Another nice thing about chemo is that it gives me an excuse to use the motorized shopping carts in Maceys without feeling guilty. Today was my second time, the first being Labor Day, just a few days after surgery. I decided to resort to this method after almost blacking out and fainting twice today. This time I did much better at driving and only bumped over one display of chocolate and strawberry ice cream syrup, which Chris helped me fix. Thereafter I drove more carefully around corners. Stopping without running into things was also difficult.

Chris is a joy to shop with. He doesn't throw tantrums about me saying no to toys and candy and strangely patterned stretchy gloves. He can reach the highest shelves, which others find just as helpful as I do, because he lends his services. He knows what kinds of things we usually buy and can find them on the shelves easily. He is so cheerful and good-natured and tells great jokes. He doesn't run around crazily with shopping carts, and he doesn't huff and puff when I discover that I forgot to look on aisle 9 for the gluten-free items. And all that on top of being my chauffeur! He even went into the dancewear store with me to buy new stocking tights for Nani, since I lost her other ones.

I felt better enough after dinner (freshly purchased Tombstone pizza) and the Board of Review, which turned out to be for only Chris since the other candidate was out of town, to go to ballet with Nanika. Phyllis told us last week that she was starting a beginning/intermediate class Wednesday evenings at 7, and we decided to go to it and see whether we like it more than the advanced one we've been going to on Tuesdays. Haruka and Bethany came along. The class was much more my speed, and therefore I'm sure I'll be much more sore this week afterward. I'm having a lot of fun dancing again, and it's nice to know that I'm exercising at least once a week in a method other than going up and down the stairs and walking to and from the car. Washing clothes can also be a mild workout for me, as is showering. I wonder how long it will be before I tackle the Big Quail Valley Hill again.

Liz arrived from New York for Thanksgiving! I love Liz! I love airplanes! I love family! I love school breaks that allow me to make my children cook! Hip hip hooray!

Mom and I divided up the menu for the turkey fest. I told her my kids wanted to do the pies and rolls, and she said, "Oh, good! I hate doing pies and rolls!" I didn't tell her that they want to make six pies and one fruit tart. Enough for everyone to have a turn rolling out pie crust and making filling while I sit around and tell them what to do! Sometimes my chemo regimen is very useful.

Parent-teacher conferences have been this week for the elementary crowd. The children are doing well. I was impressed, as I usually am during PTC time, with the quality of the teachers and the extra effort they put in to understanding and appreciating and encouraging the differing personalities of my children.

I also thought what it would be like to get up and go to work every day, and I'm glad I don't have to. There are a lot of days that I want to do nothing. Is this my natural laziness kicking in, or effects of chemo? Hard to know. Then I realized that I actually do get up each day and go to work, because I am functioning, to a varying degree, as a mother and wife, which is my job. At least I don't have to dress up!

Jason left for Virginia today. I've been teaching him to knit. His first lesson was the knit stitch, and so I got out my circular needles and cast on 81 stitches and knit the first round, then showed him both methods I know, the Finnish way and the English/American way. He and I both thought that the E/A way is easier for beginners to grasp, so I demonstrated that way while talking him through it and then he knitted a hat for himself. I like the circular needles, because then you can just do the one stitch all the way and it comes out in stockinette (the v-shaped interlocking loops). He is very good at the knit stitch now. So last night Haruka drove us out to Wal-mart in Springville, after an abortive attempt to find what we wanted at the one in Orem, and we got Jason some needles to take with him, and I showed him how to cast on stitches and how to do the purl stitch, which is the only other stitch you need to know to knit. It's actually just a backwards knit stitch. So now his assignment is to purl himself a hat, after which he'll be really good at purling and we can have fun with patterns and colors and stuff.

Some time this week I finished Steve's llama hat with ear flaps, which I've knitted and ripped out and knitted and ripped out about four times before finally getting it right. Now I just need to line it with fleece like the one Nancy brought me. Mine has black monk cord tassels hanging down from the ear flaps. They look like braids! I'm wearing it as I type. Haruka and Chris immediately expressed interest in wearing knitted llamas on their heads also, so I took them down to Heindselman's. Haruka chose lime green and hot pink, and Chris choose a nice blue and said he'd like the same tan color I used on Steve's for his other color. I also found some orange-and-white striped yarn in the closeout basket, so I got it for socks for someone. I try not to buy more yarn than I have projects lined up for, so now I have to stop buying yarn because I have four projects worth of yarn and only one in progress.

Steve and I were planning to go to the temple, but we couldn't find his recommend. It wasn't in any of the places we thought to look. Paul came over while we were looking, with dinner from Mom, and offered to stay and herd children, so we went out anyway. We tried Olive Garden but the wait was 45 minutes, so we went where we probably wanted to go in the first place -- Bombay House. Daniel was there and we chatted for a few minutes. We tried one of their new dishes, which was very good but not my favorite. So funny how certain tastes become favorites and others don't. I was very grateful to be able to taste! I'd have to say that my favorites at Bombay House are the chicken tikka masala and the lamb korma, with the paneer saag coming in a close 3rd. In my next life, I will learn to cook like that.

I have found an apt poem. Copyright law prohibits my quoting this poem here. However, the ubiquitous Internet has provided some sites which have quoted it, so I will refer you to one that looks respectable:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=176300

Just replace he/him/his with she/her. And in the third stanza first line, replace 'Lug' with 'Slug'.

We have the flu. Jason spent some time by the porcelain throne Sunday morning, Joseph got it Sunday night, and Haruka carried it to her house and had it Monday morning. Bethany hasn't had to run to the bathroom, but she has been laying in bed clutching a mixing bowl, so she's not going to school either. Sariah stayed home a couple of days last week with unhappy innards. Steve said he was feeling yucky this evening, so I sent him to bed early, hoping that he'd get over it and not have to plan for a sub, which is almost as much work as actually going in to teach.

I was extremely careful when removing soiled sheets from Joe's bed in the night, and helping him shower and get clean pjs and spreading out the minimum clean bedding necessary, and getting him a mixing bowl. I washed my hands and arms up to the elbows with plenty of hot water and soap and sang the ABC song twice for good measure. Apparently Joe had another episode which Steve took care of in the night, because I awoke to find baking soda spread liberally in the hallway and Joseph on a sheet spread on the floor.

I know that I'm supposed to go to Aunt Amy's house to stay away from germs, but if I do, I don't know who will take care of the sickness chaos. Steve is perfectly capable and probably willing, but that brings us back to the substitute issue. I definitely don't want to give it to Mom's crowd if Haruka hasn't already. I am praying constantly that I won't get it, and I repeat the hand/arm washing ritual as often as I dare. No cracked bleeding hands yet. Whew. Thank the Lord that Chris and Nathaniel haven't shown signs of catching it.

We now have another baking soda spot on the family room floor. Steve learned this trick from a school custodian, who came in to sprinkle magic powder on his classroom carpet one day after a student hadn't followed the protocol of grabbing the trash can and running from the room, Steve's signal that sickness is imminent. He trains his classes every year to NOT come to him and say, "I feel si-UUUUURRRRRP!" Ick. Anyway, the custodian divulged that the main ingredient in his magic powder was baking soda -- it soaks up the liquid and takes away the smell, and you can leave it on the spot for a day or two and then vacuum it right up. Very handy.

This reminded me of the nasty flu episode right after Reuben was born, when everybody got it except Jason and me, even my mother who came to help, and we just kept washing sheets and hands and arms and praying fervently that we wouldn't get it. I was so worn out by the weekend, when Sariah had her baptism, that I could hardly walk. I remember liking my bed a lot after that week, too.

I should have known.

I should have seen that my fractious three-year-old would throw up yesterday evening when his older sister carried him into the bathroom because he complained that his stomach hurt. I should have known that since he was a mean young cuss all day, he didn't feel good.

Luckily Steve was awake to handle it, because I was leery of getting flu germs. I had to wake him up a couple of times in the night to deal with other episodes, praying all the while that the germs hadn't found me.

This morning, Reuben acted perfectly normal, kept down his 2-Tbsp-water-every-ten-minutes-for-an-hour and then his tortilla-chip-every-ten-minutes (in lieu of crackers because we had none), and did not throw up again.

I, however, was completely overwhelmed by the normal chaos and cacophony of Saturday-morning breakfast getting, and it was only 9 a.m. I went back upstairs.

Bapu called us to help unload the truck at 10. My contribution was sitting on a chair in the basement and pointing. The nice neighbor men and boys and my nice children all interpreted very well, so that when I unwisely walked down the hall and had to hold the walls on the way back to my perch, there was a clear path through the basement to the back bedroom, which will be Paul's starting on Monday, when he and Mom are slated to arrive in the pickup. I'm excited!

Apparently Reuben informed Bapu that he needed to go bowling because of his haircut, because Bapu obliged and took my children plus Jason, Nanika, and Haruka bowling after the truck was empty. I went to bed. I like my bed.

When Kathie and Dr. W. were giving me the chemotherapy roadmap talk, during which they outlined every possible side effect known to man and some specific to women, I got the idea that each treatment cycle would be similar to the previous one. Surprise! Every time is different.

This time around, I experimented with the anti-nausea drugs by not taking any. I didn't feel nauseated at all. I also did not have the overwhelming brain fog and head buzz I had last time. I did take the Claritin/Aleve combination Thursday evening when I noticed that my skin hurt when I rubbed my neck and my bones hurt when Steve hugged me.

I haven't been overly tired. In fact, I felt well enough today to drive over to the elementary school and mosey in to the library to be with Sariah during the Maturation Presentation, which I missed completely last year even though it was written down. She was not happy with me about that. Driving, walking, and sitting were entirely too much to deal with during cycle Number Two.

This time is Number Three, which means I have three left, which also means I counted wrong and my last treatment is around January 14 instead of Christmas as I have been telling everyone. Shucky darns.

Bethany and Abbie came here after school to work on birthday presents for a friend's party, and somehow Reuben heard them mention that the party involved bowling. This was a big mistake, because he suddenly remembered that Bapu had promised to take him bowling if he let me cut his hair, which he did. However, Bapu is in Illinois helping Paul and Mom pack belongings into a Giant Yellow Truck to drive here, stopping only once to sleep at a rest stop and shocking us all by calling us to help unload the truck eight hours before we begin to expect his arrival.

Reuben decided he was invited to the birthday party too. He was extremely upset when I didn't share this conviction, and proceeded to exhibit a most impressive screaming display, which was still going strong when we pulled into our driveway after dropping B and A at the party location.

He wouldn't let Nathaniel undo his carseat harness. He wouldn't let me undo his carseat harness. He ranted and raved about bowling for at least five minutes, at which time I went into the house to call for reinforcements, because I could tell that a) I would not be able to carry him into the house, and b) I was no longer able to put up with the emotional baggage he was flinging about.

Reuben screamed in the car while I drank a calming 500 mL of water (only 800 more to fill the daily quota) and tried to think who might be able to soothe the savage beast that had entered my son's body.

James.

He wasn't home, but said he could come in about fifteen minutes. Nathaniel came in to say that Reuben was now screaming for me. Lovely. I decided to go sit in the car and not say anything, because I didn't want to be sucked into the rant. Reuben did let me undo his carseat harness this time, but it turned out to be a mistake, because then his rant involved writhing around on me while screaming. At least I was sitting down.

James and Jason arrived at the same time. After some convoluted negotiations, James and I convinced him to let James carry him inside while I held his hand and Jason held the door. Then I sat on the couch and Reuben sat on my lap for another while before I noticed he was asleep.