would be an understatement. Although, I did enjoy going for a run with my husband on Christmas Eve Day in a t-shirt and shorts. I'm not exactly sure where all the snow has gone this year, but I didn't run into many people during our stay that were missing it.

We survived Portland's snowpocalypse for the year. Four to five inches of snow that lasted for almost 48 hours. I don't know how, but somehow we managed to pull through it. There are parts of the Northwest that have had a lot of flood and storm damage from rain and snow, and we in this household can certainly sympathize with them. At the same time, however, we delight in the fact that for once it isn't my husband or myself in the basement with a shop vac. Sounds like a new character in a round of Clue.


It's windy here today. The house shook throughout most of the night and we listened to garbage cans on the curb get blown over, gutters bang against their eaves, and wind howl from Mt. Hood, down the gorge, and try to beat its way into our house. I also blame it for the 5:30 a.m. wake up time from the kids. After shooing everyone back to their beds, I peeked out our window to check the weather, and noticed that many in our neighborhood were also up early, probably because of the noisy skies as well.

Just Because

So here we'll sit today and listen for the recycling truck so we can run the collection can back out to the curb in time. I suppose later on I'll be dodging the kamakaze mail truck driver and make my way up the street to retrieve her daily offerings. The dog will sit in the kitchen and patiently stare at the floor, waiting for me to slob something on the floor in front of her. Just another day in Suburbia.