Flu 2

So, we had the influenza. (Doesn't that sound so much more melodramatic than saying "the flu"? Either that or so much more 1918-ish.) And of course everyone wants to know if it was the piggy kind, or the regular kind.

Look, I don't know. Does it really matter? I wasn't sure what the flu was like before this, seeing as I'd never had it before. (The only time I've been even CLOSE to being as sick as I was with this flu was when I had mastitis. And that was about a month and a half ago. I don't remember basically ever having had a fever before in my life and then in 2 months I get one twice? I believe I have now MORE than filled my quota of violent paralyzing chills followed by fever and exhaustion and achy-ness for the next decade or so, okay? Thanks.) Now I know I had some sort of version of the flu and so I can say definitively with absolutely no authority whatsoever that either the seasonal flu is worse than you think or the swine flu isn't as bad as you think and therefore they're about the same.

I don't know which kind of flu we had because I didn't feel like paying my doctor's office a $20 copay just so that they could answer that question and then send me on my way to wallow in my $20-poorer-with-no-actual-treatment misery. Apparently, at least at my doctor's office, Tamiflu is only for those with "compromised immune systems." (Also, apparently 3 month old babies do not qualify as such.)

But I'm not complaining. Because what's worse than deadly flu? Deadly flu that has become resistant to antiviral medications. I'm okay with having my immune system duke it out in the name of the greater good. (It's easy to say that because we all, like, survived and stuff.)

The flu took it's sweet time slowly working it's way through the family. I would keep thinking we were done and then the next family member would come down with it almost a week after the last person. Well, everyone except for M, of course. OF COURSE. Having been spared himself, he can continue believing we were just being sickly pansies as we laid on the couch and lost the will to live. But at least he escaped (knock on wood) and could help take care of all of us.

So the last few weeks have been interesting. And just as I was feeling better, I had to frantically get our house ready for guests we had in town last week. It was really fun to have them here, but I'm SO ready for life to be boring now... HA! Fat chance!

The Influenza

You know Mom is REALLY sick when for a full 48 hours, Scott runs around with one sock on and one sock off.

Next Time on "Conference"...

This last weekend we watched General Conference for our church. For those who aren't familiar, there are four televised sessions over two days. (Or streamed online for those of us who still want to watch from home but are too cheap to pay for cable - maybe because we're too snobby to watch much TV or more likely because we're geeky and afraid TV might cut into our beloved computer time.)

I am wondering though if despite the fact that M and I have no love for the tube, maybe, just maybe, my kids watch too much TV because they kept asking when the next "episode" of Conference was going to be on. Hmmm...

I don't know, but I can hardly wait for next "season."

Zoom Zoom

Why the new car you ask?

(Mazda 3 by the way.)

In a nutshell: There was a hail storm over the summer. And then a resulting insurance check. And then a fender bender to the front AND back. And then ANOTHER resulting insurance check.

Insurance $$$ + a lot of simmering little problems, some of which could get big at any time = "So, how about a new car?"

I'm feeling better about the new car now. I think it will help a little once I can actually drive it.

I know what you're thinking: WHAT?!?!? You haven't driven it yet?

Well, see, there's this little catch. The new car is a manual. M likes manuals and it was $1,000 dollars cheaper. (Remember the stinginess?) In THEORY I know how to drive a stick. In practice, I'm a little scared to do it without M around to "hold my hand." And what with the three kids that have the audacity to keep calling us Mom and Dad, we haven't exactly gotten around to getting out the crowbar and cramming all three car seats into the new car yet. So, no, I haven't driven it yet. Besides, would three screaming kids in the back seat really be conducive to a non-panicky learning experience for me? I think not.

M will be the primary driver anyway, commuting to work and what have you. But it doesn't matter. It's important to me that I be able to drive this car. M can't have ALL the fun. Not being able to drive it makes me feel like such a dumb broad. But at the same time, I'm kinda horrified of driving a stick. I haven't done it for like 8 years. And even then, I only did it a few times in my best friend in college's car. I got okay at it, but I think I forgot everything because I haven't done it since.

My guess is that I am scarred for life by my first time driving a stick. It went a little something like this. I had a guy friend in high school who would periodically stop by my house and make faces in my bedroom window that faced the driveway as a way to announce his arrival. One time he arrived driving his dad's red convertible. He took me off for a drive like we often did, but then while we were out, he pulled the car over and insisted that I drive it. I protested that I hadn't learned to drive a stick yet and he said he would teach me. Apparently "teach" consisted of telling things on a "need to know" basis. He told me how to work the clutch and gas together to start moving. So I stuttered along for a bit. Then he asked me if I was going to shift gears. Shift gears?!? He never explained that part! He told me to push in the clutch, then shift into 2nd. Okay, it would help if all the numbers hadn't worn off the shifter knob... Which one is 2nd? He reached over and did it for me. Okay, then there was a stop sign. So I hit the brake. Oops. Yah, it would have helped if he had mentioned that I had to push in the clutch when I stopped.

And so on and so forth... Did I mention that my friend may or may not have been high on drugs during all this? So yah, it was... interesting. It all seems so obvious now, but back then, no one had ever even mentioned to me how it all worked. I don't know that I'd ever even really watched someone drive a stick once I was old enough to not be totally oblivious.

I have driven a stick since then, but never long enough to really feel like it came naturally. Here's hoping I eventually figure out how to drive this thing. Because right now, that is one REALLY expensive CD player parked on our driveway...

Two Words

Buyer's remorse.

Then again, I know myself and I'm so miserly that I get buyer's remorse over a cantaloupe. So I'm telling myself not to listen to me. At least this remorse is pretty and will be fun to drive.