The Week in Review -- Last Week, That Is

As usual, this blog is behind. Just a week behind, though and not months as usual, so at least that is something!

What would lead a relatively normal (hey, I maintain that I am at least relatively normal) woman to spend her Friday night soaking in a hot bath, watching a DVD? Well, any number of reasons.

1. I never have. And we have a portable DVD player that never gets used. What better use than perched (safely!) on the edge of the pink bathtub where I could watch it?

2. The DVD was from the box set season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The particular episode "Once More With Feeling" is one of my favorite of the whole series. So, I soaked and watched and attempted to relax.

3. It has been a challenging week. I have the headache to prove it. Monday, my boss and then my other boss decided to talk to one another and then to me about the influx of new files we have. Apparently the files than have been backed up for more than 6 months (and I have been there for 3) need to be caught up RIGHT NOW. This is my job. This stresses me a bit. This, as it turns out, was the least stressful part of my week.

The children and I are all (still!!) suffering from Fifth Disease (it's real -- go ahead and look it up). It has been kicking our booties this winter, particularly mine. The kids have had the rash and poor reddened cheeks for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks. Not much to do for it, though, other than let it run its ridiculously long course.

Wednesday, we had a doctor's appointment for Jude. He has been having problems for some time and as I have never had a four year old before, I don't know if there is really something wrong or if it is Jude being difficult. He turns up the television constantly, swearing he cannot hear it. Yet, he seems to have no problem interrupting/hearing/maitaining a conversation. Still, we took him to the doctor because of our concerns.

Jude had a preliminary hearing test, a screening generally reserved for older kids and adults. He did not pass. He seemed to understand the test and did well performing it, but his hearing results showed below normal. So, our next step there will be with an ENT (otorhynolaryngologist) at the end of February.

Of course following this bit of info, I have had to rethink each "Jude, why don't you listen?" that I asked of him.

So we settled in back at home, absorbing this bit of news. Thursday evening my stepdad called me with the news that my Uncle Dennis (my mom's youngest brother) wasn't expected to make it through the evening. Two hours later, Bob called back to let me know that Dennis had passed away.

Uncle Dennis has been sick for some time with cancer so it wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was still difficult, particularly witnessing how difficult it was for my mom and my aunts and uncles to handle.

On Friday evening, we decided to have a quiet family dinner out, just the four of us. Jude ordered a pizza (a tiny, child size pizza) and Sully basically ate what everyone else was eating.

Jude picked at his pizza, barely eating and then asked for a snack. His request was, of course, denied. He then stated that he was full and didn't want any more food or a snack. Since he clearly didn't plan to eat any more, there wasn't much we could do.

So, we packed up and headed across the icy tundra of the parking lot. Jude was holding my hand and two steps into the (very crowded) parking lot, he began screaming at the top of his four-year-old lungs "I'm starving. It isn't fair. I'm so hungry." I was beyond mortified. When he got home, he got neither more food nor a snack. He claimed again he was full.

After the week that was, I longed to just soak in a hot bath. Since I finally finished and returned my boss's Vonnegut, I decided to watch a DVD in the bath instead. This is one lazy-step beyond watching a DVD in bed, which is the epitome of decadence to me.

Song of the Day: for a tough week, let's go with "Give Me Something to Sing About" from that Buffy episode. I love the sentiment; don't give me songs. Give me something to sing about.

Now I think I'm headed into the bathroom. The warm water is calling me. No DVDs though. How lazy do you think I am? Oh, seriously. It isn't like I spend all my time soaking in hot baths, just lounging around once the children are in bed and oh, don't look at me/the computer that way. Sigh. Fine. I'm going to watch "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Are you happy?

I need a laugh.