12 Days and Counting!

Only 12 more days of school left. I thought that once the end of the year came near, time would slow to a crawl. Instead, it's absolutely flying!

Andy didn't go on his trip on Tuesday. He woke up on Tuesday morning and said he didn't feel well. He looked pale and said he had a headache, but I'm ashamed to say that I thought he just didn't want to go on the trip. Well, I was wrong, because shortly afterwards he made a mad dash for the bathroom to get sick. After a couple of times of this, I figured going to school probably wasn't such a good idea! I can't believe that we managed to have perfect attendance up until just lately, and now he's missed three days, fairly close together. I had intended to go into school to do what I had to do, since Jerry was home because it was raining. I changed my mind, though, when I thought about the fact that Jerry probably wouldn't want to help Andy clean up after getting sick. He's not very good about that, and it usually makes him sick! I called the school and told them I wouldn't be in. I didn't think to tell them why; I just said I wouldn't be able to be there. Later Tuesday night I talked with the mom of one of Andy's friends from class, and she said that I had everyone worried, and they thought something must have been awfully wrong because I hadn't missed a day volunteering in two years, and I hadn't said why I wasn't coming in! I guess it's nice to be missed. I felt terrible about not going in, but Andy came first. He got over it quickly - very quickly! By Tuesday night he was hungry and would have eaten everything in the house if I hadn't made him slow down! It turns out his class trip was postponed because of the rain, so he didn't miss that after all.

I had a great day yesterday. Jerry and I went to two thrift shops and the farmer's market. Well, I went into the thrift shops while Jerry waited outside! Sometimes he likes to go in, but he said he wasn't in the mood for "thrifting" yesterday! I got great stuff! Here's my haul: I got a very nice (new) fleece shirt for myself, a pair of Adidas shorts for Andy, a dress for myself, a Rock 'em Sock 'em robots game, Lord of the Flies book, a Spongebob Squarepants book for Andy, a Playstation 2 game called Harvest Moon, and a lamp. I spent a grand total of $18.00 for all of that! That's it.

I'm not usually a name-brand person, but I know that Adidas stuff holds up well, as Andy is on his second year of Adidas hand-me-downs that Tom wore! I just had to get the Rock 'em Sock 'em robots! They were like a blast from the past! The boys and I had seen an ad for them a long time ago and I had told them how they were around when I was a kid, so naturally when I saw them yesterday I had to get them! The lady working at the thrift shop and I played a round to make sure that both of their heads would pop up the way they were supposed to! We were laughing so hard! (She won!) I had wanted to use Lord of the Flies as part of Andy's reading curriculum later on, so was surprised and pleased to find it yesterday. The Spongebob book was a bonus find! I couldn't believe that I found the Playstation 2 game. Both boys had wanted this game but never got it. We don't think it's ever been played before. It looked brand new; the disk was still shiny with no marks on it at all, and the instruction book was still new and crisp, with everything still neatly in the case. Andy has been playing it since yesterday! He's playing it now while I'm writing this. It is a role-playing game in which you are a farmer trying to save your grandfather's farm from being turned into a theme park, and you have to prove that you can make it a successful farm. It takes a lot of thinking and planning to play the game. For instance, yesterday Andy hatched an egg (you have to remember to put it in the incubator), and then had to raise his chicken by remembering to feed it and bringing it in at night or in the rain. Each day you need to check the weather forecast and plan accordingly; either work on your garden, tend to your animals, or go to town to buy supplies (and like real life, the stores are only open on certain days, and certain hours, so you have to plan this accordingly too!). Well, one of his chickens didn't get brought in out of the rain soon enough and got sick. It figured that he didn't have any animal medicine to give the chicken, and when he went to the store, it was closed. The chicken ended up dying. Then a second chicken died because he was busy tending other things and forgot to feed it. You have to name each of your animals, and he had named these two chickens. I guess he was afraid of getting attached again in case something happened, because today when he got another chicken he named it "832"! When I stopped laughing long enough to ask about that name, he informed me it was because that particular chicken was a lab experiment! Farming in West Virginia should be an adventure! Maybe we'll just stick with growing vegetables.....

I'm Human Again!

I feel like a human being again! What a difference a few days can make. I feel like I have been in a haze these last couple of days, but am much better now. My cough is almost a thing of the past - just a little at night (most annoying when I'm trying to get rest!). I actually did two days' worth of work today - I hadn't really done a lot the last few days and didn't want to fall too far behind. The boys cleaned the house for me yesterday so I didn't have that to contend with once I came out of my fog. Now I just need to make sure I don't overdo it just because I feel better. I did that before and got sick all over again. I think I'll wait a couple more days before getting back on the treadmill. Carrying laundry up and down the stairs is still wearing me out, so I don't think walking is what I need right now.

We are wondering if the rain is going to come or not. The clouds and sprinkles have been teasing us all afternoon. We are wondering because Andy has another field trip tomorrow - this one is outdoors, too. They are going to study oysters (arsters!) at a park near here and be on the beach. That would be pretty awful in the rain! I am not going on this trip (thank goodness!). I signed up to go if I was needed, but the teacher told me last week that she already had enough parents to go this time but that she would need me to go to the movies with the class next week. Not a bad thing, huh?! I'll take seeing a movie over staring at arsters in the rain any day. Besides, it would have been very difficult to have to come back from the trip at 1:45 and then do the things I normally do at school on Tuesdays.

Now I need to get stuff ready for tomorrow and put a fire under Andy to get his assigned reading done, then it's off to bed. Four o'clock in the morning comes awfully early. Too early, apparently - lately I haven't been rolling out of bed until about five o'clock! My snooze button is going to protest and just stop working one of these days.

I am still very much under the weather - actually, under a truck is what it feels like. Instead of resting this week like I should have, I did everything I needed to do, albeit slower than usual, but now I am paying for it. Ever the optimist though, I did discover how to grocery shop in record time yesterday. Have an uncontrollable coughing spell in the middle of a grocery store, and the people will part like the Red Sea - allowing you to get your shopping done in record time. Have another spell at the salad bar and you get first pick of EVERYTHING!

Only once did I get a little embarrassed. I started coughing uncontrollably in the cereal aisle. Then the wheezing started, then my eyes started watering too badly to see where I was going - which really didn't matter anyway as I was standing still, clinging to the grocery cart for dear life. I just couldn't seem to stop coughing, or catch my breath. At this point Jerry quickly left the aisle (no, not because he was embarrassed to be seen with me!) and went to the medicine aisle and got not one, but TWO bags of cough drops. He returned to the cereal aisle where I had been commiserating with Cap'n Crunch and helped me get a cough drop. Had I taken my Robitussin before I left, I would have been fine, but I forgot to take it. In any case, the grocery shopping got done in an amazingly short time!

I know it was silly to go out when I was feeling so badly, but it seems the people in this household think they need to eat on a regular basis. Go figure. And being the stubborn sort, I didn't want Jerry going without me, because I wasn't sure he'd get everything I needed. I have been very stubborn this week, not letting anyone help me with anything. I really need to work on that!

Now I shall go lie down and take a nice 2 or 14 hour nap.

What a Day!

We had a WONDERFUL day today. Despite my coughing, I still managed to enjoy the trip. We rode on a tour bus - complete with reclining seats and television! The boat ride was very, very nice. I think the class will be talking about this for a long time. At one point while I was just sitting and enjoying the ride, one of the crew asked me to steer. I actually did okay! It took a little getting used to - the boat is 56 feet long and it was difficult to see the front of the boat with the children standing. I only got port and starboard mixed up once, too, but the crew member reminded me. I was supposed to be turning the boat to avoid a crab pot and when he said "starboard", I turned port. Very calmly he leaned over and reminded me. He is British, so actually what he said was "stahbut, deah, stahbut"!

Of course, I forgot to take my Dayquil at lunch time, so I hacked my way through the afternoon, annoying myself and probably everyone around me. There was no water to take them with, either. The dock's bathroom is very, well, limited. They informed us that there was no septic or sewer; just a holding tank. There was a sign on the wall that read "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down". This grossed out a few kids, but most took it in stride!

All in all, it was a wonderful day. I know there will be a lot of tired children (and grown-ups) tonight!

A baby Diamond Back terrapin.

Andy seeing what critters he can net from the marsh.

Andy's a little unsure about holding this crab!

An osprey on a nest.

Mrs. Walton making a fashion statement in her waders!

Can you find the mud crab hidden in this net?

Andy "drudging" for "arsters" - pronounced southern Maryland style!

Andy saying a few words about what he had learned today.

Here I am steering. Trusting souls, aren't they?!

This was funny - the method of "air conditioning' used on the boat was a bucket of water over your head! Almost all the class wanted to be "air-conditioned"!

Andy and Kody practicing knot tying.

Learning how to tie a "bowline", pronounced bow-lin in southern Maryland!

The inside of our bus - pretty fancy, huh?!

Anchors *cough* Away! *cough* *hack* *cough*

Not much time for blogging today, between coughing and trying to get some work done. It was a rough night last night - I felt like a cable ad - ALL coughing, ALL the time. Wow, where did that come from?! I must be succumbing to the effects of the Tylenol Cold Nighttime I finally decided to take in order to get some sleep tonight. Guess I'd better hurry and write this before the sedation part kicks in!

I am going with Andy's class on a boat trip tomorrow. The boat is out of St. George's Island and is called The Dee. I am looking forward to it. I am armed with massive amounts of Dayquil, Tom's camera, and an Oscar Mayer Lunchable. All a woman could need, right?!

Jerry's thumb is healing nicely. He's still keeping it bandaged, but it is closing well, with no swelling or signs of infection.

Well, that's all for today's quick update. I am off to bed to try to get some sleep tonight, unlike last night. I wonder how long un til th eme d i cin e w or k s ...............................

The plum tree is full of plums this year. Last year we hardly had any; this year looks like a bumper crop!

My mint is growing fast - I'm happy about that!