Cabin Fever

After nearly three months of being sick and staring at these four walls, I'm dying to get out of the house as much as possible. It's not as easy as it sounds, however. I only need to go the grocery store or Wal-Mart once a week at most, and there really aren't that many other errands to run. I like to go to the mall because they have a playground and carousel, but I find it's too easy to spend money there, even if it's just on a snack or drink, or something I found on clearance. The money we saved while I was home sick showed me how much of my spending was probably unnecessary. I don't want to go shopping just for exercise and entertainment. I wish I felt safer walking around our neighborhood, but there aren't any sidewalks, and the city park is often full of loitering teenagers and rowdy kids.

I wish we still had our Mommy-and-Me playgroup. April and her husband were the first to move, going to Arizona with their girls, Emily and Erin. That left Eva as the only girl in our playgroup. Then Nikki and Adrian went back to New Zealand with little Jakob, and had a new baby, Caleb, as soon as they arrived.  And finally my friend Rachel, who hosted the group at her house, found out that her husband Alika got a new job in Colorado, and is moving this week with their boys Kainoa and Micah, and new baby girl, Alexis. So our playgroup is pretty much dissolved. Only Jennifer is left, but she's already heavily involved with MOPS at another church. She likes it better because it gives her time with other moms while the kids are in childcare, which is a much-needed break from her high-strung boys, Aiden and James. I don't like the idea of putting Eva in childcare with kids and workers I don't know, especially since she can't really talk well enough to tell me if anything went wrong. I wish I could find another playgroup with young moms like me, because it's already getting a little lonely with my friends gone.