Good News . . .

After 15 weeks, (yes, it is quite literally like counting down the weeks in pregnancy), I heard from the publisher. . . (this is for added suspense). I saw the email from "submissions", my heart stopped and I thought: This is IT!!!!! The email told me my manuscript was going to start the evaluations process. So in my mind, that means it did not get an initial 'No' and they think it's worth reading. And I figure if it gets read by the outside professional evaluators, then it's worth paying them to read it. I may be totally wrong having never done this before, but that's what I took my email to mean. I hope they LOVE IT!!!! Now I just have to wait another 4-6 months. . . They did say if I wanted to know the status of my manuscript I could email them . . . I wonder how soon is too soon????? But, at the risk of being pesky, I think I'll just wait out my 4-6 months and continue praying that they will LOVE IT!!

Sick of Being Sick

The month of February was a blur of fever, coughing, and emptying several bottles of Advil. Everyone was sick with the Flu. All four of my children missed five days of school. The only upside to that was we each took a turn getting sick on a different week. The only upside to my kids having a 102 fever was it sort of sucked the life out of them and there was not enough energy left for much drama.
We had several trips to the pediatrician. One was done pre-emptively, when Eve started with the fever and coughing and I thought "if I get her in today, maybe we can ward off a week of fever and coughing". But we could not get in with our beloved Dr. Tuggle, and our only option was an associate, Dr. Barber. Eve did not like not seeing her regular Dr. and couldn't pronounce the other Dr.'s name right. He is now known as "Dr. Barfer." (Affectionately, of course.) Dr. Barfer, not knowing our history, and that we had already been in with one kid and this sickness, sent me home with no drugs, and the diagnosis that "it is viral and needs to run it's course." I get that, but Emmett had already been the test case for this flu, and I knew what course it'd be running and knew we'd need drugs. There's an advantage to seeing your regular doctor. Sure enough, the next week we were back to the doctor's office, seeing our regular and much-appreciated doctor, getting drugs from her and offering her a Diet Coke in solemn appreciation for her.
But the fun didn't end there. Audrey hadn't had the flu, yet. I knew it was coming. And then Eve, who is already allergic to two different types of antibiotics, broke out in a big, itchy, red rash, also known as an allergic reaction. What's next? I'm worried we're running out of choices of medicine to give her.
Audrey did get the flu the next week, but was the only kid who managed to ward it off without drugs. And she desperately wanted to get healthy so she could be back in school for the standardized testing. None of my other kids are that dedicated to school!
But even now, mid-March, there is still risidual coughing. All I can say is it better not come back to visit for a second round. I am quite sick of being sick.
And now that March is here, the wind is kicking up a storm. Don't even get me started on the kids and their allergies . . .