Out, You Swine!

Behold the tiny bastards that have taken over our lives! Yes, it's none other than H1N1, brought to you today for your viewing pleasure via AJC1 at Flickr. It looks so lovely and lavender doesn't it? But don't be fooled! These fluffy, puffy harbingers of misery and malaise are not so attractive as they appear.
First down was eldest daughter who was sick for four days a couple weeks ago, seemed to recover for a few days, and then took ill again. Then last Sunday, youngest daughter got caught in the clutches of H1N1, seemed to rally mid week, then relapsed and remains unwell. Hopefully she will be well enough to go back to school Monday.
As for me? Well, that heavy feeling in my chest and the nagging headache...I'm doing my best not to acknowledge them. Shoo piggy, shoo!

Hello, World...How Have You Been?

Well, school has started here and once again I find myself with a million things to do and not enough time, money or energy to do them all! The Snail household made it through the first week scathed (I'd like to say unscathed, but that would be a lie!) and we are into the second. Eldest missed 2 days of school last week due to illness. Thought it was swine flu, but she recovered too quickly for it to be that. Then youngest missed monday due to similar-yet-not-as-bad illness.

Eldest is now a senior - with all of the glory and gore that entails! Picture my life going to hell in a handbasket, here.... Those of you who have been through this know of all the extra stuff that goes on senior year. Eldest is taking classes in the morning and looking for an afternoon job. She is also shopping for her first car - which is more than I can take! We were out test driving cars this weekend and if we were cats we'd have lost two lives. Amazing how some TCBY made it all so much better.

Youngest has a reletively calmer life, except for being a seventh grader. Ah, middleschool drama! What special hell it is! Remember all the angst? Blemishes, cliques, what to wear, how to fix your hair, make-up (whether to wear it and how much and what color...), dances (!!) young love, followed by young heartbreak, advice from your ancient parents who don't know anything. Yeah, wouldn't do it again if you paid me.

I think we finally have all of the supplies we need. There's always an item or two that can't be easily found. For example, there is always some teacher who specifies a specific color and type of folder. It must be blue, plastic, with prong fasteners and pockets. You know before you even look that the store will have every color and combination but that one! This year there was a request for marble composition books. No fancy colors or patterns, just the basic black and white. Last year they had mountains of them. This year...well...it took some looking.

So, now that things are (hopefully) calming down a bit I will try to do better about posting here on a more regular basis. I feel so neglectful of my blog lately!

Happy Fall, y'all!