Working Vacation Highlights—The Rest
Today we mostly stayed inside, although we tromped through the snow near the cabin, took some more photos, and built a rockin’, tall snowman with a green Mohawk in the front yard (Jonathan and Boo are coming up to the cabin after we leave, so we thought the snowman would provide a suitable welcome for them).
Anyway, Ian and I had a lot of work to catch up on. This is supposed to be a working vacation, after all. Unfortunately, the laptop I brought with me to work on this week died about 20 minutes after I loaded the necessary software on it. (It’s mom’s old laptop and I hadn’t really used it before, but it seemed to be working perfectly before we left town.) Before all you techs start thinking it must have been the wicked software I loaded, let me just say it was only a Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition and Stedman’s Concise Medical Dictionary for the Health Professions, 4th Edition—two very smart, very reliable little programs that are basically essential tools for me. Anyway, the screen just went black and the thing wouldn’t boot up again.
Luckily for me Ian had a lot of reading to do, so occasionally I got to jump onto his laptop from work. I think I’ll have to buy one of my own sometime this year.
I’m thrilled because I’ve actually been able to do some writing lately—for kids. I have long dreamed of being a published picture book author and maybe some chapter books someday. It’s such a totally tough industry to get started in, and therefore a long, long shot. Up until this year, I’ve never given myself permission even to try it. But now I’m trying, and ideas are flowing in and out of me all the time now! It’s weird because before I use to wonder what I would ever write about—everything has already been written, right?
We are such good kids! We have actually accomplished the bulk of our taxes stuff this week. There’s a few odds and ends that have to be looked up, figured, or tracked down, but I don’t think we’ve ever been this far along, this early!
He’s had a cold all week. Stuffy nose and a cough.
When we woke up this morning, Lucas was crying and complaining his ear hurt. After several hours of this and repeated attempts to comfort and console him (food, water, tea, cuddles, hot packs, decongestant medicine), we concluded that we had better pack up quickly to make it back home before the end of the business day. The poor child was really hurting and didn’t want me to stop holding him. That meant that my darling Ian did all the work of getting the cabin back to ship shape. (Thank you, my love!!) Ian changed beds, did laundry and dishes, mopped floors, cleaned toilets, bathtubs, and sinks, took out trash, packed our belongings, loaded the car, fixed the siding on the house, cleaned our food out the fridge and cupboards, scrubbed the stove, and did everything else while I sat on the couch holding a miserable and sleeping baby. I tried to put Lucas down several times but he just woke up immediately and cried more.
At one point I got Lucas to swallow an Advil pill! He had never done that before and I doubted that it would work, but he gulped it down without any problems. (Fortunately, Advil is rounded and smooth. I don’t know why all pills aren’t rounded and smooth and coated with candy.) Soon, the Advil (and the nap) did its job, and Lucas was feeling better.
Thanks to all of Ian’s quick work, we actually made it home by 2:35 pm, even with a stop in Placerville for lunch. The drive was easy because the weather had been nice all week—no more snowstorms like we had on the way up the hill. We made it to the doctor appointment by 3:30 and we gave Lucas his first dose of 10 days’ worth of antibiotics by 5 pm. The doctor said that Lucas had every right to be crying; he has a bad ear infection in his left ear. Poor baby! (The doctor also said that one Advil was OK, but that I shouldn’t continue to dose my son with it because it has more milligrams that a kid Lucas’s size should have.)
This leads me to wonder what is it about kids getting sick while on vacation? I used to do this to my parents all the time when I was a child—especially when they were going somewhere without me. (Of course, I was sick all the time as a kid.) I learned my lesson this time—never leave home without the children’s liquid Motrin, or at least one Advil.
So, it was a busy day. We ended up at home only a few hours earlier than we planned. It was a great week in Tahoe. I hope we can do it again!
