Things to Feel Good About in a Downer Week

Starting on Sunday I got knocked on my ass by a wicked chest cold. Usually my illness follows the same pattern: scratchy throat, post nasal drip (yuck, sorry), then after a night of (not great) sleep I wake up and BOOM! I'm congested and drippy and gross. After a few days of marveling at my body's infinite capacity for producing mucus (again, yuck, sorry), I feel the cold move its way into my lungs. I end up with a hacking cough and daily asthma attacks until I can get enough rest and vitamin C for the cold to make its way back out of my breathing tubes.

Weirdly, this time I got almost none of the head congestion; just a feeling of being tired, headachy and scratchy-throated on Sunday, which I perhaps wrongly attributed to dehydration caused by excessive drinking and snacking (see my last post). And then on Monday I woke up with a killer headache and a cough that got worse and worse as the day progressed. Suffice it to say that on Tuesday I called in sick and didn't even work from home - a first for me in this job. On Wednesday, although I felt less tired, my asthma and coughing were so bad that I had to work from home AND use my nebulizer (the asthmatic's secret weapon, an intense vapor delivery of albuterol for twenty frigging minutes per dose, which leaves me with a racing heart, numb hands, and a cold, achy body) twice.

So, you ask, where are the things to feel good about?  I'm getting to them. I know. I'm long-winded. Here goes:



1) Remember that workweek moratorium on alcohol? Holding steady so far, and it's Thursday. No doubt being a sickie has helped me out with that, but still, I feel like it's good to be able to keep to my goals regardless. Even when the roomie offered me a beer last night (usually the true litmus test for me vis-a-vis willpower, since it's possible to ignore temptation when I can pretend it's not there but much more difficult when someone else offers it to me), I was fine going without. I may decide to extend the moratorium through the weekend.

2) I've actually been eating the food I bought at the farmer's market! Well, with help from M, anyway. Of course we ate the bread in like two days. But we've also eaten the whole bag of arugula (actually, most of that was me, since I cooked up the last half yesterday while at home and ate it with the leftovers of The Minimalist's pasta with arugula and anchovies that we made Monday night). And last night I sauteed the chard with some pine nuts and garlic and tossed it all into a pot of Annie's white cheddar mac 'n' cheese. Pretty tasty, though next time I'll cook the chard for longer (it was ... shall we say ... chewy) and perhaps be stingier with the pinenuts. (There are a LOT of pine nuts in my fridge. I WAY overestimated how many to get back when I made pesto and now every time I see them they are, like, reproaching me). And I think tonight or tomorrow night I'll roast the brussels sprouts (though not sure what to serve them with. This is often my problem with vegetables, actually).

3) I actually made it into the office today. Of course, my coworker is in a terrible mood, and has yelled (at his computer, b/c he really wants to yell at some of our coworkers in other cities) and slammed the door and sighed REALLY REALLY LOUDLY like twenty times today. So that one might be a wash. But at least I'm here, and so far I'm caught up or ahead on all of my work stuff. Plus, I am pretty sure being saddled with a coworker who throws temper tantrums is karmic payback for all of the times I loudly sighed, growled, slammed things around, and cried over frustrations in my last job. It ain't fun to be in charge of IT stuff. I should know.

4) Not a terrible lunch today, comparatively. Turkey sandwich with lettuce, sprouts, tomato and mustard and only half my bag of chips. OK, I know it's still a whole serving of chips, but who eats half a bag of chips at lunch? People with willpower! (Or colds that leave them congested and scratchy-throated and less hungry than usual. Whatever).

5) It's only my second day in the office this week but tomorrow is Friday!

6) This weekend I've got zero plans except for a possible trip to the Drafthouse (where I haven't been in forever) to see Jane Eyre. And hopefully lots of sleep and nutritious food to get rid of this lung-monster once and for all.

And lucky number

7) I am finally getting a car! And it will be (mostly) free! My dad called last weekend and, long story short, offered to give me his three-year-old Ford Escape (with only 39K miles on it, and with an extended warranty already paid for) and sign me up for his family insurance plan so I can get discounted insurance. So all I have to pay for is the insurance and gas, plus whatever inspection/registration fees I'm assuming I'll have to go through once he signs the car over. I was weirdly nervous when he presented me with the offer, since I had to decide right away ... but when am I ever going to get a deal like this again? When I decided to move to Texas I knew I would probably want a car at some point, and I already have parking included as part of my lease. And now I'll be able to take road trips to see family, easily run to the grocery store or Target, and explore more of my new city. Win win win.

All things to feel good about on a day in which, to be honest, I'd still rather be flopped down on my couch watching episodes of No Reservations and guzzling peppermint tea.