And In Other News, Want To Buy Some Cookies?

Last week was a wash. (And the way it's raining, this week will be awash too. Badaboom!) Seriously, though, that's an understatement. Obviously, my lack of posting indicates I was less than stellar. (That, or I was having the time of my life. Your odds are always better w/the sucks option when it comes to me.)

I could review it for you, but basically it comes down to lots of "Ow! My back hurts! I have nerve pain! My right foot has minimal feeling." The usual oldies, but goodies. To mix it up a bit, my left foot/inner calf decided to join in the game & my fingertips have started to play let's be numb & tingly too. Guess they were feeling left out. PT gave me some minimal relief, but put me into bed for 3 days and then upon calling the doctor (the new numbness in my left leg and fingers scared me a bit) I was told to stop PT for now & scheduled for another MRI. I'm waiting for the results of that now. I've found that if I rest & take it easy I don't have so much pain & numbness. Unfortunately, my kids aren't so into hanging around watching me veg out. Rat Bastards! So, I'm doing my best to lay low when I can.
In the meantime, when I'm not laying low, we've been out selling Girl Scout cookies (wanna buy some?) This is my thing, not Daddy's, so I have sucked it up a couple times and taken Big out to sell. Just to neighbors we know, we're not going crazy here. It's refreshing to see her excitement at just selling. Just getting the "yes" makes her so happy. She doesn't really care how much they buy, and she knows she's going to "get a prize" for what she's sold, so she's thrilled. Being around a 6 year old is a good reminder for how simple things can make you happy.
That & a box of Thin Mints.

Wordless Wednesday - Kansas Style

Girls got to go horseback riding at Papa's farm in Kansas. They were pretty pleased about the whole deal. In case the ear-to-ear grins didn't clue you in. ;-)

Personaly Stimulating the Economy & Healthcare System

So you know how busy I was those last couple weeks? Yeah, well writing about it didn't jinx it or anything. It has still be crazy busy.

Yesterday, I got a call from school to come pick up Big. She had a stomach ache. She's been on meds for reflux since April & they don't seem to be cutting it anymore. They seemed to help initially, but now it seems like they aren't lasting as long & the frequency of her stomach aches are more often. I made an appointment to have her seen today, so they could refer her to a GI doctor for more testing. Did you know, the way they determine if your kid has reflux is to give them the meds. If the meds help, then volia, it's reflux, if not, then they test them for other things. No, really that's how they decide if your kid has reflux. Before we move to do anything else, I want her tested for to be sure it is reflux. So I will be dealing with this during the holidays. They also changed her meds, just to see if this other brand might help more. Doubtful.

Big also complained of a tooth hurting her yesterday. She said it felt like food was stuck in-between her teeth. When I went to take a look, ACK! She had an abscess! DaddySpeak thought it might be a really bad canker sore, but I wasn't messing around with it. Trust me, it was NASTY! Funny, I can watch you bleed out or someone take your heart out & it won't phase me. But if it involves the mouth, I get grossed out so easily. I actually considered (and so did the dentist) that the new tooth might be coming in, but because it was so crowded, it was being pushed out. Strait out. Like toward the front of her mouth. Ewww! It gives me the heebie jeebies just to think about it. Anyway, we had a 7 PM dentist appointment to confirm it's an abscess and the tooth needs to come out. Her baby canine is being crowded out by the tooth right in front of it, which is an adult tooth. The new tooth's root is crowding out the baby tooth's root, which is not ready to dissolve just yet. So the new tooth ended up killing the nerve in the baby tooth and causing the abscess. We're going to a pediatric dentist so she can have nitrous. They can't get us in till tomorrow. I am also getting my permanent crown on tomorrow. So it'll just be a dentist sort of day for us Speaks. It's a party!

Not to be left out, Little has had a runny nose this week. Nothing big, but she has to blow a couple times a day or so. On the way to the doctor for Big she complained of her ear bothering her. She's been grumpy because of this cold/runny nose I told her I'd get the doctor to look at it, to get her to chill. Worked too. Doctor looked at it and she seems to have the start of a an ear infection. Great!

Tonight after dinner & bath, I drove over to the pharmacy to get reflux meds for Big & antibiotics for Little. Somewhere in between all of this I'm going to pack to go on vacation. And at some point in time I'm actually going to sleep too. I swear it's going to happen.

Happy Halloween!

OK, really it's Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)! Halloween was Kra-Zeee!!! Fun, but Krazee! We went Trick-or-Treating w/our neighbors, which meant about 20 kids. (No exaggeration!) It took us about 2 hours to basically go around the block, and the kids scored with all their loot. (And Mama & Daddy did pretty well on Trick-or-Drink, I love Halloween!) Very Mayberry USA. We had georgous weather, wore sweatshirts & jeans, and had a nearly full moon. Perfect. Not much else to say, it was perfect. Perfectly uneventful & normal.

The Face of Swine Flu

So this is the face of swine flu. Oink. OK, the faces.
Yup, we got it. Both of them. Guess that sort of absolves me in my lack of posting.
Sort of.
The irony is that I didn't think they had it. That's how mild their cases are. My mom got her panties all in a bunch over the fact that they had fevers that came & went and came & went...and next thing I know I'm on the phone with the after hours advice nurse....And now I'm finding out, all about all the kids we go to school with, play soccer with, in Daisy scouts with, etc...who have already had it. They said their kids were "sick" no one fessed up the flu until they heard we had it. Then they're all like, "Oh yeah, watch that cause I thought DD was better b/c we were without a fever for 24 hours, and a day later it came back." So that's why you sent her back to school? And exposed my child? I'm not really bitter about that. I mean, there's no way to know where my kids got it; school, grocery store, pumpkin patch, restaurants, doctor's office (getting seasonal flu shots)... I get that. But, it does irk me that it's already been so rampant in our area & I really had no idea. I know it's around and I know there are places where it's been crazy. I just didn't think our school had been hit all that hard, yet. Now, who knows. I don't know that I would've done anything any differently had I known. But, maybe I would have, and the fact that the choice to do something about it was taken from me is what irks me about that.

Water under the bridge, I guess, right? For what it's worth, I reported our cases to the girls' schools & have called or emailed the clubs, sports teams, classes they may have exposed. I have also been very open with any and every one about the fact that they have it. I mean it's the flu, not leprosy.

Our reality; we're out of school for the week. ACK! Any suggestions? I have two bored kids, who are occasionally running a mild fever (and knock on wood, by the time you're reading this we've probably gone more than 24 hours w/out a fever). They can't go anywhere other people really are, but they have plenty of energy. Wish me luck!

Dude, I can't make this shite up!

Both girls are in bed right now with fevers of 103 & 101. I anticipate mine should hit sometime around 3ish (that's when Little's hit today, I seem to be 24 hours behind her all month).

So to recap:
Little has been sick for 2.5 of the 3 weeks of October.
She had a virus w/a fever, Which turned into
A rotten cold, which turned into
a sinus infection. And now seems to have a
NEW VIRUS!!!

Just for shites & grins:

I got Little's virus 24 hours after her
I got the rotten cold, which
went into my sinus (I don't think I got the full blown infection). And now
Big has her NEW VIRUS.

Should we start a pool on what time my fever shows up?

Wordless Wednesday--First Orthodontist Visit

It's still Wednesday (barely).
Title says it all.
These are her "baseline" pix. Nothing for now, giving it 6 months & then will probably start spacers at age 7. Gah!!!
Do love that they sent me this photo! "For my records." Bwahahahahaha!
Total fodder for boyfriend embarrassment later. I'm a mean, mean mommy. :-) (Somehow, I think this will not be the reason she needs therapy later in life.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday - Last Days of Summer

Pictures from watching our friends band Sunday night.
Fancy, outdoor mall, cooling off from 100 degree day, good music, good food, good friends. Nice way to spend one of the last days of summer.

Wordless Wednesday-Bedtime Stories

Don't be fooled. This example of Beaver Cleaver-like family bliss, lasted about as long as it took to take the pix. They like the idea of Big reading to Little, but in actual practice, not so much. Big gets frustrated w/some words, Little gets impatient & wants to turn pages. Yelling, grabbing, screaming ensues (by the kids too)...You get the idea, but it is gonna make a really cute scrapbook page, dontcha think?

First Day Follow Up

Of course, everything was fine. She was excited (we were FIRST in line, on her FIRST day of FIRST grade!) The G'parents came & walked to school w/us. This made her extra happy, made her day seem special.

Wisteria Lane lives on, but things have mellowed. She's already griping about the homework (we had to read for 20 mins tonight.) I've already started setting the "homework" schedule; you get to watch a TV show, while having a snack, then homework. I'm sure she'll complain about getting up tomorrow and it'll be like summer never happened.

First Day of First

Sigh.

Tomorrow (or more likely today, cause I writing this close to midnight) my preshus baabee is starting FIRST GRADE!!!!

She'll be in the big kid classrooms & have lunch at school, with more BIG kids. (Some of those girls are as tall as me!!!) She'll have recess and lunch at school, on the BIG playground! And she'll be gone for most of the day!...

Maybe this doesn't sound so bad.

Like most parents, I have mixed feelings over this whole thing. Sad to see summer over. Sad to mark another year older. But excited for summer to be over, so I can get some mom time occasionally. I'm excited for her to start a new year w/new experiences. I'm excited for her excitement.

The usual stuff.

It's sort of ironic that I refer to her as my baby. She's a tall kid. She's easily the height of most 2nd, if not 3rd & 4th graders. I refer to them as the BIG kids, but she actually towers over many of them. In many respects Big is still very much a little girl. That's the thing I worry about. I love that she's not growing up too fast, but I worry about her being teased or left out because of it. That has the potential to become more and more of an issue the older she gets.

I know, I know, she's 6, leave her alone, stop creating issues where there aren't any. I'm trying!

And of course, as usual here on Wisteria Lane, the cliques are already in action. This is part of why I have the fears that I do, I guess. Some of my actions this summer may have already affected her standing in social circles at school. Yes, the drama is that much in this neighborhood. I try to avoid it, but I worry that maybe my attempts at avoiding it have already not worked favorably for her. Of course, I have no way of knowing either way, so I should just move on, umm...yeah, good luck with that. I'm a mom. We worry, it's in the job description, and I'm really, really good at that part of my job. ;)

I guess as long as she's excited and doesn't know I'm worried it's all good, right?

All right, guess I should make those lunches before it's time to get up for school already.

Wordless Wednesday - Soccer Mom

You can call it wordless Wednesday, but I can't keep my mouth shut, so there you go.
I believe I officially have fulfilled my demographic now:

*kids - check
*minivan - check
*soccer player -check

Now, just gotta get Daddy to start watching Nascar...like that's gonna happen.

Wordless Wednesday

Not completely Wordless Wednesday....

So I dropped a bomb & disappeared for while. Your welcome. I am going to address the bomb I dropped BTW, just not today. And when I do, it'll be quick, so don't blink, you might miss it.

So, where have I been? Gonna use "wordless Wednesday" to show you:








Spent a week and a half in July at the beach!







Yes, they are only 6 & 3. And yes, they are Boogie Boarding already. I'm doomed.

Who Do You Love?"

"Mommy, who do you love more?"

Big hit me with that one today. Didn't see that one coming at all. They always manage to blindside you with the big ones.

"Who are you talking about?"
"Us and Daddy? Who do you love more"
I would've thought it would've been more about the two of them, but maybe she's smart enough to know she's afraid of the possibilities of that answer. At least in this case it's apples & oranges and she knows that. Even at age 5 somewhere in her she understands it's different.

"Honey, I love you all equally in different ways."
She waits.
"Listen, I love you and your sister the way a mother loves her daughters and your father the way a wife loves her husband and G'ma & Papa the way a daughter love her parents."
"A Daughter!?"
"Yeah, remember G'ma & Papa are my mom & dad."
"And even though I love you and your sister like a mother loves a daughter the way I love you each is different too. I love you each because of who you are, so that makes it different and the same. "
She just looks at me skeptical (jeez, she's only FIVE!)
"Listen, before we had your sister, when you were our only child, I loved you so much. I just couldn't imagine being able to have enough love in my heart to be able to love another child as much as I loved you. I just couldn't. I'd never known the kind of love a parent has for a child & once I knew I couldn't imagine being able to love another child that much too."
"Really?"
"Yup. But you know what happened?"
"What?"
"When your sister was born my heart grew."
"It did?"
"Yup. That's what happens, your heart grows to be big enough for all the love for everyone you need to. Especially your kids."
"Is that true?"
"Yup. It is."

And it is.

And as the pendulum swings back...

I've been avoiding blogging for a while now, I guess. Part of it is frustration & I feel like all I'm doing is two steps forward then three back. And I guess I am.

I am getting better, I really am.
It's just frustrating. I feel better, I do something and then I'm on my back again. And really that's all there is going on right now. Well, it's not all, but I'm feeling very grumpy and I don't want to be all Nancy Negative, cause I that's all I feel, so thus no posting.

So here's your Monday Update grumpiness and all:

Remember all that weight I lost last summer, without trying? Yeah, you can get over being pissed at me.
It's back (I told you it wouldn't last,) oh and it brought friends. After the surgery, well it started during the holidays cause that's around the time I really stopped moving unless absolutely necessary. And also the time I started eating again. Honestly, I never stopped eating, well crap. I never stopped eating CRAP! So by the end of my "6 weeks," that magic number by which I should've been "recovered". I'd found that I'd gained back 15 lbs of that 17 I'd lost. Did that stop me? NOoooooo . I was convinced that I would miraculously jump from my bed in any moment now because I would be "recovered" and it would just "melt off". Riiiiight. Well that and there were also these Girl Scout cookies in the freezer...God forbid I be deprived of thin mints at this my time of suffering. Yeah, I know, you get the idea.

So how's that working for me?

Um yeah, I weigh as much as I did when I left the hospital after having Little. So I'm up an additional 15 lbs. Yes, up 30 lbs from say September. BAH! So you understand the grumpiness now? The frustration? Oh, and I'm having a really hard time making myself do extra stuff (to get moving to try and start losing it) for fear of ending up on the couch again.

I'm back on my low carb thing again. I had my first carb crash tonight. It was scary. I was shaking to badly I could hardly stand. I had berries & whipped cream. And when that wasn't fast enough I ate some gummies. Good News--I'm on my way to having them out of my system. Bad News--this is the hardest part.

Potty Training 08

So yeah, it really was just potty training 08. For fear of jinxing myself here, but at this point I think I'm pretty safe (knock on wood, sign of the cross…). Little has not strayed from using the potty since January. Stinker! She's SO GOOD about it that I forget to remind her to go. The biggest annoyance about it, so far, has been that she NEEDS to check out the bathroom where ever we go. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And as you know, if your recently trained toddler says she needs to go, you take her. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Yeah, she's figured out that she can prolong quite a few things this way, including the time out. Last week I told her she could pee herself, I didn't care (she'd hit her sister). She didn't, (pee herself) but I still have to let her check out every bathroom in Santa Clara County for now.

BIG GIRL NEWS (there really are no babies left in my house. *sigh*)

No, not news about Big (boy could this get confusing) but news about Little being a BIG GIRL. Last week her school told me she would be moving up w/the 3YOs so not to pay the extra $$ associated w/the 2YOs who aren't potty trained. AND then the next day, her gymnastics teacher informed me I should really consider moving her up to the 3YO class. "She's a great example to the rest of the group, but she's going to get bored pretty quick." Yikes! All in one week, damn kid w/her growing up....get that ball of my lawn....grumble, grumble.... I told her teacher I wanted to wait till I was able to get THE BIG ONE into her class on Wednesdays (we were waitlisted) so they'd be changing at the same time AND I wouldn't have to deal w/kids sitting around waiting for each other. Two days later the gym called to say we had a spot! Yeah!!!

So yeah, that earthquake you felt...it was just the planets aligning w/the sun, moon and earth so that my kids now have gym class at the same time! My life just got exponentially easier.

NEWS ABOUT THE BIG GIRL

So Big is pretty much cruising. We've gone through the similar growing pain type stuff from her G'parent's last visit. I knew what it was this time and while that hasn't seemed to stop it, it's taking care of itself. Same w/Little on that front. 48 hours of "testing" after G'ma J left to make sure all the same rules still applied. Big still has this awesome gap where her two top front teeth go, makes for some awesome pictures. Her hair is growing out & starting to look slightly less akward. I told her she can get it cut AFTER our Disney trip; we're getting princess hairdo's while there, damit!! Yes, I'm living vicariously through my kids. If I can't be Barbie well then they MUST be! And then I will scrapbook it, so later they can tell me how lame it was ,only to find that they have little girls who are dying to do it.

That is how this all works, right?

Speaking of cruising...Daddy's been taking her out to the school on weekends and she's started riding her bike w/out the training wheels. Still pretty wobbly, and when she was showing Mommy (w/Mommy doing the holding) she biffed big time. (Of course she got hurt once Mommy go involved.) But she's doing it, and she's motivated to do it. Which is more than half the battle right there. Little wants to do it so bad she can taste it. Big better pick it up before summer, I'm pretty sure Little will skip the whole training wheels thing. She's determined.

I have more, but it's tedium at it's finest, so I'll leave you w/this for now. More later this week, when I lose 30lbs and start running marathons....

Email to my daughter's kindergarden class

You know, I live in Silicon Valley. So, of course, it goes without saying that my daughter's kindergarten class has a groups site to coorispond w/each other and the teacher. Below is an email I shot off yesterday to her teacher and the other parents in her class. I work in the classroom & know the teacher pretty well, so thus the tone of it being a little less then formal. I thought you might enjoy it as well. If you have younger kids you can think of it as my personal PSA to you.

---------------------------------
Mrs. B,

I was wondering if anything was happening in regard to the inauguration in class on Tuesday. While our kids may not really get the importance of this event. I'm trying to do a few small things personally in hopes that they may have some memories in it's regard;i.e.--"I didn't really get that it was that big of a deal, but I do remember my parents talking about it and watching it on TV, etc..."kind of thing. If it weren't such a historic event I wouldn't be asking, but considering it is such a historic time I thought it might be covered to some degree. I will duck now from the shoe you are throwing at me for suggesting additional stuff to your day. Bye!

MamaSpeak

FYI--Other Parents, so that you don't end up in the same situation I did let me give you a warning:

I tried explain to BigSpeak why it was a really, really big deal who our new president was going to be, in an effort to try and give her some memories of this event I've bought both my girls t-shirts (we're Obama girls ;-) and we talk about him and his family. (Even if you don't
like/didn't vote for him, this is a pretty historic event.) Since BigSpeak hasn't seemed to encounter racial biases yet, she didn't understand what the heck her Mama was saying.

That's nice to know.

However, what I did do, was open a huge jar of worms about racial (and gender) bias; and that not everyone is treated equally everywhere, so my warning to any other parents who haven't dealt w/this subject and have a question asker..."Be Prepared!" It's not that it won't come up
for you at some point, if you have a question asker, like mine, you may want to think hard about how to answer the questions so that you don't end up in a 3 hour conversation about it or so that you do, but have the answers that are appropriate for a 5/6YO.

If you have a question asker, you know exactly what I mean and are laughing at me for opening my mouth in the first place.

I can hardly wait for the conversation when she figures out what being "gay" means and realizes she has a close relative who is.

Good Times is all I'm saying...

It's Going Around....

Such a fitting title for so many reasons.

Guess what?! I wasn't being a hypochondriac! No really, I had Fifth's Disease. Never heard of it? Well neither had my mom so I've been getting lots of advice from her not to mention it to people cause "it sounds just awful". So supportive, don't you think? We got a notice home from BigSpeak's school about a day before vacation started. Happy Holidays! At that time, LittleSpeak had come down with it and I'd (self-)diagnosed that this is what her and I had, had already. Thank you Dr. Google. It's pretty miserable in general, but in adults you get some added fun; joint pain for up to a month! Not to be left out, BigSpeak showed up w/the rash on December 23. So both girls and I have been run down during most of this month. (That picture w/Santa, probably at the height of our contagiousness, don't say we never gave you anything Santa!) We ended up bowing out of our Christmas Eve dinner and staying home to put the girls to bed early and eat leftovers. The house of Speak knows how to party, let me tell you.

The family illness coupled w/the busyness of the season along w/trying to get my family/house ready for my surgery equals "not much posting," you may have noticed. On the other hand, I may need to join a self-help group for my Facebook addiction. I don't actually spend as much time as it might seem on it. I leave it open all day & periodically check it/update my status while I'm in the kitchen doing other things, like cooking breakfast, etc... My extended family thinks I sit waiting for people to update their status though, so I felt the need to clarify. I feel better now, thanks. ;-)

In spite of all of this, we did manage to get in quite a bit of traditional holiday fare; caroling w/BS's girl scout troop, seeing the Nutcracker ballet, holiday parties, driving around to check out over-the-top Christmas lights, etc... but it's been hectic to say the least.

I have so many good stories from this month, I'm hopeful that during my convalesce I'll be coherent enough to share them. Go read Mike and Mir, their stories today are typical of the type I have to share with you. LittleSpeak has been up to her usual tricks and is both trying and adorable at the same time. It's amazing to me how much I can love that little bundle of energy and be just enraged by her at the same time. She is definitely the daughter my mother wished on me as a teenager: "I hope you have a daughter exactly like you!" BigSpeak has had some of her own trying moments this month as we try to work out her homework vs. play/T.V. schedule. Being a big kid is not easy. That's not to say that this month hasn't been fun, cause it has. The girls have been so much fun; they were both really into Christmas this year & that's been a treat. Sometimes I just can't get enough of them you know.

I have my surgery (microdiscectomy) on 12/30. Happy New Year! I'm supposed to have a 6 week recovery; 2 weeks of which will pretty much be flat on my back (in bed). My doctor has told me I can't really screw it up during recovery, but I certainly can prolong the recovery time. I'm not sure if the end of six week is when I can start to act like a normal person again (i.e.--walk BS the 2 blocks to school again) or if I should be back up normal by then (able to walk for 30+ minutes if I wanted to). I'm under the impression it's more the first choice, but I'll have to check on that. Hopefully, I'll be posting much more very soon, since I'm going to find myself quite stationary w/only my laptop to play with. This is most likely my last post of the year, so

Happy New Year!!!

Talk to you Next year! (Hee, yes I'm like 9 or something.)

While I was sick....

We did manage this during one of the hours I was feeling slightly ok last week:

It's come to this....one post a week

I've got a few free, coherent moments here while DaddySpeak is bathing the girls, so lets see what I can get done.

I've spent the majority of the first week of being 40 in bed (it's not starting out well). I came down w/a flu I guess. No fever and my stomach was fine, but I had chills and aches like I never knew was possible. I'd have them for 24 hours and then feel better for 24 and be back at it again. There was also a 36 hour period which included a particularly bad migraine, just to mix it up a little. My mom was suggesting the my Fibro was back in full swing, which could be the case, but I'm refusing to accept that, and sticking w/the flu story. This afternoon I'm feel so much better that I'm believing my version.

In the interim;
LittleSpeak's school has "drop-in" which isn't cheap, but when you need it, like I did this week, it is the most rock'n invention evah! All praise the daycare Gods now please.

One thing about being sick, you stop worrying about all the things you need to get done and just focus on making it to the next hour. I had a fun morning w/LittleSpeak when I laid on a mattress on her floor (she'd fallen out of bed the night before) while she played "mommy" w/her babydoll. She rocked her, and changed diapers, and told me to be quiet because the baby was sleeping. It was pretty relaxing & very fun to just "be" with her for a change.

I "forgot" to pick up BigSpeak from school one day this week. Actually, it was the day of the migraine & I'd called neighbors for her to walk to school with in the AM. They offered to walk her home after, but I told them I'd call cause I felt like I might be getting better. (HA!) So I set an alarm & crashed on the couch. When the alarm woke me I was worse, so I thought, "I'd better call to have M walk BS home." Next thing I knew the phone was ringing w/the room mom calling me. I was in the middle of a dream in which I was calling M to walk BS home, so I was super confused. M was there and the room mom was like "no problem", but by the time M got to my house I realized what was going on and was so embarressed! I'm pretty sure my "death warmed over" appreance and the fact that I couldn't look in the direction of the door "bright light! bright light!" made her realize I was, in fact, in need of medical attention.

Get Down with the Sickness

Yeah, so this is how my life works; two steps backward, one step forward. But hey, it was only one step back overall, right?

The in laws left on Monday morning.
BigSpeak barfed her guts out Sunday about 1 AM.
Oh, and my washing machine has been broken since Friday before last (every time they come to visit we have an appliance casualty, but that's fodder for another post,) it'll be fixed until next Friday. Yes, that's two weeks without one.

So Sunday night (Monday morning) at 1 AM I was bathing a crying child, stripping a bed & remaking it, scrubbing sheets, night clothes, pillows, etc...in a sink, spot scrubing rugs and then cleaning the bathroom. My idea of a good time, don't you think?

That's the two steps back part.

On the bright side (I guess you could call it that), the second time she got sick she was in the bathroom & she did make it into the toilet. And, while the washer is broken, my MIL insisted on doing 10 loads of laundry at the laundermat before she left. Also, we have home warrentry coverage on the washer. Instead of costing $400-500 it's costing $55.

That would be that one step forward.