the latest

NOT complaining, just telling you what's up. We had the flu a couple weeks back, mostly me...high fevers, cough, sore throat, body aches... although the kids had their usual horredous coughs all through Christmas. Then we all got some stomach bug which was one of the worst things I've had to deal with yet, three guys throwing up every twenty minutes each for 24 hours or so. No clean towels/sheets/clothing left by the end of it. I, luckily only felt super queasy the whole time. At first we thought we all must have eaten something bad, because Jen & Matt & Mom & Dad had it too, but I guess there WAS some nasty virus going around. Poor Justin came down with it in the middle of an all-night emergency at the South Royalton House. The water main broke and the pub filled chest deep in water, flooding the furnaces, etc. Pretty stressful to be out bailing water until three in the morning when you have to vomit every few minutes...Anyway, after we finished that, I came down with insane hives all over my body, something I've never experienced before. I went to the doctor because I'm still coughing pretty hard from that flu and she checked out my hives as well. Probably just a side effect from the tummy bug and they should go away in around ten days. I've never seen anything like them...Looking in the mirror this morning shocked the heck out of me. I can't even fit my wedding ring on my pinky! And I want to roll naked in a snowbank to stop the itching for a second! Whew! It seems like we get more unhealthy every winter. Actually, it's mainly ME with the problems this year, which is unusual. I'm usually healthy as a horse. Oddly enough, even with all this stuff going on, I don't feel as stressed as I did last winter. It's all a mess, but somehow I'm not freaking out too badly for once. Or maybe the Benedryl is making me too woozy to care! E went to back to school this morning, he was getting so bored doing nothing here at home. I do feel pretty lame though, like people must think I'm just making this stuff up....I mean, WHO is sick this much? Mom thinks our house is poison. She brought over lots of clorox yesterday. I know I'm not the World's Best Housekeeper, and the house IS ancient, but I really DON'T think the mildew on the bathroom ceiling is the problem. There's only so much I can do while raising children, and half the people I know live in houses just as old and grubby as ours. Who knows. Maybe I'm simply allergic to winter. Anyway, things could be a lot worse, and I'm thankful that our health is as good as it is. My dear friend Amelia started chemo treatments yesterday. She's one of the healthiest people I know. I'm sure she's going to beat it, but it's still scary. Also, there is no mildew on her bathroom ceiling. Sometimes health is just the luck of the draw, I guess. Of course it doesn't mean people should feel free to make bad choices, good choices certainly help, but there's never a guarentee. OK, feeling drunk and falling asleep over my keyboard, so I'll stop now. Peace.