I am Michelle D. Carter

Mayhem, mayhem, mayhem. It has been CRAZY! MAD, I tell you!! I sat down to write this post on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday, a whole 3 days ago. All hell broke loose and I am now forcing myself to sit down and complete this.

Tuesday’s interruption involved a brief outing with one of my neighbors to do a little shopping. A couple of my favorite stores were having sales. I was pretty disappointed in the “sales” and was walking out the door when I found new treat bags for the kids for Halloween. It was a sturdy, decent sized canvas bag with treats embroidered on it. Original price $12.95, sale price $1. Sweet!! It was just a little interruption. I knew I could recover fairly easy. Then…

Two of my three sweet little children became ill. Andy complained about his ears hurting. An ear infection for sure! He has a tendency to get them. We’ve been able to forgo the tubes route. This was his first one in a long time. Though I hate that he is in pain, it was nice to be able to hold him close and snuggle for as long as we did. The boy was on fire. His temperature was 103.4. A trip to the doctor confirmed my diagnosis. Keep the Motrin flowing, some antibiotic and the kid is good to go.

My sweet girl, who is rarely sick, says, “Mom, my head hurts, my tummy hurts and my legs are shaky.” As I look into her beautiful eyes, I knew she isn’t feeling good and we are most likely dealing with the flu. The doctor confirms my diagnosis with her as well. H1N1. The unexpected, strep throat too. Her fever that was taken the same time as her brother’s yielded a temp of 100.5. Not too bad. However, at the doctor, her temp was 102.8. Andy’s was normal. Luckily she’s been a trooper through most of this. As long as she has Motrin in her, she does fairly well. She was counting down until her next dosage so we started the Motrin/Tylenol switch. She’s drinking plenty of fluids and is even eating. The doctor said she should be good by Monday. I’m counting on that so I can send her back to school and I can totally disinfect the house. Right now, my precious little sweetie is catching a few zzz’s. I’m sure something she definitely needs!!

So, back to the rest of this post… let’s start with the haunted houses. This year I took my daughter to her first ever adult haunted house. It was an outing scheduled through her Girl Scout troop. Some of the other Moms were skeptical so I thought I should be too. I wasn’t sure how she would react. The house we went through was a theater. This haunted house had a plot through the entire thing. It was awesome! Also probably the most appropriate for her age as well. Alyssa loved it! MOM, I WANT TO GO AGAIN!! One of her little friends wasn’t as resilient. She had to take the emergency exit. Alyssa had tried to console her friend the best she could but it just wouldn’t help. I was proud of her. Part of it may be that when she was younger and would watch something scary on TV, I was always quick to point out that it was just TV. Make-believe. Not real. Just a movie/cartoon/show. The last thing I wanted was to be waked from my slumber by a scared girl. I’m not a very nice person when I am not completely rested. I see haunted houses in my future for quite some time now that my girl is excited about them.

Ghouls. Halloween was kind of a dreary day. Perfect for Halloween. The kids could NOT wait to go trick or treating. Each carefully picked their costume. Alex was the Tales from the Crypt guy. Alyssa was Wednesday Addams. Andy was a skeleton. Don’t they all look ghoulishly frighteningly sweet?!! Tim roamed the hood with one of the neighbors and their kids. They had a great time! And I love all the candy they got for ME. Such little sweeties!

Wishing you all health and wellness. And none of the nasty H1N1 bugs find you.