Cold and Windy

It's been miserable for gardening this week. But I really hate my classes right now, so I am gardening none the less. I ripped out the front garden, it had become overgrown for the space and I planted some young flowering plants, carnations and some blanketing plants and a blueberry bush. The bush is covered in what will be berries right now, and we'll get a good crop off this bush this summer, but if we want more next summer we have to plant at least another bush of a different variety this fall. Hopefully we can get some produce off of them. I ignored the "full sun" sticker on the plants. My back yard can be like death valley in the summer, and since I don't want to cook the poor bushes, I'm hoping the shady but cooler front will be better for them. If not, I'll do a move to the back for the berry plants. I suppose the strawberries survive just fine, but they seem to act almost weed like, spreading anywhere where there is a speck of dirt.

I think I'll put down some mulch in my vegetable garden paths today. It's something I was hoping to do in less windy/less cold weather, but after 4 days of waiting for warmth, I think I better not wait any longer. I have some corn and pepper plants to bed too, again was waiting for the sun, but it seems like it'll never happen.

I really, really hate my classes, even my photoshop class. I wish for assignments so I could work on something to turn it, but it is a series of in-class tutorials. My math class is difficult. I think I have a C, and I really have no motivation to work on the studies. It's not fun, it's not interesting... even Ken says it's not what it's supposed to be. My psych class is still slow, there is a lot of reading to do, but it isn't that important to the class which is weird. I think what is missing now from my studies are projects, due dates or assignments. I have a quiz in math and a quiz in psych once a week, that's it. It's hard to stay motivated to study all the time for those two quizzes. I can't do math at home during the day without a tutor, but when Kenny gets home the last thing he wants to do is tutoring. (I'm a miserable math student to tutor.) Anyway, it's been an awful 5 weeks, I can't wait for this quarter to end... The summer catalogue of classes was disappointing. There are no classes available that fulfill my degree requirements, and I needed a "fun", degree oriented class to help re-motivate me after this depressing and difficult quarter. I think I don't have to take classes (I have to be sure, that scholarship requires me to take so many credits each quarter). Anyway, I am strongly thinking about the summer off... we could use the financial break for a quarter to catch up with some bills, and the kids will be home and bored if I'm not there to direct them to activities.

Well, I'm bundled up and ready to work in the garden for an hour before I have to pick the kids up. Here I go!

Knock on Wood

I was pretty sickly in High School, and shortly after around 18 and 19. Looking back on it, I think it was mostly stress that caused the illnesses. I really hated my store jobs, and I think my body responded by lowering my immune system. Also, the house we lived in had some serious MOLD issues, I bleached the walls several times where the mold was in the wall panels but it was to no avail.

Since we've had kids, I've been sick, I mean really sick, only a handful of times. I can not remember the last time I vomited, I think it was at Joan's bachelorette party. I was infected with the tequila virus. I was VERY sick, once, when we lived with Evan. I was so sick that I swore I had a flu, but it was just a nasty common virus. I was so physically affected by that illness, so many white blood cells built up around my spine and caused a paralysis. Since THEN, I've had a few boughts of sniffles. Nothing more than "similar to allergy symptoms" type stuff, and nothing more than a few days. Kenny gets a cold about once a year, no biggie, and the kids are super healthy. We go to the Dr. for the occasional broken arm and corn kernels in the ear!

What brings this on, is the stark realization (from FaceBook status messages) that many of my closest friends fight seemingly endless cycles of illness. I'm not sure why we don't suffer from weekly colds. We don't keep a clean household, I'm not concerned with germs, and we seem to have a pretty high constitution around here. I wonder if we just don't let colds keep us down... maybe they don't bother us as much as they bother others, and we just shrug them off as minor annoyances. Maybe since we're not freaky about cleanliness we have been exposed to many different baddies and have built up immunities. (I'm sure that super bug I got at the Felix house probably built up my immune system for years to come.)

I have kids in public school... a 5 year old... we don't take vitamins (though we don't eat a lot of packaged food)... we have a messy household with poor hygiene, it should be ripe for germs.

I wonder how many people actually just have allergies to indoor things like: foods, dust, chemicals, molds, pet stuff etc... and label it sick. Nic and Chloe have this spring nasal drainage every year, which causes some sniffing and a little morning cough... it's all allergy induced, we give them benadryl when the symptoms are really bothersome, a majority of the time it's not. If Ainsley doesn't eat properly in the evening, lethargy, fever and vomiting are sure to happen the next morning, it is a guarantee (I know some of you readers have witnessed this phenomenon). If she has low blood sugar it is physically apparent. If I feed her shortly after the "illness" she perks up a few hours later and is just fine. (it really makes it hard to say, eat your dinner or go to bed).

Anyway, just an observation. I see a lot of "Sick kid, sick husband, sick again" posts on FaceBook. It just prompts me to consider why in the heck the same people seem to get sick over and over.