Ack.

And achoo, sniff, snort, hack, cough and groan.

The plague has descended upon our house. Lily and I both have colds. And not the garden variety runny nose, sneeze for a couple of days and it goes away kind. These are the deep in your chest sinus ones and we both feel awful. My chest hurts so much I'm wondering about Pneumonia. If it's not better by Wednesday, I'm going to the doctor. I haven't had to go to a doctor in AGES, and I am not looking forward to sitting in a waiting room full of other sick people just to have the doctor confirm that I am indeed sick, and to just suck it up and ride it out. Because that's all you can really do with a cold. I stocked up on Vick's Vaporub & Breathe Right strips for me and some Dimetapp for Miss Lily. She's so pale and miserable right now, I just want to hug and hold her, but all she wants is to be in her bed. Poor sweet girl.

I worked today - time and a half plus holiday pay is way too tempting. To get the time and a half and holiday pay, I can't call in sick tomorrow, so I am going to spend the day in my jammies, watch a little hockey and then haul myself in to work at 6pm. Lily is not going to school tomorrow either, so it will be a Lily and Mumma day.

It's Shrove Tuesday tomorrow, so I will make waffles for lunch.

We have more progress on the basement - our new windows are in! They look so good, and will certainly make a difference in the warmth of the basement. We have a few framing details to work out on the rest, and then we can start insulation and drywall. Now if I could only get my plumber to finish piping in the bathroom...

pass the kleenex will you?

I must enjoy tempting the fates...

Today we spent most of the day watching the final part of the Olympic torch relay, relaxing and making a triple batch of pizza dough.

While the dough was rising and Lily was enjoying a very rare nap, I turned the kettle on so I could have a cup of tea.

Guess who lit a tea towel on fire? Guess who now knows that the brand new hardwired smoke alarm works? And guess who has a kid that heard nothing of the ear splitting peals of electronic beeping just outside her room?

Me. My ears are still ringing.

I either turned on both burners, or just one, and didn't notice where the tea towel was. Whoops.

At any rate, all is fine. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday, 59 and holding. We are getting together on Sunday for pizza and beer. Pizza by me, and beer brought by my brother. I wanted to get the dough made and ready before, so we won't have to do a lot on Sunday.

Isn't Sunday Valentine's day you ask? Yes it is. I really don't like the day, never have. I'm not one for making romantic gestures, and I refuse to let Bryan pay $40 a dozen for roses when at any other time of year they are $15. And I would rather be surprised by roses at random times throughout the year than wondering 'what color will I get this year?' So we don't really celebrate it.

There may or may not be heart shaped dessert. We will see.

Some good news - the basement windows are now in, and the installers will be here on Monday to start installing them. Yay! Warmer basement with windows that actually open. Once these are done, then my plumber (ahem, you know who you are!) can finish the water lines, we can insulate and the FINALLY drywall!

I can't wait.

A Word to the Wise...

If you have a white comforter cover on your child's bed, and you have ANY inkling that they may get sick on it, do not, DO NOT feed them blueberries, dried cranberries, V8 or Valentine's jelly beans. (I did not feed her this for lunch, honest. We had homemade mac & cheese, I swear!)

I am washing the cover for the third time today, using every stain removing potion I could find. I may have done a little dance, and I may have borrowed Lily's magic wand to improve my chances of it becoming stain free.

The good news is that she is fine, and is no longer getting sick. Did you know, that by just having them in the house in an unopened package, Gravol suppositories work really well? (Sorry if that's too much information. If the kid can't keep the Gravol down, then you have to go in the other way.)

You know, it really doesn't get better.

The neighborhood meeting was informative and predictable. The city put together a really good presentation, outlining the areas to be reconstructed and how the work would progress. I discovered that I will be losing a streetlight, and my parents discovered they will be gaining one! One of the changes involves moving some runs of streetlights to the opposite side of the road. I am happy to lose mine for a couple of reasons. One, I can plant a tree there! Two, the individuals that like to park where the new streetlight is going will now have their illegal activities fully highlighted. (We have a few issues with dial-a-doper's using our street as a meeting point.) Duh na na nah, duh na na nah, hey hey, goodbye!

The statistics provided by the City were enlightening. Edmonton has roughly 300 neighborhoods, 150 of which are in need of some infrastructure rehabilitation or reconstruction. Of these 150, only 6 are getting work done this year. 6. All the roads and streetlights are being replaced at no cost to us, and we have to pay 50% of the sidewalk cost over 20 years. (for me, 50 cents a day for 20 years) Bring it on!

So when the local yahoos stood up to protest who/what/where/when/how/why the work was being done, I was a bit steamed. Especially when Mr Corner Lot got up not once, not twice but three times to express his displeasure during the Q&A portion of the evening. Apparently, those folks with corner lots and the additional land, property value and sidewalks should not have to pay for the privilege of owning said corner lot with additional land, property value and sidewalks.

Mr Corner lot thought that he would have to pay 50% more than everyone else because he had more sidewalk. He missed the part of his information package that states he only pays an additional 15% on the second side of the lot...that's pretty fair. And the last time I checked, no one was ever forced to purchase a corner lot. A home purchase is pretty voluntary. If it's such a hassle, then sell and move. Someone else will happily pay for a corner lot!

I did like his most convincing reason for not wanting to pay for the sidewalk improvement. He never uses the sidewalk. I know. Because the sidewalk in front of (sorry, and beside) your home, in your neighborhood is ONLY used by you. Betcha a quarter he is one of the lovely homeowners that only shovels snow from one side of his corner lot all winter. Because he doesn't use it.

The other battle the community is going through right now is for our schools. 4 schools, the only 4 schools in our neighborhood, are currently up for closure review right now. One of the reasons I moved to an established central neighborhood was so that my kid(s) would be able to easily get to school and other parts of the city. I am a firm believer in kids walking to school, and being able to play in their community. (Translation: I am not a taxi service. I don't want to spend 2 hours of my day driving Lily to school and to her friends homes.)

At this time next year, I will be registering her for kindergarten (gulp!) but I don't know where she will be able to attend, because the school she should be going to might not be open.

Because we are in an older neighborhood, with a mixed age demographic, classroom enrollments are lower here. Other parents choose to take advantage of open school boundaries to send their kids to specialized programs like French Immersion or ballet or music. Other families choose to build monster houses in the soul sucking wastelands of suburbia (cough, Windermere, cough) where there are no schools. And then they want new shiny schools with all sorts of bells and whistles. So the city and the school boards build the schools and close other ones.

In fact, in there have been nine schools closed in our area since 2002. Nine. And now at least 2 more. It makes me mad.

That being said, the main solution that has been presented by the board, is to consolidate kindergarten through grade 9 in the underutilised local junior high. It's an ok solution. It means Lily won't have to take the bus anywhere. This school is a fantastic one, with award winning teachers and some neat pilot programs. It's only about 5 more minutes walking time to get there, and is 5 minutes from my mom and dad's house. The community swimming pool is right beside it, but there is no playground for the little kids. That makes me a little sad, because a couple of blocks away, a brand new playground and revamped park is going to sit empty. All because the elementary school will be closed.

The final vote for closure happens in April, but the board is reviewing things this week.

A neighborhood with an empty schoolyard is a sad one.