Sometimes life works best in numerical points.

1. Valentine’s Day came and went without too much fanfare. I enjoy the day mostly for the kids. I’m really kind of turned off by all the diamond commercials (don’t get me started on diamonds) and whatnot, so I like to keep it really low-key. On top of that, George wasn’t feeling all that well. As a result, I got up with the kids and sent him back to bed, then made a batch of pancakes for their breakfast. Later we gave the girls some chocolate and a little teddy bear each for gifts, and basically relaxed. George made a delicious pork roast for supper, then we watched a bit of TV together before bed. A quiet celebration, but quiet works for me.

2. If Valentine’s Day is about sharing the love, for me Sunday was all about having very little love in my angry, cold heart. That’s because I spent the entire afternoon – I mean entire, from brunch until supper – cleaning out the girls’ room. It had turned into a nightmare and it never stayed clean. I knew it was partly because they had too much stuff that they never really even played with, and they had nowhere to store anything. I stuffed three giant garbage bags and one decent sized box full of crap. Most of it was old toys that they had technically outgrown but wouldn’t let go of willingly, and some of it was stuff that just wasn’t very good or useful.

I made Hayley’s bed first, then realized I should take a picture for posterity. So this is before:

I know, right?

This is after:

MUCH better. They basically have some dress-up/princess/beauty stuff, Barbies, Little People, Littlest Pet Shop, and car/truck/etc toys, but everything is able to be grouped together and it’s so much better. WAY better. But holy hell, I was exhausted that night.

3. This morning Hayley woke up feeling a little under the weather but I dressed her anyway and got her off to school. She’s been in the breakfast club for a few weeks now, and it’s been great because I don’t have to fight to get her to eat first thing in the morning. Instead she eats something (they rotate between things like cereal, oatmeal, egg burritos, pancakes, waffles, etc) when she gets to school half an hour earlier than usual, and by then she’s actually hungry. However, because of that, I have no idea how much she ate this morning.

I *do* know that the school called just after lunch saying that Hayley had a fever and needed to come home. I checked her lunch bag after she got in, and she had eaten half a scone that I had sent her, but had left her cheese and crackers, and only ate two bites of her tuna sandwich. All of that is highly unusual. She then laid on the couch for the rest of the day, dozing on and off, refused supper, sat like a lump in a lukewarm bath, and was in bed sleeping by 7:15. This is my kid who stays up until 9:30 or 10 every night, reading in bed. I tucked her in an hour ago and she’s still feverish despite medicine.

Guess who’s staying home tomorrow?

4. I am officially Getting Old. Breanna wanted to play Littlest Pet Shop earlier today and since it’s so easy to play in their room now, I went in and pulled it out. I laid on the floor, propped up on one side, playing for about 20 minutes. And by doing that, on a hardwood floor, I hurt my lower back, all around my tailbone. Usually when I put my back out, I at least feel it go; it usually happens when I lift something too heavy. I wasn’t DOING anything, I was just lying there. What the hell is that about?

I’ve been sitting here with my chair massage pad thing on, heat blasting through it, hoping it will dull down the pain. I thought about taking back pain medication but I’m afraid it might cause a bad reaction with my Geritol. Sheesh.

5. American Idol is already paling in comparison to last season. So far, on night one of the top 36, I am royally unimpressed, except for Anoop. This is not looking good. This isn’t unusual, because often when I really love one season the next one is a bit “eh” for me. It would be hard to compete with my utter David Cook mania last season but they could at least put in some sort of effort!

And with that I’m going to make my old, aching self a cup of hot tea and eat some cookies while trying not to berate people inside the TV.