Sick-at-Home Thursday

Called in sick today. My philosophy on illness is, if I stay home and rest when I first start feeling ill, the course of whatever I've got is cut short. If only my cow-orkers held the same belief. Instead, they bring their various and sundry germs to the office and share. In this case, sharing is not a good thing.

I have a very robust immune system, so I never get sick-sick. Even when I had appendicitis, my system made a remarkable attempt at non-surgical healing before convincing me that I had something worse than food poisoning. So it takes a lot of waffling before I decide to stay home. Today's complaints include that achy-all-over feeling, prickling sinuses, sore throat, little headache, stuffy ears, and general exhaustion, but no fever or vomiting (two sure-fire, stay-at-home triggers). Since I have weekend plans, though, I definitely want to feel better fast; I have a rule against being sick when I could be having fun.

In an attempt to have fun, or at least win a keychain, while being sick, I called into WUMB to answer their Question of the Day. My answer was so far off we won't even mention it.

I'm not so sick I could not do some knitting, but it's random stuff: finishing the "Clara Barton" socks to the toes, starting another ballband warshcloth, working on the lace shawl, etc. In place of knitting comments, I'll just offer a few random observations.

1. When you start using phrases like "I'm just saying" in memos at work, you are probably reading too much Crazy Aunt Purl.

2. Do you have a favorite coffee mug? I have several that I reach for first. I also have preferred pairs of underwear.

3. If you are a "quirky alone" you might want to read Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, a collection of essays about "cooking for one and dining alone". One of my favorite suppers is a giant bowl of popcorn, sprinkled with parmesan. Since I cook it on the stovetop instead of in the microwave, this counts as a hot meal.

4. I have decided that I lack the capacity for experiencing the "leap of faith" required to believe in God and whatever passes for religion these days, yet I am acutely interested in all things spiritual. Like Susan Werner's new CD "The Gospel Truth".

5. I listen to WUMB out of Boston via the Internet. All folk, all the time. It just kills me that Susan Werner and Meg Hutchinson are playing tomorrow night in a city far, far away, but not that far from some of my relatives, who in all probabilty don't know what they are missing. I think Meg is releasing a new CD soon, too.

6. Why do we own dogs? I have a poop-and-pee containment system for the rabbit cage that involves an underpad, which the dog occassionally gets into. She then eats rabbit poop. Ordinarily, this is not a problem unless the dog eats the cecotropes (everything you ever wanted to know about rabbit poop can be found here). I don't know which she has eaten until she starts vomiting later on. And we won't even discuss how she considers the cat's litter box a snack machine. It's a good thing she is so cute.



Time for another nap.