Random benefits of DENGUE Fever

This past week goes down in history with last year's horrible bout with e-coli, and the infamous 1987 hepatitis epidemic in Guatemala.  Dengue Fever is no fun!  Severe fatigue, killer headache, painful bones and joints - all from a little mosquito bite.

After five solid days of bed rest, more or less, I decided maybe a bit of activity would bring my energy levels back up.  Not so, but hey, it was worth a try.  I needed to take Debbie to the orthodontist and to get a haircut and other errands before we leave on Thursday.

Five days with mama being pretty useless revealed an interesting fact about my youngest two children.  Mind you Jim and Bekah are both in the U.S. already, so that left only the babies of the family at home to tend to poor old sick Mom.  The babies, however, have always been (how do I say this?) - BABIED.  Apparently some older sibling or parent has always rescued them from any cooking duties. 

After 14 and almost 13 years, suddenly the "babies" had to learn to prepare a meal if they wanted to eat.  Even our friend Edith (pronounced Eh-DEET), who helps with lunch and housework a few days a week while we do school, was not available to let them off the hook.  I'm a bit tired of pasta now, but they have succeeded in cooking red spaghetti, green spaghetti (with broccoli sauce), and Kraft macaroni and cheese.  Also eggs, and I'm not sure what all else.

The worst chore was the cleaning up, since Bekah is the one most likely to actually complete the task of cleaning the kitchen if I am out of commission, and of course she isn't here.  Yesterday I woke up to a disaster zone in the kitchen.  Conserving my energy for the drive to the city, I left Jonny with instructions to please get it cleaned up before we got home.  And yes, that includes pots and pans.  Even pans with dried pasta pasted to the sides.

After all our errands, we headed for home, my head pounding.  The last thing I wanted to face in my weakened condition (before a long afternoon nap) was that mucky mound of dishes still in the sink, so I called to remind Jonny that I expected the house to look "as if Edith had been there."  Jonny assured me it did.

When I came in an hour later, the house indeed was fairly straight.  Every dish was washed, including the pots and pans.  However there were still crumbs and food items out on the kitchen counters.  Not wanting to burst his bubble, I tried to focus on the positive, but I couldn't truthfully say it looked as if Edith had been here.  Jonny insisted it did.  The proof was on the refrigerator.  A magnet held a hand-scribbled note purposely misspelled that said, "Edith wuz here!"  Haha.  I was not fooled.

Here's some photographic proof that they are not babies any more:

Debbie's new haircut

Purposely trying to look nerdy

Note to self:  send Jonny to a barber before the wedding

If laughter is good medicine, Jonny is doing his part to see me get well quick.  Debbie, though, is sick now herself.  She has some stomach bug, leaving Jonny the one-man chore machine.  Poor boy. 

Another interesting turn of events due to Dengue is that Debbie just made a remark about MY room needing to be cleaned.  That's a switch!  I'm lying here with a phone book, two phones (U.S. and Mexican), my journal, Kindle, purse, camera, and a mound of laundry I meant to fold and pack.  Normally I'm the one fussing at the kids to straighten their rooms.  When Jim's away....

Tomorrow I will tidy up the house and finish packing.  Lord willing I will feel up to the task and survive the long day of travel the next day.  (Thanks for your prayers.)

P.S.  Edith has agreed to come after we leave to finish tidying up so when we get back it will indeed look like she's been here, even without the note on the fridge!  What a blessing she is.