Hanging Out at Home

There are some serious stomach bugs traveling around our corner of the world. Usually we get by without a problem but not this time. So far Leenie and Am have been hit (5 days apart which doesn't seem fair to me. I thought we were in the clear!) I'm a handwashing, laundry doing, doorknob wiping psycho right now. Nothing puts fear into a mother of 4 like the prospects of throwing up.

I acutally have a somewhat unusual technique for dealing with a puking child. Since we have two bathrooms and its easier to clean up tile than carpet, the child in question drags his/her pillow and blankets into one bathroom and just sacks out on the bathroom floor (on the little throw rug of course) close to all the ameneties a puking person needs (a toilet, tissues, soap and water). This eliminates the dreaded run to the bathroom and possible mess along the way, as well as the truly disgusting cleaning out the barfy garbage bag from the garbage can near their bed. Instead we keep it all in one room away from everyone except mom and dad who wash their hands until little skin remains. Once active puking ceases, everything in said bathroom gets washed.

Am's sacked out on the floor in front of the tv. The barfing is over but he's just worn out. Biscuit is sleeping on the floor behind me, snoring loudly. I can't believe he's been with us a year already. Its hard to imagine life without this lumbering lab mix banging into you all the time. Mel, our bichon, is sleeping too but he's not snoring. Poor little guy has lyme's disease and he's all doped up. I feel like I should go to sleep to! Instead I'll hit the showers and try to make some progress on a variety of projects.

It seems I have a lot of half started projects, as well as supplies for future projects, that are not very well stored or organized. I'm planning to attack this problem today. Some projects can be done while watching a movie, thereby keeping your hands busy and your mouth empty, other projects require more direct attention.

The darn thing is I like having projects to do but I'm finding I have less and less time for them. I like the way it feels to create something that is useful or beautiful or maybe a little bit of both. Actually, the whole family is finding we lack time to do things we enjoy. Its a combination of things; time spent commuting, time spent at work both planned and unplanned, time spent shuttling kids to swim team four days a week, and a host of other mundane tasks that all add up. This lack of time has become a hot topic between Jim and I as we plan for the future.

I'm leaning towards a big pot of soup for dinner to clean out the fridge a bit.