So this year started off with a bang.
It started off with a house-o'-stomach-flu, beginning with me and ending with Lance and everyone falling victim between. The miracle of that -- Lance made it to the toilet (I do offer prizes to children that do). It was a close one with Lance. I was sitting with him at church (Alan was home with the two pukers) and I had a speaking assignment that day. A mere 90 seconds before I was to get up Lance announced to me that he was going to throw up. Hmm, timing. I loosened his tie and gave him a program to fan himself with and got up to speak. I'm sure that no one had a clue what was really going through my mind as I raced through my remarks. I left church with Lance and made it home for him with ten minutes to spare.
After the stomach flu we moved on to a hospital stay with Bridger for 4 days. The miracle of that -- I was just saved hours of administrative work by meeting our insurance deductible and out-of-pocket max on the first day of the year.
Upon discharge we thought we needed some more family bonding and so every one got strep, including mom and dad. The miracle of that -- strep is considered fatal to Alan due to his rheumatic heart/kidney transplant and he made it through without incident.
During the course of the first weeks of my fun-filled new year I decided what my problem is (or one of my problems). I have diagnosed myself as having Seasonal Affect Disorder. No blood test needed. I'm quite sure of it. My mood is directly related to the forecast. I think that makes it quite easy for my husband to follow my mood swings. He tells me it is a good thing I don't live in Alaska.
The weather in Orlando was 74 and sunny all last week. Here we are having the coldest temperatures in decades. So to combat my self-diagnosed S.A.D., I started the cloudy, cold day yesterday by making Mickey Mouse pancakes. I packed Disney fruit snacks for Eva's snack that day and put all of Lance's lunch items in Disney baggies. I made Mickey Mouse nuggets for the girls for lunch. For a craft we made cereal necklaces from Disney cereal and the activity was playing Disney bingo. After school the kids went on a Disney treasure hunt where all of their Disney plushes were hid throughout the house with clues. The treasure was Disney sweatshirts and t-shirts. For dinner we had Mickey-shaped frozen pizzas followed by Disney cupcakes. At bedtime I read Finding Nemo and talked about the day with them. Lance announced to me that he was quite embarrassed about Disney Princesses on his lunch baggies. But luckily, he said, no one else saw. Eva exclaimed it was just a Disney Day! I ended the night by telling them that it was going to be a Disney day soon, and that we had planned a vacation to Disney in 2 weeks! Their faces were priceless.
My winter blues are cured just thinking about it. I figure that since I made the diagnosis then I can write the prescription as well. And Orlando is just what the doctor ordered.
Uncle Walt, it has been too long. I look forward to seeing you soon.