Catching Up

Sorry I’ve not been posting as regularly as usual.  I’m running so low on energy that it’s an effort to do anything, and this has been a very busy weekend.

Yesterday was not only the first day of Upwards Basketball for all three monsters (all playing at different times), but it was also Middle Monster’s 7th birthday.  All three girls had a great time at the games, and as I went with each kid after her game, waited through the “award” ceremony, snacks, etc. then the three hours on the bench went by very quickly.  The two youngest monsters’ games were scoreless — every kid is a winner — but they do keep score on Princess Monster’s games.  Last year, her team lost every single game (8 weeks) and it was so hard to keep upbeat and positive.  It was a terrible — but great — experience for her.  She had to learn to play anyway, even when there’s no hope of winning, and still do her best, as well as losing gracefully.

This year, she had an excellent game from what I saw of it (she played second, so I missed part of it while helping Littlest Monster after her game).  She made several baskets, and thanks to her height (even though she’s one of the youngest on her team), she made several key rebounds and blocks too.  Her team won their game by about ten points, against some really great athletes we’ve met over the years.

Since it was Middle Monster’s birthday, Papa from Mexico made it down, and then went with us to Branson for her birthday dinner at Famous Dave’s.

She asked for a Build-A-Bear for her birthday — gasp, a trip to the dreaded mall! — and she picked out a Scruffy Puppy who’s adorable.  I’ll try to take a picture later.

We planned to go to church this morning.  We’ve missed a couple of Sundays because I’ve been sick.  Unfortunately, I was up most of the night coughing, this time bad enough that I got up and dozed on the couch so everyone else could sleep.  Three doses of Vicks 44 and half a dozen cough drops, I finally got the spasms down and went back to bed around 4 a.m.  Needless to say, we stayed home again.  My cough is even worse today, very chesty and nasty.  The clinic called to see how I’m doing, and she admittted I still sounded bad, but to give it another day or two.

I don’t know how I can possibly work if I’m not sleeping.  I’m exhausted today, despite sleeping in this morning.  I guess I’ll see what kind of night I have again.  I hate calling in to work for a sick day because of a “cold” but this is getting ridiculous.  Even though I won’t infect anyone (I telecommute from home), my brain power is just not there for the level of work I need to be doing right now.

Writing has been beyond me, but reading has been fine.  So I finished the paper-pass on The Road to Shanhasson and got that back to my editor today.  I’m reading a critique for a friend today while watching football.

And trying not to cough up a lung.