Still alive! Promise!!

So, it's been over a month since I last posted. ... Um ... WHOOPS!

Life got super-busy there for a bit with Christmas plans and Bruise, Bucket, Bubbles, and me all getting sick. (Bruise actually stayed home for a day. That's pretty hardcore.) We all had what I like to call the plague/creeping crud.

Fevers were ran. Noses were blown (and blown and blown and blown). Coughs were coughed (incessantly). Naps were taken. Steamy showers were showered. Essential oils were used (In fact, I ran OUT of my doTERRA Breathe. Oy and vey on that.)

I ended up with a sinus infection, which caused me to spend most of the Christmas vacation without a sense of smell or taste. *sigh*

And I ended up spending a couple of days in bed during December as well.
Michael rounded up a friend from church and Bruise, Bubbles, and I all received a Priesthood blessing for healing (instead of just father's blessings for the kids and a couple of blessings of comfort for me) ... and I can definitely say that we really turned the corner after that.

I can also say that I have an even greater appreciation for essential oils now, too. Using a neti pot with (added to the saline solution) rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, Breathe (respiratory blend), and frankincense? AMAZING. Just twice a day for a couple days and my sinus infection ended. EOs + blessings = AWESOME.

And, since I used a few drops of basil around my ears every so often, I managed to escape coming down with an ear infection. Phew.

We're still coughing a bit. I think mine's a mix of allergies and heartburn. FUN! But at least my cough isn't rattling/crinkling in my chest any longer. Phew.

Christmas was good ... we did Christmas Eve here at our house. Mom and Aunt J came up (C, my stepdad, wasn't feeling well that day, so he stayed home). We ate a nice holiday dinner and opened presents.

Christmas morning was just our family. Lots of fun (with LEGO involved, fun is guaranteed, yes?). And then we had Christmas afternoon/evening with Michael's side of the family. (Minus T1 and her family, since she had JUST given birth to our newest nephew that morning.)

Since we didn't get Michael's bonus before Christmas (well, we have the check ... we just can't deposit it until another few things are paid to the company), we had to play as cheaply as we could. It made buying presents a little bit of an adventure ... but we made it.

We also ended up taking the kids to Astoria for the day. Bruise and I made it all the way up the Astoria Column (Bucket has a thing about heights -- gets it from her dad. She came with us up to the second landing inside ... and then we walked her back down to hang with Michael and Bubbles).
After all that, can you blame my left calf for being crazy sore? ... I ended up with a cramp in my calf that lasted for nearly a week. At least it went away before my sinus infection did, right?

But we had fun. We also took the kids to Fort Clatsop where they got to earn their Junior Rangers badges. (FUN program, by the by. Highly recommended!)

With vacation and everything, we've changed our morning devotionals for the time being. Instead of learning/singing a hymn (from either the hymnal or the children's songbook), then reading the scripture that goes with it, then reading about the history of that song ... well, we're doing more of a smorgasboard of simpler things.

We go through their next lesson for Sunday School (so they'll be a little more prepared ... they have a small class, so might as well help the teacher get some added participation, right?). Another day, we'll cover what will be talked about in Primary/Sharing Time. ... and we go on from there.
Since we haven't yet seen our Home Teacher this month (like I have any room to talk. I haven't done my Visiting Teaching yet, either), we read and discussed the Home Teaching message for the month. The next day, we talked about the Visiting Teaching lesson (and I thanked the kids for giving me an opportunity to prepare to discuss it with my VT sisters). Today, we read an article on 5 things that youth should know about fasting ... and we talked about why fasting is important and how it helps us and others. And we talked a little about testimonies.
(Really, what would I do without Pinterest??)

So, today Bubbles and I are doing housework (I've been reading a lot of library books before they're overdue, so I'm a little behind in things). Then, after school, I'm taking my kids and two of their friends that I'm watching (with parental permission) to the church so I can donate blood. THEN I'll be carting everyone over to the school (again) for PTC ... and Michael will pick up our brood. Their friends' mom or dad will swing by and pick up the friends.

Bruise and Bucket had their rehearsal for their Strings Concert last night ... they had to miss Cub Scouts and Activity Days (and, since their concert is next week, they'll miss those activities AGAIN. Oh well). But Bruise's new den leader is AMAZEBALLS, y'all. I let her know that he wouldn't be there for the next two weeks (yesterday and next week) ... and she emailed me a detailed report of what they're working on and what I can do to help him pass these things off, too ... It's awesome.
Compare this to his last den ... I'd email the couple in charge and ... I'd never hear from them at all.  Yeah, Sister M is pretty dang amazing. Not like I didn't already know that. It's just even more established now.

For the next term of Strings lessons, though, we'll move the kids into the afternoon class. This way they'll get some more sleep. Sure, I'll have to pick them up from school ... but it's late enough that it shouldn't interfere with Bubbles' nap or anything. We'll make it work.

Also, during vacation, we worked on Bruise's arrow points for Wolf. He'll be getting some silver arrows for me to sew onto his shirt next month. Good times.
Just in time for us to work on his Bear badge, right?

I know that I've left out about a bazillion things (that's what happens when one doesn't blog for over a month, right?) ... but I've got lots of stuff to do and not nearly enough time to get EVERYTHING I want to get done completed.

In related news, I painted the drawer fronts in the bathroom and reattached the (spray painted) handles. I have ONE (of four) of the sink cupboard doors painted and reattached. One door is being painted. I painted the door frame and the other end of the big cupboard (now to finish all the sink cupboard doors just to take off EIGHT cupboard doors for the big cupboard ... and paint the rest of the base of THAT, then all the doors ... and spray paint all the hardware for THAT) ... then, once we replace the fan and the light and clean up everything, we'll just have to install baseboards and crown molding ... and eventually replace the shower, toilet, and bathtub, right? Oh, and the over the mirror light fixtures. And touch up the blue paint again ... AND replace the door (we want to make it WAY better by having a door on the sliding barn-door hardware instead of one that really cuts into the room when you open it. If it weren't a load-bearing wall, Michael would have converted it to a pocket door YEARS ago.

Then to tape and texture and paint the hallway (and, if we're doing that, I would like to paint all the doors. Where's the bathroom? That's the green door in the hallway. Where's the garbage? Past the ___ door in the hallway-- just around the corner in there, by the litterbox ... You know, that sort of thing.) ... Then we can redo the kids' bathroom (tape/texture/paint, new light. Change the counter in there (so you can actually work on the toilet easily without a stupid counter in the way). Add some storage and make it a better guest bathroom.

We would like to build on ... turn the existing kids' room into a playroom and build two more bedrooms (one for Bruise, one for the girls). And it'd be nice to tape/texture/paint the kitchen ... maybe add a little backsplash. Reframe the lights ... Paint the cabinets. Redo the floor ... That sort of stuff. (DIY is kind of addictive. And a little spendy. I keep thinking, "Hmmm ... I could REALLY use a paint sprayer. Then I could paint ALL THE DOORS for the cabinets AT ONCE! ... Well, one SIDE of them, anyways.")

But, yeah. I have a house to clean, food to make, cabinet doors to paint, books to read, scriptures to read ... a blood drive to attend, kids to watch, a PTC meeting to take notes at (which involves skipping my Relief Society meeting ... I hope someone will take notes. I really am bummed at having to miss this one.) ... I'm swamped!