Fever

Fever

Avery started a low grade fever (100.8°) last night.  When she woke around 6:45, she still had it.  The good news is that she slept through the night in her room.  She's definitely getting better, though we did take a three hour nap together late this morning.  Despite those three hours, I'm quite tired.  All things considered, it's been a fairly easy sick-kid stint, but I tire easily, as you should know if you've read my blog for a week or more. I'm really happy to have D home.  He was in Seattle Monday and today.

Right now, I hear D reading to Avery up in her room.  And he said he'd clean the kitchen tonight.

I expect tomorrow Avery will be well enough for me to cease the screen-time-limit-be-damned attitude I've been allowing.  We have watched a lot of Kung Fu Panda ("there is no charge for awesomeness ... or attractiveness" - best line of the movie right there).  Avery has started talking about Master Shifu. It's odd to hear her say, "Master Shifu."

Book

I read a book.  Yes, this feat merits an entire section because, damn it, I just don't read that much anymore.  I'll Fly Away is a compilation of short stories and poems written by women in a prison in Connecticut.  The author Wally Lamb runs writing classes (workshops?) with them.  I read the first book he published with works by the women, Couldn't Keep it to Myself, and enjoyed it, so I bought this one for my Kindle.  While I don't like that I can't share a book I bought for my Kindle, I do love the Kindle itself.

Since I so enjoyed reading an actual book, I'm going to read the Stones into Schools book my mom recommended.  At least if it's available on Kindle I'm going to read it.  If not, then I know Three Cups of Tea by the same author is available for download. Christie read Stones into Schools, so I fear that while we're in Mexico, she and Mom will be chatting away about this book that I'm going to wish I'd read.  

Underwear

I skim this blog about happiness.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I like it in that I do believe that happiness is, in large part, a choice we make.  I dislike it because I like happiness to be easy and not something I work to make happen. That said, I think it was Vy who commented she read the book by the blog author and was intrigued by the idea of adding more happiness into her already happy life.  In any case, this is why I skim it: because I find it somewhat interesting without being a devout follower of the concept.

In my skimming, I paused on the post Do you hoard your new underwear?  I can say unequivocally that I do not hoard my new underwear.  I wash it, then put it directly into rotation the moment I buy it.  It would never occur to me to hoard my new underwear.  Why would you buy underwear just to keep wearing your old underwear?  Further reading of the posts reveals that this isn't so much about underwear as much as it as about "spending out" (using things that she has because otherwise they go to waste just sitting there unused).  I do not suffer from this problem.  If I buy something, I rarely save it for later.  I think I used to do that, but I've decluttered enough to have realized that when I save things for later, I just end up forgetting about them and then not extracting the happiness from using it.

Now I feel like, in my little diatribe, I've basically stolen this woman's post and redone it.  I didn't mean to do that.  She can rest peacefully in the fact that hers is much more eloquent and profound, whereas mine is mostly about the underwear. 

Avery Conversations

Today, as we were checking out at the grocery store, Avery says to the checkout clerk, "Hi. My name is Avery.  I have yogurt."  And she did have yogurt.  The end.

 Ballsy

Finally, I leave you with a posting of two emails sent by an internship seeker.  It's hard to believe that someone like this exists, but since I've heard stories of candidates going in for interviews with their mothers in tow (seriously!), I guess this shouldn't surprise me.