the vortex

You know how you feel like staying home for a week with sick kids is like falling into a vortex?? C has been sick all week, so even though I have had ample time to blog, I've felt I had little in terms of material.

Or have I? You decide:

• We had an election, as you know, and Christie won and Governor Corzine had to bite the dust. Lots of Dems didn't vote for him, so it will be interesting to see if any change is good for New Jersey.
  
• I'm taking part in a month long writing campaign called The National Novel Writing Month So far I've written about 7,000 words. As the website says something like, "you know you are writing crap, but the point is to write SOMETHING".
  
• We've been back and forth with the school about N's lack of concentration. They want me to seek medical help, I want them to "deal with it". After watching "The Medicated Child" (click on the link to watch the entire episode!) on Frontline last night there is NO WAY I will medicate N. We can change all his routines first, long before I consent to meds. We haven't been to see a doctor yet, but if the MD suggests meds, I know my answer.
• We got a truancy notice for C this week. On Monday I went 5 rounds with whether or not C was healthy enough to return to school. The nurse absolutely insisted that I keep her home on Tuesday. (If 99F isn't enough to send her home from school, why is it enough to keep her home an extra day???) So I did and it was a good thing, because she was a bit worse on Tuesday. Assuming that the nurse and all her teachers knew she was home sick, I didn't call the school absence line. Honeywell works! 3 Phone calls (2 to me, 1 to my husband), an e-mail and a text message... I got the message: call the school! The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.
  
• I'm already bracing the lecture about our Christmas plans. I just booked the flights to T's specifications which will not please anyone else. I can hear his grandmother's guilt trip now, "Oh, it's such a short visit. And it may be the last time you see me..."  

 It's a beautiful day. I better get outside and enjoy it for a little while. It will help my cabin fever!