I had some vacation days left over that I had to use up before the end of the year, so I am taking this entire week off of work.
Teo is in his new day care (more on that in a moment) and I am absolutely ASTOUNDED at the taste of sweet, sweet freedom I get to experience for the next four days. Eight uninterrupted hours to do whatever I like? No child to wrestle in the grocery store? Does this mean I can go sit in a cafe and - gasp! - read???
Well, yes. Except that I spent yesterday at the walk-in clinic, where I waited two hours to see a doctor. I have had a cough that just won't go anywhere, and it has gotten bad enough since Sunday evening that it is waking me (and Teo) up at night. Yesterday morning, I started coughing so hard I almost threw up. I am scared to go somewhere quiet to read, when I am instead loudly hacking in the corner. There is no phlegm or anything - this is a dry, painful cough - so I thought it was nothing more than a cold, but the warnings on the packages say if a cough persists for more than a week, go see someone. The doctor gave me antiobiotics and said that if it's not better by Thursday, I could have walking pneumonia or adult whooping cough. Hilarious.
I feel fine, except that I can't stop coughing. It's amazing how disruptive constant and painful coughing can be to your daily routine. So, to get me through to Thursday, the doctor gave me super powerful cough syrup. The prescription should be ready by now, so I am going to get jiggy with that over the next 48 hours. Also -- NEWS FLASH: over-the-counter cough syrup doesn't work. Verified by my doctor. So stop buying the stuff.
I will, instead, have codeine-powered cough syrup, which means I will probably just zen out extra hard. But, if it will give my poor throat a break, I am all about it. My ribs actually hurt from the coughing, as do my abs.
Health issues aside, here are my projects for this week. Because, yes, this is vacation, so God forbid I relax:
1. Visit some houses.
Didn't know I was house-hunting? Well, I am. I had my eye on three houses, and they were on the list for the realtor and I to visit tomorrow. Funny thing -- all three got sold yesterday. The agent says people who were on the fence about buying are now jumping in, given that the rates have changed and what not. She is very cool about the whole process, with a generally que sera sera attitude, which I can dig.
2. Get my paperwork in order.
If I don't do this soon, April will arrive tomorrow and all my tax info will still be stuffed into the bottom drawer in my kitchen.
3. Organize Teo's clothes
Out with the 18-month stuff and in with the 24. Just in time for his 18 month birthday. Ironic!
4. Cook some food
One of the biggest things I miss about my life pre-parenthood is taking the time to cook, getting to experiment with food and just enjoying the food prep process. Now, I usually have about 15-20 minutes to throw something together on the nights I actually DO cook, and I frankly have no urge to experiment. This means I have gotten my previously reasonably large repertoire of dishes honed down to just 5 or 6 staples, and that's no good. I would love, love, love to be the homecooked meal Betty Crocker of my dreams, but I would settle for just Crockpot Mom for now.
5. See a movie
Matinee, here I come. I have not been to the theater since Teo was born.
6. Sit in a cafe
My master plan, in fact, is to organize my recipes at a cafe. Nothing says H-O-T-T like a woman who has nothing better to do with her time and energy than organize her recipe collection, so I'll be sure to look super sexy. And take some cough syrup, first. Look out, men of Portland!
7. Buy every last one of my Christmas presents
This may be a little ambitious but I have no idea how this is going to happen at any other time. I think my very definition of a nightmare would involve trying to beat the Christmas crowds with Mateo in tow. Since he has mastered walking (and running), he is generally much less content to sit in a stroller than he used to be. This means shopping is hell somewhere around 90% of the time, and most of it is spent trying to keep him from destroying display tables or walking away with a jar of olives. Why can't all stores be toddler-proof?
8. Hang out at Powell's
World's greatest bookstore, here I come! I have not gotten to casually peruse your shelves since moving here.
9. Get my windshield wipers replaced
These wipers I have are crap. Kdogg will attest to that. They need to be replaced, pronto. In a place where it rains so much, it is generally a good idea to have wipers that work.
10. Clean my house
This is an ongoing obsession but it will be fabulous to really give the house a good cleaning without having a Mateo afoot.
10 things. 3.5 days remaining. Mom also mentioned wanting to hit up the outlet stores on Friday, so that might have to get worked in there somewhere. Just sayin.
As for Teo's day care: Kari told me that she went to pick up her little man yesterday, and the Tates was happily playing outside. Upon seeing his aunt, he ran up to her and gave her leg a hug, which makes my heart sort of want to leap out of my chest. It also makes me so happy that we moved here and live so close to family. The two of them then proceeded to sing a song, which Kari in turn taught to the day care staff. When I dropped Mateo off this morning, the girls excitedly told me about their encounter, and then said they are huge fans of the song and are going to sing it all the time. Also? When I asked how his first day at the new place went, one of his teachers said, "He did AWESOME. I was really impressed. He's so smart! "
I laughed and shrugged it off and she continued, "No, really! He was telling us about all kinds of animal sounds... he knew them all!"
"Oh yeah," I said, laughing, "He loves his animals... Did he nap ok? That can be tough sometimes."
"Yeah," responded the other teacher, "He didn't sleep the whole time, but he'll adjust. He was just very quiet, though. He sat in the corner with us and read books. I think he could have done that all afternoon, he just wanted to read and read and read."
"See?" said the other, "He's smaaarrrrt."
I'm not sure the inflection comes across on the screen, but the conversation was super cute and it assuaged any fears I had about switching him to this new center. Today was my second drop-off, and Mateo has pretty much ignored me upon arrival both times. I set him down, take off his coat, and he just plops himself somewhere and jumps right in. I find that encouraging, and I hope it means he's a pretty adaptable little dude.
Alright - time to go pick up my prescription and hit the shops in a codeine induced non-coughing haze.
Go buy some honey, and put it in tea, or whatever you like to drink 2X or more/day.
If you wanna be cough-free for a long while, swallow a TSP. of honey on a spoon. Hope this works for you!