are we there yet?

I have been giving my friend B. a hard time about counting down the days until Spring. His fervor for longer days, budding trees and warmth from that glowing orb in the sky is quite extraordinary. Personally, I found his attitude a little too anti-Christmas for my taste. However, now that the holidays have passed...I'm thinking he just might be onto something.

Our house has been plagued by one illness after another for the last several weeks. It started way back in December the day before Christmas break for the kids. He-bug got up in the middle of the night with the upset stomach. He made it to the trash can in the hallway but missed on his second try and christened the wall in our bedroom. Five days later I lost my voice and had the worst throbbing-below-my-eyes headache ever. A quick trip to the doc, 5 days of antibiotics and some nasal spray later I was pretty much back to normal. Then on Jan. 1 She-bug started vomiting in the middle of the night and continued for a good 4-5 hours. We spent the next day in bed sleeping it off and then Jan. 5 He-bug started the v-word (again) at 5 in the morning. He spent the better part of the day with his head in a bucket...me by his side doing what I could...which amounted to nothing. I could only watch and feel sorry for him.

In addition to all this, Mr. Bug had a fever, intestinal difficulties and some tooth trouble. We all have suffered in way or another. Finally on Thursday I thought we were past it all. Mr. Bug had his rosy cheeks back, She-bug was full of spirit and He-bug was eating solid food again. Then, later in the evening I started to lose my voice...again! I am now froggy throated and quite tired of being sick and tired.

I have decided I need to invent an anti-germ bomb...you know, similar to the flea bomb. Set a big can of Lysol down in the middle of each story of the house, set it off and leave for a few hours. Maybe then we would be free of all these germs.

So to that end, I draw this conclusion: winter stinks. Cold, wet and germy is not my idea of fun. To my pal B. I say, please forgive me for giving you such grief. You are on the right track. Counting down the days 'til Spring is a great idea. All I have to say is...are we there yet?