It has been a wild and busy week here at the Daily Globe, complete with red solo cups, a few dance routines, some judge excitement, enough singing that you’d think we’re in a Broadway musical and a variety of moments that made me say, “What?” with a confused look on my face. And it was capped by a harrowing drive on snowcovered roads Friday.
Whew!
It can be pretty crazy in the newsroom at times, but there’s a lot of laughter and eye rolling to keep things interesting. Most of the time, I’d rather be busy than bored, so it’s all good. The giggles and hoots make it fun to work each day, and watching Aaron Hagen demonstrate zumba dance moves was well quite humorous. Should have grabbed a video camera for that one.
The first couple of weeks of 2012 have been hectic between work, obligations and home, not to mention a nasty bout of the flu.
Ugh, flu. Don’t you hate it when you know you have a million things to do, but getting off the couch is an impossible task? I spent a whole day either asleep or dizzy and nauseous while awake. I got as far as dragging my laptop over to the couch with the intent of getting some work done, but that used up all of my energy. I settled for lying on the couch staring dazedly at the television, and since I was feeling too yucky to get up and get the remote, I ended up watching several episodes of “Wife Swap.” What a weird show.
While not at work or attending meetings, I’ve been helping my husband Eric work on the upstairs rooms abandoned by our children as they fled the nest. I haven’t really done much other than sort out stuff they left behind. It is truly amazing how many things they “have to have” when they are kids, then leave behind without a qualm when they move out. They even refuse to take the stuff when they visit.
What are we supposed to do with first grade wrestling trophies, high school Knowledge Bowl medals, letterman jackets and enough artwork to wallpaper the whole house? Stuffed animals, kids books, empty pop cans, Hotwheel cars, funky hats, things I can’t really identify, old board games and about 50 VHS kid movies were sorted through. I cleaned out the old footlockers the kids have been using as toy boxes since, well, before two of them were born. I found about a trillion old happy meal toys and actually kept quite a few that were complete. I figure someday my granddaughter will be visiting and bored, and it will be like opening a treasure chest. I had to trash one of the footlockers because someone must have jumped on it a few times — the top was caved in — but one of them is now full of little toys.
Eric has been patching holes and taping and mudding and sanding, so we should be ready for painting in Nick’s old room over the weekend. Hopefully we’ll get to the playroom within a few days. Eric had to do a little patching after we discovered one wall had been used as a target for what looks like ninja throwing stars (What the heck were they thinking?). Matthew’s room needs to stay as is for awhile, but when we get to it, the only thing that really needs doing is painting. Maybe a little sanding, since it used to be Maggie’s room and she used puffy paint to draw a few fish on the walls when she was a teenager (without clearing that little escapade with her father, of course).
Eventually, we’ll have guest quarters up there. A guest bedroom, a kid bedroom and a play area for Layla and any other grandbabies that come along.
Once that is all done, maybe we can relax a little bit.
Yeah, right. That’ll happen.
Justine Wettschreck