In the weeds

  You know how it feels, to be ahead of the game, to know that you have worked hard to be all caught up and are then able to savor a little free time? Yeah, that's where I thought I was. Then the Reality Fairy smacked me hard upside the head.

Graduate School: Three separate assignments this week. Two papers and a discussion post. And not fluff papers either. Papers involving advances in preclinical studies, compare and contrast different research areas of the NIH and how the Common Fund initiative is changing clinical research. I also have assignments next week. No holiday from school.

Work: I worked more hours this week than last. Long, hard days filled with very complex patients. I seem to have ended up with all the really challenging patients lately. Brain injured patients fill my Tuesdays and Thursdays. I love the challenge but am worn out by the end of the day. I also have to cover for more senior therapists this week, which means I will not have a day off until Thursday.

Kids: Levi spiked a fever Wednesday evening and has been battling it for four days. Tests for the Flu and Strep were negative, but the doctor said it is a flu-like virus. Just one that they can't treat. Nice. When the fever meds wear off he spikes up to 103F. His eyes are all swollen and he looks like he lost a prize fight. His fever is lower today, running about 100F but enough that he can't go to school again tomorrow. They have to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning to school. This morning Ahren told me his throat hurts and he had a headache. No fever (yet) so we will see.

Thanksgiving: There is a bird that weighs more than half as much as Seth thawing in my refrigerator (it was free), I bought frozen rolls, frozen pies and canned cranberry relish. Something had to give. Quality from-scratch foods lost out. I doubt my kids will even notice.

I spent Friday tearing the house apart preparing for company. I need to get a bedroom and bathroom cleaned for guests. I had a mountain of laundry and had a mountain of bedding and towels still in the laundry room. I worked yesterday until 2pm and when I got home I discovered that our social worker was at our house making a surprise visit. There were cleaning supplies all over the counters, breakfast dishes still on the table, brooms, mops, swiffers and assorted cleaning tools leaning against the back door, and piles of clean laundry folded but not put away. Ahren and Seth had been to a birthday party and all they had eaten for lunch was cake and ice cream. And someone had been collecting rocks and they were on my kitchen counter. Surprise! Just shoot me now!!!!!