DODGING A BULLET

Friday night already.  I feel like I have spent the past two days trying to dodge a bullet.  I think I have succeeded.  My week was busy to begin with and on Monday my son woke up sick with a full blown flu.  I set to work to make him homemade chicken soup right off the bat.  Sorry no food blog on this one, but fall and winter are approaching so I am I will manage to share chicken soup.

It figures he had been gone for a week and came home with germs.  One of the downfalls of not going out in public too much is that when you do you inevitably catch any germ running around.  Seems to be the case with my boy that is for sure!

So, I am prepping for the worse, not really too concerned for myself, as I rarely get sick.  I had too much to do during the week and this weekend to deal with illness.  I cooked my stock all day and into the night, doing my chores which had gotten pushed aside during my busy weekend as a tourist in the Berkshires not having to do anything until the next morning.

I had to attend a breakfast meeting at the Pittsfield Country Club.  It was very informative and introduced me to the new "MOLST" form, and other important aspects to prepare for end of life options, with three guest speakers and I enjoyed a nice healthy breakfast of fruit ~ a definite treat for me ~ I love fresh fruit.  I had never been in the Country Club other than the Pro Shop (Golf).  I am also a fan of architecture so I peeked into the front parlor which had two fireplaces and was very nice.

I headed back home and set back to the task of turning my stock into soup.  I spent some time chopping all my veggies ~ carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, celery and the chicken along with my seasonings and let it cook so that it would be ready when my son was hungry, and so that I could eat before I headed out to my engagement at 5:30 that evening.

I was headed to hear "Conversations on Creativity" at the IS183 Art School of the Berkshires ~ the only Art School in the Berkshires which is kind of funny since we are a community full of Artists.  http://www.is183.org/  Check it out.  It was really cool and they are now in two locations.

It was a good presentation with two local artists Tom ONeil http://charlesthomasoneil.com/  and Pedro DeMovellan   http://davidsongallery.com/pedro-s-de-movellan with Joanne Yurman asking the questions with a question and answer period following.

The artist were completely different as far as what they did ~ one painted and one designed and made kinetic sculptures.  Their one thing they both have in common is living in Stockbridge, Ma.  I liked both of their work but the Kinetic sculptures caught my attention and eye a bit more.

I arrived home fairly early and enjoyed some quality time with my son watching some t.v. feeling really bad that he was still feeling so poorly.  Around 10:00 that night he looked at me and said ~"Mom ~ I can see it in your eyes ~ you are sick.  I'm sorry."

I tried to deny that I was feeling a bit of a chill ~ I really didn't feel too bad ~ yet.  When I woke up on Wednesday I knew I was in trouble.  I tried to deny it but I definitely had to blow my nose and had a nasty chill despite the warm weather.

By bedtime that night I had the body aches to go along with the stuffy/runny nose.  I was obligated to watch my friends dog on Thursday, my granddaughter on Saturday, scheduled to volunteer on Saturday evening at the Theatre, possibly drive someone to the airport on Sunday and volunteering at a party on Sunday so there was no way that I could afford to be as sick as my son had been.

I was so thankful that I had made the chicken soup and I decided to spend the day in bed on Thursday and do nothing more strenuous than sip tea and change the channel on the television.  I kept to that ~ not normal for me but in reality I had no choice.  The body ache was winning and I really could not move too far anyway.

I had to get my friends dog ~ I was planning on picking her up around 1:00 but that got bumped and I was thankful that she had been a good dog and had no surprises waiting for me when I arrived.  I checked out my friends note and slowly set to work getting toys, food, and the hardest part was separating the frozen marrow bone from the other two in my weakened state.

My brain was on extra slow so I checked the list twice to make sure I had everything that I needed. and headed home with Sheyna.  She always hesitates when we leave the park and head down the road towards my house ~ like she is a little kid going somewhere she should not go.  I convinced her it was okay and we made it to my house.

I set up her water and fed her, as she is on a schedule and we were a little late with lunch.  She had a drink and polished off her food in no time and came leaping over the back of the couch to sit with me and check out the apartment.

I had dog proofed it before I picked her up ~ making sure there was nothing that she would be attracted to eating ~ she likes to eat c.d.s and plastic things ~ one strange habit to be sure.  I had her ball and her bone on top of that and Tom was on hand as well.

While I was out I barely had the energy to walk so when I got back home I changed back into my p.j.'s still on recuperation and sticking to it.  My son called his second Dad who graciously saved our day by grabbing up a couple litres of ginger ale for me and Sprite for him so we could keep hydrated.  Saint that he is he accommodated

Tom, Sheyna and I headed back up to my room for further recuperation now that we had everything which we needed and .for some reason watched six or seven episodes of some House Hunter show ~ each of us at random times saying "why are we watching this" yet, not changing the channel.

After a while the dog was acting like she needed a trip outside so we checked out the backyard and she sniffed around a bit and we were soon back inside.  Her Mom called from the airport before her flight to make sure we were okay and I was glad she did ~ I didn't know if I could give the dog the bone if it was frozen and found out I could.

I gave her the bone and she chewed away on it.  Thomas was hungry for the first time in a couple of days so we ordered some food ~ I somehow ended up with a gigantic order of won ton soup which is my magic healing remedy 9 times out of 10, bypassing my entree and enjoying the egg rolls while they were fresh.

Around 9:00 it was time for another walk so we headed down the street to where I used to walk my dog ~ real grass, trees, no blacktop.  Sheyna hesitated a bit, but soon was comfortable enough to not jump at every barking dog or car on the street.  We headed home and I did some minimal computer stuff before calling it quits and heading back to the land of bed rest.

It was nice having a dog in the house again.  I really miss my dog.  Thomas left us to join his friends on the computer and I went to sleep with Sheyna laying at my feet.  I woke up around 3:30 with her snuggled up sleeping next to me and she joined me on a journey downstairs to use the bathroom.

I woke up feeling no body aches and slightly warm ~ more I think from the extra blanket I had on than a fever, having had a bunch of nice dreams between 3:30 and 8 a.m. and slowly got up and decided to visit the backyard first and do a longer walk after Sheyna had her breakfast.  She didn't seem in too much of a hurry to go out anyway.

I took a shower and decided to give the dog a bath.  We used to breed terrier poodles and I had one like her who was cream colored and white instead of black and grey and with the longer curlier fur they get matted really easily and Sheyna was a matted mess.

She was really good in the bath and it felt good to be productive without doing too much work.  I knew the work would be in the brushing.  She was even good with that ~ amazingly!  I did my best and she did more than tolerate the torture.

I was sad that I had to bring her home and prolonged it for as long as I could.  It looked like rain so I gathered her ball and her bone and we set off towards her home.  When we arrived she decided she wasn't ready so she went to the store with me and for a loop down and around North Street and back to her house.

Her next caretaker had apparently just arrived home so the timing could not have been better.  No sooner had Sheyna gotten in one door was she taken out the other and on her way in the car to pick up the second of two kids to have another sleepover experience.

I headed home feeling the loss of my own dog more severely than ever.  My phone rang pretty soon after I got back home and it was my eldest son accusing me of being sick ~ which I could absolutely deny, as I seemed to have warded off the evil germ.

I spoke with my granddaughter and double checked  that she still was excited to come over ~ she had a lot to live up to this week by getting up on time, taking baths, going to bed and doing homework for a whole week in order to be able to come over and spend the day with me.

We have never spent time alone together so I am super excited!!!  She is going to come over before lunch and I seem to recall that I mentioned the park when we made plans on Sunday and some free time in the afternoon so lunch out with a stop in the park before or after since we have to go through the park each way.

After that ~ to bake or paint ~ something fun ~ I am thinking painting some wooden pumpkin decorations would be a good way to spend an afternoon with Gramma (makes me giggle that I am a gramma).  That way she can have a memory and a Halloween Decoration which she painted herself and I have two of them so we will each have the same memory marker.

I have three sons and little experience with girls (besides being one that is).  I am not worried as I am also fun and good with children.  I cannot wait!!!  On that note I am heading off to bed so I am fully ready for the day!