Today’s Weather:  High of 42.  Low of 30.  Yesterday it got up to 60, but as we were driving home from Billings a big gray cloud came in from the east, and it scattered some snow around overnight.  Today was sunny, though chillier than it has been.

Saturday morning Beau and I headed to Billings with Nephew Nate, 9-year-old Asher, and 2-year-old Muggins.  (The girls stayed home with my mom.)  Nate and our boys explored the Rocky Mountain College campus while Beau and I attended the funeral of Doc McDowell, a favorite college professor of mine.  (More on that in a future post!)

Saturday night was Mom’s Night Out for me.  Beau stayed home with the kids and I met with a couple girlfriends (actually, friends since kindergarten) for “book club” — though our evening involved a lot more giggling than the average book would call for!  We really did all read the same book, though:  Mildred Walker’s Winter Wheat.  (More on that in a future post!)

Muggins surprised us and vomited three times between 3 a.m. and 9 a.m. Sunday morning.  We don’t know why.  We never know why.

Seven-year-old Emi, whom I would consider to be one of the toughest human beings I know, spent most of today flat on the couch with a terrible cough and fever.  I would really like for everyone in our family to be well.

Because I feel like we’ve been sick for at least four weeks.  It takes a while for a tummy bug to get through a family of six, and we got up from that one just on time to catch the cold.  Spring can’t get here fast enough for me because I assume it’ll put an end to cold and flu season.

I’ve had enough of sickness around here, so much so that today I declared a moratorium on refined sugar consumption in our house.  (I mean, we’ve got to try something.)  There’s a part of me that’s starting to be suspicious those crazy people are right — maybe too much sugar in our diets really does suppress our immune systems and feed the bad bugs.  I’ll keep ya posted.  I can report that I didn’t eat any refined sugar today.

Despite it all, I had to prepare for and get to a rodeo club meeting today… which means Beau was Dr. Dad here at the house.  He did a great job — from fearlessly washing Muggins’ dirty bedding to keeping Emi in cough drops and Tylenol.  Three cheers for Daddy!

The real question is:  How am I going to make it through tomorrow without sugar in my coffee?

© Tami Blake