7QT (Late to the link-up version)
Quick takes. Here I go again, on my own.
I'm sick again. Wahhhhh hahhhh hahhhhh!! Complain, whine, snivel. This time it's not stomach flu but the worst cold I've had in years (that I can remember anyway). It's been four days now of full-on underwater feeling (you know the head cold feeling I'm talking about, right?)... usually when I do get sick (and it's pretty rare that I do) I'm over a cold in two days tops.
Just don't know what's wrong with me lately. I can't seem to get well.
{Ironically, if you read Jen's Quick Takes this week, it sounds like she is suffering from stomach virus and head cold at the same time... goodness me... I have no right to complain.}
So I've been chugging water, eating 3 or 4 oranges a day, and doing everything I possibly can to get better... weeeellll, I guess that's not entirely true. I may or may not have stayed up until 10:30/11 the past few nights (whoa! scandalous!) catching up on episodes of Sherlock with my hubby. We started with season 1 and are trying to get caught up to the current season that is airing right now. Man is it good! The trouble is, they make those episodes completely riveting... and 90 minutes long. There's just no possible way you can start an episode and not finish it. So we end up staying up late every time we watch it. But, well... I guess it's worth it. Once we're caught up, I'll start going to bed at 8:30 to compensate for my late nights, if I'm still sick at that point. Hopefully I won't be!!
The girls, of course, have been sick too-- N came home from school Friday with a fever of 104, and L sounds like she's been smoking for 20 years.
But the more time we spend quietly resting at home, the more thankful I am for my little girls. They really entertain each other and play together so well. This makes it possible, and even enjoyable, for us to just stay home and get ourselves better. I'm sure we'll start to get stir crazy soon after an entire month of being sick and staying home, but so far so good.
N has been a really good help keeping everyone in harmonious order and seems to have a motherly influence lately. When she isn't reading to little sisters, she loves to play "teacher" and give them lessons on everything she's learning at school. L knows how to write her own name and is even reading a few short words, and it's all thanks to N. I can take no credit.
(Here's N working on a worksheet from school while the younger two read together... next to the mountain of clean unfolded laundry and the dirty floor. Yes, the housework has suffered a bit while I've been laying around drinking tea and blowing my nose. At least the laundry is clean, right? We got that far anyway.}
I happened upon a couple of interesting articles this week about choosing the right life partner. I got to thinking about my own relationship and feeling pretty lucky. How many couples in the world can say the words "'til death do us part" with complete confidence? I remember M telling me after our wedding ceremony that he was a little shocked by my unhesitating and loud "I do". For some reason I was given the gift of certainty about this man... where I am such an indecisive person about so many things.
Someone asked me this week why M and I always appear to be so happy together, and whether we ever fight, and what our secret is. I wished I had a magic answer to give this person, but in many ways I feel we are just lucky and blessed that we found each other and naturally get along pretty well. These articles I linked to hit on some things-- like having the same values and general life philosophy, not keeping score, good communication and problem-solving skills, etc. And of course, there's the idea of being committed to each other come what may, even should there ever come a time when we are not blissfully happy. There's a security that comes with the commitment, and that breeds good communication and therefore happiness, I think.
But the answer I ended up giving this person is that we are "honest with each other, but kind at the same time". We tell each other every feeling, good or bad, communicating openly-- but we do it with kindness (no "brutal" honesty for us... at least not very often!) M has taught me a lot about open and immediate communication. I think that's why we rarely get to the point where things have "festered" long enough to make us really angry and hurtful to one another.
We are by no means perfect, and I don't consider our strength to be something we can attribute to ourselves-- I do feel that we're extremely blessed in the way we support one another... and I'm so thankful!
(By the way, our 10th (!!!!) anniversary is coming up this year, and we're getting ready to book an exciting celebratory trip that I will tell you about soon!!)
Speaking of talking about feelings, I just love this new Sesame Street video with Dave Matthews:
"Nobody wants to be angry; nobody wants to be sad;
But I can't always help the way that I'm feeling,
I won't always be happy."
As a "put on a happy face" kind of person, I sometimes think I'm not good at teaching my kids that it's okay to feel sad or angry, and it's okay to talk about that (in a kind way, of course-- honesty with kindness, right?) The message in this song was so powerful to me that I almost cried the first time I heard it. Or maybe it was just nostalgia for my high school days, hearing Dave Matthews' voice.
Okay, so if I'm getting too touchy-feely for you here, now enjoy this late '90's sweater and Doc Marten goodness (speaking of nostalgia):
What ever happened to Hootie and the Blowfish, man? I'm sure they all went on to have amazing acting careers, since they don't look at all awkward in that video. :/
Speaking of cute, I can see why a lot of folks say the baby of the family gets away with everything. Little C sure does have us all wrapped around her finger, and is turning in to quite the charmer. None of us can stay mad at her very long. N always says, multiple times a day, "She's the cutest baby in the world!!"
A video of her in action lately:
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