Can I take a deep breathe?  This shingles business sucks.  And while I’d love to milk it for all it’s worth, the only thing I have not done over the past thirteen days is blog.

Rest.  Take it easy.  That doesn’t happen under normal circumstances, but during the holiday season.  Not a chance in hell.

While I thought shingles would slow things down and allow me to really embrace a season of preparation in a way I seldom do, it has not.  I have shopped, both online and in person.  I have come up with ideas for each of my kids for myself, my dad, my in-laws, my brother, sister-in-law, and soon my mom.  (All while doing my own shopping for my rather large list.)  Sure it’s good that I’m picking out gifts that I mostly approve of, but it’s more than tiring to come up with everyone’s list.

Between shopping, I’ve also been trying to come up with ideas for Goose’s class party.  Something about a small gift for the kids, hoping maybe it’s a book.  Except finding a decent chapter for a buck a piece is near impossible.  Other ideas have been vetoed and now we’re (as in I am) painting frames for the class.  Cheap and relatively easy.  Then Friday during snow day, I’ll take pictures of each child and another mom will print copies before the end of the day.  All this with three littles along for the ride.

In an interesting bit of news, I haven’t yelled much this week.  Why?  One reason: grace.  Grace received from attending Mass the past three mornings.  It has been life saving for me.  And the weird thing is that the boys have hardly behaved really well in Mass, but we leave calmer, happier and we’ve been able to run errands non-stop.  Despite needing rest, there have been several days where we leave in the morning at 7:30 and don’t come home until after 4:00.  And the kids are really great during this time.

Of course, it’s not all happiness over here; once 7:00 hits, my witching hours starts.  I need the rest my body has craved for weeks.  And until everyone is in bed, I slowly start to unravel.  Getting slightly bitter about all I’ve been doing and what won’t be happening this Saturday, a party for my best girl.  I’m not interested in doing much except catering to my sweet girl’s every whim on Saturday.

Tomorrow is another busy day.  I had planned to rest and make a couple of gifts, but I still have painting to do, cookies to bake, party stuff to purchase and try and buy my Sunshine a dress for her big day.