Wacky Wild Wednesday

In a previous post I talked about the girls school and the 20th anniversary program for the school. Well, the head master promised (bribed) the kids if they were on their best behavior they could have a crazy day - wear whatever they wanted to school, do their hair crazy, and have a relaxing day... Today is that day.

Brittney & Sophie have been begging me to let them dye their hair and I must admit I have never been able to stand up to peer pressure. So notice below that the girls have green & pink hair. It is only the hair spray color so I am hoping that it washes right out like it promises. If not, they will have some funky hair when we go to Italy...

Kevin said he felt like he was looking into the future - approximately 10 years into the future when the girls are in high school, wearing crazy clothes and doing who knows what with their hair. As I always say, you have to pick your battles (and you have to let them win a few here & there).

Spoke too soon...

I spent today pre-packing for Italy and purchasing new shoes for the girls (none for me...yet). I got quite a bit of homework done & was ready to actually start on the final project. I took Duke to the vet and got him some new medicine. All was going well until at 5pm Kevin came home. Since I would be cooking for only me, I decided to take the girls to McDonalds and by 7:30 tonight everyone besides me is in bed... you ask why, well remember those 2 people with stomachs of steal - well they melted. Need I say anymore-

Silent Night ... All is Calm

Yes I know it isn't Christmas even if the UK weather has forgotten that it should be spring/summer time. Oh well, what I wanted to say is we all seem to have settled tummys. We have had 2 nights of restful sleep so (finger's crossed) I think we are out of the woods & will be able to leave for Italy on Friday - assuming I can get everything packed, dogs to the kennel, homework done, etc, etc, etc... of to work I go :-)

Even the dog...

Now even the dogs have the lurgy... Poor Duke has an ear infection from h*e@l*1 and now he has the lurgy. This house needs some serious disinfecting. And did I mention, I'm not feeling too good right now :-(

the Lurgy vs Feeling Poorly...

In the UK when they say "Sophie is feeling poorly today" that means that Sophie is sick or under the weather, but if you say "Sophie has the lurgy" or "Sophie is sick today" that means that Sophie has the stomach bug... can you guess which one is right for the Duffy household today - you guessed it, Sophie has the lurgy.

It started last night about 12:30. Sophie crawled into bed between Kevin & I. She proceeded to moan, groan, and whine that her stomach hurt. In my most sympathetic way, I asked her to be quite or go back to her bed. After 5 minutes of continual whining I decided I could at least feel her forehead and to my surprise she was burning up with a fever. Before I could get myself turned around & the light on, Sophie emptied her stomach of everything she had eaten.

I will spare you all of the details but will just say, it was a really long night and day. The poor child couldn't keep anything down - water, juice, tea, ice, you name it. She actually got to the point that she couldn't even lift her head off the pillow. I had decided if it didn't get better soon we would have to visit the A&E (the UK way of saying ER).

Once morning came she was feeling better, but we weren't out of the woods yet... She had a few more mishaps, but by 2pm today (almost 14 hours after the start) she was successfully able to keep juice & toast down. I can report that Sophie is almost back to normal - she is perky but still not 100%. She does have her appetite back but we will take it slow...

Now, I am just washing & washing & washing sheets, towels, clothes... I have 2 sets of sheets done but we will have no blankets tonight (they won't fit in the gigantic washing machine we have, so I guess I will take them to a laundromat tomorrow).

Of course, Brittney & Kevin haven't been too affected; they have stomachs of steal I guess :-)

Update on School

Well I am more than 7 weeks into the 12 week course, and I am so glad that I only took one class this semester. This first class is a research class that all Master's students must take. It is to help us prepare for our dissertation and teach us some basic skills that we will need in our other classes.
This past week has been a little frustrating. I was starting to feel comfortable with the class and the research process. I have been successfully finding articles and books on my topic, and I was actually starting to put the paper together in my mind. Then the professor posts the next assignment, the lectures, the handouts, and announces he will be gone for the next two weeks. At the time of his posting we only had 2 more weeks of class time with the final 4 weeks being for the research paper. His posting sent me & the class into a panic. The info had little to do with the previous weeks, did not correlate together, and actually gave us another assignment as big as the original mini-dissertation we were already working on. We all started panicking. After 5 days of frustration and the starting of a migraine, I finally sent out a plea for Dr. Mark to respond. Well I opened the flood gates - everyone starting replying to my post & requesting his help. Finally Dr. Mark realized what had happened & tried to put our minds to rest... he had posted the wrong information. I do feel better after he responded, but the pessimist in me is thinking, yeah but we lost a week of class time.
I have signed up for 2 classes starting in July - Biblical Hermeneutics (can't even pronounce it...) and Theology of Old and New Testaments. My books came on Monday so they are stacked on my desk next to all my research & current text books. You could say they are taunting me...
Well, I better get back to the lectures and the research. :-)

Weekend in Wales

We spent the first weekend of May in Wales. It was a long weekend for both the girls and Kevin since Monday, May 5th was a bank holiday. We decided to take the dogs with us and were able to stay in a B&B that took dogs. When we first got there it was well past bedtime and pretty dark. The temperature was warm and the rooms were stuffy so I opened the windows... and PU the smell that permeated mine & Kevin's room - wow, it would take your breath away. My first question was how much did we pay to stay in the place... I found myself walking around the room smelling the bedding, the carpet, the towels, everything trying to find the source for the smell. Finally I was so tired I didn't care anymore. I turned the fan on, checked on the kids, the dogs, and Kevin & turned out the light (while trying to hold my nose).

The next morning I woke up to a beautiful sunrise and a roaster crowing in the near distance. I looked out the girls window & knew immediately what the "smell" was... the B&B was a working farm. Ohhhh, now it all makes since - and funny how the "smell" no longer bothered me once I knew for certain what it was... Once we got dressed we we took a quick look around the B&B. It was really nice - there were horses, dogs, cats, chickens, sheep, you name it.

One of the first things you will notice in Wales is the language... The road signs are in 2 languages (Welsh & English), and the village names are unpronouncable. The Welsh language is very different than the "normal" English you expect in the UK. Kevin kept trying to find a shirt that read "I spent the weekend in Llanfarpwllgwyngyli." We did learn that "Llan" is translated church, and "Ll" makes a "cl" sound. Hmmm, I'm thinking they don't want to play Wheel of Fortune...

We spent the days at the beach, walking the shore line, hiking the water falls, looking at castles, and basically relaxing. It was one of the best vacations we have been on. Having Duke & Daisy with us was a wonderful bonus - we all had fun! The weather was fabulous most of the time - fairly warm & sunny. The girls and the dogs (& Kevin at times) were in the water every possibile chance.

The girls had to return to school on Tuesday, Kevin returned to work, and I started the long stretch of washing clothes, cleaning the car, and catching up on school work. Duke & Daisy on the other had slept for 2 days straight. They only moved from the couch to go to the bathroom & to eat; we wore them out :-)