Katerbug Blue

My kids have all been sick this week. It’s kind of strange. My daughter was originally sick the day before the two snow days. Then after one day back at school my middle son comes home feeling ill–he missed two of the four days of school that week. This week, is all mine! My youngest goes back to preschool on Tuesday and then the headphones go on, and my feet hit that treadmill.

It’s hard getting the workout in the schedule with a house full of kids. So when they head back to school-it’s “Me” time! I can’t wait!

I’m not quite sure why I’m falling apart! I’m not that old–well, I’m not that young either, but seriously–in a crowd, I’m hard of hearing. I don’t mean the normal ‘woman’ thing where there are 14 different conversations going on at the same time and you some how can’t turn enough of them off to make out a coherent one. I’m seriously losing my hearing. Then add into that the 14 other conversations and you get this (and I’m not kidding, it happened at the church dinner just last week!!)

Friend: I’m so glad the kids are going back to school tomorrow.
Me: Me too, I will finally be able to turn Rockband off and have some quiet time.
Friend: Well, my quiet time isn’t so quiet, Brielle watches Barney every minute of the day.

Ok—I’m going to veer off of this verbatim for a moment–because I look like a fool in like 5 seconds, but in my defense…there is noise all around us. 250 people worth of noise, plus her 4 kids and my 3 kids—I didn’t stand a chance…..

Me: Oh I love those (Breil watches). My mother in law got one for Christmas and it’s classy yet casual–I might have to ask for one for my birthday.
Friend: …….strange look on her face….Twilight Zone music playing in her head…..
I’m sorry? What are you talking about?
Me: Uh….wha? Huh? What were you talking about?

Yeah…she was talking about her daughter, Brielle watching television. I heard Briel Watch—and off my brain fumbled through an incoherent conversation!

Ah, good times!!

Ok, I have to ask–what is the additional safety equipment in a car worth, if it can cause more damage because of it? Well, in this case it would have been my fault–and nothing did happen, but it got me to thinking. Last night my kids and I headed to the local drug store to take advantage of the last minute deals before they ended. It had snowed heavily here in the Chicago suburbs, and the road clearing process was going a bit slow. I pulled into the parking lot and tried to slow down for a stop sign. Unfortunately, my car was having none of it and we started to slide. It’s a two way stop and the car waiting to make a turn must have thought I had my “stop” under control because they pulled into my lane. I narrowly missed them. Yes, if there had been an accident it would totally have been my fault–and I’m glad there wasn’t. But what brought this question on is after all was said and done and everything was fine my son pointed out where is foot was resting. Right on the front passenger dash board. Had I hit that car, even as slow as we were going, his air bag would have deployed. And with that kind of speed and power—what exactly would have happened to that poor little leg and foot? Sure, his head wouldn’t have hit the dashboard or windshield, but how mangled would his leg be??

Note to self…….no more feet on the dashboard…EVER!

I have loved the last few days because it’s actually been warmer outside than I ever expected it to be! Mind you, I’m not going swimming or anything, but how nice to hit the streets in nothing more than a sweatshirt! My one problem…my toes! I have spent countless amounts of money on warm socks and slippers, I even used to sleep with a heating pad wrapped around my toes. My husband finally wised up. This year for Christmas he got a very nice electric blanket for our bed. How nice it is to turn it on just a few minutes before you are going to bed, so that you can crawl in to an already toasty bed! The only unhappy members of our family…the two dogs! They used to lie under the covers, but with the heat and their fur coats they just get too hot!

Nothing is funnier than the dogs clawing their way out from under the covers panting heavily!

Are you on it? I’ve only been on it a week, and I’m amazed at how many of my friends and family members are on it. What a great way to keep up with people in your life. Even people that I went to high school with, that I’ve not spoken to in years…it’s like no time has passed. We all meet up online, and talk about our lives now, how cool we ‘thought’ we were back then. It’s just made this holiday season just a bit more special. Family and friends really are the best!

My husband has been under a tremendous amount of stress lately. So much so, that I really don’t mind when he’s not home. How bad is that? But seriously, he is G-R-U-M-P-Y!! We had the Christmas Eve party at our house this year, and I have to say it was horrible! The kids have never been yelled at as much as they were in the days leading up to Christmas, and honestly, they were quite the same as normal. He just could NOT handle the stress in his life mixed in with the stress of family.

I VOWED we would never host this party again!

With things going the way they are in the economy, they are looking at laying off a couple of managers. That leaves my husband picking up the slack. More hours, no more pay! So I let him know how bad that is, and if he truly is going to go this route, then on his next day off we would be getting him some life insurance! Now let me say, I know nothing about life insurance…I don’t know how much we would want on him, how much would we want on me. Since I’m not currently insured medically, I would have to find a no exam life insurance policy, because I can’t pay a fortune to get into the doctor just now.

I do know his policy would be worth more than mine. I would lose the breadwinner of the family, and we would need something while I figured out our road for the future. He would need enough on me to cover any child care expenses he would have, because he would have to continue to work. These are all thoughts going through my head right now, but I do know…if he’s going to kill himself at work…we are going to be protected!!