Lice, Ice, Bitches & Barf (LIBB)

Our dear shepherd mix, Zohra, has been sick for the better part of 6 weeks. What started as a bacterial infection treatable with antibiotics is becoming more disconcerting. Two rounds of antibiotics have not cleared up the diarrhea, and the new onset of vomiting and shaking. In the 10 years we've had her she's struggled with this off and on, roughly once a year. This time it's been going on with varying intensity since December. I'm beginning to wish I had called this blog "Lice, Ice, Bitches, Barf and Shit." Hold that thought... One of my summer goals was to work out more. In grad school I worked out 5 days a week. When I first started at RU 4 days a week was typical. This past year 2 or 3 was all I could fit in. Happily, last week I worked out 5 days (Mon-Fri), every morning before the day got away from me. I'm on track this week to do the same thing. Hurray. Despite that the number on the scale was up one pound yesterday. Grrr. A related goal ...

At the end of the school year the university honors two faculty members for their teaching excellence, one who is tenure track and the other who is an adjunct. This year both were in our dept. I had to keep the secret for the better part of a month and try to get their loved ones to the ceremony without raising suspicion. Date night. We actually seem to have a responsible babysitter and got to go out for dinner. After eating at a great local place we went for a walk downtown and saw this goose family out for a stroll down the river. Legos at the library. A sisterly embrace. And another: It's not easy to do this when you're 5'10". The weather was gorgeous. I made a totally satisfying meal out of random parts: leftover roasted cauliflower with cumin and red pepper flakes tucked into corn tortillas spread with guacamole, topped with black beans and some salsa.  Graduation: 2 students who started with French 101 and complete...

I came up for the name of this blog after a particularly challenging week. I typed the expression "lice, ice, bitches and barf" into a Facebook status update and really liked the alliteration. Here's the full scoop. Lice: The school nurse called me on a Thurs to say my oldest had head lice and needed to be picked up immediately for treatment. I'd never experienced it before and had no idea what to look for let alone how to treat it. A series of conversations with our daycare teachers, a trip to Walgreens, and a quick stop at daycare for a crash course in identifying and removing them started the ordeal. The product I picked up had a detangler in the box and it was in the exact same bottle as the treatment. I inadvertently started with it instead of treatment. I rinsed it out (but didn't shampoo it), then reapplied the treatment as directed. Then combed and picked. Then sent her back to school. Then stripped the beds, the couch cover, gathered all the towels, cl...