Winter Doldrums...

So... I haven't felt much like updating lately. I mean what has there been to say? January and February have been BLAH. First, we have had the house on the market now for a few weeks and have had very little interest. Actually ZERO interest. Our realtor put together a nice brochure and even had a "realtor caravan" for us. She brought in 28 realtors to see it and they said our place looks good and is priced right. But..... no has come to see it. In the meantime, it kind of stinks because we need to keep our place pretty clean and "show ready" at all times. That isn't the easiest thing to do when you have a toddler.

Then, there have been the illnesses. I caught some kind of nasty bug (from my students I'm sure) in January and just couldn't shake it. Then Bel and Jason got a variation of it. Unfortunately, the three weeks of being sick (coupled with some stress) left my body feeling pretty run down and my immune system at an all-time low. Cue a new and mysterious illness that started last Monday. Itchy rash on my left arm and back- radiating pain through my armpit and and arms- ouch!! I couldn't stand it anymore and went to the doctor. Guess what? I have SHINGLES! No... I am not a ninety year old woman. Just one of the few but lucky people my age who come down with it. The good news is that there really isn't a cure (I just have to ride it out) and it is extremely uncomfortable. I am on all kinds of steroids and other fun pills. It can last for weeks... and can come back in the future. One funny side note- whenever I tell someone I have shingles with Bell around she starts singing "Shingle Bells"- lol

At work I have been feeling a little overwhelmed with new curriculum and brand new resources. I have a really nice group of kids but I just haven't had much spark this year. Not feeling very excited to go to work in the mornings. The blizzard of 2011 helped. I soooo loved being snowed in and have a few extra days home with my family. Even if it means we have to make them up in June.

 Poor Lucky- he gets lost in all that snow!

Check out the mailboxes behind me! We got around 20 inches when it was all said and done.

On a positive note, Bel is doing great. Other than her minor illnesses and testing our limits (she is becoming quite comfortable in her time-out area) she is having a great time. She is so smart! (yeah.. I'm totally biased) but she is a great little talker. Uses phrases and sentences now. Telling us about her day at school and asking  us questions. She is learning to count, sing her ABC's and can tell us the names of shapes. She loves puzzles, stickers, playing dress up and dancing. We still have our "dance parties" at night and its a good thing too because this past Friday Bel got to go to her first middle school dance. She joined me for about an hour and danced till she dropped (literally) with all of the kids. She actually wanted very little to do with Jason and I at the dance- she would run in the opposite direction of us- trying to ditch us! (23 months going on 13) It was really fun to watch her dancing with the "big kids" and they were so good with her. Her fave song is "I Got A Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Maybe I'll post some video of her dancing to it in a future post.

( a style all her own! She loves to "dress up" for dance party)

That has been about it for us. Jason has been busy with work and has been really great about keeping the house clean for our showings (he is much better than I when it comes to "deep cleaning") About this time of year we start dreaming about taking a vacation somewhere warm but we figure we better save for a possible move.
Here's the good news- as I'm writing this the snow is melting, the ground is thawing and it is 42 degrees. That is going to go a long way towards helping me break out of these winter doldrums.