Yay!  Finally, finally, I have turned the corner and am feeling completely well again.  It happened yesterday.  I didn’t even realize I wasn’t feeling up to full speed, but I did know that life was a drag.  I just had to make myself cook food, make myself tend to my kids, make myself pick up toys, and I just felt like doing absolutely nothing.  I had decided I guessed I was depressed, so I was trying to meditate on Scripture, pray about it, and get myself out of the doldrums.

Yesterday was TERRIBLE!!  I had had diarrhea the evening and night before, but I didn’t think  much of it.  Then, in the morning, after exercising, I just felt like I could barely function.  I was so sleepy I could barely stay awake even while moving around my kitchen and so on.  I was so tired.  Nearly every time I stood up from leaning over or bending down, I felt like I was going to pass out.  And it was just awful.  (I think my blood pressure was too low, probably from the diarrhea the night before.)  I was trying to make my part of the birthday meal Gail & I were making to take up to my mom’s for supper, and even cutting up lettuce for a salad seemed like a huge task.  I plodded through things, making the cake (one of those 6-step, 2-hours-to-make kind, a coconut cake), peeling and grating the coconut, somehow getting some lunch out for the wolves (Paul & Hannah–how can they get hungry so often?) to eat.  At one point I called Gail to moan, and being the generous and super-gracious person she is, she offered to make the frosting for the cake.  I was so relieved.  I wasn’t calling to shove my work off on her, but since she had offered and said she already had the roll dough made, I took her up on it.  Also since the frosting takes the stiffly-beaten egg whites and the candy-boiled sugar syrup–in other words, it’s a complicated frosting too.  If I had been feeling any bit better, I would not have let her take it on.

When nap time came in the afternoon, I decided I was starting a nap the minute the kids were in their beds, even if it meant we would be late to the supper.  I went to bed, and I slept like a rock for an hour.  When I woke up, I could not believe how good I felt!  I just felt positively GREAT!  I have not felt that good since before I got this cold, about 3 weeks ago.  And I still feel that good today.  Man, what a difference it makes!  I feel like fixing the food.  I feel like doing something.  I feel like living again.  I just wish I had felt this good while we were in Chicago.  I mean, I had a good time and all, but I didn’t feel this wonderful.  So, all this is to let you know that I feel good again.  (a big smile from me).

Here are some recent pictures.

Our increasingly beautiful Hannah.

Paul, Hannah,  & Bobby play up at my parents’ last evening.

Paul trying on the big glasses!

Come 8 o’clock, and Hannah was tired.

Here Uncle Luke is holding her.

Andrew showing Grandma Chicago footage on our

video camera.

Grandpa is helping Paul & Bobby play marbles.

Paul & Hannah outside this morning.

I took Mom out for breakfast for her birthday this

morning, and Andrew took pictures when we got home.

I don’t have pictures of our planes or anything exciting as far as photography goes for this post.  However, Andrew is anxious for me to blog about our flights.  First, I was amazed that the flights we booked back in Dec. were the same, unchanged in number and time, etc., and waiting for us.  I remember when the whole Vogan family flew to TX for Wendy’s wedding, and every single flight was changed and delayed and different, and so on.

We flew out of Dulles on Friday morning the 20th.  Somehow, we thought leaving here at 6:00 a.m. would leave us enough time to catch a 9:40 a.m. flight to O’Hare.  Well, it did, but just barely.  We got caught in a little bit of slow traffic up there in the busy knots of Northern Va., but otherwise we just rolled along.  As we got closer, we decided that one of us should park the car, and the other one take the big suitcase and get it checked, since you have to check your checked luggage at least 45 min. before your flight.  I was more comfortable doing the luggage than parking the car.  That’s what I did, and boy was I looking at my watch and hurrying because we were squeezing the 45 minute deadline pretty closely.

In all that hurrying and so on, I was doing that touch-screen business to get checked in a boarding passes printed, and some how I got us paying for an upgrade to Premier Line.  When the guy at the ticket counter found out I had paid for boarding passes (which I didn’t know I didn’t have to pay for them), he was not very compassionate and said “don’t you read stuff first?” or something like that in his heavily accented English.  By the way, nearly every single employee/pilot/airline associated person I saw at Dulles looked middle-eastern and was definitely ESL.  It made me feel like it would be real easy for them to usher through the next group of terrorists.  I tried to find out more information from the guy at the ticket counter, and he kept answering me in his heavily accented English with pre-memorized phrases that said what he thought I should be doing next, but they did not answer my questions.  I finally gave up and went to where I needed to leave off the big suitcase.  He had told me that I needed to go to united.com to get a refund for my money.  I was feeling like I needed a T-shirt that said “I’m an EFL person”, meaning English as a First Language.  I guess it is slightly annoying that in an airport in my own country I can’t even have a knowledgeable conversation in my country’s language.

I got the suitcase checked, then I waited for Andrew.  I waited and waited.  I looked at my watch and waited some more.  Finally he came.  In his hurry, he had fallen running up the escalator and cut his hand.  It wasn’t serious, but an open wound in an airport hardly feels sanitary.  We got a band-aid on in later.  We trotted right through security and to our gate and expected to find a group of people waiting to board.  Soon, a lady said “Chicago?”, and we knew we were at the right gate.  Thing was, we were the last to board, everyone else was already on.  Whew!  I’m glad we weren’t any later.

It was all smooth sailing to O’Hare.  Once we were there, Andrew knew what to do.  We just took a train, the blue line, for quite a while.  Then we got a bus to a little closer to our hotel, and then we walked the rest of the way.  And it was cold!  Oh, in O’Hare, there was a flautist playing very beautiful music.  He was just sitting in the airport, in one of the non-shop areas, rather out of the way, playing very nice music.  We stopped a listened to him for a little bit.

To come back home, we knew better than to cut it close getting to the airport.  Especially since we were using public transportation.  It seemed like no matter what, it took us about an hour to get wherever we were going, even if it was close by, because it takes a while when you are walking.  We started out walking toward the train station about 11:30, even though our plane didn’t leave until 4:45.  This time, we rode the red line to the blue line, and then the blue line to O’Hare.  That was better than fooling with a bus to the blue line.

Checking into O’Hare was different than checking into Dulles.  For one thing, the touch-screen computer only printed out 3 boarding passes-one for each of us at Pittsburg, but only one for Andrew at O’Hare.  When we realized that, I stood with our stuff while Andrew went back to the ticket counter to get another boarding pass.  Then, we were ready to go through security.  Well, it was only then that security noticed my driver’s license had been expired for over 2 years.  What!!  Yeah, that’s right, and I had no idea.  (Think, guys think.  That means it expired right after Paul was born.  At that time, if it wasn’t life-or-death, I’m sure I gave it no thought.)  The guy kept asking for another form of ID.  I gave him my credit card and my expired nursing license (I have the new one here, I just hadn’t put it in my wallet yet.).  He wanted a passport (I don’t have one) or my birth certificate (I told him it was at home).  I was thinking, you mean I can travel all the way here on an expired license, but I can’t get back home?!  Finally he said he would have to get his supervisor.  This lady very methodically asked all the same questions and seemed a little exasperated that I didn’t have some other form of ID.  I dug out my voter card and gave that to her.  Finally she said they would just have to do extra security measures on me.  Whew!  That I can handle, just don’t make me stay here in Chicago until I die and my bones rot!  So, some lady did a “pat-down” on me, and then some other ladies personally went through all my baggage.  Since I didn’t know liquids in excess of 3 oz. were not allowed in carry-ons (they have to be in checked luggage), I lost some things, like my hair spray and hand lotion.  They offered that I could go back through and check it (to go in the belly of the plane).  I declined.  Good grief!  It costs $50 to check the second bag, and we had already checked one bag.  I could certainly buy more hair spray and hand lotion when we got home.  Fortunately they didn’t confiscate the Ghiradelli’s chocolate we were bringing home to Miriam.  After all that was done, I got my shoes on, and got my belongings packed back up and we were ready to head on through the airport.  We were so glad we didn’t have that scene coming in Dulles or we would surely have missed our flight.  We were also glad we were early this time.

Going through O’Hare we saw a different man playing music.  He was playing a saxaphone, and it was very pretty music.  I wish we had that kind over the radio.  This time we kept moving and didn’t stand around listening.

After we got close to our gate, we stopped at a Chili’s and ate lunch.  It was probably about 2:00 p.m. then.  We were right across from the Bear Mountain Chocolate shop, and everything there looked so good.  As we were going through O’Hare, I kept seeing all these shops that were high-carb shops.  I just decided that airports didn’t cater to diabetics at all.  After lunch, I told Andrew I just wanted to step in there to look around (and smell the chocolate, as Andrew said).  Lo and behold!  They had a section of sugar-free chocolates!  I couldn’t believe it!  I was tickled to death!  Andrew got me a sugar-free cho. covered pretzel (I love those!), and he got a truffle.  Yes, it costs a mint, but boy, was it good!

We got to our waiting area and then we watched part of “Chariots of Fire” on Andrew’s laptop until it was time to board our plane.  That was one of the movies we had rented and taken along.

We flew to Pittsburg, and then we had 35 minutes until our next plane took off to Dulles.  We thought we would be rushing and scrambling through the airport to get to the next gate on time.  Here, as soon as we entered the airport, we saw that the gate we landed at was the exact same gate we were going to take off from.  Then, as we boarded the plane, we realized it was the very same plane with the very same stewardesses!  After we were all boarded, and while the plane was getting de-iced (doesn’t that sound, umm, like, well, glad they’re doing it, hope this doesn’t ice up while we’re in the air?), one of the stewardesses came back to us and said that since we were their “frequent fliers” and there were extra seats in first class, would we like to ride up in first class?  Wow!  We said sure and gathered up our things and moved up there.  There was leg room!  And, they served us snacks.  We could have all the little bags of party mix we wanted (we only took one each), and we could have free alcohol (which we declined).  Anyway, it was something neither of us had done before, and we enjoyed that little extra perk.  The stewardess chatted with us some of the time.  She was from Serbia.

Well, that pretty much does it for the flying part of our vacation.  I went to the DMV yesterday on the way back home from the doctor’s office (Hannah’s follow-up appointment for her lung congestion–they’re getting better).  I had looked online, and if your license is expired for more than a year, you have to renew in person.  I was hoping the lines would be short (since I had Paul & Hannah with me) and we could just pay some money and get this thing taken care of pretty quickly.  Well, the lines were short, but there was no quick fix.  The lady at the counter was in disbelief that it had been over 2 years, and kept saying something like “oh my”, like she pitied me.  With it being expired that long, I had to bring in my birth certificate, and take both the written and road tests again.

So, Andrew agreed to watch the kiddos this morning.  After I exercised, I went to the test questions (online) about the alcohol and drugs and did them.  Then I headed on over to the DMV.  One of the first questions they asked was if I had studied the book (which, to get a physical book you have to buy it, by the way).  I just told them I had done some test questions online this morning (I didn’t say how few and narrow they were!).  As it was, I only missed one question on the written test (even though I took a good guess on a few, like how far away to park from a fire hydrant–I was praying I would pass!), and I passed the vision and the road test.  So, by 10:00, I had my new license and it doesn’t expire until I’m 40.  Hopefully I won’t miss the renewal that time!

Well, I need to move on.  One of the things we decided on our vacation was some changes we wanted to make in our home routines.  One of those is going to bed sooner, so that means pretty much no time for blogging in the evenings.  I am still trying to figure out when to get it done.  I really don’t want to give up my blog!

Here are a few pictures from our nice and normal home life.  Paul is talking to his Uncle Luke on the phone, supposed to be thanking him for the candy Easter eggs he left on the back porch for Paul & Hannah.

When it was time to go to bed last evening, Paul wanted to “ride horse”.  Here he is riding a horse!

Paul & Hannah riding horsey on Daddy to Paul’s bed (and then they went to bed).

More on the trip another time!

We returned from our fantastic vacation last night, getting home around 12:30 a.m. (this morning rather).  We were tired, but we had a really good time.  It was nice to get back to where you can see the sky, where you can see horizontally instead of only vertically, and that is dizzying because there are skyscrapers all around, where life is real and not just manufactured or trucked in, and to where our dear children are!  Oh, I could hardly wait to hold Hannah and squeeze her!

On our last morning in Chicago, we went shopping for something to bring back to Paul & Hannah.  I hadn’t even thought of it, and then Andrew mentioned it.  We found a Disney store, and we got the cutest stuffed Mickey and Minnie mouse for them.  When we got home, we put Minnie in Hannah’s crib, and we put Mickey in Paul’s bed.  That way when they woke up this morning they had a nice new thing to look at.  Of course, we were in their rooms as soon as they woke up so we could see them and hug them and so on.  Paul has had the greatest of time with the “two mouses” today, carrying them all over the place and wanting to hold them while he eats meals.  I insist on them setting on the end of the table and watching us eat.  Throughout the meal, Paul frequently reminds us that “Mickey mouse and Minnie mouse are watching Hannah and Mommy and Paul eat”.  Paul even takes them with him to the bathroom.

Well, that will be all for today, folks, because I need to go to bed.  I hope to put up more interesting things about our flights and trip tomorrow.

By the way, we are more recovered from our colds.  Still have running noses and coughs, but not as bad.  Poor Miriam, who was here with our kids while we are gone, has contracted the cough/cold disease, and even had the unfortunate plight of being sick on her stomach at 3:00 this morning.  I really hope she is recovering fast at home.  Poor thing!  That was more than she bargained for.

Guess where we are and what we have been doing?

Andrew and I are in Chicago!!  Yes!  That’s right.  Paul and Hannah are at our house keeping the fires going under the supervision of “Aunt Minnie” (my sister Miriam).  She came up from Richmond to stay with them until we get back home on Monday night.

We flew out of Dulles this morning (arriving there barely in time to get through and board the plane before take-off), and have spent this afternoon doing something very fun–a segway tour in Chicago!

And, yes, it was cold!  About 16 degrees.  However, the sun was shining and the wind wasn’t blowing.  It was very, very  fun!  I love riding a segway!  If you ever get to Chicago, look up Steve’s Segway Tours and go for it!  We did a 3-hour tour, and I’m sure it was at least that long.

Eating lunch by the Lake Michigan.

Walking on an interesting bridge at

Millenium Park.

The Cloud, or “the bean” at Millenium Park.

Sally under “the bean”.

Well, we are about to eat supper here in our hotel room (Andrew went out and got some pizza), and we plan to watch a movie while we eat.  I hope to put up more things after we do them tomorrow!

I hope some of my blog readers either are homeschoolers, were homeschooled, or used to homeschool.  I am currently reading The Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer.   Have any of you read this book, or other books by Jessie Wise?  If so, what did you like or dislike about it?  Does anybody follow this classical method in homeschooling?  So far, I am pleased with the book.  It looks like a really high goal, and likely I won’t achieve it for my children, but it would be something to shoot for.  I think, in some aspects, I was homeschooled with the classical method, even though I don’t think my parents consciously decided on a certain method.  I am certain Andrew was homeschooled using the classical method.  This book seems like it outlines the stellar education he received at home to a T.

If you don’t use the classical method, which method do you use?  By the way, this is all new to me.  I am learning and gathering information.  The only other method I have even heard of is the Charlotte Mason method, which one of my neighbors uses.  I really don’t know that much about that method.

Also, how, oh how, do you fit all this into a day, a week, a year?  When do you clean?  When do you cook?  While I am reading this, it seems if I am even to hope to give my children a bare-bones education, we will be living on hotdogs and hamburgers for our hot meal, using the dryer and living out of washbaskets, and cleaning will be something we do once every spring.  And, if we want to achieve excellence, I would have to hire a full-time laundry person, cook, cleaning lady, and more.

Even now, with just spending an hour to and hour and a half with Paul doing simple little “school” each day, things get shoved aside and it is easily all we get done in a day, besides meals, pottying, baths, and naps.  And, if I need to go to town, or want to do something extra, then we just skip the school for that day.  I know skipping days of school to get things done will not be an option later on.  So, if you have any tips, hints, suggestions, or things that have made a difference for you, please let me know.  Even if it’s just a simple message to get used to living in a wreck and eating hot dogs often, well, then I need to know what it’s going to take to make homeschooling work.

Also, for you moms out there, when do children start to dress themselves, and when do they start to use the bathroom independently?  Is being a mom this much work, always?  I mean, when they can dress and potty independently, is there still just as much work, only different work?  During this past week, the next 20 years looked pretty long.

Hmmm, how’s for writing this in red since it is Valentine’s day?  It has been a good day, much better than yesterday.  For starters, I decided to make today’s sandwiches last evening, and that way lunch was not late.  Also, in my state of wanting the days to go better, I decided it was up to me to do something about it, and not just wish things were better.  So, I made myself get up soon after six o’clock and get to exercising.  I also ditched the morning shower.  So, the morning went better.  And, we got naps in on time.  Miss Hannah, however, took a crazy notion to only sleep one hour.  So, she wasn’t real happy for the rest of the afternoon.

Andrew and Paul went to town and did our weekly shopping and got the most important commodity in our house–milk for Paul & Hannah.  They also brought home some Valentine’s roses for me!  They are positively beautiful!  This evening, Andrew took us to Shoney’s for supper–and he washed the few dishes that were in the house when we got home!  Isn’t that wonderful?

I still felt terrible with this cold this morning.  By this evening it seems to be a little better.  I sure hope I have turned the corner with this thing.  I also think perhaps Hannah’s nose isn’t running quite as much this evening.  I sure hope she is starting to get better.  I was starting to worry about her a little bit, wondering if something else was wrong.  So, hopefully we will all sleep well tonight and hopefully I won’t feel like road kill in the morning.

Today has been one of those days when it seems like I am always behind, the kids cry constantly (well, Paul, that is), Hannah won’t leave her barrett in her hair, she won’t stay on her potty (she kept climbing off before she was done), she has dropped a toy in the potty I think every time she sat on it, every meal was late, I didn’t get my hair combed until this evening, and it was 9:00 until I got the kids to bed.  And I don’t know what else I can do!!  I am only one person, but my kids just don’t understand that.

We did do school this morning, which Paul really liked.  And, after lunch we went outside for a little while.  After standing at the fence crying for some time (because he wanted the neighbor kid’s purple car instead of his own green tractor) Paul finally decided to quit crying and have fun.  So, then we had some happy times.  Here are the pictures.

Paul found pine cones that must have blown down in all the wind we’ve had recently.  He switches between calling them “ice cream cones” and “pine cones”.

Well, I am getting ready to make the sandwiches for tomorrow’s lunch, so hopefully that meal won’t be late.  Then, I am going to go to bed, and hopefully get up early and get started so I am not so behind tomorrow.  This evening has been very, very frustrating for me.  And, I am soooooo ready to be done with all these colds.  I thought we would be better by now, because it has been a week.  Maybe tomorrow things will let up.

That’s largely what we have been doing all week.  In fact, ever since last Friday.  I had hoped we would all be better by now, but all of us except Andrew (he’s not sick) are in some state of recovery.  I still feel like I blow noses constantly, between mine, Paul’s & Hannah’s.  I think we are getting better.  But, I thought that yesterday, and I woke up this morning feeling down-right terrible.  My bones hurt, by muscles hurt, and I was trying not to snap and grump at my kids every time they touched me.  I was in bad shape.

Andrew had taken the car to an early morning appointment to get the tires rotated and the oil changed.  I called my mom and asked her to come and watch my kids to I could go back to bed for the morning.  She came during “potty time” after breakfast, and then I went to bed for the rest of the morning.  I also took some Tylenol.  I felt much better by noon time.  However, I still lay down in the afternoon when Paul and Hannah were napping.  My mom was such a big help.  I don’t know what I would have done without her.  She not only watched the kids, but she folded all the piles of laundry I did yesterday (and the towels from a previous day) when it was so pretty outside.  Then, she got in the diapers that dried out on the line, even after they got drenched in the rain last night.  On top of all that, while we were napping in the afternoon, she cleaned my bathroom and washed my kitchen and bathroom floors!  Wow!  Those things needed done really badly, but I have been feeling too poorly this week to do much on most days.

I briefly considered following my menu for this evening and making stroganoff sandwich.  However, I quickly got over that and I opened a can of chicken noodle soup, got up a jar of canned pears, and pulled some muffins out of the freezer.  I think it made a pretty good “sick” supper.

Well, I am off to go to bed and hopefully recover some more.  I am feeling 110% better than I did this morning.  Praise the Lord!

That’s our Paul, and we love him.  Actually, he has himself on a Gandhi diet, ever since he got this cold.  I hope he starts to eat again soon.

Here he put a wire hot mat on top his cup.

This evening while I was fixing supper, he kept saying he was eating a tomato, a green bean, etc., and I looked over, and there he was with all these stuffed vegetables on his plate at the table!

And just now, I went in to cover him up for the night, and he still had on his “Tigger shoes” that he wanted to wear when I was getting him dressed for bed.

Oh, how much we love him!