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We're back from VA, obviously, and the trip went really well! I have discovered that I really don't mind a long road trip. Now, mind you, I realize that this has a lot to do with having Brian with me. If I had to do that all by myself, I would probably mind it very much. :) Also, having only one kid doesn't hurt. I have to say, though, that I actually enjoyed the long drive, and am glad that we once again chose to drive rather than fly. Nick was great in the car. We had purchased a portable DVD player for the trip, and even though he chose 10 movies to bring along, he proceeded to watch Cars THE WHOLE TIME, OVER AND OVER. Seriously. Hey, whatever makes him happy, I guess! He is just such an adaptable kid, and had no problem with sitting in the car for hours on end. We did take pee stops and stop at rest areas and to eat, but actually stopped a lot less than you might think. The whole drive, to and fro, went smoothly and uneventfully. I would rather not eat at a Denny's or a Cracker Barrel again for quite some time, though. :) We spent the night both coming and going at the Holiday Inn Express in Huber Heights, OH (outside Dayton), and it was very nice, with a great breakfast and a very reasonable military rate. Yay! And that pretty much describes the actual trip.As for the visit with Brian's parents, it went well, too. Mind you, it was somewhat boring and unexciting, but we knew that going in. Mostly, we just sat around the house enjoying each other's company. Nick seemed to have a blast, even though his activities were largely comprised of playing on the floor and watching TV. We did go to a really neat pool, which he loved. And he just enjoyed basking in his grandparents' love - likewise, they enjoyed basking in his cuteness and precociousness. :) One day, we went to a neat historic movie theater in downtown Leesburg to see "Up" - good movie! We got to spend a little time with Brian's sister, too, which was nice. She took me out to Trader Joe's and World Market, so we got to have a little female bonding. I worked out almost every day I was there (yay!) at a really nice rec center close to my in-laws' house. The classes were pretty good! It was a bit spendy, but I figured it was worth it. All-in-all, it was a very nice trip, but it's good to be back in our own home. I'm so glad we went, as it had been 2.5 years since our last visit. It was high time that Nick spend some more time with his grandparents. I don't know when that will happen again, since we will have major upheaval in our lives next summer (what with Brian retiring, etc.), and because Marv and Anne are getting pretty old. Now that we're back, I have so much to do and wade through that I'm feeling rather overwhelmed. I'm just plugging along, doing one thing at a time - what more can one do? Oh, something kind of neat is that I brought home a really cool, retro quilt that was made by Nick's great-grandmother - Brian's dad's mother. It's really neat - it's very colorful, with lots of pink, blue, and green, and some really retro, kitschy fabrics. I currently have it draped over my couch. I also got a very retro, rectangular lampshade that looks great on one of my living room lamps. Everything old is new again! Marv and Anne are purging big time, in preparation for their move into a small apartment in a retirement community next month. So, pretty much anything I wanted was up for grabs. I didn't take much - just the aforementioned 2 items and a handful of kitchen stuff, like a tube pan, mixing bowls, etc. As far as decor goes, my taste doesn't really jibe with Anne's, so there wasn't much in the house that I wanted. :) I've really gotta get to work on tomorrow evening's strength class, not to mention Thursday's yoga class - I got a call while in VA asking if I could sub for it, and said yes. Ack! I'm off...
I have somehow managed to gain 4 lbs. in a week!!! I'm pretty upset to be up to 145, because I have been maintaining my weight around 141 for months now, and haven't weighed 145 since September! It just kills me that in one week, I'm back to what I weighed 9 MONTHS ago. Drat. Ack. Bah, humbug. It's ironic, because while I was sick, my weight held steady, but the first week that I've gotten back to the gym and actually worked out at all, it's up! I know it has to do with all the non-working out I've done over the past few weeks, and with the fact that I HAVE been eating pretty crappily lately. There's just something about feeling like hell that makes it seem OK to have some McDonald's, ya know? I just never would have thought I could gain 4 lbs. in one week. That has NEVER happened, during my whole weight-loss endeavor. I guess I just have to really buckle down and start eating better, and hope that getting back into a regular workout schedule will help get those 4 lbs. back off. Of course, going on our trip tomorrow isn't going to help matters at all, eating-wise. I'm just feeling pretty upset and freaked right now. :(As I just said, we are leaving tomorrow for 10 days, and my Internet access will be spotty to nonexistent. So, I probably won't be blogging again until July. "See" you then!
Tim came for the weekend, and we had a great time! We got going around 9 Saturday morning and headed for St. Louis. Our first stop was the Cathedral Basilica, which we have visited a few times and will visit many more times, I'm sure. It has the largest collection of mosaic art in the world (basically, the entire interior of the cathedral is decorated with mosaic tiles), and is absolutely breathtaking. I highly recommend a visit to any local peeps reading this!When we had had our fill of the pulchritude (and our tummies began to rumble), we walked the three blocks or so to St. Louis' Central West End, which is a neat little neighborhood with many restaurants, shops, etc. We enjoyed burgers for lunch, and then made our way to The Cupcakery for scrumptious, delectable cupcakes - Tim had peanut butter chocolate, and I had strawberries 'n' cream. YUM! Then, we walked back to our car, enjoying the cute row houses along the way, and headed to the Brentwood area to hit two of our favorite stores - Trader Joe's and World Market. We also went to the Target that was right there, because, really, how could we not? :) On our way home from St. Louis, we stopped in St. James to dine at Sybill's, which is this absolutely amazing restaurant that I've been telling Tim about forever. He was very pleased to finally experience its wonder. Our food was amazing, from the salads to the pork chops to the chicken piccata and right down to the Bailey's chocolate creme brulee! We got home around 9 p.m. and watched Baby Mama (pretty funny!) before pouring ourselves into bed. What a wonderful, exhausting day! Today was more low-key. We stuck glow-in-the-dark stars and planets on Nick's bedroom ceiling, I clipper-cut Tim's hair, and we went to Walmart for various and sundry items. Tim left a couple of hours ago, and I'm just getting a few things done around the house (and the Internet). That was my weekend! 'Twas a good one, and a healthy one, knock on wood...
Well, I almost hate to say it out loud for fear that I'll jinx it, but I'm feeling quite a bit better today. Still rather tired, but better nonetheless. I even put street clothes on for the first time since Sunday! And so far, I've managed to stay out of bed since I got up this morning. I'm still taking it easy. Brian's going to keep taking Nick to school for the rest of the week, but I think I'll pick him up tomorrow and Friday, to give Brian a break. And I've made the decision to not even think about working out again until Monday. Sigh. I can't believe how much I HAVEN'T worked out over the past month. It's horrifying. But, the last thing I want to do now is overdo it and push myself too hard too soon. Tim is visiting this weekend, and I'm really excited about just having some fun with him and continuing to feel better, knock on wood. Next week, things will really kick into gear again - in addition to resuming working out and chauffeuring Nick around, I'll have a lot to do as we prepare to visit Brian's parents in VA.
So, I've been very ill, again. This illness has included pink eye and another throat infection, plus fever, chills, and generally feeling like complete and total crap. There has been much crying and despair, and not one, but TWO visits to the ER, both yesterday and the day before. Yesterday when I was there, my fever reached 104, and I was given some lovely morphine due to my splitting headache. The upshot of it is that I have been given a different antibiotic and am now hopeful for a recovery. Wish me luck!
So much has happened, and I'm so tired and have already given the whole story to so many people - therefore, I'm just going to do a nutshell update here (Of course, my nutshells tend to be rather large - I'm just a wordy person!):Nick rallied Saturday morning, so he and I went ahead and went to Springfield. By Saturday night, though, he had gone downhill again - high fever, still not eating, etc. Sunday, I took him to a pediatric urgent care clinic in Springfield - they were wonderful! We found out that Nick had lost 2-3 lbs. since Friday. :( He had blood work done and ended up with 2 injections of a strong antibiotic. They said to nix the Amoxicillin, since it obviously wasn't working. They wanted us to follow up the next day, so we spent an extra night in Springfield. He was still feverish and not feeling well. Monday, we went back to the clinic. By this point, his ears were red and he had white stuff on his tonsils, in addition to the completely congested sinuses. The doc prescribed a 10-day course of a better oral antibiotic than Amoxicillin. When we left the clinic, it was the middle of the afternoon, and we were both tired and Nick still didn't feel well, so I decided to spend one more night in Springfield and return home this morning. Happily, Nick's fever finally broke yesterday evening and hasn't come back! I think he's finally responding to the meds and turning the corner. His appetite is still quite puny, but he's feeling a lot better, aside from the complete sinus congestion. We got home today around noon, and here I am, frantically trying to get caught up on life. :) He has a follow-up appt. at the Ft. Wood hospital tomorrow, and he can hopefully (finally!) start summer school Thursday, a week late. It will be nice to get back to "normal" life, finally, and be able to work out regularly again, etc. Between my illness and Nick's, life has been 18 shades of messed up ever since May 11!
