Done. NaPoBloMeMoFo-fee-fi-fiddly-oh. Three days missed, though one of those was because I had no internets. (Nearly two days without, and I lived to tell about it, believe it or not.)

Josh is in NY visiting friends for the weekend… wish I were there with him. While he’s gone, the Christmas music will play nonstop! Ok, that still sucks in comparison. At least I’ll get some more cleaning done– I am slowly catching up after losing a week to the evil respiratory illness. The kids are doing their best to slow me down, but I am persistent and can also bribe them to stay in the playroom for an extra half-hour when necessary.

I think I’m going to buy some cheap glasses online. If the glasses don’t work for me, at least I won’t be out too much money. If everything is good, then HEY, I could have extra glasses lying around. Or have glasses to match my purse and shoes. Or different glasses for every day of the week, like those cute little undies I wanted when I was eight years old but never had. Or maybe just a pair of tinted glasses to wear in lieu of sunglasses. Yeah, that makes sense.

Tomorrow is December 1… must find Silk Eggnog. And dark rum.

Dear TheraFlu:

You seemed so innocent, so gentle in your guise of warmth, pretending to soothe like magical tea. I was unprepared for you to push me down the stairs, berate me and my mother, kick me in the throat, spit on me and then laugh. Such cruelty when you promised only wellness! You offered hope but pulled it away so quickly– I won’t trust you again. At least not at full-strength.

Better off without you,
Erica

p.s.
I think I am finally on the upswing. Much less coughing today and my throat & lungs didn’t hurt til evening. This is good! Khai went to school for the first time all week, though I think Max needs another couple of days with the antibiotics before jumping back into the germ factory.

Funny thing… when mama is sick, the house begins to look like a landfill. I’ve grossly neglected all of the everyday housecleaning for the past several days, and OH does it show. There’s clutter on every possible surface, toys all over the floor, crayons and bits o’ paper strewn about like the remnants of a ticker-tape parade. It stresses me out. The visual clutter is fighting my thoughts for floorspace in my brain.

The kitchen’s not much better. My beloved husband (who took care of all three meals today, because he is awesome) has a little bit of a problem. I can’t blame the full sink all on him– it’s not like I’ve been waiting in line to jump in and wash some dishes– the fault lies with both of us. But there is something amiss. He will spend time scrubbing out dishes and stacking them nicely, OCD-orderly in the sink. It does not occur to him to look ever so slightly to the right where the dishwasher lives. It can be sitting empty, but it gives him far more pleasure to arrange the dirty dishes by size in the sink. I am pretty sure he knows we have a dishwasher, as he does actually use it twice a year. I don’t mean to sound bitter– his dirty-dish-stacking does make loading the washer a breeze– it’s just nice to have clean dishes sometimes, too.

I want to feel better soon so I can clean this place up. Today I got some laundry done, and I’m calling it good… there’s no doubt that the rest will all wait for me to have adequate energy. Behold my exciting life! I AM A ROCK STAR!

It should not be so hard to write one little entry every day. But it is. Especially on a day like today where I did next to nothing. Most of the day was spent huddled up on the couch, buried under a pile of blankets while I tried not to hack my lungs out. My sinuses and head hurt so bad that my TEETH hurt. My throat is swollen to the point that it hurts to swallow water. This. Sucks. Tomorrow will be better. Right? Please?

Both boys stayed home and coughed with me… we were one big coughing family. Too much tv was watched, too many DS games were played. We might as well buy stock in Puffs Plus. (Because the lotion in those really does make a difference, I swear.)

Now I’m off to bed– last night was a coughing frenzy and I got less than three hours of sleep. Hi, I’m cranky!

Coughing, coughing, coughing. And more coughing. We may have to keep Max home from school tomorrow. Khai is doing better, though still coughing a bit. (STILL.) I actually slept a little last night, but omigod, the coughing. It hurts. Somehow, Josh has managed to stay well– cross yer fingers for him.

The end.

Still SO SICK. It has been wonderful to have some of my family here– I don’t want them to leave. Someday I’ll build a big house with guest quarters out back so they can just stay for a couple weeks at a time.

We put up the tree today and got it all decorated; the bottom half has a LOT more ornaments than the top since the kids’ arms can only reach so high. It was Khai’s turn to put the star on top of the tree, and after doing so (with some help from dad), he declared, “NOW it’s Christmas!”

Max found my grandmother’s Crèche and came to ask if he could set up that scene… you know, the Bible barn? Awesome.

We had quite a spread for Thanksgiving dinner and the leftovers will last for days. The turkey seemed to turn out well– I could not actually taste anything (it’s SO not fair to be sick today). Hopefully I’ll be feeling better tomorrow so I can taste the leftovers.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sneezing-coughing-sniffling: not helping my productivity. Most of the cleaning is done, but none of the cooking intended for today. It’s going to be a long night, but I don’t dare brew coffee or there will be no sleep at all.

To-do, to-night:

• mop kitchen, bathrooms & entryway
• vacuum living room and hallway
• fold & put away towels
• bake pumpkin pie
• brine turkey
• put leaves in table
• get serving dishes ready
• fill iPod with dinner music
• sleep!

I decided to go with the Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe, as it looks fairly foolproof. Also on the menu: butternut squash soup, ham, green beans, broccoli spears, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes & gravy, sweet potato casserole, wild rice stuffing, dinner rolls and last but not least, both pumpkin and pecan pie. After dinner I’ll be putting on my comfy-stretchy yoga pants, since that might be the only thing that will fit.

EDIT: Because I have so much to do, it seemed wise to sit down with a mug of hot tea and watch Project Runway. I know, I KNOW.

Woke up sick this morning. There’s no time for sickness… I have to bake pie!

Diana! World Market has the Cadbury Flake bars! When you posted about it a while back I kept thinking I had seen them somewhere– and this time is was not just my imagination. There were a couple of different varieties, so hopefully they have the one you want.

I got most of my Thanksgiving food shopping out of the way today– there are just a couple of more stops left for tomorrow. There were SO many people out; it seemed like everyplace had a crowd. I’m hoping to get an early start in the morning to see if I can get out before things get packed.

Have any of you ever brined a turkey before? I bought a fresh one and am relying on the wisdom of the internets to get me through the brining procedure. Martha, Alton and Betty all have instructions… hopefully we’ll end up with a tasty turkey. If not, well, I think we’re also having ham. Last resort? PIE.