beggars can't be choosers. hrmph.

• well, we got snow yesterday. but it was the wet, melt-as-soon-as-it-hits-the-ground type. but then last night there was another snowfall that stuck around. just enough to cover the ground.
• doug's truck finally made enough grumbling to warrant parking it for a little while until we can do repairs. so my old blue beater was next in line for a workout. it turns out that blue beater doesn't want to work anymore either. niiiiiiiiice. it could very well just be a dead battery from not enough exercise in the last few months, buuuuuuuuuut, we can't determine that just yet because it is frozen to the ground! therefore, we can't push it back in the driveway to try to jump it back to life. 3 cars in the driveway, 2 not functioning. does that push me closer to the redneck status?
• because of said car issues, i could either get myself and the kids up at 4am to take doug into work.........OR, sleep in and call the kids off school and preschool, and go into work 2 hours late.
• guess which option i chose?
• yep. stayed in bed and chase after the girls all morning.
• had we not had the car issues i most likely would have been home with emma today anyway. she's back to wheezing & coughing. she picked up another bug at preschool. *sigh* does it ever end? i mean really. she must be the sickest kid i've ever met. one thing after another.
• thanks to suzi loaning us her car i can go back to a normal routine tomorrow. whatever normal is. it feels like i'm just rolling with the punches lately. that feels more normal than normal normal. heh.
  
• GOOD NEWS! those that won prizes in December and still waiting on packages---a big batch went out last night. actually all but 3. so patty, tricia, beth, wanda, tonja, eve, and sara, they are on their way! delia, yours will go out tonight---i forgot i needed a customs form. ally & jennifer.......tonight too! sorry for the delay on that last bunch. i actually thought ally's went out like 3 weeks ago. *blushing*
  
• am i the only one with my christmas decorations still up? jan 8th and the tree is still up. i don't think we plugged the tree in but 7 or 8 times the whole time it was up. such a waste of time decorating in my opinion. just goes to show how busy we've been. as long as they are down by ashlyn's birthday (the 26th) i'll be okay. no guilt. no rush. heh.
• i keep thinking i'll photograph ornaments as i put them away. but well all know that i don't have time for that right now.
  
• did i ever tell you that we were in the ER on saturday night? i honestly can't remember. the story goes that Tuesday doug thought he had something in his eye. it bothered him all day. by Wednesday he was calling the doctor to get drops for Pinkeye. we figured it was the viral kind thanks to a google search. he didn't have gunk in it, it was just really, really red and tearing non-stop. so he got drops for it and used them, but they didn't do a thing to help. by friday it was taking over his other eye. so saturday i tried to talk him into going to urgent care. nope. he's too much of a positive thinker for that. "it'll get better." he kept telling me. it made my eyes well up with tears just looking at it. it was nasty. so saturday night, he says "tania, come here, quick, i can see it, i can see it in my eye but i can't get it out." he's telling me this as he's pouring saline drops in his eye. so i tried to help using a technique the eye doctor used for my eye when i had something in it. they just tapped a q-tip VERY lightly to my eyelid to grab hold of it. so i did that for him. and sure enough, there was something in his eye. so as i pulled the q-tip away, what was actually in his eye and now coming out was the top layer of skin on the inside of his lower eyelid. sloughing off. then, his eye started tearing blood. freaked me out. so i went into mommy mode and told him he was going to the ER and he didn't have a choice. at this point, he didn't argue. so at 11:30pm we leave for the ER. long story short, they put numbing drops in and the doctor said it's a classic case of pinkeye, albeit a very SEVERE case. the most severe they've seen. before we left they put about 50 more numbing drops in and gave him a more potent antibiotic eye drop and sent us home. we got home after 1:30am. he's fine now, by the way.
• wow, now i wish i had a photo of something really cute to share to take your mind off that subject.
• but, i don't.
• still haven't taken any pictures this year. so much for wanting to do the 365, photo a day thing. i suppose i'll have to pick up another challenge. there are so many out there right now. i saw a 52 weeks of gratitude somewhere, and a 52Q artcard journaling, and Ali's one little word. maybe i'll poke around a bit more and compile them in a post here on the blog. are any of you doing anything to challenge, or stretch yourself creatively this year? if so, tell me in the comments. i might choose to join you.
• hmmmmm. what else?
• it feels a little weird to be posting without a photo. i just have some kind of hang-up about that. don't know why.
• just remembered. we took ashlyn back to the doctor for some retesting to confirm or rule-out the hypercalciuria. we don't have results yet. but we did find out that she isn't gluten intolerant and doesn't have celiac disease. they are thinking her chronic headaches are a symptom of the sensory disorder & a lack of vitamin B. the doctor will be getting us more information on how to help her adapt to unwelcome stimuli better, maybe some more OT therapy---in-home therapy.
  
• on the way to the doctor she said "mommy, do they have orange eye and green eye and blue eye? or something? why is it only pink eye?" it made me laugh. she is so literal. really doug's eye was red. NOT pink. so she was confused.
• i currently owe at least 10 people a return email. if you're waiting on a response, i'm sorry. it might take me another day or so. i'm almost to the end of the CHA projects. i can't wait to start sharing them. GORGEOUS new products are coming out. only reason i'm blogging now is because i'm at work, and well, there isn't any more work for me today.
  
• what's going on in your world today? anything exciting?