Week 1 - Happy New Year!

After Sunday's marathon of chores, I woke up Monday feeling back to normal. I spent the day preparing for my tea on the 1st, which is a new tradition. I had knitting bags from Norway for everyone and so just had to clear the bar, get out my teapots and decide what to serve. I hadn't gotten my Christmas treats at Aldi so didn't have a panettone or stollen so was looking for ideas. My sister had a recommendation but I didn't feel like baking (!) so was unenthused. When Andrea called me from Aldi saying they had both panettone and stollen, I was thrilled and had her get both.

I did make some ruggelach and mini quiches on Tuesday morning so put them out with marzipan candies from Norway, some gingerbread cookies and my usual blueberry goat cheese on gingersnaps. It was a decent spread and I was ready for everyone to arrive at 1:00. There were 7 total including some knitters I hadn't seen in ages. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the sun cooperated and filled the room with light. When everyone left, which coincided with the sun going down, I cleaned everything up and got ready for tomorrow. I'd been off work for almost four weeks so was actually looking forward to going back.

As usual, campus was deserted. With New Years falling mid week, lots of people had taken the rest of the week off so it was nice and quiet while I caught up on emails and kicked off the monthly reports. Brook was out sick with influenza, which is rampant in Nebraska, so I was flying solo. 

On Thursday evening I noticed a bit of a cough and congestion but oddly just chalked it up to Norway nose, which made no sense since I'd been elsewhere for two weeks now. I gave no thought to it being a cold so didn't Zicam, which bit me in the butt. By Friday morning I was coughing and had chest and head congestion. It being dead, I emailed Nora (who was off) that I'd be leaving after lunch and then told Layton we were doing Chinese so I could get soup. I didn't eat much, dropped him back on campus and was home by 1:00. It felt SO good not to have to fight the cold. Little did I know that was the best I'd feel for days.

I had a fever Saturday and my chest hurt. Not just when coughing mind you but all the time. I was coughing a ton and that made it hurt even worse. I took a Claritin D and sat like a zombie all day. I was so out of it that I watched the entire Homecoming series on Amazon and didn't under stand the ending so had to call Carolyn. I had no recall of the episode that explained it. Yup, I was sick. 

My fever broke Sunday morning but the cough was still brutal. I called Nora at the end of the day to say I wouldn't be in on Monday. I couldn't get 2 works out without coughing and sounded horrible. My usual guilt at calling in was nowhere to be found. I went to bed early in hopes that I could get some sleep between bouts of coughing. Damn! Not a good start to 2019 but it could only get better.