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It's been very sunny the past few days. Maybe it's cold, I don't know. I haven't left the house in fecking DAYS. The rage is beginning to unfurl from deep within. At first, I thought it was merely onset of more gruesome cramps, but it has a slightly different quality.

Yeah, so let's review: Q got pink eye on Weds. I started feeling ill on Thursday. Baby C was diagnosed with pink eye and dual ear infections on Friday. She started throwing up on Saturday, which is conveniently when things got bad for me as well. Sunday and Monday Q took care of all of us, and I'm feeling better (though not terrific) just in time, because he came down with this Gastro Bug from Hell last night.

A is either going to miss this one, or she's going to come last. We just don't know. It's part of the fun!

I Hate February, and I Hate Winter, and I Hate Germs. I'm really tired of putting my life on hold every few weeks to deal with some new version of Ick, and continually being behind on everything. Because ODDLY ENOUGH the world doesn't stop just because we're all fucking languishing over here.

Yeah yeah. Whine whine, bitch bitch.

Preoccupations

Lately, I am so engrossed with music. Now that my Sansa is working, and fully loaded, and the dock is working (it stopped for about six months, then mysteriously restarted again), I'm using that to full advantage. I'm also blipping when I can, although lately my laptop is behaving badly and tends to crash when I'm using blip, so I've cut down a bit. That site is so much fun, I'm rediscovering all kinds of music that had completely fallen off my radar. When I hear something I loved years ago, but had forgotten, it's like all these little lights turning on in my head.

It's like a portable drug. It makes me happy. The other day, My Sharona came on the Sansa while I was out in public. Due to my overdosing on a particular YouTube video with this song as background music, I started giggling uncontrollably. I tried to pretend it was in response to something my toddler did, and buried my face into her hair, but all I could see in my head was Buster Bluth dancing in his WWI/stripper uniform, and I was helpless.

I'm also spending a lot of time at the dojo. After we were all sick with horrible illnesses in November, and I missed a lot of time, I made a goal that I was going to try to get there four times a week. I've been doing pretty well with that, and have been doing a lot of back to back classes to boot. It's been really fun and energizing for me, and helped me kick ten pounds in the last month alone. (I still have about 13 more to go, though. Grr.) I got my first stripe on my blue belt on Monday, yaaaay.

And I was on a quest to update my wardrobe, since it'd been about a year since I bought anything new and most of my things weren't fitting anymore. I finally found a pair that fit perfectly at Target, of all places, but when I tried to cheat and buy more pairs based on the ones I tried on and liked, they didn't fit, and I have to bring them back. WTF is up with that? I bought the same brand, same size, same cut, different leg styles. And they are entirely different, not just the effing leg openings. I found a place online that makes custom jeans and I swear, I'm trying that next. They're no more expensive than Gap jeans, NONE OF WHICH FIT RIGHT IN ANY WAY! Ahem.

I hate the garment industry.

Today I should blitz the laundry, and do some baking, since it's a non-dojo day for myself and A, which is rare (I think between the two of us we're there 5 days a week), and because the entire world is covered with a giant sheet of ice. It's a good day for hunkering down, holing up, and daydreaming about a vacation somewhere sultry and warm and abandoned.

EnTitlement Issues

Yesterday I was generally bummed and unenthused. It was my third straight day of being stuck home, and it was terribly gloomy to boot. There is only so much shit gray weather I can take, especially when there is no snow on the ground to brighten things up. I made gingerbread dough, but otherwise, I was in a crappy mood and I let the girls know it. By which I mean not that I acted like a jerk, but that I told them, "I am in a crappy mood. Please go play."

Today was better. A, who was quite perky and mischievous yesterday, went to school today. It's cold but brightly sunny. I was able to take C and go out for some odds and ends, and then I took her to lunch. We got construction paper to make an "advent" chain, and I got some glitter glue to put on paper snowflakes.

Have you ever heard the expression, "There is no bad weather, only bad clothes?" I have bad clothes. There are a hundred reasons for this and none of them matter. All that matters is that I need a new jacket and a few more sweaters/fleeces and some thermals. I have been endlessly, horribly cold ever since the weather changed and that doesn't encourage me to go outside even for the fresh air and (what little) sunlight (there is.) I also desperately want another down comforter. I gave mine to the girls', since it was too small for our bed, and I had futile hopes that they would not like it and not want to keep it. But they do, as they should, and I am jealous. Maybe I can find a big enorminous (sic) one on sale after the holidays.

(I like to say "enorminous" because of the "Big Enormous Turnip" story. After saying "enormous turnip" about a dozen times, it became "enorminous turminip.")

All I can think of at the moment is being cold, and how to fix being cold. My kitchen, in particular, is ungodly cold. It feels like someone screwed up building it, honestly. The floor is icy cold, and cabinet nteriors are so cold inside that some of my oils solidify. That's just strange. I don't think even ghostly infestations can pull that off.

So I guess I'll go fire up the oven to bake something and start knitting some socks. Brr!