How We've Spent Our Weekend

This week (really this whole year already) has been crazy. I'll save you from all the boring details--but as a family we were all really looking forward to the weekend. Jesse had to work last Saturday and because of that I ended up needing to work on homework on Sunday (something I usually do my best to avoid but it was the only free time I had.)

 Not only did we miss some good old bonding time as a family of 3, we have a lot we need to get done in these next few Saturdays. For starters, my ghetto phone is slightly broken (again) and Jesse's coworkers have kindly been hinting that I'd make everyone's job easier if he had a smartphone. We decided it was time to join the modern world and become smartphone users, and while we were given lots of helpful advice through facebook, we know that there is a lot more to learn by doing research (aka actually looking at these phones in real life.) Then there's the issue with our computer. The literal day my online class and online internship both started our computer guy gave us a really sad verdict: Our computer was on the verge of dying. Thankfully, in the mean time our brother and sister are letting us borrow one of their spare computers so I can still take care of my classes but we kind of need to get going on finding a computer on our own. And believe me when I say there is a pretty impressive list building in regards to all the things that keep breaking around our house. I was really looking forward to our tax return until I realized too much of it is going to replacing items instead of saving it like we initially hope for. The poopy part of being an adult *sigh*

Anyway--Friday was here. Penelope was feeling much better from her Wednesday night fever which was 104.7 and had me in complete panic mode. A runny nose and the occasional raspy voice but her temperature was entirely normal by the next day. There was a sigh of relief! Until...all of a sudden I was spending my Friday blowing my runny nose.

Saturday morning I woke up and my throat felt on fire. My nose was clogged up, and my ears and head felt like they were about to pop off. I'd never experienced what my husband told me is sinus pressure so there was quite a bit of anxiety for me there before he explained that it's normal in the sense of being sick. Slowly my morning progressed from bad to worse when I too had a temperature and a small barky cough. We ended up having to cancel our plans so I could opt for laying in bed all day long. This is something I might not have minded had I'd actually seen my hubby for more than a few hours everyday day this week but instead I was pretty sulky, doing what we knew would help kick this nasty cold.

By 8pm last night I realized there was a pretty good chance this cold was sticking around for the long haul (aka a few more days) which was not allowed to happen because Super Bowl Sunday was tomorrow. Quite possibly one of my favorite days of the year. And amplified excitement since my team, the Patriots, are the ones vying  for the win.

Side Note: How can Super Bowl Sunday be your favorite day of the year? Because it's like Thanksgiving but even better!: 1) Lots of yummy food, (and in my opinion better than Thanksgiving food. Chicken wings, come on!). 2) Watching a great game where everyone really cares about the outcome. 3) Hilarious commercials. 4) Hanging out with family and friends, everyone having a good, relaxing time.

But back to my point. I could not miss the Super Bowl Sunday party. Sure I could watch it from home, but who wants to do that? Alone. Sick. With no yummy food. Not I! That's when the getting over a cold/soar throat went into overload mode. I looked up everything I could to get over this quick. Here are some of the things I tried:

• Drank 3 cups of chamomile herbal tea
• Put some essential oils on my throat
• Ate a giant handful of marshmellows (really it's supposed to be the root that helps but some argued marshmallows helped too.)
• Advil since it's an anti-histamine
• Stuck my head over a boiling pot of water
• I tried the humidifier earlier in the day but we only have one so Penelope got to have it over night.
• Nasal Spray
• Saline drops
• Hot shower
• Blowed my nose frequently, but gently
• Rested
• Gargled salt water multiple times
• Drank a giant glass of warm water with cayenne pepper (yuck!)
• Drank chicken noodle soup broth
• Put a warm, damp towel on my face
• Slept with an extra pillow under my head
• Drank OJ for vitamin C (clearly, with all the drinking that was going on it resulted in needing to use the bathroom every other hour...)
• Hydrate (clearly, that was accomplished)

I think the only thing I didn't do that was recommended was chew on some garlic. That just wasn't going to happen. So did any of this work? The results: Kind of. 

I slept really great, aside from the bathroom trips. However, for research purposes I can't tell you if it was one thing over the other since I kind of did most of these one after the other. I'm convinced it was eating the marshmellows but Jesse disagrees ;) what does he know?

So yeah. Great night of sleep. Except for the fact I woke up about an hour and half ago and felt just as crappy as the other day. This time I opened my mouth to say something and words literally couldn't come out of my mouth (the marshmellow conversation took place over part sign language, part writing out the words I didn't know how to sign.) Which means...I get to spend the super bowl alone:(

Jesse offered to stay home but I couldn't make him miss all the fun. It looks like it'll be a party of one today (though maybe two. It depends on how Penelope feels when she wakes up. It's 10:30am here and she's still sleeping...so it's not looking good.)

Regardless, I'm still holding out hope that somehow I will be healed by 2:30 (the time we will leave for the Super Bowl Party.) So if you could send good, healthy, vibes I would appreciate it. Also, if you have any other suggestions for getting rid of this nasty cold (mostly the soar throat though. That hurts the worst, asides from when I get sinus pressure) please feel free to comment below or in my Facebook comments. I'm willing to try most things; I am determined!

Your sick friend,

There was actually no throwing up involved, I just thought this picture was hilarious!

PS. No real picture today...unless you're interested in seeing my yucky, crusty nose...