Craziness Compounded

I get a little frantic leading up to major holidays and the kids' birthdays.  Something clicks in me and I have the unshakable urge to clean like there's no tomorrow.  I'll clean places that no one will ever see, like the insides of cabinets, or under, yes, under the sinks or appliances.  In short, I go nuts.  Add illness to the mix and we've got quite the an interesting hybrid.

On Thursday it was evident that Ellie didn't feel too hot.  She had a fever and her throat was hurting.  I wound up not teaching my CCD class that night so she could stay home and rest.  By the time my neighbor dropped Madeline off after CCD, Ellie had a fever of 102.3.  Anything over 102 in my girls makes me realize that we need to seek medical attention.  I managed to score a late evening appointment for Ellie with our pediatrician.  The poor girl had strep throat.  Another one bites the dust.  Two cases of strep throat in 8 days.  The good news in all of this was that I was protected since I was on an antibiotic for a sinus infection.  Hooray for being sick!  Madeline was the only one in the house who was considered vulnerable.  As of now, she's still nice and healthy.  Here's hoping she stays that way.

I'm feeling worn out.  Between the cleaning, illnesses, and my frantic need to provide perfect holiday memories for my kids I'm spent.  Madeline's poorly timed Presidential essay didn't help my stress level either.  I am happy to report that she is finished writing her essay, and I think it's pretty good for a third grader.  I had to help her with a little bit of the research and overall organization, but the words are all hers.  She even surprised me with a few of her word choices.

Tonight I tossed myself into the heart wrenching task of throwing away some of the arts and crafts projects that my girls have made in school.  Up until tonight, I have saved pretty much every single craft the girls have ever made in school.  I was beginning to worry that my house was going to go up in flames from all the kindling.  I brought myself to part with two large shopping bags full of my girls' handmade treasures.  I decided to keep the holiday themed pieces and anything that used their hand prints.  Projects where my girls' personalities were captured were also saved.  I still have a ton of stuff, but all the projects that weren't anything to write home about were tossed.  I did find it amusing to compare Madeline and Ellie's pre-K projects.  Both girls had the same teachers and are were enrolled in the same 3 day program at Ellie's school.  The result is a lot of duplicate projects.  The quirky eyelashes that my girls draw on just about every person are almost identical.  I thought it was funny how Ellie always draws sad faces on worms and Madeline always makes them happy.  I also learned tonight that I clearly underestimate Ellie.  I frequently comment that she's not as advanced as Madeline was at the same age.  I realized tonight that Ellie is a lot smarter than I thought.  So while tossing all these crafts was  sad for me, some good came out of it.

The next couple of days will be busy for me as I continue to prepare for Easter.  I'm hoping to get a lot done tomorrow so I can try to take it easy and prepare for the marathon of church going that is the Triduum.