Sometimes life just sits on your back and laughs while you wheeze. The trick is getting just enough breath to laugh back. I think that today we've managed to do just that.
Today Lex's class was scheduled to take a trip to a local apple orchard to pick apples, watch a real cider press in action, and sample fresh cider. Because I couldn't bring her (the school has no buses and parents are responsible for bringing their kids) I had arranged for her to ride with a classmate and his family: including his 4 month old sister.
But it wasn't to be. The perfect, quiet, clear, crisp fall morning was punctured with sneezing, coughing, and a little girl's scratchy voice telling me that all was not well. I waited until after breakfast to make my decision, by which time it was clear that everyone was getting sick. Then I had to call the boy's mom and break the news to everybody: there wasn't going to be any apple orchard trip today. I couldn't risk making their baby sick so that Lex could pick some apples.
There were a lot of tears. And more tears. It was a truly pitiful thing to behold. Spencer hugged me as I hugged her to 'help'. Paulo assured her that we'd make a family trip to an orchard, soon. I promised her that we would get her some cider to try. We looked up (and found) a great video of a real cider press in action on YouTube and watched it about six times. We broke out a new box of tissues.
It turned out to be the right decision as everyone got snifflier as the day progressed. And more irritable. The older two began to bicker and harass each other. From where I stood, it didn't look good for the day. It was time for me to divide-and-conquer. So, I set up Spencer with a learning game on the PC and took Lexi downstairs with me (and the baby, of course) to make a mail bag for her. She's decided that she's big enough to bring in the mail by herself, so it is now her new job. But, because her hands are small and the mail is often big and messy, a bag was necessary.
Yes, we have dozens of bags. Maybe more. But this is a special new job and Nana was right: it deserves its own special new bag. So Lex chose the material and I cut and pinned. She helped sew several seams and trim the allowances before getting distracted by the magnetic pin cushion. But I managed to finish the rest before the mail arrived and it's now waiting for its first trip to the mailbox whenever she wakes up from her nap.
It's far from perfect, but I've never made a bag before, had no pattern, and was basically winging it with available scraps. Given all that, it's OK, and will at least work for its intended purpose.
Next, with all the sickos in this place it was time for some homemade chicken soup. So we trotted off to the grocery store for the necessary supplies.
It's been a while since I last made soup from scratch. I'd forgotten how long the prep takes. There's a lot of chopping and slicing and dicing and peeling and rinsing involved. It always looks so quick on TV, but that's because they have those miraculously pre-chopped and measured ingredients waiting for them in quaint little dishes. What you don't see is the cooking-show intern who arrives at 5 a.m. to start chopping. Or how much blood is lost in the process. Because you know that the cute little hostess with the impossible-to-place accent didn't jeopardize her manicure wielding a knife for the last two hours.
Labor aside, it's worth it all when the house starts to fill up with the aroma of simmering homemade chicken stock. I wish smell-o-vision came standard on this thing so that you could take a little sniff, too. It smells like heaven.
So, at the end of the day we're still sick, but there's soup in the pot, a brand new bag, and the promise that Daddy will be home early tonight. For once, I think we came out on top in spite of it all!
Happy weekend, everyone!