I had no intention of doing much of anything today. I knew ahead of time that it was going to be raining off and on throughout the day, so I didn’t even bother with organizing a cookout or planning an outing to the YMCA outdoor pool (a shame, too, since today was the last day for the outdoor pool for this season. Oh well, there’s always next year!). I was up later than I intended to be, and woken up way too freakin’ early by Dan’s work drama (phone calls), so I wound up sleeping in later than I wanted. But it didn’t really matter, seeing how today was Labor Day and all. And since Alyssa, Ryan and both of my brothers were up late last night (Alyssa couldn’t sleep so she kept waking Ryan up; and my brothers simply drove each other crazy despite being miserable themselves), they all slept in too.
But I wound up doing a lot today. First I emptied our closet, sorted through and made separate piles for too-large clothing to be donated; stuff to throw out, and stuff to put back in the closet. That took the better part of an hour, but the results were well worth it. Then I vacuumed out the interior of the closet. Next I tackled my drawers, which were overflowing and more than a little disorganized. Finally, I tackled Puff’s and Ryan’s closet, and cleared out some things to donate and some things to trash, as well as a few leftover Christmas items to put away with the other Christmas stuff. (I also found my misplaced Victoria’s Secret Santa hat, which I ordered off of eBay for $15 last November, because I wanted one THAT BADLY.)
I then took Alyssa to what I thought would be her first activity as a Girl Scout (Daisy) – helping her troop build a float for an upcoming community parade. But unbeknownst to me (thanks a lot, non-syncing Gmail), the activity was canceled due to the inclement weather. We only found out after we arrived at the location and nobody else was there, and I made frantic calls to the troop leader and assistant troop leader.
Next up on the list was returning my thirteen year old brother, Cat, to my mother. I planned on doing this yesterday, but because she somehow got her phone in airplane mode, she missed my half dozen phone calls and texts asking when to bring him. I can’t just show up unannounced, because the shelter she is currently living at has a lot of strict rules regarding residents. My brother can’t enter the building without being accompanied by her, and I can’t go in because I’m not a resident. Therefore, it was pointless for me to make the fourteen and a half mile (that’s each way, mind you) drive to the shelter when I couldn’t get a hold of my mom to let her know when I’d be there.
Today wound up being much of the same, however. I texted my mom last night to let her know I’d be bringing him back today around 3:30. Only, it was more like 4:10, because my brother wanted to stop for a hamburger, and you can’t just go in and out of a fast food restaurant with three kids, heh. I sent my mom several texts that she didn’t respond to, and when I got to the shelter she didn’t answer my repeated phone calls. Fortunately, just as I was getting ready to go into the entrance and ask the front desk person if they could PLEASE send someone to my mother’s room to let her know that I brought my brother back (I was going to pull the “My brother has a lot of important meds to take that I don’t have, therefore I can’t take him back home, so you NEED to get my mother” card), I saw a “neighbor” of my mom’s, and flagged her down. She said that my mom was sleeping because she has strep throat, which has been going around at the shelter, but that she’d take my brother up for me. Whew! Problem solved. But, I am not happy with my mom for not warning me about the strep going around. Had I known, I would not have brought Cat to our house this weekend!
Now I’m hoping (against hope, most likely) that I don’t come down with strep throat. Cat was coughing like crazy all weekend, laying around and acting somewhat listless, and today both he and Puff were complaining about sore throats. Mind you, I picked up Cat from my mom on Saturday morning, and the incubation period for strep throat is as little as two days, so yeah… 
I need to wait until next week to replenish my stock of vitamins, so in addition to running out of my multis on Thursday, and already running out of my B6s and B12s two days ago, I won’t be able to purchase any vitamin C or E to give my immune system a quick boost. Ryan just had strep throat (a really bad case of it, along with a double ear infection and a stomach bug!) in March, so I hope he won’t get it again. I’m not too worried about Alyssa, because she next to never gets sick. Dan? Less than next to never, if that makes sense. So it’s just me and Puff that are the most likely to come down with that crap. And maybe it’s just me being all paranoid and psychosomatic, but I swear I don’t feel good tonight. 
Update: not long after posting this entry my brother took his temp, so I took mine. 99.6. BIG EFFING FAIL, IMMUNE SYSTEM. WAY TO FAIL ME.
Liar! Alyssa got sick the day after Sophie’s party…and I believe it was with DUN DUN… STREP THROAT!
But seriously, I hope you don’t get sick and neither does any of your family. My step throat escalated/piled on top of mono last year (I believe January) and I don’t wish tonsils the size of golfballs on anyone. <3
http://www.jenn.nu/2011/06/12/there-is-no-planning-in-parenthood/ (also the tags on that post are “Alyssa Birthday Sex” …. ewwww
Wow you got a lot done today! Good on you!
I hope you feel better!
Feel better!!