Time marches on

I have to confess, I have written this blog post 1,000 times over the last few weeks. I very eloquently arrange my thoughts while I'm in the shower, or driving to church, or while doing dishes, or trying to fall asleep at night, or folding laundry, or a million other places. By the time I actually find myself with a few moments to sit down at the computer, I look at the blinking cursor on the white page and my brain goes numb. Completely blank. Nothing. So today when I should be doing those other things, I shall sit here instead and update you on life in our house.

Fall was very breathtaking, but winter has been breathtaking for a very different reason. Like, literally you cannot breathe when you step outside to do anything. You try to take a breath and you can feel all your little lung alveoli freezing on contact with the air. It was something like -40 with the windchill last Sunday/Monday. Actual temperature was only -15 (that would be -26 for you Aussies). The girls did not have school due to the cold and were sooo relieved to have a break from school. After all, they had gone a whole 2 days of school since their Christmas break, and they needed a rest.

Christmas was super. We did stuff and some other stuff, ate food, and visited with lots of family on both sides. The girls got about 47 presents each and have been basking in the glow of their new things. (Hence, needing more break from school to play with said things.)

Aaron and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary this December 27th. Yes, it has been 10 whole years already people. Yes, we are old. We went to a mall and blew all our Christmas money on books at the bookstore. Then we came home and read our books. I know some people might not find this exciting at all, but it was PERFECT! Oh yeah, and we didn't take the girls! Now are you thinking it was perfect?? :)

Oh, and to make it even more perfect, I bought some new socks. You have to understand I really like socks and mine all had holes in the bottom or at least were so transparent that you could actually see my skin through them. Oh the joy of slipping on a new pair of socks that are actually thick and feel warm when it is -15 outside. I'm sitting here with a giddy smile on my face just typing about it. Yeah, I know, maybe I should get out more.

So, it's warmer now, but I just got the call that school was cancelled for today too. Um, I just don't get that one. I looked out the window and it's raining. There are a few tinks of ice hitting the glass, but it's 32.6 degrees (that's 0.33333333333333333 for you Aussies). There might be one patch of ice that somebody might slip on. It's supposed to get to 36 degrees (2.22222222) and if you check the current radar there is this TINY strip of rain/snow mix that will be gone in a few minutes. That's it? They're cancelling school because it's raining and there is one patch of ice that somebody might slip on? Well, I haven't actually been outside to check, but that's my take on it. I guess the kids all need more time to play with their Christmas stuff. (Or is it the teachers?)

Everything was just hunky dory at our house until last week when BAM: Enter HEAD LICE. If you have never had these, I would not recommend trying it out just to see how it is. I will tell you. It's... well... see there's that blinking cursor again. I just cannot find words to describe how awful lice are. Now, they don't really do anything bad. Per se. They can't carry diseases and they don't even make you sick. They can't even send kids home from school for it where ours attend. But they are CONTAGIOUS. They live on your head. So I began my research (online of course) (Google comes up with more than you will ever want to know!) and found lots of ideas. Here's a link to my best advice. my link to bug advice (That link actually does nothing, but other blogs I read have links that I never click on, so I thought I would add one. See, now I am up with the times.) Contrary to archaic notions, lice do not like dirty heads. They like nice, clean ones where they can live.

The bugs you actually see are only 1/256th of the battle. The little egg sacks they lay in your hair, called nits, are THE MOST HARDEST thing to deal with. For real. The egg sacks are practically cemented to your hair shafts close to the scalp and there is no known product you can use to soften or loosen them (see above link). Basically combing them ALL out is the only prevention to having a relapse when they hatch in 6 days. I tell you, it gives a WHOLE new meaning to the term nitpicking! Oy! Oh, but if you're wearing a hat or ANYTHING on your head, they secretly know to let go and get on that stuff instead so they can spread it around. Like if your head touches a pillow, or coat (remember it's cold?) or hairbrush, or headband, or carpet, or another head, or something like that.

So I have done about 7,000 loads of laundry (the dryer heat actually kills them) these past few weeks and plan to do more. I checked everyone's head yesterday and we were free of bugs as of bedtime. I have no idea how to check for nits though, because seriously, how do you check every single shaft of hair? I'm hoping the lice combs will really do their jobs! Let's just say we're erring on the side of caution and combing through hair with the lice combs a couple times a day and at least before bed every night. Also changing pillowcases every night and yes, we now all have separate hair brushes. (Well, not Aaron, but he didn't complain when I didn't buy him one.)

On to other news: I now have a new boss at work. I know you're all thinking, didn't she just get a new boss? And that answer would be yes. And then, didn't that "new" boss just replace her old "new" boss? And that answer would also be yes. I have worked for the clinic for 2 years now and this will be boss #4. Before you insinuate that this is because of me, it's not! (Well, at least that's what they tell me.) By this point, I'm pretty sure my boss has no idea what she's doing since she just started yesterday. But I still do have to get to work. So that's it for today.

Now I can happily know that my blog has enraptured all of it's 2 followers and that this post should suffice for another few months. I shall try to do some work while dodging the questions of my home-bound children. If I have to guess, I think they will probably make worksheets for each other and go to "school" anyway even though it's cancelled.

And time marches on even when we're not looking.