Not much....

Cora has had a ROUGH winter and has been sick for what seems like forever... it turns out after MANY MANY doctor visits that she has a virus. This unnamed virus is slightly attacking her liver, causing her to have a fever off and on, a significant cough with gurgling in her lungs, and all around miserable feeling. She has been on four antibiotics since November and and endless supply of Advil, Tylenol, Aspirin, and multiple cough and cold medicines - some with codeine. She has had six strep tests and has given blood twice. She also had a boil behind her ear which needed "lanced" and then another antibiotic for the staph infection that was found when the sent the "infection in for testing."

So we have been stuck inside - no skiing for Cora - only Luke has been able to go out with his Daddy.
Luke did ok. He went down the bunny slope but never moved up to the green hill. He just points his skies down the hill and goes, doesn't want to follow any instruction on turning. Cora not being there to help him really hurt, she seems to get through to him better then we do.
It wasn't a long ski night before Luke wanted a snack and to go home. He needed friends or his sister to go with him - hopefully next year will be better. We had such a great ski winter last year that this one just couldn't compare!
Arts and Crafts, puzzles, movies, painting, decorating, cards, reading, books on tape, whatever activities that do not require much movement - that is what we have been doing. Above is the St. Patrick's Day decorations. We took down the Valentine's Day decorations to put these up - after these will be Spring. I have to say, I enjoy these as much as the kids do!! ;-)

On a good note, Dave and I have been able to do some yummy cooking. I made this great soup - Zuppa Tuscana (like the one they serve at Olive Garden). Unfortunately since Winter has been so warm the stink bugs have not died and end up on the worst places.... like my soup.
If you look really closely at my spoon - there is the remnants of half a stink bug. I say "half" because the other half was crunched and swallowed before I could get it all out ;-( I have to say this is one of my biggest fears - I won't touch a drink that has been sitting out without a lid. Bugs - I really don't like them!!

Beyond Bugs - I had another incident - one that was equally unpleasant and frustrating. I had a run to do and it was around 7:30 pm and I headed to the treadmill in the basement, I was on the treadmill for about one minute - I had to hop off and grab a piece of tape so I could tape my workout to the treadmill, it kept falling off. Well, I put the card on the treadmill and "just stepped on" as if it wasn't moving... OOPS.... TUMBLE... BAM... OUCH!!!! My legs came out from under me, I fell onto the treadmill, and then was thrown off the back to safety. Doesn't look like much in the picture below but the bruises and muscle aches caused me to take the rest of the week off and only run 2x this week. I still can't crawl on my knee without favoring it - lucky for my running, none of it hurts when I run.
It has been a crappy Winter for ski resorts and snow people...it has been a really tough Winter for poor Cora but it has been a good winter for running outside :-) More then once I have been outside in running tights and a short sleeves shirt!! Today I ran 14 miles. It was my furthest distance as an adult runner and it was a gorgeous day!!! The picture below was a picture of Dam 5 on the C&O Canal. I am SO LUCKY to have this beautiful running trail nearby. It is totally flat which is good and bad for my running but it is always BEAUTIFUL out there!!!!
It is about 20 days until my Rock and Roll Half Marathon on March 17 in Washington, DC. I wanted to get in one more really good long run. I know I ran it a little too fast (sorry Mr. Tolbert) but I wanted to see what I had in me... My last Half Marathon I averaged 9:23 per mile - it was like I was out for a long jog. I am putting a little more pressure on myself and am hoping to average 8:30 per mile. Today I averaged 8:43. I am a little worried about the race, when you add in lots of people and hills - I don't think I can go that much faster then I did today. I was REALLY tired towards the last 6 miles of the run and had to play mind games with myself to push myself. I still have a little time - so we will see what happens?!?!

Dave has finally kicked the sickness out of his system and has been mountain biking pretty regularly. He is moving up from the 10 mile races to the 20 mile races this summer so he has a lot of work to do!! He is running and biking 3-4 times per week. (It is really hard for two people to train for events as well as all the daily life responsibilities of full time jobs, kids, and life... but we do our best to help each other out.) I look forward to seeing how he does this summer!!

After all the above rambling thoughts.... What I am hoping for is that as Spring fights to arrive, that Cora gets better soon. As I type this she is upstairs in bed with a fever, again. I am hoping to actually go to work for 5 days this week?!?! I want her to be able to run around and play again... I am really proud of her - kids really are resilient and she is doing great through all of this!!! She could teach her mommy a thing or two!! ;-)