The Red Jello and Gingerale Blues

I couldn't find any clever pictures to illustrate the way I've spent the last several days ... shuffling miserably between the bed and the bathroom, aching and shivering with a rather unpleasant flu bug. This thing came along quite suddenly and I'm only now feeling that I can eat a few soda crackers and drink a mug of broth without feeling queasy. Ideal for pre-holiday weight loss, but other than that, NOT GOOD.

Before that, I had two days of serious Christmas shopping... the result of which is heaped in a pile on the far side of the bed with a tablecloth spread over it all so curious eyes won't look. Normally I sort and hide everything quite cleverly, but what with sudden nausea and such, I simply couldn't deal with it.

When I felt ready to venture out of the bedroom, I did make it down to the family room couch to lie around and watch movies. Perfect. I watched Michael Moore's "Sicko," which has me ready to move to Canada... "Love Actually," which I'd seen before but forgotten I'd seen before (and I'd forgotten it took place at Christmastime), "Bewitched" with Nicole Kidman which I found charming and fluffy and just perfect for a fuzzy sick head... and best of all, I stumbled onto an all day marathon of America's Top Model which I'd never seen and which, in this state, fascinated me no end. (Actually, it did make me realize that modelling may be much harder than it looks.)

You can tell I've put my sick time to good intellectual use.

So. I'm hoping to get back to something akin to normal tomorrow. We are late getting the tree up (although all of the other holiday decorations are up) so that will happen tomorrow afternoon after Caroline's riding lesson. Then, stomach and bowels willing, Caroline and I will head up to Sacramento for my best friend Beth's annual cooking baking party on Sunday. I may just park myself in a corner (away from the cookies) and watch. We'll see.

I hope you all have been having festive holiday fun. And wash your hands often, people!