Note to self:

Next time you transfer the contents of a cardboard box of oatmeal into a large, attractive, clear glass container, remember to snip the directions for actually making the oatmeal from the original package and insert it into the large, attractive, clear glass container.

For the record, one cup of water and a third of a cup of dry oats worked out just fine.

I store dried beans in large glass jars and always pop the empty bag in the jar so the cooking method is at my fingertips. Why didn't I do this with the oatmeal? Probably because I use oats to make things like oatmeal cookies or oatmeal bread, rather than plain old oatmeal cereal.

This morning, though, a bowl of hot oats topped with a little brown sugar and a spoonful of peach preserves sounded comforting and perfect. And it was!

How I wish I felt better. I realize a cold is going to last a week or seven days, whichever comes first, and I have a couple more days to go, but I am so tired of being sick.

I was up yesterday morning for about three hours and then went back to bed and stayed there until I woke myself up, coughing, at about 6. I read the first book of the Hunger Games trilogy and started the second. Finished reading the Thanksgiving issue of Martha Stewart Living. Played solitaire on my BlackBerry a lot. Slept a lot. Coughed a lot.

I did not, obviously, finish unpacking my weekend-trip bags, or do any laundry, or fix a decent dinner. Ramen noodles two nights in a row. I've probably gained six pounds just from the sodium.

Oops, speaking of pounds, I forgot to report my progress yesterday. Yes, I did remember to weigh myself, despite my Mucinex-addled brain, and I lost one. That brings me back to the six-pounds-lost mark I hit the second week of October. Meaning I'm now losing a sensible one pound a week.

Heh. I can rationalize anything.