Finally

I'm starting the process of updating my house! I've been wanting to do many of these fixes, oh, since I moved in to this house 6 years ago. Back then I had no money. Not like I have tons now, but I finally got back the money that my ex-business partners "borrowed" for 2 years.

Today I ordered a kitchen sink! I have a nice cast iron one, but the finish on those just doesn't hold up - it always looks dirty, unless I've just cleaned it (in the last 5 minutes). I had thought about stainless steel, but it scratches too. There was a really nice, virtually indestructible granite sink that I could order in white to match my white kitchen, so I got it. My current faucet is yellow - used to be white - so I sprung for a new one.

The sink will be here in about 2 weeks. I'll pick it up, and my boys will learn how to install a sink, drains, faucets, garbage disposals, and make it all work without spewing water everywhere.

Well, I hope they will, anyway.
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News from sick bay

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Swine flu has invaded our house. Sammi had it a couple of weeks ago, then Brad came home with it Friday morning, and I caught it Sunday night. Nick thinks he may have avoided a bad case of it - he had a very sore throat last week that never did anything more. Drew hasn't had any symptoms yet (crosses fingers). It really hasn't been as bad as you might think. For Brad and I, it started as a sore throat, then went to fever. That hovered around 100-102 for a couple of days, and then broke, and that was it. I feel better today, but sort of sore - like I worked out too hard recently - but otherwise OK.

For treatment, we took massive quantities of Vitamin C (about 2000mg/hr) and lots of Vitamin D (D3). I also took a homeopathic "virex" starting Monday mid-day. I only took Tylenol once, and Brad did once. If you kill the fever, your body can't kill the virus, so within reason, you have to have the fever. Anyway, it can be recovered from with only a little pain and discomfort.

Drew & Nick have told me that 1/4 - 1/3 of the band has been out sick this week, so it's going around school, and I don't think it's just MHS. I know that people are trying avoid it, but I almost see this the way our moms saw chicken pox when we were kids: When some kid in the neighborhood got it, you all go to their house to play so that you can get it over with as little kids. Since this is a new strain of flu, none of us have had it. The only way to develop immunity is to have exposure and develop antibodies. So you HAVE to get it. Apparently there was a similar strain going around about 50-60 years ago, and there's speculation that this is why older people aren't getting this one - they already have immunity from previous exposure.

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McKinney Football has swine flu

High school football around here has been ill for a while now (see earlier post). It appears that our middle school's football program has caught the bug as well. Faubion played Highland Park yesterday and lost 32-6. Now, I have to say that playing Highland Park is never pretty. They start by showing up in big tour buses. Apparently it's because the school system doesn't have buses - no need when you have $$, I guess. Anyway, our guys tried hard - well, many of them did - and they're now 0-5, just like the big boys.

Brad was fortunate enough to play nearly the entire game. He was starting offense, starting defense, and starting punt team. All he missed was being on the punt/kickoff return team. Needless to say, he was tired after the game! He was thrilled because his name was announced for making a big tackle (me too). I'm not necessarily complaining, but it's odd that he would play the ENTIRE game this week, but only 4 plays last week, when they lost just as badly.

He's still debating whether to play next year. They put all the 9th graders on the freshman team (they're SO much smaller than the MEN that are seniors!). The problem is that if he did football, he couldn't do marching band. He could still be in band, just not march. It's not a weird rule, it's logistics - they all practice at the same time. He can't learn a marching drill when he's only there half the time. The drills are constantly changing. He'll eventually have to make the decision himself - I'm only there to facilitate whatever he wants to do. I've suggested that he consider wrestling (Nick's sport) because there's almost no conflicts, and he has the same martial arts background as his brother. We'll see.

Meanwhile, MHS plays Frisco on Friday - it's Homecoming! I wonder if we'll take another loss to celebrate the occasion, or if this game will break our losing streak. ((crosses fingers))
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Odds & Ends

Well, our MHS Lions didn't do any better this week. They got crushed by Denison 75-37. It was ugly. No further comment.

Sammi's team, the Ding-a-Lings, played very well on Saturday, and tied 2-2. Go Dings!!!

Drew's team was fired up from last week's win, but it was not meant to be. They were rained out for Sunday's game. No word yet on when it's rescheduled for, but I'm sure there will be a conflict! :)

On a lighter note, tonight Drew was chasing Nick through the house with a shotgun. OK, it was actually a Nerf shotgun, but still. He fired, and Nick caught the bullets! I would have expected this more when they were 8 years old, but at 15? I guess they never really grow up, do they. At least they kept it to foam projectiles instead of the real thing!!

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MHS Homecoming 2009

This is Homecoming week at MHS, and we started the festivities on Saturday morning with a parade. It took a while for them to arrive, but Cujo waited patiently.



Finally, we heard the sirens!!


Then came the band...


And then the Marquettes...


And the football team...

Actually, this is the JV team - couldn't bring myself to take a picture of varsity.

...and the soccer team!

OK, just a few of them. There were more in the truck, some on the football float, some in the band, and probably some AWOL. It's OK, though, they're still in off-season.

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