If she had the proper words to say,

Last night, about 9:15-ish, we learned there would be no school today. Why? Because the temperature is to be so low - with windchill advisory - and it is unsafe for kids that wait for buses. Hey, that works for me, as we were already finagling a way for Philip to go to work at 5am, then come home and take the boys at 8, then go back to work (so I wouldn't have to drive at all).

Extreme cold kicks my asthma into high gear. Wind makes it bad too, even when the temps aren't so frigid. But the forecast was calling for -25°, and it didn't sound lung-friendly at ALL.

Philip wanted to watch Rush Hour 3 together, and he put it in. My coughing had gotten so bad that not a full minute passed without a new attack, and after thirty minutes, I finally had to leave the room. I told him to finish it without me, and I shut myself in the humid bathroom and sucked down one more cough drop. :-(

Speaking of, I only have two cough drops left. That worries me. We also have only about 1" of milk left in the gallon... which would have been fine if it were just me home today (the only milk I planned on needing was a splash in my oatmeal), but now that the boys are home with me all day, I don't know how we'll manage. They love their milk.

I'm really going to miss Philip today. He has been wonderful this weekend and these past two days, taking care of my needs before I even fully anticipated them. He's brought me soup from all over, he's picked up my meds, bought more tissues, and he even surprised me with more Cadbury bunnies. (Like sweet tea, chocolate feels sooooo soothing on my throat.) He's taken the boys with him anytime he's run errands, and when we're all at home, he's kept both of them quiet so I could rest. He's done a couple loads of laundry, fed the kitties, and he even cleaned the litter for me ("well, I know how the litter dust makes your asthma act up, so...")

I'm gonna miss him. :-(

I'm also going to spend the day wearing my mask, I'm sure. I wore it for a large chunk of yesterday, and the house will feel even drier today. The humidistat is set as "wet" as it can be, and I don't like boiling pots of water on the stove (it leaves a ring in my cookware). So I just walk around in my pseudo-Vader mask, breathing in the sweet relief that comes from looking utterly stupid.

I was lamenting last night that I really, really didn't want to miss church tonight - especially the Lenten service. And the dinner at church was to be Sloppy Joes - a favorite. But I'm thinking that we won't actually miss church now, as the church follows the Bellevue Public Schools: when the schools shut down, the church is closed as well. I suppose that's a silver lining, right?

This entry is rambly and all over the place. Chalk that up to a middle-of-the-night coughing/sweating fit that tore me from my bed. :-/

It has been so cold lately. So very cold, nevermind the wind. And remember that I work in a drive-through most weekdays? Yeah. Luckily I can get nice and warm again as soon as I get home. If something ever happens to our heat, though... well, I wanted to be buried in my favorite blankets. ;-)

But the forecast for the weekend and Monday seems to be looking up. It's supposed to be 30° tomorrow. Serious biz, I might just dance a jig! And 38° for Saturday, 43° for Sunday. On Monday - glorious, golden Monday - it is supposed to be 50°.

I'll be so happy I think I just might cry.

I must be running a low-grade fever. Think I might've been for a few days, in fact. That seems to be par for the course during my "girly" days. I can't get warm for anything, and I have been wearing sweatshirts and jackets in the house - even at night. The boys, however, are absolutely roasting. If they were running around or something, I could see why that might be, but they're hot just sitting around on the couch. And at night, they've been on TOP of their covers to keep cool while I'm freezing away in my sleep.

I discovered today that closing the blinds on all the windows does keep the house a tad warmer (I usually have all the blinds open as soon as I'm up for the day), but I can also tell that the boys are even that much warmer for closing them. Poor Jack peeled off his long-sleeved shirt about half an hour after we got home today, and he's been lounging around in just his jeans to keep cool.

*shivers*

I'm cold, but I know that the house is at a comfortable temperature. In times like these, there's really not much more I do to "re-set" my internal thermometer except take a brief stroll outside. It's 1pm, though - right smack in my window of 'never-ever-go-outside-during-these-times' hours, so I'm fearful.

It'll be very quick. I'll just do a loop or two around my garden and come back.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEANNE!

Hey, a weekend birthday! That's something, right adiasplat? *grins*

---

We received six more Christmas cards on Saturday (notice that I never made a post about cards on Friday, and you'll figure out how sad I felt that night *sticks out bottom lip*), including one from fuzzytrouble - thank you! We also received two big boxes full of presents from my mom, and in them she'd left one of my gifts unwrapped, intending for me to begin using it right away. It's an adorable set of candle holders; they resemble the PartyLite Crystal Trio in that each is a different height, but the stems are felt-bottomed silver instead, and rather than sporting clear cups for the candles, these hold tealights which shine through frosted snowmen bodies and twinkle out of snowflakes etched on the sides. They each sport a silver top hat and red fabric bow as well, and I was so excited to open them and set them up! (I'll try to remember to take a picture soon.)

I bought some eggnog yesterday.

I was cold for a large part of today (think: hours), and so I ended up here in the office with my winter coat on. As a result, when I did finally warm up enough, I ended up shedding it right here in the office chair as well. And I've been lazy since that point, and rather than hang it up, I just continue to sit on it.

And it's not very comfy.

So. Dang. Lazy.

Last night was Annie's Christmas party, and it was massive amounts of both relaxing and fun. (Well, until her doggies came in to visit for a bit - and in those moments, I tried to crawl backwards into the couch, mucho-puppy-scared wuz me - but then they went away again, and I could breathe normally once more. Hehehe.) She made an awesome homemade minestrone soup that was to DIE FOR, and I think it was my first minestrone experience - we'll call it the "ministrence," for short. She'd also made this yummy new treat - Cornflake Candy - and I sat and gobbled obscene amounts of it.

After fooding, we drank apple cider and munched on soft oatmeal cookies on the couch. I was introduced to the time-honoured (yes, I wanted a 'u' in that word tonight) tradition of Christmas "crackers." We each pulled a cracker, and mine had a gold paper crown, a silly joke and a whistle in it. The group of us looked adorable in our paper crowns, and we laughed hard enough to bring tears at the super-corny jokes included in our crackers. I guess you could say we "cracked up."

*groans at bad pun*

Janiece had driven us to the party, and we were talking so much on the way home that we accidentally went on the interstate instead - oh noes! It was her first time ever driving on the interstate, but she seemed much calmer than I would have been, especially because it was late at night and hard to see. My babysitter Rachel had been fantastic with the boys, and she was relishing the computer time after the boys had gone to bed. Janiece gave me an adorable snowman bell, and I was so touched. Funny story: I had just told a bell ringer at the commissary earlier that afternoon that I thought I should start collecting bells - my mom had had an extensive collection when I was growing up, and I always loved them. Of course, Janiece didn't know this, yet she surprised me with my very first bell only hours after I'd decided this - how cool!

The children had their Christmas program today during church, and I dressed the boys in matching red sweaters and khakis for their appearances on stage (even though their different Sunday School classes performed at different times). Neither of them ever managed to find us while they were singing, but we had good views of them. Jack and his friend Dave (Janiece's son) hammed it up onstage together, dancing around and bouncing. We'd guessed that they'd do that if they were staged next to one another. A.J., on the other hand, looked straight forward and sang his song perfectly. He looked past us several times, but he never did see us that we could tell.

I intended to take pictures, but when I held up my camera for the first shot of Jack, I was greeted with the "Change batteries" message. Oops. Ah, well - good intentions and all that, and regardless, I have the memories from today inside my little pea-brain, right? :-D

We all ate lunch at the fairly-new Varsity Sports Bar/Roman Coin Pizza. It was good food, but the restaurant was crowded (it WAS a football Sunday, after all), and so our service left a little to be desired. Still, if you try it out, make sure you order the Parmesan Sticks as an appetizer - mmmmmmm!

Welp, I think I'll go hang up this coat now...

I can't regulate my body temperature today. My fingers, toes and nose are all freezing cold, but I'm sweating. I don't dare take off my warm shirt, though, because I don't want anything ELSE to be freezing. I'm all breathing like Darth Vader in my shirt to keep my nose warm, even.

I have to watch The Apprentice and ER tonight. Philip taped them last night before he left. The tapes are not great, but it's better than nothing.