I have been remarkably healthy this year. I think I came down with a cold back in February, but the fact that I can't quite remember suggests that whatever it was couldn't have been that bad.
Every now and then, I feel my body flirting with illness. I go to bed wondering how it'll play out overnight, and then more often than not, wake up congratulating my immune system for another job well done.
Tonight I have that flirty feeling again. Maybe I'm just a little run down or experiencing a deep animal need to hibernate. Or maybe it's something more. H1N1 is all over the news and I've got friends currently suffering from viral slapdowns, so I'm particularly wary.
Finding yourself sick without the proper supplies sucks. There's nothing like having to haul your fevered ass outside because you're out of canned soup.
And do you think I can count on this chucklehead for any Lassie-style assistance?
"Cammie! I have been felled by the flu! Here, take this letter that I have laboriously scrawled in my weakened state and get help! Run, Cammie, run! Swift like the wind! You are my only hope!"
Nope. I'm on my own. So tonight I got organized and ensured that I have everything on my sick list:
- hot toddy ingredients**
- soup
- throat lozenges
- cold meds
- books
- movies
- Gatorade
To all the germy germs out there: bring it on.
**Digginteresting Hot Toddy Mix
Serves 2
- 4 cups water
- 4 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- juice from 1 lemon (or to taste)
- 2 tbsp honey (or to taste)
- 2 shots brandy
- lemon verbena leaves, fresh or dried (optional)
Add ginger to 4 cups water, and bring to a boil. If desired, add lemon verbena leaves. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Strain liquid into two mugs. Divide fresh lemon juice and honey, then add a shot of brandy to each mug. Serve immediately.
Note: Don't go overboard with the brandy. In a sickly haze a couple of years back I dribbled too much hooch into the brew and have a distinct memory of being incapacitated on the couch, thinking: "Great. Now I'm feverish and I'm wasted." Trust me, it's less fun than it sounds.
1 comment:
Ohhh, lady, I have done both those things--too much brandy (I concur: sick and wasted = about as much fun as "sick from being wasted"), and attempted to use my cat as a passenger pigeon.
I, too, have been flirting with the flu (which, to be honest, is about as rewarding as flirting with men these days). And, last night while lying on the sofa and wishing someone was there to listen to me list of my various aches and icks in a nasal whine, I drifted off to sleep...waking up about two hours later to a cat paw prodding my cheek.
At first, it seemed sweet, little Birdie checking for signs of life...then, I realised she had placed all her toy mice on the pillow *and* dumped her water dish across the floor, clear indictors she just wanted to be fed.
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