She finally succumbed.

Weekend went well, despite my fumbling with party times. We got Zahde, RB Darkly, Little Bear and Pan. Saturday was grocery shopping, a lot of lazy and a cheese fondue dinner. Also hot cross buns, because Zahde is awesome.

Sunday was Bunny Cake, more hanging out and a chocolate fondue lunch (very late to give RBD and Bear time to get here). The chocolate bunny was ritually sacrificed. Melting jokes were made. I need to start stabbing the damned bunny before throwing it into the fondue pot. Cuteness got several presents she wanted and she declared it Best Birthday Ever!

RBD and Zahde gave me a late birthday present by cooking dinner and cleaning my kitchen. By "cleaning" I mean "They scrubbed the stove!" And cleaned all the counters. And put stuff away where they thought things went, leading to confusion today as we were hunting for snake feeding tools. This happens and items were easily relocated. I have only 8 forks to my name. W. T. F.

With the super late lunch and a super late dinner, it was a scramble to get everyone showered and in bed. Laundry had to be put off to Monday, I was too tired and very Out of Sorts. I blame it on the dream Friday night of getting Wolf back for a little while and PMS, as the bleeding started today. woo.

I do get susceptible to cranky a few days before bleeds. Also, Little Bear is EXHAUSTING. More so than Cuteness.

Overall, it was a good weekend. I generated more ash for the garden and planted rosemary, sage and basil from the grocery store. The basil has already died, but the rosemary and sage are doing well. Basil does not like me. I accept this. There MAY be some broccoli germinating. I really need to order some heirloom seeds from Bakersfield. Cucumbers. I really want cucumbers.

Cuteness had an adventure today! She came home earlier then expected and was surprised by an empty house. Cuteness, being Cuteness, proceeded to monologue to Jazz-cat about how she was now In Charge. I expect it was a lengthy monologue at Jazz-cat who ignored it. She then went upstairs and played on her laptop until Mama A arrived. We are VERY PROUD of her and I took her out to dinner for being So Brave and So Good! Even IDK (Indestructo-kiddo) was impressed. He is getting new glasses tomorrow.

Cuteness narrates her life. I should start calling her Spidergirl.

Christmas presents have been purchased. Woot!

My team mates have been sharing illness. I'm hoping it passes my cube.

That's...yeah, about it.

Namely, that if you don't bring your own bug repellant and you're tasty, expect to be eaten alive.

Cuteness came home with allergic bug bite reactions AND an actual skin infection from a bug bite. I got the call yesterday at work, determined that without a fever and without an asthma flare up, topical treatments would probably work. The red, hard, swollen, warm to touch and painful area had not improved when I got her back, so I took her to the walk in. The PA confirmed my suspicions and put her on a round of antibiotics and steroids.

Now I know the trend is let children fight things off themselves, but I've seen spider bites turn septic and cause blood poisoning, plus I've seen a variety of celluitis. Her leg presents like celluitis without the weeping. It needs to be treated. I do NOT want her back in the hospital for asthma flareups due to infection. So there.

Okay, I'm done.

She was released this morning holding her own on room air at 95%. Keep her on oral steroids and Xopenex for the next two days and see how she does. Any sign of relapse, back to the ER ASAP.

She's with Mama A so I can sleep tonight and get back to work tomorrow.

Is a tired Queenie.

I was up by 8:30 Sunday morning with a head cold. Cuteness' Magical Tea Party was scheduled for 2-4 pm. I had a lot of work to do, so I did it with lots of hand washing. I made "Jewel Cookies", which were thumbprint cookies without the nutty crust and blackberry preserves, cinnamon scones, watercress & neufchatel sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and three "normal" sandwiches; cheese, salami & bologna. The cake, which was GORGEOUS, Baked by Camille does such wonderful work, was already done. I planned chamomile tea for the girls and gave the adults options.

Out of the two friends Cuteness invited, only one came. But she came equipped with a tiara, a magic wand and stuffed companion. I did not need to buy the wands and tiaras and flower headbands, but I'm still glad I did. The adults wore the tiaras, except me, who went with the flowers. Zahde & RBD came, along with Little Bear, and Loooooo also showed up. Cuteness' friend is very shy. She stayed close to her mother except when they were up in Cuteness' room playing. Both girls refused tea and drank plain water out of fancy cups. They were very careful and did not break anything! Cuteness chose the cups for her guests.

The head cold and the shy girl helped me not focus on resentment for yet again giving up "my" day for my daughter. I know what I'm getting for my birthday and it will come in a month or two. I am patient. I can wait.

Cuteness got some neat presents. Zahde gave her transforming dinosaur eggs that turned into a stegosaurus and a triceratops. RBD & Little Bear gave her a new Play-Doh kit, a pack of Play-Doh and a new coloring book. Shy gave her a Barbie doll and a blue stuffed sheep. I think it's a sheep. It has a sheep face, but the body is weird, kind of skinny, like those music animals with the string you pull for infants, only without the string. It's very soft.

I was surprised with two coloring books from RBD.

Overall a good time was had by all. Shy and her mom left first, then RBD, Zahde and I sat on the couch and visited. Those conversations were okay, but sensitive subjects came up. Zahde stayed for the dinner SLB had put together before he fled to cards. I finally shooed her out the door so she wouldn't have to drive in the dark. I knew she was tired from sitting with her father for the last week and while I would have been happy to put her up, I knew she needed her own bed. Sometimes it's hard to let her go back to Ithaca. She needs a lot of help, but her presence is comforting and soothing. I needed her a lot after Wolf died and she stepped up without a complaint. I really appreciate that. I've been working very hard to make sure she doesn't feel unwanted or unwelcome since SLB came into my life. I wanted to prove I was a "True Friend" who wouldn't abandon her. Lovers may come and go, but True Friends are like a marriage. It's until Death do us part. Well, that's how I feel.

My cold has mutated into a sinus infection. I've been using my neti pot twice a day, drinking lots of herbal tea with echinacea in it and going to bed early. I couldn't nap at work, but I did nap today. I might nap tomorrow if schedules allow for it. Still going to bed early.

I have come to the conclusion SLB needs to grow up some more. I love his passion when it's not directed as part of an argument towards me. He also has the strangest temper. None of these things are deal-breakers, but they are an incentive to NOT get married. When he can stop sweating the small stuff; like Internet going out or getting bad teammates in an online game or being cold, I'll rethink the getting married. For now, I'm good with the status quo.

I suppose I'll have to tell him that eventually.

Still walking on her right foot with no signs of discomfort and still no signs of traumatic brain injury. *knocks on wood*

The insurance company has called me and everything is set up on their end. I called Lourdes Financial and gave them what I have. There will be paperwork. Ah, insurance. Always with the paperwork. I have to call Lourdes back and give them a mailing address, the only thing I didn't have. Everyone has been very nice and helpful.

Time to take SNB to work and do a bit of shopping.

In which Cuteness finally catches what's been going around.

So the fever hadn't broken by this morning and she was still being lethargic. I made sure she had her breathing treatments and another dose of Tylenol. By 1 pm she was complaining of a sore throat.

"Did your throat hurt yesterday?" Me
"Yes," A Sad Cuteness

Right! I took SNB to work and then headed to the walk in clinic.

Roughly one hour later, she has strep throat. Now I'm glad I took her in. We got her script, picked up the ice cream she wanted for her birthday, picked up a carton for me, and milk.

IDK is currently with his counselor. Cuteness and I will pick him up in about 30 minutes, then it's home, bully him into finishing his chores before he finishes his boss battle in Okami, an egg salad dinner as I am very tired, and an early bedtime.

Now for something completely different!

Tomorrow I pick up my New Car. I'm told it's GORGEOUS. I'm rather excited.

do not survive kindergartners being ill. The Cuteness Chronicles are in their second day of "She vomited for no apparent reason twice in three days and yet afterwards is able to eat just about anything and the only reason she isn't getting ice cream is I'm concerned about dairy."

She stayed home Monday because of getting sick in the car on the way home from Mama A's. I get a call today from the school at 8 am informing me she was sick in the classroom, which is why they want kids to be upset tummy free for 24 hours before coming back. I picked her up and brought her back. She's eaten two decent meals and everything's staying down, so WTF?

It turns out His Royal Highness is suffering from a similar issue, so there will be no drives down to Bermania to pick up mice and visit Queen to Queen this week.

I now have to go roust IDK from his bedroom so we can get dishes done. He was Not Happy about being withheld from his video games until the dishes were finished. Chores, dude. Get used to it.

Got a call late last week from Cuteness' school nurse saying her eyes were red and a little watery, watch for conjunctivitis. So we watched all weekend. It was odd, as she would wake up with mostly clear eyes and they would get steadily redder and more watery as the day progressed.

Last night the watery discharge had turned opaque. I made the necessary phone calls.

This morning we went to the walk in clinic.

Yep, conjunctivitis in both eyes. Have some eye drops, keep her home today, she can go back tomorrow if you send this note with her for the nurse.

Mama A prefers to keep her home until Wednesday. Which is fine with me. Her pre-surgery appointment is Wednesday, this will determine if she goes in for ear tubes next week or not.

According to the clinic doc, she's the THIRD kid in today for the same thing. That and strep throat, which she doesn't have, huzzah!

I'll be going into work at noon. She's had her first drop treatment, it went well all things considered.

I need coffee.