The Thurber Gang

Seriously. I have been sick and tired for over a week now. And I'm sick and tired of it. If I'm up for more than a few minutes, I'm wiped right out. I've been told it's *influenza*. . . I'm green with envy at the lucky bums who've gotten a 24 hour bug. (or 48. or 72.) I guess I just need to let this thing ride out. And ignore the mess of my house. And the guilt of my kids being on winter break and me not doing anything but having them serve me. (ok - a perk, I admit.) So, now that I've been upright long enough to write this post, and change my background - I need a nap.

The weather up here is, in a word, *fabulous*! Was looking at the clearance shoes at the mall today while Milo was looking for replacement shoelaces. . . I saw these cute shoes for $10, and just to waste some time, I decided to try them on. I sometimes wear heels, but rarely more than an inch, so this was clearly just for fun. . . Something happened when I put these shoes on. . . I didn't just become taller - Everything looked better! I looked at Milo and I could (almost) look into his eyes without bending my neck all the way back. I had to have these shoes!!! Notice that my head is just below his eyes here, instead of our normal - he can usually rest his chin on my head. When I got home, I showed the girls. I walked around my house - everything looked new, brighter, happier. . . I was taller than Madison again! The girls all looked little again. . . they've been growing too fast, and it felt so good to see them from that perspective. And I even looked better in my jeans

We had days of anticipation for the 'storm of the century' to roll through last night. Chicago saw more than 20 inches of snow, 25 foot waves off of Lake Michigan, thunder, etc. There were power outages all over the midwest, and we were bracing ourselves for the worst. The girls and I stocked up on groceries yesterday, (all of the ingredients to make cookies, mostly!) filled up the vehicles with gas and then did all of the important stuff: the necessary rituals to ensure a snow day from school! These include wearing pajamas inside out and backward, putting a spoon under their pillows, flushing ice cubes down the toilet, white crayons go in the freezer and a new ritual that we learned about last night - putting pennies on the windowsill. When these were completed, the girls slept well through the wind and snow. Dreams were realized and school was cancelled. Life was good. The storm didn't live up to the Detroit forecast, however. We only got 8.5 of the 12-20 inches