Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I've been hit with "the funk" for the last few days. We've all fought some sort of stomach bug (I had it the worst- go figure!) and the night-time coughing has started again. Thank goodness for humidifiers and buckwheat honey (since none of mine are older than 6, cough meds are out of the question but honey works like magic). My favorite teapot has been working overtime keeping my chamomile tea hot. To top it all off, the temperatures have been 10-15 degrees below normal (and the normal temps here aren't that great either) which has also forced us indoors. The sun has rarely peaked out, but even if we went outside to enjoy the rare rays we got a blast of freezing reality.

The silver lining to the icky weather and illnesses is that it has inspired/forced us to do things that we normally don't get much time to do during our normal busy routine. The girls and I made snowflakes out of coffee filters (they are easier for making round, six-branched flakes and have more of a lite feel to them) and I let them embellish with our new glitter glue pens. I then showed them how to make paper hearts, and once again, we decorated with glitter pens. There was LOTS of coloring and playing and reading going on. I made a few cards, and I was even able to finish up another project of mine, my "Faces of Christmas" album. I know this is almost a month past the Christmas holidays, but one of my favorite things about the season is sending and receiving Christmas cards. I especially love the ones with the family photo, but I hate throwing away the pictures. A friend introduced me to the idea of making an album of those pictures, so every year I add new pages. My designs are very simple, but it's fun to look back on the last few years at our family and friends.

Today a friend of mine blessed me more than she knows. She offered to watch my two girls so a little girl she was watching could have some playmates. My son and I went shopping, nothing fabulous, just so much easier with one rather than three. I came home refreshed and happy.

The house has seen cleaner days, but like Scarlett, I'll think about that tomorrow. In spite of the cold weather and sick bugs, these last few days have been a needed break.