Still sick

But improving. Two days of sneezing and wheezing is plenty, thankyouverymuch.

Everything I wanted to do two days ago – mostly clean out the pantry to prepare for a Whole 30 – will be done today. It's still going to be too cold to walk outdoors, and we might be going to a movie this afternoon, if I feel up to it. If we don't, I'll read more of my book while walking on the treadmill.

No matter what, though, clean eating and resetting my system begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow also is the first day candidates can file for the upcoming primary and general elections (May and November, respectively). Last day to file is January 27. Four years ago I went on the very last day, because I couldn't decide if I was going to run for a seat on the Democratic Executive Committee or not. This year I'll definitely file earlier, and for two positions – county and state committees.

The state committee determines who chairs the state Democratic party, and we need new leadership. West Virginia has gone from reliably blue to blood-red. Clearly we need some fresh ideas and new energy.

So what can I say about Trump today that hasn't been said already? Not a damned thing. Seriously, the guy is demented and immature and unfit. What's left?

This is so boring. I know it is. But I'm tired and sick and it fulfills the requirement of writing something every day.

Be kind.

Sick

No. Really. I've been sick since about noon yesterday. The only reason I'm up now is the dog (aging, frequently incontinent dog) woke me up whining to go out. She has me trained very well.

While I'm up, I'm gulping another Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus (citrus-flavored), checking in here (because two paragraphs counts as writing every day), and making sure the world hasn't blown up overnight (always a concern with Trump in the White House).

That is all.

Update ...

Sick. Again.

Two summer colds in one year is two too many.

My hip still hurts, and I'm not walking.

(The biggest shocker from not walking is I'm maintaining my April weight loss. I haven't lost anything since, but I haven't gained anything either. Scary to me to think that a strict Whole 30 plan – which resulted in a 10-lb. loss in April – is the only way for me to lose weight.)

I'd planned to have company this weekend, but when I got sick I had to cancel those plans. But my house is clean!

So there's that.

I'm improving. No more fever, only a hacking cough once in a while, combined with X-treme lack of energy. I'm going to put some food in the slow cooker and hope it turns into dinner.

And then I'm going back to bed.

On the mend

But still sick.

I talked with the nurse in my doctor's office yesterday, who said unless my fever reached and stayed at 100°, I should continue to rest, hydrate, and use OTC cold medications to relieve the symptoms.

In other words, I have a really bad cold.

They say a cold lasts a week or seven days, whichever comes first. This is the eighth day. That's how I know it's a really BAD cold.

My drug of choice is Alka-Seltzer Cold & Cough Formula. That stuff works.

My exercise of choice is walking from my bed to the bathroom and back. Yesterday I made it all the way to the laundry room. Because, yes, the laundry must go on.

My food of choice is whatever sounds good at the moment my stomach starts growling. NOTHING tastes good. Food has no flavor whatsoever. And I've been known to eat dinner at 9 p.m. because I simply wasn't hungry at 5 or 6 or whatever passes for a "normal" dinnertime.

So odd.

I've not been following the paleo/primal plan, simply because it involves cooking. Which involves standing. Which I haven't been doing very often or for very long. Also, bacon and eggs just sounds awful right now. So … oatmeal has sounded very good lately. I've eaten some plain Greek yogurt with fruit. A couple days I had lunch-meat sandwiches (horrors!) and once it was peanut butter (horror-of-horrors!).

I haven't gained any weight, though, so it's all good.

I think Imma gonna make a salad tonight. Chicken, avocado, hard-cooked eggs, bacon, spinach, romaine.

I can tell I'm feeling better if I'm planning to actually cook.

When we last met …

I was healthy. Ish. Last Wednesday I wrote a blog post, checked e-mail, worked on the Keynote project, cooked dinner, visited a friend in the hospital, and went to an AA meeting.

Since then? Blah. In SO many ways.

I've managed to keep up with the e-mail, and I've continued to work on the Keynote, at least a couple of days. I've been sick, sick, sick, and apparently there's Something Going Around. Or at least that's what my husband reported when he came home from church yesterday.

Thursday and Friday were upset-stomach days. And no-energy days. And playing-lots-of-Scrabble-on-my-phone days.

Saturday I felt congested and tight in my chest. I began coughing. It hurt. Reallyreallyreally hurt. My throat hurt. I couldn't talk. By last night I was running a fever.

Sometime in the afternoon, though, my throat didn't hurt as much and I could talk, although I'm still quite congested. And sneezing. The fun never stops.

So basically I've spent four days in bed, reading (started and finished The Wright Brothers by David McCullough – excellent read!) and playing games and working when I could concentrate.

The friend I visited in the hospital died Friday morning, and that's been hard. Her funeral is tomorrow. I hope I feel up to the drive. The best way to feel better tomorrow is to continue resting today.

I guess. That's my plan, anyway.

Whatever else you do this summer, don't get sick. The grass and weeds keep growing without you. The sun and gentle rain are lovely and tempting and it's painful not to be able to enjoy it.

I'll be back in a couple days, hopefully feeling normal again. But friends who have had this whateveritis have said it can linger for a couple of weeks. That would be adding insult to injury.

Or virus.

Later's better than not at all

STILL dealing with the remnants of this cold, which invaded my body nearly a week ago. Begone! I'm tired of it!

There has been a bit of improvement. I am generally more comfortable in the evening, thus giving me the false sense that I'm over it. But I wake up stuffy and congested, and I have NO energy for accomplishing anything. I have a to-do list. I just don't have the get-up-and-go to to-do it.

I also had a problem with my right eye being very watery, to the point that the skin around it was red, painful and irritated. Dr. Google had me convinced I had a blocked tear duct, but I'm fine now. Sometimes red, watery eyes go along with a cold, right?

So it was 29 degrees this morning at around 10 a.m. Dropped to 16 by noon and now, at 5:30 p.m., it's a bitterly cold 5°F. It will probably be 10 degrees colder than that by the time I wake up tomorrow. And the wind chill factor will take it down to -20°.

We're keeping the heater on in the garage and both cars are parked in it. (My husband usually parks his vehicle outdoors.) Hopefully the water pipes to the washer won't freeze.

In the house, we're going to open the cupboard doors beneath all of the sinks and keep water dripping from the kitchen faucet. I hope a steady drip, drip, drip overnight won't overfill the watering can. (I can't stand the idea of not collecting that water!)

Whenever there's a big weather event, we always joke about how the weather people get way too excited. Many times it turns out to be much ado about nothing. It appears this time they were right. We didn't get the anticipated snow, but we surely did get the cold and the wind.

Begone! I'm tired of it, too!

I. Don't. Like. Being. Sick.

I wonder if my food indiscretions over the holidays helped set my system up to allow a cold germ to invade my body. Doesn't that sound absolutely crazy? But seriously, I've had just one or two sick days in the past eight months (since adopting a primal diet). I'm now on Day Four of Being Ill.

Oh, well. "They" say a cold lasts seven days or a week, whichever comes first. The combination of feeling under the weather and not wanting to be out IN the weather (so, so cold) kept me indoors and in my jammies all day yesterday.

Today, though, I have a walking date with my friend Lynne at 2 p.m. We haven't walked together in a very long time. And while I love walking with my husband, he's not quite as chatty as she is and the miles don't quite fly by as they do when I walk and talk at the same time. He's more of a meditative walker, I suppose.

I've either been ravenous (the first couple days) or had no appetite at all (yesterday) since I caught this cold. Hoping today will be more balanced, although so far I'm not at all hungry. Perhaps the smell of bacon will break through and wake up my taste buds.

Ya think? =)

Bad Weather, Part Two, arrives Monday night and Tuesday will be bitterly cold here. It being winter in the northern hemisphere, I suppose that's to be expected.

Doesn't mean I have to like it, though. Any more than I have to like being sick.

Therefore, I raise a cup of Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus (Orange Zest) to your health. And to mine.

Cold x 2

It is freakin' FREEZING outside! Way below freezing, in fact: 8 degrees, winds gusting to 30 mph, wind chill makes it feel like minus 9.

And I have a cold to go along with it.

It was chilly yesterday, but not so bad my husband and I couldn't walk. Even with a cold I felt like I could get some miles in. It began raining before we got to our halfway (two miles) point. I'm thinking walking in the rain probably wasn't the best self-care strategy I could have employed.

We knew this winter storm was headed our way, so when we got back to the car we went straight to town to fill up the gas tank and pick up cold medicine. And bacon. Because you can't survive a winter storm without bacon, right? Heh.

This is the third day I've felt bad, and the worst so far. I'm going to spend the day resting and drinking chicken broth, supplemented with Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus and vitamin C. My house could use a good cleaning, but the dust bunnies can wait another day or two.

I got through about a dozen of the oldest Vogue Knitting issues yesterday, saving only four patterns. All the magazines are in holders, and I can do a dozen or two every day. We have a wall of built-in bookshelves in our bedroom, holding mostly my books and magazines. The goal is to eventually empty the shelves and move them to the garage.

I'm making good progress on the latest knitting project – yet another pair of clogs – and am nearly ready to choose yarn for a pair of boot socks, a special request from an old friend. THEN I'll do the finishing work on a vest for me, knit the other leg warmer (also for me, and a victim of SSS [Second Sock Syndrome]) and think about which pullover I want to start for myself. Probably this one.

If you're in the path of the storm, I hope your power stays on and you stay warm. It looks quite brutal. Maybe even as brutal as the Weather Channel says it is. Take care!

The streak endeth

I don't even know how many days I walked in a row. I can access the website more easily on the laptop. I'm blogging from bed, on the tablet.

My throat started hurting Friday evening in Charlottesville, where we'd gone for our little getaway. My husband's son was spending the night with us Saturday, so we left early to have plenty of time to get ready for his visit.

By Sunday morning I couldn't talk and decided just to stay in bed. The boys took care of their own breakfasts.

I tried getting up this morning and ended up passing out and falling in the kitchen. Low blood sugar and/or pressure, probably. Throat is still sore. Slight fever. Blech.

But ... it's Monday. We all know what that means, right?

Another 3.5 down, for a total of 45.5. Not bad after three days of restaurant eating.

And now I'm going back to sleep.

What happened to yesterday?

A MASSIVE headache and intense dizzy spells, that's what. Not only did I not want to look at a screen, I didn't want to leave my bed. I tried, I honestly did, but it wasn't happening.

My blood pressure was normal, I had no fever. My husband (who is a doctor) listened to my heart and lungs and I checked out all well and good with a strong, steady beat and no wheezing.

The dizziness was especially disturbing. I haven't had a drink in 22 years, but it was like being spinning drunk. Without the booze. Ick.

Anyway, I was fine by dinnertime (OF COURSE!), and had no trouble eating a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, after not eating anything all day.

I'd planned to run some errands yesterday, but I wasn't about to risk your life by getting behind the wheel of a car. I feel like I can manage it today, and so am headed to Sam's and Tractor Supply. I need the usual – coffee beans, freezer bags, detergent – at the former and I need new fenceposts and fencing tape at the latter.

You know what fencing supplies means, don't you? It's time to start working on the garden! Yay!

Taken Thursday evening. Two inches and still falling.

I brought home some kale and two kinds of lettuce from the garden center Thursday and they're more than ready to pop in the ground. The ground's not ready for them, however. I'm itching to get something in there. We're all hoping the freaky snow we got Thursday (which has completely disappeared) is the last of it.

As soon as I finish the laundry, I am outtahere! I'm waaaaay short on mileage this week and hope to walk today and tomorrow afternoon. It will depend on how badly I wear myself out fighting the weekend crowds at Tractor Supply. Heh.

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.

Wow, what a workout. Part Two.

Modern houses, those built in the past dozen years or so, have high ceilings, reflected most noticeably in the kitchen. Oh, that vaulted cathedral ceiling in the living room looks good, but it doesn't affect you unless you have to change the bulb in the ceiling fan/light combo.

Kitchen cabinets appear to be mounted at least a couple – maybe even as many as six – inches higher from the countertop than mine were 30 years ago. And said cabinets go up and up and up.

Yesterday's workout, therefore, involved lots of stretching and climbing as we unpacked half a million (okay, 500) kitchen boxes. This woman can cook!

First I had to measure, cut and place a million square inches of shelf liner. Then it went like this: Zip open a box, retrieve the contents and put them on a counter, determine placement, grab a stepstool, lift, stretch, deposit, repeat.

Zip, retrieve, place, grab, lift, stretch, deposit, cough, hack, ouchwhat'sthatburningfeelinginmychest, repeat.

I started coughing shortly after arrival on Thursday, but figured it was just the dusty environment of the garage. Yesterday, though, it was the kind of cough you try to suppress because it hurts so. damned. badly.

Along with a sore throat.

So, um, yeah, I'm sick. At exactly the wrong moment. Here I am, trying to earn the help-someone-move star in my crown, and I can barely lift my head off the pillow.

I exaggerate. About barely lifting my head, but not about being sick. I'm armed with Zicam and Mucinex and will soldier on. We should get the bulk of it done today. I am planning to go home tomorrow. I'd love to leave this cold in Tennessee, and arrive in West Virginia all healthy and stuff, but I think I'm going to limp into my own house – the one with the cabinets that fit me – and head straight for bed.