Blech and Blech

Last week should be banned, strike it from the record. Done. I guess every January we go through the same kind of week. It is the week of hellish sickness borne by the blahs of January and after Christmas chaos. We ended the week with Everett developing a cough, Amelia with a sore throat for the 8th day in a row, and Josie feeling nauseous. Monday morning Josie was still feeling off, it is hard to distinguish when she is sick or just having her strange digestive issues. I dosed her with anti-nausea medication before sending her to school. She made it until 5 minutes before the day was over, barf. She was whiter than a bleached sheet when I literally picked her up and carried her home. She got to stay home the next day, Everett did not sleep well the same night per his chest cough. Those two were home vegging on the couch all day. I started to feel nauseous around 10:30 Tuesday evening. That did not end well at all, 3.5 hours of agony spewing from both ends. One happy spot is the gross bathroom trash can is now sparkling clean! I finally dropped into bed around 1:45 am, 10-20 minutes later Evelyn taps me awake. Her stomach is hurting. She tried to settle down on the floor next to me, her moaning was too distracting. We headed downstairs for another hour until her tummy stopped aching. She never threw up rather had intestinal pains of a sort. Justin woke me up at 7:30 needing a ride home from the car body shop. His Hamster Wagon was damaged when a truck backed into him many months ago, took that long to get the car in for repairs. I almost passed out from fatigue, severe headache, body chills, and low blood sugar. The other kids were feeling better after sleeping in for two mornings, they went to school around 9:30. 

I took a short nap before heading to Phillip's 504 meeting with the Principal, School Psychologist, and English teacher. Phillip is excelling in Math and his other subjects except for English, he struggles to write even basic sentences. We adjusted his 504 to include face to face instructions, options to work with a friend, and extra time if needed. He was embarrassed I asked him to join our meeting, but he gave us input about what he actually needs on his 504. I hardly recognized him because he wore a different hoodie. Phillip and I headed to the Chiropractor right after, my violent flu episode threw out my neck and back, it's bad when there is no feeling in toes and hands. Dr Stan cracked me back into alignment. Justin tried to take over for the day but he was busy with work and there was not much he could help out with, I appreciated the offer. Evelyn and Josie started lessons at "The Spot" dance studio. Evelyn is taking Acro 1, focusing on acrobatic skills. She wants to do a back walkover and one-handed cartwheel! Josie wants to be a ballerina, unfortunately that class was full but there was a spot in lyrical dance. She was ecstatic her teacher's name is Josie AND the girls danced to Encanto songs. 

Justin came down with the same (thankfully less violent) stomach flu to adorn his already raging head cold. He was miserable all Thursday, I'm pretty sure he made it through the entire series of Bad Guys and other random Star Wars stuff. He slept most of the day. He had to work Saturday to make up the sick day he lost on Thursday. It was miserable in our house this week. 

A miserable week meant lots of home time. Christmas is finally back in bins and squared away until later this year. I have a doily hanger on my wall, an old part of my green chair that looked cool. I hung it on the wall then added doilies because they were in a pile to put away...now they are on the wall. The old wall collage was a bit lopsided, it was nice to mix up the wall decor. It feels the same but looks more balanced to me. Monday I picked up 1/2 a pig of pork from Matt and Gina's pig up in Elgin. The pig was slaughtered before Christmas and ready for pick up last week. Gina helped locate a guy on his way from Elgin to Idaho Falls willing to bring down the meat for some gas money. I was stressing about making a 7 hour trip Monday morning with sick kids and piano lessons starting back up. Sara and I split the 1/2 pig meat. I think we got the back end meat because our meat was sausage, bacon, smokes hams, and one package of chops. That entire process was stressful because I've never ordered fresh meat like that and was unsure of the total cost. I paid Gina but then learned that the butcher fees were separate, live and learn. The meat cost roughly $4.95 per pound, not a great deal at all. We tried the bacon in cauliflower chowder, it was delicious. I worked off an on editing the newborn session from a week ago. 

I enjoyed watching a series by Robin Young on Joseph in Egypt. Her premise jives with what I learned and felt when touring Egypt. Karnak felt like a very spiritual place, had the impression that Joseph and his family lived and worshipped there. Joseph (Yuya) and Ascenth's (Tjuiu) line produced some of Egypt's greats like Queen Ay (married Amenhotep III). Their son was Amenhotep E who changed his name to Akhenaten. He married his cousin (daughter of Ephraim/Mutemnub) Nefertiti. Akhenaten disappears when he is around 40 years old, no record of him. Archaeologists speculate he was assassinated and buried in secrecy. Robin speculates that Akhenaten is actually Moses. He tried to change the religion back to the teachings Joseph taught and maintained. Nefertiti stayed in Egypt with their son Tutankhamun, when he died suddenly Tut was buried using his Father's burial items since those were never used for Akhenaten. I never really bought into the story about Moses on the Nile as a baby and the pre-story. This makes much more sense! It was too hard to move around those days. Most likely the history was rewritten in favor of the Jews and the tribe of Levi later by Jewish scholars. If this is the more correct story than the blessing of Ephraim is that bough overflowing the world. Fascinating! 

Everett made a bear mask and a paper firework for his school project. His class is learning about different New Year's customs around the world. His group learned about Romania! In that country folks wear bear masks while dancing crazy to scare away evil! The dance ends with the Emperor firing off a firework! He was very excited with his work for the project. Amelia and Phillip started flap fighting this week. Basically girl fighting with empty sleeves. It's very fun and works to relieve stress. I dedicated all of Saturday on Primary stuff. I had lots of stuff to organize for the coming year of music. Evelyn and Josie went with me to get lots of color copies made at Office Depot. We have lots of fun songs to learn this year.   

Justin is in the middle of a very stressful busy season. He lost a day sick this week. Last Sunday he was called to be the new Elder's Quorum President. It was hard to narrow down counselors when Justin barely knows folks in our ward. He's been with the Deacons once all the COVID closures slowed down. Friday he learned his right-hand man at work (John Fairbanks) accepted a new job, gratefully he will work through this filing deadline. Send a prayer for Justin.