Slow Out the Starting Gate

The return to routine and "normal" life here at the Gang's house has been slow going. Delayed and derailed by sheer exhaustion and sickness. We did a lot of traveling over the holidays, with some movie and jammy days squeezed in here at home between trips. And now, I've got one with a cold that is just barely hovering and lingering on and on; one is home sick with the old-fashioned flu bug (fever, chills, achies and swollen glands), and one is toddling around with a congested cough and stuffy boogie nose. And in case you wondered, cleaning boogies out of her cute little (I mean teeeeeny tiny!) Asian nose is way harder to do than cleaning boogies out of her Caucasian siblings' noses (when they were babies, mind you!). Makes their noses seem like schnozzes!

As for me, I've had a smattering of all those symptoms on and off since Christmas Eve. Nothing bad enough to send me to bed with Nyq*#l and a mug of tea, mind you. Just nagging little symptoms that are making me feel off my game. Making me feel mentally as if I'm trying to swim through muddy waters. Nothing brilliant or original is coming to mind, and simple decisions are tiresome.

Today, I'm reverting to routine by sheer force of will. I'm running laundry, sorting junk drawers, and making soup. I might even make some bread, as long as my yeast is still good. But it irritates the snot out of me (hey, wouldn't it be great if the snot really shot out of me just because I was irritated?! Wouldn't that solve all the problems I just listed here?!) that I'm not yet into my feverish sorting and organizing bliss and frenzy of my normal January mode. Ugh.

I think this is the longest we've ever had our Christmas decor still up. The plan is to take it all down in one day of concentrated effort. The goal is tomorrow, after our trip to the audiologist for Li'l Empress's follow-up evaluations. This is actually a re-set (twice now) of an original goal of Sunday night. The big game was just too riveting and important to be clouded by de-decorating while we watched. Some things just require total concentration.

I guess I'd better not put off the de-decorating any more - after all, Sunday's game is bound to be even more captivating and focus-worthy. And by then, I'm hoping that the foggies here in the Gang's house will have cleared, so we can cheer and scream and yell without triggering multiple coughing fits across the couch.

Here's hoping . . . .