The Sick Room

The only kind of illness I ever really get (other than all that stupid, in-the-past-thank-gawd stuff related to my endometriosis) is colds.  I think I've only had the full-blown flu once or twice in my life, fortunately.  But, when I get a cold, it is the MOTHER of all misery-inducing colds.  I kid you not.

So, after an awful night fighting a headache (which I thought would get better once I was upright but has only gotten [much] worse), I've got myself ensconced in the sick room today.  That'd be the library, since it has the movies and the flat screen in it.

Hang on, Tucker's gotta go out (being an "only" when you're sick is the pits!).

It's times like this, too, that I wish I had TV reception so I could mindlessly flip through channels, but I'll have to satisfy myself with one of the (let me count the ones I can see w/o getting up) . . . well, I got up to 70 individuals ones, not counting TV series(es?) and collections (hang on, just sneezed all over myself), so there should be SOMETHING I can find to entertain myself.  Plus two new Netflix DVDs.

Anyway, let's make sure I have everything necessary for my infirmary:

• Hideously mis-matched outfit consisting of slippers, PJ pants with duckies on 'em, and an old, reclaimed bathrobe of the ex's that Calvin Klein would be embarrassed to have his name on, given the shape of it?  Check.
• Two annoying cats trying to walk all over me?  Check.
• Laptop at 1/2 battery power?  Check.
• Bag of crocheting?  Check.

Hang on . . . I have to plug in the laptop.  And blow my nose.  Again.

• Stepped-on cat (how was I to know she was laying right under me)?  Check.
• Heating pad?  Check.
• Telephone?  Check.
• Blankets?  Check.
• Headache?  Check.
• Notepad & pen?  Check.
• Long-lasting chews for the dogs downstairs?  Check.
• Hot beverage?  Check.
• Cold beverage infused with Vitamin C?  Check.
• Kleenex?  Check.
• Tall garbage for Kleenex, tall enough that Maisy can't reach in to eat the used tissues?  Check.
• Saline nasal spray?  Check.
• Vick's VapoRub?  Check.
• Bowl of it'll-make-me-feel-better mint ice cream?  Check and consumed.
• Copious amounts of Vitamin C, Vitamin D, plus pseudoephydrine (sp?) for sinus relief (which still has NOT kicked in yet, grrrrrr)?  Check and consumed.

So, there ya have it.  My day.  The chores will have to wait until later.  When I'm sick like this, I usually feel better in the late afternoon for a brief window of time.  That's probably when I'll head outside to do what needs to be done.

A Short Post

[I wrote this at 11:50 last night . . . and then my energy petered out.]

As of roughly 4:00 PM yesterday afternoon, we were BACK IN BUSINESS!

I'm tired. I have no ambition to write. I want people to read my blog and I know the way to keep them interested and coming back on a regular basis is to post regularly . . . but how can you take/make/find the time to write about such a busy life when you're so busy LIVING that busy life?

Good friends came out for dinner last night. He (of the he/she married couple) is leaving for the North Pole on Friday. An Arctic/Polar explorer, he's made a couple expeditions there already as well as a circumnavigation of Greenland a couple of years ago, but this one is a little different: he's organizing and guiding the trip for two individuals who have the money (and experience) to make the trip a reality.

There were originally three men (besides our friend), but he had to put his foot down in favor of the safety of the rest of the team and tell this third guy that he wasn't an appropriate candidate. Just not enough expedition experience. It's hard to do what must have amounted to crushing the guy's dreams, but there's just no "wingin' it" in situations like this. Either you've got "it" . . . or you don't. The guy from Texas and the guy from Israel had it. Guy #3 didn't.

Anyway, with travel tacked onto both ends and leaving a small window of extra time to allow for bad weather, they'll be gone somewhere around 70 days, start to finish. He'll return home the first week in May.