Croak, Croak!

I have a cold.  It really sucks.  Yesterday, I couldn't talk.  Zach was running around playing in the street, and I couldn't scream at him to get out of the road.  Seriously.  What eight and a half year-old doesn't know you don't play in the street?  I had to have Riley do it.  He's seven.  I feel like the best mom ever.  Today, my voice is back, it's just really, really awful sounding.  My friend came over to give Kaleb a birthday party invitation for her son, and she noticed.  My ears are all plugged up and I can't hear as well.  My children know this and seem to find ways to take advantage of it.  I am on the mend.  Saturday, I felt it coming on.  By bedtime, I knew I wasn't well, but coulldn't sleep.  Sunday, I stayed home from church and tried to sleep, but Kaleb stayed home with me so that didn't really happen.  I was weak and tired and coughing and my throat hurt.  Yesterday, I was fine for most of the day until after Kate left.  Then my voice just died.  It said, "You have to shut up!"  It's not like I really talk all that much during the day.  I mean, the only person I have to talk to is a five-year-old, and all he wants to do is play video games.  Which because I was sick, I did let him do.  Usually, it's a half hour limit.  My kids are addicted.  They need to figure out how to use their imaginations.  So today, I can talk, I just sound like an old man who smoked for 50 years.  Which is good that I can talk because my mom came by today and gave us some old walkie talkies, and I just found Zach up in the tree in our front yard instead of doing his homework.  I should have taken a picture.  It would have been awsome with this post, but I was too mad.  They were breaking the rules, again.