the thing that never happens to laura and often to me, has happened again

i'm sick. i'm not sure if it is an age thing, or a not having a cold for a long time thing, or just this is a real bad cold thing but i don't remember feeling this sick with a cold. and cold fx did NOTHING! i'm beginning to wonder at its efficacy. the day i came down with it i went to bed eary (and by early i mean 10:30 or so--i'm somewhat of an insomniac)but i had a terrible sleep. i woke up around 1:30 and felt like it should be morning--probably because i don't just wake up like that--and my teeth were aching. i thought maybe i was clenching them and so i tried to make an effort to relax my jaw. that was when i realized that i had to have been sleeping with my mouth open or i wouldn't be able to breathe. the night passed tortuously slow and i never partook of the respite that sleep usually is when one has a cold. brent offered to take the van and take the kids to school for me, but seeing as i would have to pick them up at separate times, taking the van didn't seem like much of a help. when i came downstairs he had a cup of licorice tea steeping for me. to add to everything, yesterday was "the get the work done day" at school. book fair, book orders, picture day, and open house. nat got mustard all over her shirt and had to change, mic filled out my cheques for me, and i did hair. i'm pretty sure nat will have a very unnatural smile in hers--but it'll still be cute because it is nat. the girls were both pretty excited to show us around the school. this time we only made it to the classrooms. no music room or computer lab. ms. derbyshire showed us all the pics she had of ave and zach. she told me the story again of how zach gave up being helper to another boy who didn't want to leave the classroom when it was time to go somewhere. nat introduced us and i rudely refused the proffered hand. i felt rude, but i was clutching a used tissue in my hand. would you want to shake hands with someone who was holding that? i did it to both teachers. it's lovely meeting people when you have a red nose. mic's teacher raved about her being a model student. he says she is happy to be there and to do the work and works quietly and independently and is a real pleasure to have in the class. later that night brent told me that he thinks mic will be like him and nat like trina...?!!! no they won't! and i just don't know how he thinks he has always been a good little boy. he just wasn't. and nat is fairly well-behaved too. she is just full of energy all the time and a little fiesty. we have plenty of those genes in the clarke side. it just isn't fair to compare her to mic who is also 3 and 1/2 years older than her. it bugged because i don't think they will be like anyone else.
by the way...a weird thing happened the other day. our hometeachers were over and nat was having a hard time sitting still (that's not the weird part) and so sis. patterson invited her to sit on her lap. nat did her shy face and went to sit on her. nat had her hair pulled back into two little "knobbies" and was wearing a white shirt with a little red and blue flower on it. as i looked at her i suddenly saw this picture of myself with short hair wearing a similar shirt. i'm sitting on a little chair. i think grandpa took it. i've never really thought nat looked like me, but i saw something that night--it was almost eery.
it is friday night and i am bored. brent is working and has the van. i tried to watch a movie, but i've watched all my movies recently. then i remembered the movies brent burned for me. i got out maid in manhattan and settled down at the computer to watch it....wouldn't work. we don't have the codec anymore. not wanting to give up too easily, i thought i'd try the laptop...not here. so i do the only thing left for me to do. i call brent. while i'm complaining to brent and he can't do anything about it i hear deb in the background saying to call matt. so she and brent put together a plan for matt to bring me a greek salad with a chick flick i don't own. my husband is good to me.