Today I managed to finish up most of my Christmas shopping -- just a few gift certificates to the book store to go, and all will be ready.  Still have to get the tree  and stockings up, but hopefully can do that this weekend.

Bill came home sick from school yesterday, so spent most of the day before work with him...got the bills paid, and went to the 24 hour grocery store after work, so that is taken care of, too. So tomorrow, other than laundry and work, I can hopefully relax and watch a movie or read a book!

Squirrels had knocked down and trashed/broken both bird feeders, and Dan got them put back together. I got them hanging again. much to the joy of the cats!

Yesterday Steven did well at the tournament in Haslett. he qualified to go to nationals for the Border Wars organization.

I took Bill to the Mall. He wanted to go shopping for a birthday present for a young lady of his aquaintance. We went to a shop that has all sorts of personal hygeine products, and he bought a cute little make-up bag filled with foot care products (the young lady runs cross country, so we thought she might like something with which to pamper her feet).

Bill was home sick today -- a 24 hour stomach bug has been moving its way through the high school wrestling team, and today was his turn to have it. I spent the day alternating spending time at his side, and cleaning house/paying bills/doing laundry. Then went to work, missing Steven's holiday band concert.

Maybe tomorrow I can finally get to the grocery store.

The last couple of days have been nuts.  Yesterday I ran around in the cold rain all day long doing/attempting to do errands. After picking up Billy at wrestling practice, we headed to Ypsilanti for my work holiday dinner at a restaurant called Memphis Smokehouse Blues. It was a nice restaurant, and the food was very good, so my supervisor picked a good place for the dinner.  After eating, I had to run around some more in order to complete the errands I did not complete earlier in the day. Never did get to the grocery store.

Today Bill had to be at the high school at 5:30AM in order to go to today's tournament, which was way up in the Saginaw area. The rest of us left the house sometime between 8 and 9AM (Billy drove himself and his dad to school, Dan drove my Jeep home). We watched the rest of the tournament. Bill did very well, went 4-1 on the day, losing only one match and that by one point (he is now 7-3 for the season). And our team won!!!!

After the tournament was over, we went to nearby Frankenmuth to visit the cheese store to buy the delicious chocolate cheese. We also went to a candy store and bought fudge and taffies and caramel corn.This was torture to Steven, who had not eaten since breakfast, and who did not want to eat because he had to weigh in for tomorrow's tournament.

And that was our next stop -- Haslett, in the Lansing area, so Steven could weigh-in tonight for tomorrow's Border Wars tournament. After that, we ate dinner at the Chili's in Okemos, then drove home.

And, of course, I've been doing housework nonstop since we got home. I had never gotten caught up from when Steven was sick, and got nothing done this week because I had a really bad cold. But tonight I excavated the iron so I can iron some shirts tomorrow, worked on washing/drying/sorting laundry for a long time, and you can see the bottom of the sink now!! (No longer filled with dirty dishes and pots).

It will be almost restfull to get back to work tomorrow night!

I am glad the workweek is over. The last couple of nights have been sort of rough. Last night the computers unexpectedly crashed for hours, crippling our ability to properly do our jobs, as all of  the patient records are computerized. Tonight we ran out of ribbon for our automed machine, which is something we have to have to properly do our job. So two people had to drive to a hospital in Detroit (the closest hospital we could find that has the same model we do) to go borrow a ribbon.

At least I can nearly talk today -- after nearly a week of this cold. But I truly can't complain. Last December in the course of one week I got so sick I was coughing up blood, my older son got a concussion, and my father got sick and was hospitalized far away, and I couldn't go to see him. That was a horrible week.This one is merely irritating.

I've been fighting with a bad cold the last few days, but am finally feeling a bit better. Since I have asthma, what is a simple cold in others can sometimes make me quite sick.

Let's see. Saturday I felt pretty bad, with a fever and a headache, but still managed to get down to Blissfield to watch part of Bill's tournament. He took a second, behind a kid who was a regional qualifier last year, so he did quite well. Steven had what everyone was calling a national caliber tournament. Teams came from as far away as Iowa and Wisconsin to compete. Steven went 1-2 for the day, and the kid he beat had won third place in a national tournament last spring. Steven lost his other two matches by points in close bouts. All three of the kids he faced were from other (and different) states. Dan was told that if he qualifies for any national tournaments again this year, to please take him (he qualified for two national chamionships last year, but we did not take him to either).

We had tickets to go see the Broadway play Evita in Detroit Saturday night, but we didn't go because I was feeling so sick. I dragged home from Blissfield and went to bed until Tuesday afternoon.

This Friday night is our work dinner, at a nice barbecue restaurant in Ypsilanti.  On Saturday Bill has a tournament up near Frankenmuth, and Steven has one near Lansing on Sunday (which I won't be able to go to, as I will be working). We'll have to leave the Frankenmuth area and drive to Lansing for the Saturday night weigh-in. Then come home, and Dan and Steve will leave early Sunday morning for the tournament.  Hopefully we can get our Christmas tree up sometime this weekend, too. Tomorrow I need to get the bills paid and do a bit of grocery shopping before work.

It was a very nice five day weekend with my family. We actually got to eat a lot of meals together, and I was able to both bake and cook, neither of which I bother doing when I am by myself. Thanksgiving itself was a glorious warm and sunny day. On the Sunday we went to Frankenmuth, which was very charming.

In the week since, wrestling season started. That means I will see even less (much less, actually) of my family than I usually do. Both kids have tournaments tomorrow in different towns. I will try to get down to see Bill in Blissfield. Steven will be at Border Wars in Dundee.

I have been reading, and finally finished The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It has some problems (the first book, The Gunslinger was a very difficult read, with a cold and violent protagonist --- books 5,6, & 7 introduced all sorts of cross over characters and situations from other King novels, most of which I had not read). But it was also a great piece of story telling and I am very glad that I read it.  

I go home from work a bit late tonight (worked late), and now am at the beginning of  a five day weekend!

And with the kids feeling better, this is a wonderful thing!

And we will get our first real snowfall of the season late tomorrow night, just in time for Thanksgiving!

And Thanksgiving is in two days, and I actually don't have to work, and can actually be at home instead of having to run around and visit people hundreds of miles away! I never get to have Thanksgiving at home with just my family!