Harrison just runs from the camera, so you'll have to "endure" more pictures of my Ella

I've totally decided that I could handle staying at home - ALL THE TIME. Chris, however, reminded me that if this happened I would probably spend too much money. He's right. With access to crowd-free weekday shopping, there's no telling what I could do. I don't like, though, staying home for not-so-wonderful reasons.

Last week I was off from school, and this week I went in on Monday but then Tuesday and Wednesday I stayed home with a sick girl. Chris stayed this morning and took her to the doctor. After a lovely procedure involving the longest Q-tip up her nose EVER, she has been diagnosed with (drumroll, please) the flu.

It started Saturday morning. Ella woke up. Asked for breakfast. Gulped it down and then projectile vomited into the kitchen sink. She seemed perfectly fine afterwards. No whining or tears. Just requests for more food. We thought it might have been a mild something that was gone. We tentatively packed her things for ski lessons and threw a bucket in the van as a last-minute precaution.

Thinking I was mom-of-the-year, I packed the kids' lunches for the ride to the resort (about 40 minutes) so that they would be fully nourished for their afternoon. Ella ate just fine, but started complaining about her neck. She ALWAYS complains about her neck in the car. We stopped worrying about this complaint about two years ago. We have no idea what the problem is, but she hasn't died or fallen over so it must not be too terrible. Anyway, the neck complaint was followed by stomach complaints. We were still in denial because the traffic up the canyon was terrible. We were focused on getting to the lessons on time. About five miles from the top, the traffic became gruesome. Cars were parked all along the side of the road and there were people walking with ski equipment everywhere. Apparently, large amounts of fresh snow, warm temps and sunshine attract everybody and their brother to the top of picturesque mountains to utilize fabulous ski resorts. For some reason we were surprised.

In stop and go traffic, she threw up lunch. It was a wonderful scene. I think my favorite part was the "YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!" spewing out of Harry. No sympathy, just disgust. We delivered him to his lesson and then drove back down. She seemed much better - we even ran to the furniture store to purchase a couch we'd been contemplating - but it keeps coming back. Not the stomach stuff. Now it's a runny nose, fever, sore throat and INTENSE, NON-STOP coughing. Tomorrow we'll be home again. I pray it's almost over - this is getting painful to watch. Nothing worse than helplessly watching your child in discomfort.

Like Grandfather, like granddaughter

When I was little, my dad painted every surface of our house. It took him years. When he was working on the woodwork, especially, he would stick out his tongue and contort his mouth in a really weird way. If I brought attention to this, he would overexaggerate and it would always make me and my brother laugh.

I forgot about this until I had Ella. As she is learning to write words, or while she is manipulating Playdoh, she does the same thing.

Down five

So, here we go again. I’m back on Weight Watchers. What is this? My fifth or sixth time? I don’t know anymore. I am not going to meetings or paying to get weighed. I don’t need to – I know the system so well, and already own all their “tools”, so why bother? I would love to know why I keep losing and gaining the same 10-15 lbs. over and over again, but frankly – I’m sick of thinking about it.

I have a couple of different incentives this time. First, I have become extremely embarrassed about how I look in a bathing suit. This is an issue because there is a pretty cool indoor pool in our neighborhood. Ella had an invite to a birthday party there a few weeks ago and I donned a suit as she isn’t extremely comfortable swimming alone. It was excruciatingly awful – exposing myself in front of all the other preschool moms and dads. Both kids had a blast and expressed interest in returning as soon as possible. All I could think about was how I was going to distract this thought from their heads. I’m not sure this is a great parenting technique. Also, I am heading to Florida in late March. More bathing suit wearing. Yuck.

I’ve got another incentive – I want to win a contest. I’m not normally a competitive person. Being competitive means that one excels at something. I usually am more in the “moderately competent” area of things rather than excelling. However, after all the dieting I’ve done over the years, I have found my greatest skill. I can lose weight. For a while. Which is why this contest is perfect for me – it’s only six weeks long. It’s cleverly called “The Biggest Loser”. It’s being held at my new school. I figured I could use a boost and reluctantly joined. I didn’t have a team, so I was put on one. I am now on a team (The Desperate Housewives) with three other non-teachers and THE PRINCIPAL. This changed everything. I now feel a stronger expectation to take the contest seriously.

All of a sudden, I’ve started eating in the teacher’s lounge so that I can appear as more of a team player. I am exchanging dieting tips with anyone and everyone. It’s actually a bit scary – I’m really knowledgeable. People are seeking me out to find out the name of my 1 point bread and my brand of ice cream sandwich (Skinny Cow, by the way.) I guess this is one way to finally get to know my co-workers a bit better.

I’ve been somewhat reclusive since I started this new job. I stuck to my work, stayed in my office and only ventured out when I needed something. Now, however, I am starting to (gasp) make some new friends. I’m not going to go crazy, or anything. No scrap booking parties or happy hours, but I do exchange weekend stories with a few people once in awhile now. This diet thing, though, is my ticket. It really has everyone talking.
By the way – I’m tied for first place.