28F

I am still battling this bronchitis and sinus infection. I am not helping matters by refusing to take Prednisone. The dosage I need to kick this stuff is higher than my usual daily dosage, and as we know, steroids make you want to eat ~actually they make you gain weight by simply looking at food~ and at times, they can make you act insane. No thank you, I am not having any of that.

This week has been hit or miss. I go to work one day, try to do what I can, then go home. Stay home the next day. Day after that go to work and play catch up, till I feel even worse, then go home. And what do I do when I am at home? Not resting, I'll tell you that. Still doing my daily cleaning/laundry/running around. Only difference is when I am home already, I haven't rushed in the door from work to complete these chores. No wonder I am not feeling any better.

We did manange to go to Ash Wednesday Mass. Two times. Greg wound up coming home Wednesday night so he had to go to the 7pm Mass. Even though Clare and I attended the 8am Mass, we didn't make him go alone. Oh, and the Jack Russells did a fine job of observing Ash Wednesday after all, thanks to Clare. Since we had palm leaves from previous Palm Sundays here, she had me cut a little bit up, burn it, mix it with Holy Water and Voila! Clare made sure the dogs had their ashes. It's no wonder she aspires to become a nun.

This morning we had a vigourous walk in the cold. I let Greg take the Jeep to the Academy as I was in no shape to drive him in, nor wake Clare up, at 5am. In order to get Clare to school, we walked. Her school is literally right outside this neighbourhood across the street. She found it to be a novel idea, this walking to school business. Obviously she has forgotten all the miles we used to walk in Ireland, from her pre-school and my work to the bus stop. Ok, so she rode in her buggy and I was the one who walked. Nonetheless she was thrilled about the idea today. I got the same reaction from my mother as I did from Greg, when asked if I was taking Greg to the Academy at 5am...."No, he can drive himself."

"But how will Clare get to school?"

"We will walk!"

"But it will be freezing!"

"Honestly, school is across the street, literally."

Good grief.

We bundled up in coats and scarves, mittens and hats, and Aoife accompanied us. She had her little green jumper on, so she wasn't cold, either.

When we got to school, I gave Clare a hug and she walked inside. Poor Aoife was mortified. She tried to follow Clare and she got one of those very concerned looks on her face, where her brow crinkles up and she actually looks worried. I had to pull her away, literally. She was quite upset that Clare had gone into this great huge building and she, being a canine and not a student, would not be allowed in to protect her. She huffed on the walk home and has been moping around since.

I hope both Greg and I are feeling better by tomorrow. We are going to a B&B (same one as last year) for an early Valentine's celebration. At this point, we are going to be huddled up in heavy blankets, coughing, clinging to our individual boxes of tissues and downing throat lozenges. Sounds like a romantic time, doesn't it?!