10 Exhausting Days

Day 1: Fever, cough… sick 4 year old  

Day 2: Fever, cough, sore throat, negative strep test… sick 4 year old

Day 5: Fever, cough… sick, tired, crabby 4 year old and one very tired mommy.

Day 7: Fever, cough, negative mono and flu test and blood work… sick, tired, poked and prodded, crabby 4 year old and one beyond exhausted mommy.

Day 10…
Today was the day we were taking Francine back to the doctor.  We still had no answers.   We still didn’t know why she would start to feel better but around noon her fever would shoot up to 101.  She would curl up on the couch, her lips purpled and she shivered in fevered chills.  The doctor suspected it was a virus followed by another virus. I was a scared mom who just wanted her daughter to get better.

I was a worried sick mother who had to walk into the other room when her daughter’s fever shot up.  My brain fought off the negative thoughts… is it time for her to go in the hospital, could she have…., or maybe it was….. I wiped my tears, took a deep breath and told myself the doctors knew what they were doing.  I would not entertain any other thoughts.  The doctors would figure it out.


Everything else in life was taking a back seat to this.  My husband and I took turns staying home with her.  Everything extra went to the way side.  Running, making a home cooked meal, writing, laundry, house work, alone time with my husband.

I took a shower and got dressed.  Her appointment was first thing in the morning.  We decided that my husband and I would both go.  That meant the whole family was going.  The doctor walked into the office.  He shared with us that her chest xray was clear.  That meant no pnumonia.  Her blood work showed that her white blood cell count was down, another good sign.  The culture they took for her urine sample showed that she had a bladder infection.  


All of this was because of a nasty virus followed by a bladder infection.  I couldn’t believe the simplicity of it all.  Relief flood over me, then happiness and then embarassment.  All my concern, the worries I had fought off, the people I had bothered with my daughters progress and their worry were all for a virus and a bladder infection!

Day 12…

Several naps, multiple loads of laundry, a couple of home cooked meals, an antibiotic and two sisters yelling, “MMMOOOOMMMYYYY Olivia is bothering me!!!” “MMMOOOOOOOOMMMMY Francince won’t share!!!!”… Life is back to normal and I can not help but feel even more thankful and more blessed for my family, my friends and my children’s health! 






Today I am linking up over at Yeah Write.  
I have missed the group of incredible bloggers over there!  
I am excited to be writing again.  


For those of you visiting from Yeah Write  
I thought you would get a kick out of this.  
 Erica last night with me on Twitter…
It’s why we love her so.  Affectionate with a side of sass 
and a true passion for Yeah Write!  

A Letter to Mother Nature

Dear Mother Nature,
Spring has arrived early here.  Everyone is so happy.  They have pulled out their Spring clothes, painted their toe nails bright sunshiny colors, put on cute dresses and slipped on sandals and flip flops.  The kids have their bikes out.  Chalk drawings are all the rage.  Children are soaring as they pump and swing til their hearts content.  The sun shines strong, day light is long and the flowers are blooming… Everyone is soooo happy that Spring has arrived.  Better yet it is here ahead of schedule. All of this fun, new warm weather has made everyone else happy, but quite frankly I pissed at you!  

In between all your warm sunshiny days you have delivered a knock you off your ass virus and poor Francine has taken the brunt of it.  Your nasty Spring virus had delivered the gift of three days of fever. Six nights of interrupted make you feel like you have a newborn again wake every two to three hours sleep.   Moments of spontaneous throw up from coughing so much.  Your lovely gift to my house has turned my easy going, pleasant, adventurous 4 year old into a neurotic whining crying, my hair hurts, my elbow hurts, don’t touch me, I’m cold, carry me, I’m too tired, my toe hurts, my eyelash hurts sick little crazy girl!

So while the world plays outside, enjoys walks in the sun, hours outside in the backyard basking in the suns glow…. we are stuck inside still recovering from your stinkin’ virus.    

Spring You SUCK!!!  
Go away and come back when your ready to be nice! 
‘CLICK’ Picture for Source

Six Dregees of Elena

They were strangers the first time I “met” them. Today I find my adventures enriched, inspired and filled with laughter because of them…  

It started with Amy and Her #Sixthings.  

Then it was Kir and Her Cupcakes

Minky {Moo}’s took her turn with her Instagram and
Rubber Chicken Madness’s  has shared with her nuggets 
Kelly from Mom Got Blog’s was told her what she didn’t know

Today it is Elena’s from CiaoMom ‘s turn and I’m showing her just how far her amazingness extends…

I’ve been talking to strangers and what do you know I’ve made some friends!  
. . . . . .

Kevin Bacon once claimed that he had worked with everyone in Hollywood.  Some people know it as the Kevin Bacon Game others  know it as Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.  People play the game to see how many degrees (connections) away any actor is from Kevin Bacon.   To me the game shows that no mater how distant a one person may be from another, we are often connected and sometimes one persons reach extends far beyond what they ever realize.   


Elena is my Kevin Bacon.  No she can’t swing from a high bar in the middle of a warehouse  while  Bon Jovi’s Runaway plays in the background and I am certain she has never helped defend a small town against strange underground creatures which are killing people one by one.  I am certain that she does not realize how far… what degree of separation her amazingness has on us!  

My most vivid first memory of her was her call for bloggers to link up and share their lists, “What I like About Me”.  I was all in.  No hesitation, no second thought, no pause…. I had been moved.  Next came Elena’s announcement that she was starting Just.Be.Enough.  A flood of inspiration filled me deep inside.  I knew instantly that I wanted to be a part of it.  This was the beginning of my six degrees of separation from Elena…

Six Degrees of Elena  



Elena’s amazing force has moved me in ways I am sure she is not completely aware of. The JBE team (assembled by Elena) taught me more about the true kindness, acceptance and genuineness of people then I could have ever imagined.  They also taught me that it is OK to let your guard down and safe to let people in.  Being part of Elena’s team made me want to be a better writer and taught me dig deep down inside to write.  Elena showed me that someone can be there for you even if they do not live near you and that I can cry for someone I care for even if we have never met.  Elena made me brave.  She showed me all the wonderfulness that social media is and all the true greatness that is out there with in it.  My experiences with her built the courage that took me to {GLO} where I met other bloggers in real life and showed the real me.  To me she is a kindred spirit that I easily connect with and understand, who share daughters who make things out of nothing, daughters who go through reams of paper and rolls of tape and who drive us crazy with love, imagination and frustration.  


So while she can not swing from a high bar in in the middle of a warehouse or fight strange underground creatures which are killing people… Her six degrees certainly reaches far beyond anything she could even begin to imagine and anything I could even begin show here!!