Return to Normal -- Maybe

After weeks fighting an upper respiratory infection, I seem to be getting better. I'm on another round of antibiotics, and the doctor has added Singular to fight off the cough I've developed. Hopefully, I'll be completely over this soon.

While I was down for the count, my family ran wild. Those three hooligans were living in the most appalling conditions. It makes a frat house look like a page out of Southern Living. The floors hadn't been swept or vacuumed, the bathrooms weren't cleaned, and the laundry situation was bad enough that I had to start a triage program.

There are four laundry baskets lined up outside the laundry room door like patients in the ER waiting room. .... clean underwear, socks, and towels; then machine washables, and finally .. if ever... hand washing. I finished off two loads yesterday and was just plain tired. I'd promised myself some time to catch up on e-mail and blogs, but I could hear the call of the washing .......................................

"Underwear, would you step this way please?" I ask. The other laundry all glares at me.

"I know Towels and Washcloths, it's been a long wait. You will be the next basket called." This pushy bunch whine that I'll be sorry when I want a shower. But hey, we all know that underwear trumps towels. "If I'm desperate I'll USE THE GUEST TOWELS" ..... Ahhhhh. That shuts those two up for awhile. Down the line another basket starts to whine.

"I'm very sorry Dishtowels, but you will have to wait for a separate wash. No, I can not squeeze you in with the underwear. We have health code standards." Dishtowel points to the mile long line of dirty laundry and smirks.

We're off to Math class for Morgan. Billy and I are doing the grocery run while we're out. I won't tell you the rude remarks coming from the pantry and refrigerator. It's best not to encourage them.

Welcome Home Endeavour

What a great flight! Even with the early return, they accomplished all of their mission objectives. The classroom in space was wonderful.

Still Here

Well, we have evacuation plans in place, but it looks like we may not have to use them. The forecast for this hurricane have it going into Mexico. From the news this morning, it will hopefully going into a scarcely populated area. Even though hurricane season starts in early summer, the next 4-8 weeks are the worst of it. We have better plans in place now and hope we won't have to use them.

Next Week's Plans

There's a hurricane heading for the gulf. We've made arrangements to stay in Austin, not far from Henri and Suzanne. We will also be pretty close to Dr. S. The place takes pets and has 2 rooms. We will all have our cell phones with us and will check our e-mail.

For e-friends not having to deal with stuff like this, the hurricane evacuation planning takes several days. When the city attempted an evacuation prior to Hurricane Rita, a number of people were injured and a few were killed in the process. The people closer to the coast and withing the storm surge zone have to leave earliest. If this particular storm remains at a cat. 4 or grows to a 5 that will be us. The problem is compounded by the flooding in the city from a tropical storm last week.

Tomorrow we will clear everything out of the yard, put up a few of our storm shutters in strategic locations, and pack. We'll leave after rush hour Monday morning. All the predications seem to indicate we are safe. But, we won't make any decision until after the storm is in the gulf. The next month or two could be pretty hectic with this sort of thing. Hopefully we won't actually have to go this time. If we do though, it will be a good practice.

Arthritis As a Full Time Job

I've lost almost a month because of illness. I've been taking methotrexate since the spring and dealing with side effects. However, I was starting to see a little bit of improvement and thought it might be worth it. Not so much now. Two rounds of antibiotics, decongestants, antihistamines, an inhaler, and two kinds of nasal spray and I'm just starting to get better.

I've stopped the arthritis medication all together. Sadly, I realized it was working as the joints have started causing trouble again. I'm taking InFeD injections for the anemia and the hematologist seems to think my immune system will improve when this is fixed. This is all so disappointing. Right now, being able to breathe seems a whole lot more important than being able to move.

So, there are weeks of summer that just didn't happen. One of the big reasons I've had for getting better has been to have fun with the kids and Bill. Here it is and my finger joints were vastly improved, writs, and feet too. But, I spent the time in bed instead of doing summer fun stuff. Now, there's a tropical depression in the Gulf and a Cat. 3 hurricane coming just behind it. Seems like that puts and end to summer. Discouraging.