I am hopelessly behind the news here, and it's still going to take a while to catch up. So everyone knows I'm alive and well, or alive anyway, here is a quick update of what's been going on here.

I've been sick since February 1. Mom has been sick since the middle of Feb. She hasn't had a voice since the beginning of March, though today she managed to croak a little above a whisper.

During that time, the kids have been sick with several different strains of things. I finished my EMT class, passed the final test, and passed my national skills exam. As soon as the system updates, I can take my national written exam and get my license.

Toward the end of Feb, we found out the hard way that our furnace was emitting fairly low levels of carbon monoxide. The symptoms are different than the classic acute poisoning, and once I was sick and indoors all day every day, I was not doing too well. (HAVE YOU CHECKED OR GOTTEN YOUR CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTORS TODAY???) Of course that could have been far worse, so even with all the illness, I am overflowing with gratitude.

In the course of testing to make sure the CO was coming out of my system ok, the PA found out I was very deficient in Vitamin D, not surprising for someone who hates milk and lives in the Frozen Northland where the sun is barely more than a rumor for months on end. And right about then I caught the mean strain of bronchitis that Mom had already been battling for several weeks.

Thursday was the musical concert at the school, where the kids played and sang and I was the accompanist for several numbers, Friday we had a blizzard, and today I passed the written test to hopefully get my schoolbus endorsement. (Most of their drivers are also farmers, and spring planting is coming up.)

Work continues on my next book. Have I left anything out? Oh, I am the church treasurer for now, and am switching everything over to an accounting program instead of giant sheets in triplicate, filled out by hand. I have messed up several of the accounts in the program and have to figure out how to make them balance out, and the church checking account is off by a penny that I haven't been able to find yet. AJ said he'll give me a penny, but I'm not sure if that would even it out, or make me off by .02 instead.

That's what I've been up to in a nutshell, emphasis on the NUT. MB peeps remain in my prayers.