Oh, bah!

Well, it appears I have walking pneumonia, and really, I couldn't be less excited about that. I am glad I went to the doctor and that I now have a good supply of Levoquin, but I am not happy to feel like such a heap of crud. While at her office, I asked about a sore spot on my foot that's been noticeable for months. Ten minutes later, I found myself in the X-ray room; during that procedure, the technician asked if I had a cold and when I said, "no actually, walking pneumonia," she exclaimed, "oh my gosh, I know people who have died from that." Find and use your filter, honey! I'm sure the foot thing is nothing, but seriously, people. I'm not getting that old, that quickly, am I? Naturally Tom left for NY this morning.

As such, I wish to send a virtual shout-out (since I really have no voice) to my in-laws who are so kindly and enthusiastically picking the boys up at camp and then keeping them overnight. I am a lucky and appreciative girl.

Back to my hot water/lemon/honey concoction.

Power back, feeling worse, quick trip through the yard

It is extremely hot in DC right now; like north of 95° and climbing. Last night, about a half hour before our guests were to arrive for dinner and I'd planned to get the fruit crisp in the oven, our power went out for no apparent reason. You might recall that this just happened a few days ago, necessitating a hurried and expensive trip to Talbert's for some dry ice. Anyway, everyone arrived sweating and did their best not to look too chagrined when I told them there was little respite inside. Fortunately, power resumed in mid-dinner, and I was able to get that dessert a'cooking. Priorities, folks! UNfortunately, I feel truly terrible today- my chest actually burns when my body is seized with the urge to cough; my throat feels like it's covered in rough, swollen, tender, bruised, scratchy growths, and my limbs feel like overcooked spaghetti. Also, my mouth aches. I hate it when that happens, when my gums throb just sitting there doing nothing but holding my teeth in. Shit. As such, I will be dragging my pitiful arse to the doc at noon. Honestly, I hope it's strep or something similarly treatable; I'd rather jump on some meds than ail lamely, especially as Tom left town this morning. I am truly the worst sick person I know. It's just not my strong suit.

After dropping the boys at camp (there are no words to describe how grateful I am that they are happily there), I took a quick spin through my yard for some aesthetic therapy. This Casablanca lily plant is the pride of my garden! And though nothing else is successfully producing, my tomatoes are rock stars.

Sickish student Sunday

Although I felt oh-so-yuk today and J tried on his lying hat for size, we'd scheduled a sitter weeks ago and so I found myself with four hours towards the end of our day. This was a gift for many reasons but not least because I had a great deal of homework to do, and it was blissful to get to immerse myself in it, largely uninterrupted. I watched most of the lectures from week 1 of The Science of Gastronomy (my second Coursera course), spent a lovely 90 minutes on my writing group's bimonthly conference call and snuck some time on my newest puzzle. What is up with my current obsession with puzzles?! Last night I spent a brief while researching how and why jigsaw puzzles are good for your brain simply to justify the amount of time I've recently devoted to them.

In any case, I just love my writing group and feel so fortunate to have met these women several months back- when was that, ladies? And the professor for the Sci Gast class is infinitely more interesting and engaging than were the profs from Intro to the US Food System, so yay for that too.

I plucked a bunch of lilies from my garden -they are fragrant as all get-out- and we grilled a pizza and finished that point of obsession in my basement. Two 1,000 piecers done in a week! A lovely night, and now I've a date with my hubs and the newspaper. Buona sera all.