This is the year of mysterious illnesses, I guess. I ended up in urgent care last Sunday after two days of itchy scalp, swollen glands, and high fever (up to 104 F at one point). I don't normally even hit 98.6 F for my "normal" temperature. Turned out I had TWO things going on; I had a bad case of seborritic dermatitis on the scalp. Something irritated the scalp and the itching was a result of the irritation. The doctor gave me a prescription strength shampoo (Nizoral) and told me to take two Benadryl every 4-6 hours for the itching. Good news, it's much better. Bad news, Benadryl does *not* help me sleep through the itching. I had several sleepless nights until the irritation went down. The second thing I had was the swollen glands and fever, unrelated to the itching as far as we can tell. I just got really lucky (insert sarcasm here) and got two for the price of one! Anyhow, after nearly a week on antibiotics I am finally feeling better (finally!)

Went to lunch with my sister Diane on Friday. We went to this sandwich place called Brucchi's. Yum-OH, as Rachael Ray would say (my favorite TV chef)! We both had the manager's special which was a marinated chicken caesar sub, with the most delicious fries, and drinks. Really, really good! Diane knows all the good places to eat. Funny that I've lived here for 14+ years (well, really in the area all my life, just in this city 14+ years), and she and Sam have been here since what, October, yet they know all the good places to eat. Tells you what a boring life I am living, LOL.

I don't think I mentioned it yet, but both my kids are smart little buggers. Sarah is in the 6th grade and is in the enrichment program, which means she's in higher-than-grade-level courses in English, Reading, and Math. She got a 3.90 on her semester report card that came out a week or so ago. Before that, she spent three years in the elementary school gifted program in our school district and did great there as well. Spencer tested for the gifted program last year, and started this year (third grade). His latest progress report says he's doing well both academically and socially. We worried about the social aspect because he went into the program without knowing anybody else there. (Sarah had a good friend from church who was there already so she had somebody to hang out with.) But he's acclimating well, and has been invited to a "boys movie night" this weekend at one of his classmate's house. Should be *very* interesting. LOL. Better her than me, I say! All those BOYS!

I would hope I post more often than this, but things have a way of ganging up on me lately! Thought I'd write a short bit today about our beautiful cat, Apollo. He was named by the animal adoption group we got him from in August of 2004. The woman there told us they named him Apollo because he was the most handsome kitten in the litter and he knew it. LOL. He still does, by the way. He's quite a character, and quite the mama's boy too. I'm his favorite human in the house. I think DH scares him (big, bad man, you know), Sarah is pretty good with him but he's not altogether sure about her sometimes. Spencer, well, he's an almost 9 year old boy so you can guess what his priorities are! Nice and gentle and kind to the cat are not high on his list. Here's a pretty recent picture of Apollo on one of his favorite chairs (note the towels providing extra cushioning. They were clean before he decided to plop on them.).