11 posts tagged “clive”

How's your sick house?

Here's our status (I'm bored):

Clive- A-ok. Mood: Copious stress over work/strike and tired of family.

Queen Soledad  - Still coughing, but improved. Health, that is. Off to ballet with Daddy.  Mood: Somewhat especially foul.

SpitSpot - Napping. Fever most likely gone (at 8 am it was 99.2). Has the most vile yellow snot I have ever seen in one of my own children. Every sneeze produces thick ropes past her lips. Eeeeew. Mood: reasonable.

Me - Throat no longer sore, glands lightly swollen, head ache gone, but still stuffy head. Mood: on edge.

We all need to be better and back to our normal (and Clive, improved) schedules so that we don't implode. Even a trip to our favorite ice cream spot last night did little to improve our overall cheer. Wish us luck!

The pestilence still reigns at our home. Clive is back to work, though a bit wobbly. Queenie is out and about on a play date but still has a cough and stuffy head. Both are on 10 days of antibiotics, which Queenie thinks is great fun. Spit Spot and I came down with some version of their stuff Thursday and yesterday, respectively. I am doing everything I can to get rid of it as quickly as possible and prevent it from getting into my chest. Free! Free! I want to be free!

Anyway, all this sickness has ended up with TVALLTHETIME here at home. Thank you, Universe, for 24 hr Noggin, which is so much quieter than Disney and causes the kids to yell, "My turn!" far less. My whole family has also become addicted very quickly to Yo Gabba Gabba! It kind of creeps me out, but I cannot resist its pull, and their songs are ridiculously catchy. I've been trying most of the morning to find out who sings the "Rest Your Head" song, and can't. I have managed to find some ridiculously cute tee shirts and hoodies (iron on!) but no info on which *terribly hip and indie band* is singing it. If anyone knows, please let me know!

Spit Spot sang herself to sleep at nap time one of their songs. Too cute.

Check it out : http://www.yogabbagabba.com/

Clive has been incapacitated for the last 4 days with a wretched flu. 104 degree temp, chills, sore throat, and a wretched cough. He's been sleeping most of the days and nights away, poor guy, and dropping about 5 lbs every 12 hours.

I thought Queen Soledad caught it, too. Saturday, she attended a rousing 4 hour ice skating birthday party, complete with cake and cocoa. She had a blast, of course, but a couple hours later she had a low fever. Too much partying? Daddy's flu?

No, that'd be too easy. Seems she has managed to get strep again. Now, with scarlet fever. Wooo!

I blame the Hanna Montana toothbrush. I knew I should've thrown it out after the last bout, but thought a good ol' soak in hydrogen peroxide and GSE was enough. It was just a couple days old! From Santa! Damn.

Worst part is, tomorrow her class is having a Mardi Gras parade, party, and jazz concert. She worked on her float with her *krewe* all last week (theme, Summer) and has been planning her costume to the smallest detail. I had thought I could sneak her onto the scene to at least watch the parade, but now I fear she is too too sick.

Then, of course, there's the fact that Spit Spot and I are completely stir crazy. Sigh.

I have officially finished the Master Cleanse. Whew! 10 days of drinking *spicy water* (1 oz. fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 oz. maple syrup, 8 oz. filtered water) and 3 days of weaning back onto food. Clive was going to do it with me, but quit after three angry days of kidney cleansing.

I did it because I've been feeling just awful the last few months. My diet and appetite were out of whack, I'd gained weight, my skin was a mess. And I was suddenly getting sick, twice in a month. The last time, just after New Year's, took weeks out of my life. And so I figured, since I had barely eaten for a couple weeks anyway, it was as good a time as ever to try again (the last time I did it was back in grad school).

The first day was awful because of the caffeine withdraw, but the rest were mostly fine. I wasn't hungry much until nighttime, and then I just went to bed. I got a bit tired of squeezing and buying lemons (A dollar a lemon! When did that happen?), but I really enjoyed the simplicity of the whole thing. No worrying about what to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner. No stressing over carb-balancing or calories. I also really love lemons and syrup, so all was well.

Weaning back onto food has been more troublesome. Today I think I overate on soup and felt uncomfortably full for the rest of the day and night. Who knew?

So, 2 weeks later, I'm less tired, less phlegmy, and my pants fit better. Hopefully, I'll not jump back to cupcakes anytime soon. Anyway, here's hoping for a healthier 2008.

The girls are still sick. Their fevers are down to non-medicated stages, but Queen is still getting the chills, Spit Spot is clingy, and both are more crabby than quiet.

The parents, meanwhile, are restless. There's shopping to do, and rooms to clean, and peace to be had. But that's hard in a 2 bedroom apartment where we're all on top of each other, separated by disheveled blankets and pillows that have migrated out of the bedrooms. There are unruly piles of crafts, magazines, books, and toys half-finished with, tissues, and tea cups, and glasses of juice. In a word, ugh.

Yesterday, there were bits of peace. After a certain point, I gave up my plans to get things done and actually enjoyed going nowhere, doing nothing more than stringing Jiffypop for the tree, watching Clive help Queen with her reading and math But then I had an intense need to clean the bathroom, pick up the toys, shower.

Today I am hoping to escape a bit to the gym for yoga or spin. I intend on sending Clive to Whole Foods to finish Christmas meal shopping (his domain - Farmhouse chili and cornbread for dinner, pumpkin pancakes for breakfast), and get his own antsy self to the gym.

What I really want to do is to escape to the spa and the movies. Being home all day, I've caught up on much of my New Yorker reading -- all the art, jazz, movies I've been missing. So much to see!  In another week or so, our lovely Texan neighbors will be back from their vacation and will babysit for us, so that Clive and I can begin to get back out in the word again.

Babes restless and infighting again. Must go mediate yo-yo's and tiaras.

I spent most of today crabby. There were occasional breaks in my personal fog - watching Spit Spot splash happily in puddles, and lay herself flat down upon wet pavement to splash in even dirtier puddles - that was fun. But then the subsequent wet and messy brawl back to the car was not.

I kept bemoaning the fact that I bought the "wrong" sized rain boots for the girls and the beat myself up for letting them wear them today, before I could return them. I forgot the cardinal rule of rain boot shopping: Thou Shalt Buy a Size Bigger than the Child's Foot. So now, I pray, and hope, that their feet won't grow too fast, that they just had their big winter growth spurt, and my choices won't turn into a big honkin' waste of cash. I actually have a bigger size for Spit Spot, left over from Soledad, but they are short, and therefore, mostly useless. Because, you and I know that there is no toddler on earth who can just walk through a puddle. No, they must leap, splash, bang, and pounce through them, and splash as much filthy water as possible up their legs and into the folds of the pants we put on them to keep them dry. The taller the boots, the better.

On a brighter side, I also got a new pair of boots, and my first tall pair of Wellies. I was going to get basic green or black, but they were back ordered at both Restoration and LLBean, and the ones at Nordstrom were way too much. So I took a leap of faith and bought a jaunty pair of red and black plaid ones. Classic, and hopefully won't get too dated to fast. I briefly considered the horseshoe print, but am really not a horse-y kind of gal, and all the rock-n-roll skulls and roses seemed to be trying too hard. So plaid it is. I'm very excited to wear them.

I also got a couple new tee shirts without holes (yay!) and 2 pairs of jeans to fit my new, larger size. A bit sad, but really really nice to have long pants that fit again, and I have enough that I don't have to do laundry every other minute. Thank G-d for cheap Old Navy jeans. And when I get back down to my comfortable self, I'll splurge on a new pair of Joe's.

On another note, the damn writer's strike has finally sent us a direct hit. Clive's a finalist for an Big Studio Talent Fellowship. He's been happily jumping through their hoops for a month while he finishes up school. We've been expecting "The Call" at any minute. Well, they called today, but just to tell him that there will be no call until they figure out what's going on with the strike. Fair enough, but it means more waiting, and that's kind of painful. I'm sure there's a good Zen lesson in all this. I keep thinking of the story where the moral is you never know if something is good luck or bad luck until the future unfolds. I'm grateful he's still in the game. Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts!

It's Channukah and I asked Clive to bring home some jelly donuts for dessert. Fried foods are a traditional treat for the holiday (to remind of us of the miracle of the oil burning for 8 days) and a huge treat for my kids. I never ever buy fried food for the home and NEVER EVER donuts.

And now I remember why.

Because I have no self-control.

Clive brought home, not the requested 3 or 4, but 6. I promptly gave 2 away to the neighbors, and thought that might save me, but I did not take into account that Spit Spot would not like hers. So I ate mine....and then...half of hers. Not to mention a coupel Dora chocolate coins. And now I feel just awful and guilty and wish there was a way to be bulimic without actually having to puke or purge anything from anywhere.

But they were very good. I had wanted to try Primo's, but they were Winchell's. Well done, Mr. Winchell!

Happy Channukah everyone!

Hanukkah comes early this year and I am in a present-buying tizzy. My family has decided to just send me a check and let me shop for the girls. On the one hand, this is great. They only get what I want them to get. No mounds of plastic pthalate-filled crap, and no ill-fitting clothes I can't return. Wooo! On the other hand:

It's a lot more work for me, as I hate decision-making-minutia and my brain is already over-flowing with it (e.g., should the Aunt and Uncle get Queen Soledad some fancy German modeling wax or Goblet Jr?).

I kind of get the "we can't be bothered" vibe from the hands-off approach.

Part of me feels the kids kind of have a right to get some pthalate-filled, over-hyped junk, and I just can't bring myself to buy it (even if it's not my money).

Anyway, I'm almost done if I can just hunt down the right size/color/style crocs and get Clive to make a run to The Container Store (the capital of decision-making-minutia).

I haven't had time to blog ages...here's a summary of recent highlights:

We spent a month in  Maine this summer, which I won't do again until I have my own house/hotel there, survived, and started the oldest in first grade. She's also started soccer, which officially makes me a soccer mom, much to the amusement of some of my friends. I find soccer-momming unduly stressful, what with team snacks, and 2 trips a week to the field, picture day, awards ceremonies, and wet grass.  Queenie's fast, and really seems to like it. There's also a couple other toddlers and some pups around to entertain the little one. Luckily, it's only an 8 week season and we're already half way through.

The kids are obsessed with Annie. Spit-spot spends her days singing "Tomorrow" to everyone's amusement. I miss the days when Queenie used to sing "Moonraker."

I got rear-ended in the supermarket parking lot and am in negotiations with the Insurance folk. Just a fender bender, but I intend to get justice.

Spit-Spot woke me up a couple weeks ago proudly yelping, "Look Mommy, I ate it all! I ate it all!" and holding open an empty bottle of thyroid medication. Let me just say that the Poison Control people are the nicest folks on earth and deserve a big raise. She's fine, I just about had a nervous breakdown. Because I learned that the one thing worse than thinking your kid is about to die, is that you just killed your kid.

I've apparently become asthmatic. Technically, it's EIA, or Exercise Induced Asthma. Either way it's kind of bumming me out as I'm now on 2 additional medications and feel alternately that my body is failing me, or that LA is killing me. Fire Season here is not helping my opinion on the latter.

Mentally preparing to go back to work. Sad but true, I fear the time has come. Now my goal is to find a well-paying, low stress job with super-flexible hours and convenience to home and day care and easy parking.

Counting down the days to when Clive finishes grad school and we can get some semblance of a normal household back and I can stop feeling like a single mom (which is kind of unfair as Clive really does help a lot but still I want a man with regular hours).

It's been shoe month here as I've been shopping for an outfit to wear to a  cocktail/dinner event for a friend. My friend Maryann came down from SF to help and is lending me some fabulous jewelry to ensure I don't look like the poor cousin at the party. We bought a gorgeous pair of ruby red patent leather peep toe pumps with 4 inch heels that I have been petting like a new kitten. Too expensive for our current situation, however, so I asked Clive to return them for me, as I did not have the heart to do it myself. 10 bonus points for Clive! I did, however, buy a lovely pair of every day peep toes with a short heel for me for my upcoming birthday in an attempt to class up, a bit, and an agreeable  pair of black patent peep toe pumps for 1/3rd the price of the original ruby red pair. Also, some new makeup and bras. Just need some new hosiery and a compact and I'm done. I may even skip the hose. I mean, it's LA, right?

When sweet Maryann came down to help me shop, we also went out to a movie (The Darjeeling Limited) and drank a bit too much. All in the same day. Wooo!

I've taken up yoga, finally, in an attempt to become a more flexible and balanced human being. I think it' s going well, although I'm a bit squirmmish with the chanting. One of the teachers calls us "Oh Great Ones" and I'm finding myself jonesing for that every once in a while.

I've also taken up drinking macha, thanks to MA, and have given up half and half in hopes of fitting back into my favorite jeans.

I'm trying to finish some felting projects and it's not going well at all as I keep falling asleep when I put the girls down to sleep.

To that point, I'm going to sign off now and go back to sleep.

The new "feels and moves like down" pillows came last week. Know what? They don't. They're squishy, but oddly springy. They push back at you. I don't like that. And while I think they get your head at the right angle, that only works if there are no pillows or bolsters or whatever under them. And our bed has a bolster. So if I use them I get an achy neck. Queen Soledad, however, LOVES them and has claimed at least one of them as her own. Clive likes his fine, too, so I'll be keeping them. But I would argue that they are Firm pillows, and not the so-called Medium.

So there.

I'm a bit disgusted that Queenie has a $40 pillow, but then again, she's got an at least 40+ year old bedspread that's falling apart and a cotton blanket that's been eaten by the vacuum and has the scars to prove it. So she might as well have something nice to sleep with.