Crawling Out From Under

Happy 2013 everyone! I hope that you all had a great holiday season and are now neck-deep in satisfying resolutions and general good tidings!

Yes, I realize that I am a full nine days late in joining in the revelry. Our holiday story here at the ranch started off pretty swell with a flight out to Kansas for a Christmas complete with snow. We'd both been sick in the weeks before Christmas and felt pretty pleased that we were both well in time to see Mister Kitsch's family. The visit went great as his family is awesome, there are always tons of dogs to play with and there is no shortage of great food and conversation. The Mister and I even took a day to drive out to Lawrence, Kansas (one of our dream cities to live in) where we got to meet our friends' adorable babies and do some antiquing. Let me tell you, folks....Kansas and Missouri have THE best antiquing in the world. We got some loot! Believe it or not, everything is still packed from the trip but one little guy made it out into the house - Uncle Jack Mouse.


I like how he's got one hand on his hip and looks like he's about to tell the best story on the planet. I've named him Uncle Jack Mouse because of my Great Uncle who used to weave the best yarns (and who kept a hammer and screwdriver under his car seat because he didn't trust his airbag or power-lock windows not to trap him and be his demise in an accident).

Alas, all good vacations have to end. The day after Christmas, I started feeling crappy and by the time we were flying home the next day, it took all that I had to prop myself up and not get pulled by security for looking sweaty and sketchy. Once we got home, the sickness hit the Mister too and well, we've been battling it ever since - nearly two weeks! We must have caught some mega-gonna-get-you-quick virus on the plane. You all know how the air is on those things!

There used to be an air travel sanitizing kit that was sold in the Skymall catalog - and I would always laugh at it because basically, before sitting down at your seat, you'd have to hold up the line of passengers behind you by completing a full-fledged Hazmat style cleanup in your seat's vicinity. I went to try and find a photo of it for you but apparently, the product has been pulled. I did find this in their catalog however:

Now, I can see various reasons why this wouldn't completely work against preventing bedbugs - but it does make me giggle to see him all swaddled up like that. I'm the person who always grills the Mister over the phone when he's away on trips with "Have you checked the seams of the mattress?" and "Is your luggage in the tub? Don't lie to me. Is your luggage in the tub? You have no clue what is in the carpeting!" Even if I can restrain myself and leave those out, I can never stop myself from reminding him, "Remember not to sit on the bedspread. Go on ahead and take it off - but don't put it anywhere near the bath tub. That's your safe place."

Yes, it's a wonder that he's still with me - but it's also a wonder that we ever get sick with all of my precautions. We've both been to the doctor and still, this sickness won't pass. I'll woman-up and admit that I've been whimpering and feeling sorry for myself while reading all of your blog posts about parties and good times. And there have been so many posts about how you've already got your entire lives and homes reorganized, replanned and rejuvenated for the new year. Being always the Mother Hen, these posts make me happy for those who post them - but they also make me feel like I was pretty lame in being so proud about getting a shower completed earlier in the day. I think I'm going to give myself a free pass for January as I'm starting to see that it's going to be a long haul!  We had to cancel Christmas with my family and it's been rescheduled for March. We've named it "Marchimus" and unlike the year that we didn't make it home until July, my Mom is taking down her decorations this time so that the church ladies won't talk. That's just the way this year is going to go.

Something good did come from this sickness though. I had an interesting talk with my Mom this week about a story from my baby days. My head is getting all swirly so I'm going back to bed for now - but will share that one with you tomorrow!

Until next time,
x's and o's,
Eartha