November 25th, 2003 - Tuesday

Mish-Mash

I'm getting sick. Again. I'm thrilled. I had a vague idea that it was coming late last week because my knee started aching. I once got a viral infection that affected my joints (weird, I know) and now more often than not, if I'm getting sick with something, I feel achy in my knee(s).

Then this morning my throat was scratchy and irritated, and my nose was stuffy. I also had a nasty headache and felt mildly nauseous all day.

Luckily the headache went away with some Tylenol and the nausea disappeared after I ate supper. I'm now drinking some red wine in the hopes that it will help too. Or maybe I'm just having wine because it was here and I felt like it.

I managed to drag myself and Hayley up to the library this afternoon so that I could return my books, renew one I still hadn't read, and browse for some new ones. Did you know that library hasn't got a single book on Wicca anywhere? Of course their section on Christianity spans several shelves.

Hayley is so good at the library that it amazes me. I can't exactly let her run wild so she stays in the stroller and she's so well behaved. As long as I don't make her sit in one spot too long (I browse quickly, in other words!), she's content to look around and occasionally point at something while asking, "dat?"

I got two books on Prague (sadly their English copies were out so I'm stuck with French books, but I really only wanted to see the pictures anyway!), The Poisonwood Bible (renewed) and Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver, and a book called First Meals with all kinds of ideas on meals you can give kids from 6 months to toddlerhood. I'm sure most of it will be pretty "duh" when I read it, full of obvious meal choices, but sometimes I'm too tired to think of anything to give Hayley so some kid-friendly healthy recipes will be great.

Hayley developed a very bad habit of climbing on the coffee table and sitting dangerously close to the edge. To counteract that, I took it apart and stashed it under the bed. A bonus of this is that the living room looks huge now. I like it.

Now that the table is no longer pressed up against the entertainment unit she has developed a very bad habit of touching everything from the tv buttons to the doors that hide the CDs. Sigh. You can never ever win.

We went to a birthday party for our friends' four-year-old daughter on Saturday. It was fun but I didn't stay long. Hayley will never sleep at anyone's house but usually she is happy to stay up and play and charm everyone with her party girl ways. That night was different though. She had taken a really great two hour nap but it was from 10:30 to 12:30. The party only started at 7 that night and by 9 pm she was exhausted and freaking out. I changed her diaper, put her in pajamas, and George brought us home. He went back for a couple of hours but I was just happy to get Hayley into bed at that point.

I didn't really mind much. Any time we spend a day with my family, I ask them to please stop smoking a little while before we get there so that the air is cleared out (and they run an air purifier too). Then, for the entire time that we're there, they go outside to smoke. They smoked around me, but that was in the 70's. People didn't know any better then. Now they realize the dangers of secondhand smoke and they respect my decision to keep Hayley's lungs as smoke-free as possible. My dad sometimes forgets and people have to holler at him to get his ass outside, but they all do it for me and for Hayley.

Unfortunately, this party was full of smokers and no one went outside. They smoked in the kitchen and we stayed in the living room but they're right next door to each other. The people throwing the party both smoke too so they sort of pulled one of those "our house, our rules" things and we had to settle for opening windows.

I didn't leave just because of the smoke. Like I said, she was tired as hell anyway. However, I wouldn't have stayed much longer because of it. And the next day I was dressing her and decided to put the same jeans back on since she had only worn them for about three hours. They smelled like smoke. My child's clothes have never ever smelled of smoke before. I was not happy and they went straight into the washing machine.

Bah.

I'm tired now so I'll leave you with some pictures from the past few days just because I have one of the cutest kids in existence.

Taken Friday. I jokingly told her to lie down, so she did.

Hayley at the party. The second I put her down to take this picture, she made a break for the stairs. When she started SCREAMING because I wouldn't let her go up them for the third time, I knew it was time to go home.

While I was cleaning her room she asked me to put her into the car. She hasn't been in it in months and she's really too big but she had a blast in it.

Playing in the car.

More surprisingly, she then asked to be put up in the crib(?!). Then she wanted all her stuffed toys in there with her. I love this picture of her hugging her pig.

Finally, when I took her out, she put her hat on her head (no idea) and sat in her chair and played.

I actually turned the light back on after she fell asleep last night just so I could take a picture of her sleeping with her puppy.

This afternoon, after our trek to the library, she sat happily in her chair and ate some cheese and crackers for a snack.

Okay, that's it. I must go read now. Good night!

On this day (more or less):

2002: All my November 2002 entries are lost. :(
2001: Sometimes I wonder if I'm on crack and just don't know it.
2000: This winter will be much more bearable with this heater blasting every morning.
1999: Drastic? Perhaps, but i've had a personal site since 1995 and i'll be damned if someone gets to suddenly dictate how it looks

Reading: The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown. Damn, this book is amazing!

Listening: Colin James.

Watching: I watched the American Idol Christmas carol special. Poor Ruben. I've never seen anyone sweat so profusely in my life. I thought he was going to drown.

Anticipating: Another party on Saturday (smoke free!).

Eating: Breakfast - Cheese omelette, shared with Hayley. Lunch - Hot dogs (blech). Supper - Roast chicken with fries, macaroni salad, and garden salad.

Wearing: I'm in my PJs already.

Feeling: Stuffy.

Forecasting: It was kind of cold, actually.

Craving: More wine. And some chips.

Gratifying: Some good books from the library.

Baby talk: