— 1 —
My mom arrives today for a visit! Hooray! We’re all looking forward to having her here. Plans include checking out Zoo Lights (I’m hoping the crowds are smaller after Christmas — we’ll see), breakfast out one day, and many walks and stops at the playground for Emma.
— 2 —
I’ve been sick for the past few days after feeling the first twinge of a sore throat on Christmas Eve. Awesome, right? But before that, I enjoyed a few nice runs outside instead of on the treadmill. I’d forgotten how nice it is to let my mind wander as I jog along. That never happens on the treadmill, where I’m usually either counting down the minutes or trying to distract myself with a movie. But when I run outside…I think about so many different things. I ponder. I plan. I always get home feeling like I’m ready to take over the world! It’s the best, is what I’m saying, and I need to get outside for runs more often.
— 3 —
I’m blaming my current malaise on Emma, as per usual. Last Saturday, she started running a fever but was acting fine. On Sunday, her fever topped 102 and she was somewhat cranky. On Monday, we took her to the pediatrician but without any other significant symptoms to go on, there wasn’t much she could do other than recommend we continue giving her ibuprofen to help her feel better. The fever was gone by Tuesday, thankfully, although I suspect she was still not feeling 100% up to snuff given her extreme fussiness on Christmas. She was in much better spirits yesterday, so I’m hoping whatever she had is gone.
— 4 —
In the waiting room…
Our visit to the pediatrician went as it usually does — Emma cried on the scale, cried when the doctor listened to her heartbeat and looked in her ears, cried when anyone looked at her crosswise. That girl does NOT like the doctor. This time, the pediatrician tossed out the idea of getting Emma a doctor’s play kit and said that sometimes that helps toddlers get over their fears. Seems like it’s worth a shot to me, so Emma may be getting that as a post-Christmas present really soon…
— 5 —
As for Christmas itself, Emma ended up getting everything on her “list” — surprise, surprise — but two items haven’t actually arrived yet. We’ll be getting the table and chairs in the next few days with my Mom here. And I didn’t get the tent finished in time for Christmas. I had planned to make it last Monday, but then Emma had to stay home from daycare due to her fever so that plan fell apart. I’ll get it done by the end of our holiday break!
— 6 —
The “slot box” toy that I made was a huge hit. It was super easy to make — I used the shoe box from a pair of Emma’s shoes and two sizes of wooden disks that I got for a few dollars at the craft store. I carefully cut slots in the lid with an exacto knife, and covered the lid and box with pretty shelf liner that I already had. I used a paint pen and a sharpie to decorate the wooden coins. Emma loves putting the wooden coins in the slots, then having us dump them all out so she can do it again. Hooray for toys that cost less than $5!
— 7 —
Last weekend, one of the can lights in our kitchen randomly went out. I assumed it was the bulb, and there were a handful of other light bulbs in our house that needed replacing as well, so I set out to do them all at once. Our house features (at least) FOUR different types of light bulb bases. Obviously I find this to be all sorts of ridiculous — thank you homebuilder for going with whatever was cheapest, I’m sure — but there’s not much I can do about it short of replacing entire light fixtures, which seems excessive.
Anyway, it turns out that it wasn’t even a bad bulb in our can light anyway. It seems that the fixture itself just decided to up and quit. Score another point for whoever installed the lighting in our house!
(Linking up: 7 Quick Takes, hosted by Conversation Diary)
