Week 48 - Thanks for Coughing

I had a little cough on Sunday but woke up with the definite early signs of a cold on Monday so got out the zicam. It seemed like I was nipping it in the bud and I was able to go to my first power pump class at lunch, which I survived, without feeling any ill effects from the early cold symptoms. I zicamed again on Tuesday and thought I’d thwarted the cold. That is until I woke up with a full blown cold on Wednesday. I spent the day watching the clock, while serenading my co-workers with hacking coughs. I was happy to go home when they gave us the word that we could leave early. I was home by 5:00, which was nice.

I wasn’t hosting Thanksgiving until Friday because Helen had to work Thursday so I was able to take it easy on Thursday, interspersing prep work with relaxing. By the end of the day, the pies were made, the veggies were prepped and ready to cook, the house was set and the pots and pans were even done (a rarity for me.) I had to trust my abilities because I couldn’t smell a thing, not even the pumpkin pie when it came out of the oven. Bummer! It had taken all my energy to get everything done but it was done so I gave thanks and went to bed.

Friday, which totally felt like Thanksgiving despite the later day, was a gorgeous day. I had been on the go all morning and had just sat down outside on the deck, perfectly comfortable in just a t-shirt, when Helen arrived. We did the last minute stuff – made the gravy, mashed the potatoes, put the burn & serves in the oven – and waited for Charlie, who was at the market, and Michael and Brenda to arrive. We had a wonderful dinner. Everything tasted great but the stuffing was the best ever (thanks to Bell’s seasoning – a New England spice blend I’d bought in RI this summer) and Helen’s cranberry jello salad was it’s usual yummy self.

Charlie turned the game on and Helen, Brenda and I headed outside to sit in the sun – a very nice way to aid in digestion. By the time the sun went behind the garage and it got chilly, the game was over. Shortly thereafter Brenda and Michael left to head west to her family and we watched the Soloist. When Helen and Charlie left just before 9:00, I did an uncharacteristically adult thing and cleaned everything up before I went to bed, inspired by Carolyn’s example. It didn’t take very long and I was in bed, exhausted, by 10:00.

With a cough that felt like I had razor blades in my chest, I had very little energy on Saturday but was out of Claritin D so headed to the pharmacy and picked up my new glasses before heading back home to sit and knit. I watched an entire British TV series that John had sent me years ago – Footballers Wives – and knitted a ton on my current pair of socks, which have a Christmas deadline. The only productive things I got done were laundry, which I had tons of, and boiling the turkey carcass for stock and picking the bones. I was so tired that it seemed to take forever to get to bedtime.

I slept much better than the previous couple of nights but still didn’t get much done on Sunday – more knitting, made some soup, froze all the leftovers and that’s about it. The only thing on my project list that I accomplished was to style the hutch. It still needs work but it’s a start and definitely looks better than it did before.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend quality time with friends and family. Despite being under the weather, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and now need to start putting the finishing touches on Christmas prep. It’s less than 4 weeks away!