What the heck happened???

I hardly know where to begin...this is not quite the vacation and start to the new year that I envision...in fact, it is the one that I feared.

I shared that Christmas and pulling it all together was a challenge for me.  I shared that I was so looking forward to a week long "break" from the business of real life as well as time to prepare for the new year (cleaning, organizing, homeschool plans, etc..).  I have shared how we attempted to jump in with two feet and attack the house with a sense of purpose and accomplishment.  I have share that sickness soon followed.  The chaos that ensued on our week of relaxation and productivity...oh my...and I will tell you that (and hormones) made a perfect storm of insanity that I can barely think around!

Here is our start to the new year.

Phil decided to tackle the bathroom remodel.  It was loooong overdue.  The ceiling was covered in mold due to the leaks in the roof.  The old metal window was a magnet for moisture and ickiness.  The sealants around the tub was coming off and infused with mold.  It needed upgrading at the time that we moved in 10 years ago and 7 people using one bathroom did not improve the situation.  So....the bathroom remodel was faced head on...and then...poor Phil.  First, we have one bathrooom and 6 people using it with regularity (one, getting the hang of it)...which makes remodeling a bit tricky.  Second, the moment that Phil removed the toilet, people started the week long sickness of puking and diarrhea.  How on Earth is someone supposed to lay tile when they are constantly moving the toilet back and forth between the bathtub and the hole in the floor and pouring water to wash away the contents.  Oh my!  

In the meantime, I attempted to start a house clean....I try and clean out closets, drawers, and clutter piles 2-3 times a year...once during the summer and once over some sort of "vacation".  It is always a bit of a mystery to see how much can accumulate and get misplaced!  I didn't get much of a start...but these few boxes are toys and costumes (the picture below).  Really, that is a lot of toys!!  And they are good toys - puzzles, building toys, games...but at the moment, they aren't being played with so I decided that I wanted our actual house purged of anything that isn't being used with regularity and instead store these items in the garage and then overtime, decide what I feel comfortable parting with (ha, I am packrat so probably nothing).  This is about as far as I got - some playroom closets and the children's closets.  The other thing I "got" was a desire to completely simplify and downsize our life.  We are just too busy.  We have morphed into a stage of life where more and more of my time is taken up with planning and homeschooling and we need to drastically simplify and prioritize because I am drowning in too much to do.  We have some plans and hope to be working toward them in the next few months.  I keep thinking to myself "Little House on the Prairie simplicity".

Ick

I took this picture and told Phil the smell of the toilet hole was making me sick.  Turns out...it was not the toilet hole but the stomach flu.  So...Friday, on Brighton's birthday,  I spent the entire day with aches and pains from my hair roots down to my toenails, nauseous and vomiting, lying on the floor of the bedroom with my head at the open door (to the backyard).  It was in the 20's and the icy air blasting in on my face for 24 hours was a small twinge of relief.  

Meanwhile, Phil was madly attempting to get everything put back together so the toilet would be flushable since diarrhea from multiple people was now full affect.  There was NO WAY I was sticking my face in a nasty toilet bowl of poop so I barfed outside thank you very much! 

Plus, he was trying to manage the children and do something to make Brighton's birthday at least a little special.  (I felt so awful to have his birthday go by without his favorite foods, gifts, and celebrating.)

Saturday in the early morning hours, Phil woke me up because Sawyer had broken out in a rash covering his entire body.  It grew worse and bad enough that Phil took him up to the emergency room where he had an iv with a steroid and Benadryl.  He was diagnosed with an allergic reaction rash most likely his body's response to the virus that he had been fighting all week (he had been sick for 7 days at this point, on and off).  He was sent home with a steroid prescription and over the counter Benadryl.  By the evening, he had a cough, a fever, and an ear infection (ARE YOU KIDDING ME?).  He spent the next few days in misery with his rash and his ear infection and croupy cough.  At least the drug cocktail of Prednisone, Benadryl, and Ibuprofen helped him sleep.

Then...midweek all the other children begin to sick with wet coughs, congestion, drippy noses, watery eyes, and general misery.  Glorielle got her first ear infection.  This is the most miserable that I have ever seen her.  She has whined and fussed for 2 days straight and has had a really hard time sleeping.  Very uncharacteristic of her.  My guess is that Sawyer caught a cold virus back to back with the flu virus and then everyone just transfered from one sickness to the other.  And that takes us to date.  We have 5 miserable children and our house sounds like a seal cave.  I got a big juicy wet kiss from my youngest right on the lips as well as multiple coughs to the face so I am waiting to get sick.  Evi is so miserable (I think it hit her the hardest) that she has broken down into spontaneous tears several times.  We are 14 days into non-stop sickness.  Phil ended up taking 3 sick days last week.  We have had one to multiple children up non stop during the night this entire sickness and we had to cancel B's birthday celebration to have family come for dessert.  HAPPY NEW YEAR TO US!

Phil chatted with a principle from one of the schools who is partly retired and she said that in all her years of teaching/administrating this is the worst year ever for sickness.  Our friends that live in the next house over with 3 children similar in ages to ours had tonsillitis and pink eye over the vacation.  

Instead of looking at this picture and thinking...oh, how sweet!  I am think OH NO, GERM SHARING, get away from each other!!  LOL!

Lamp treats!  When we rearranged furniture back in November, I was really wanting to find some lamps to brighten up the livingroom.  I had the perfect lamp in mind but could find nothing like it.  I found out that the style I liked (from a lamp I had seen) is called Danish Modern from the 50's-70's.  As a treat, I bought 2 on ebay.  They turned out to be too small for the livingroom (oh well, they are being used there anyway LOL).  The lamps came without shades so I set them up as is hoping to find a clip on shade (one that attached to the bulb) that would work.  I eventually found a goldish colored on at the Goodwill that was ok.  Then, my parents stopped by and took my lamps with them up to a lamp store that they were visiting and brought home these AMAZING lamp shades and the hardware (called a harp) and the little white ball that sits on top of a the harp.  Oh my goodness, I am WILD about these lamps.  It is kind of like having a nice piece of artwork and then you invest in a beautiful frame and matting and it transforms the artwork.  The lady that was helping them at the lamp store was very knowledgable and said that the Danish Modern style is typically finished with a solid white shade.  I never would have thought to go bright white (and with those wonderful white spheres at the top) and it was the perfect choice.

The pictures are a bit wonky...not sure why and it is hard to photograph a lamp but TA DA...here they are!

Poor sick people...

Ear infection and a fever.

For Christmas, I put together bead and pipe cleaner doll kits.  I sat down with the girls yesterday and Sis made this fairy doll.  Isn't it wonderful!

New additions...Phil stopped by the health food store in town to see about getting an essential oil diffuser.  We were told by the doctor that it can be helpful for ear infections to have the sinus cleared up to relieve pressure in the ear with peppermint oil.  It was also recommended by our Chiropractor to have Thieves oil being diffused to help keep the germs down.  Well, by this time we were desperate LOL so Phil picked up a diffuser.  I told him how much I love the salt lamps that I had seen in the store window (pass by there when I walk) so he came with one.  I am a light person LOL...I love lamps, candles, skylights, natural light from First light to Twilight, etc..  I always love to have full light in any room I am in.  

Yay, isn't it great!  Phil read up on the benefits of salt lights.  They put negative ions into the air which helps to combat the positive ions that are output from computers and appliances and such.  The store owner gave him such a great deal that he came home with two more.  So, I have salt light in our room, in the livingroom, and I am thinking I will put the third in the school room.  So excited, I love them (and have already had to tell the children not to lick them).

Our diffuser....it looks a bit alien especially with the led lights changing colors.  The house sure smells yummy though.