No More Coughing

We're all feeling better! Zac no longer sounds like he's wheezing to death, nobody has fever, there is no mucus falling from anyone's noses, and we have been enjoying the great outdoors!

*Throws confetti*

Unfortunately, Zac missed a whole week of work, so he spent yesterday catching up on some projects. He met some traffic on his way home, so we were late getting Emily's car to the shop. I can go on Monday instead. The car needs more work than a back window, so we're going to get it looked at soon. After the window is replaced, we can take it to the car wash and vacuum the rest of the glass out. Maybe it'll stop smelling like her soon, too...

Yesterday, we had Steak and Shake for lunch since the weather was warm and breezy and we were desperate to get out of the house. The Parmesan 'n Garlic fries are to die for. Kids eat free on Saturdays, so bonus there.

I worked this afternoon/evening. I was supposed to get off at 6, but stayed til 8 because we had to change out two tables by switching candles and props, etc. My back isn't pleased, but oh well. I don't mind extra time to make up for Zac missing hours. No biggie.

And in other news, a 6th bun is baking and will hopefully arrive in early December. I'm taking it one day at a time and hope in a few short weeks to hear a healthy little heartbeat. But, one day at a time.

Dad

I haven't talked about my dad or how he's doing in a while. He had surgery today to remove a tumor from his face. When he and Mom came to visit about two weeks ago, he had a lump the size of a grape on the side of his face near his ear. Mom sent me a picture today and it was as big as half a lemon. The surgery was scheduled for around 7:30 this morning and should have lasted about three hours, but he wasn't out until nearly 6 this evening. He's spending the night in the ICU since the procedure took so long. The surgeon had to cut a major nerve in order to remove the tumor, so it's going to affect his eye. The tumor would've affected his eye, too, so either way something was going to happen. He won't be able to blink on that side and will either need a special device to keep his eye moisturized, or he'll have to wear an eye patch. All Dad's lymph nodes looked normal, but a few had to be removed from his neck. There also doesn't appear to be cancer anywhere else according to the scans, so that's a relief.

Meanwhile, he's still suffering from memory loss and has his early dementia, so he's confused most of the time. I haven't been to see him in a while, but will probably take the kids over there next week once we're all feeling better. Zac's got a sore throat, and even Mom has a fever now. Dad doesn't always recognize me, so it's hard to be there with him. I know if I spend more time with him, he probably won't be so forgetful. I'll update when I know more.

St. Patrick's Day 2018

We were sick this year, conveniently around the time we would normally go to New Orleans and see the Irish/Italian parade. We missed out on the fun and stayed home and I didn't get to cook my shepherd pie because I hadn't felt like cooking. However, since none of us were feeling sickly green today, we went out to run errands and wore green. I convinced Zac to take me to Home Depot so I could buy some soil and flowers and FINALLY get around to fixing up my window box planter in the front yard. I also picked out a bird feeder, but forgot to buy a bird bath. Zac has been wanting to attempt a DIY box garden, complete with door and roof made of chicken wire. It's much cheaper to build it ourselves than to buy it ready-made. I'm excited. We may have missed our time of planting, but according to the Internet, we have time to get tomatoes and peppers in the ground. I don't have much of a green thumb (lots of green, right?) so, I'm skeptical of my skills. But, playing in the dirt and planting my petunias was super awesome and I just want to keep digging. Walmart also has a tempting chicken coop that I'm leaning towards getting because all I want is a bunch of chickens. 

Yo ho, yo ho, the farmer's life for me.

Since the kiddos were so good and didn't get a disciplinary pinch from Mama Leprechaun, we treated them to some Bop's before heading home. I'm so glad they're feeling better. Jac still has a cough and I'm still getting rid of some funk in my throat, but we're okay. Zac has the beginning of a sore throat, but he, like Leah, doesn't stay sick for long. I'm just glad I went out and bought some meds because all of ours had expired... we just don't get sick often. Thankfully!

Sick

Leah picked up a fever last week and shared it with the rest of us, so we're a bit quarantined for now. I'm glad I'm off the rest of the week because I'd hate to call out. My throat hurts, but I don't have fever. Jac threw up this morning, but I think it was from his mucus drip. Today, the fevers finally went away for the boys. Elias has been super sweet and cheery, Jac has been in a good mood, though just tired, and Leah has been her normal, broody self. I just don't think she likes helping out, even though she's a good helper. She also lost a tooth, so maybe the money from the Tooth Fairy will influence a more positive attitude.

Mostly Sad

Thirteen years of blogging as of today. Neat-o.

Zac missed work earlier this week because our car decided to die. He spent about seven hours at the repair shop so they could replace the starter, but that time also includes having the car towed to the shop, as well as having a locksmith come by to open the car because my exhausted husband accidentally locked our only key in the car. My keys were most likely stolen back in December, so we've been lazy-yet-careful with our only key. We did try to get a spare, but Walmart doesn't have the right model for our particular car and with us only having one car, it's been hard going out to get a spare made anywhere else. Did I mention we're also a little bit lazy?

Meanwhile, I've got Emily's car in my possession now, which is both depressing and good. However, some asshole busted out the back window before we went to pick it up. I'm just glad her ex-roommate was smart enough to put a tarp over the space before the rain came. So, now we have that looming over us and the car is not yet insured. I feel like I'm drowning just a bit. Add the second miscarriage and I almost feel like my sanity is being tested... especially since I didn't think I would miscarry after having a term pregnancy last, and I was letting myself get excited enough to tell everyone straight away.

To perk us up for the weekend, Zac and I went and filed our taxes, so that's one relief. We decided to go to Fernando's for lunch because it's been a while since we went out to eat, just us. However, I got choked up when our favorite waiter (he's served us for about 12 years now) asked about Emily and if she still worked at Walmart and I couldn't tell him she died because I felt my throat close up and my eyes started welling up. It was more, "She did work at Walmart," even though she worked at TJMaxx last, but he didn't know that and I still had to talk about her in the past tense, which I don't think will ever be easy.

I'm just sick of being so fucking sad all the time.

I'll turn this around with some pictures of the kids from yesterday when we went to work with Zac to help him catch up on some things he was unable to do when the car broke.