She Likes Purple

Strep Can't Hold Us Down!

Yep, it's strep. The negative test on Tuesday was laughing at us behind our backs all week, turns out, since it was shiny and positive this morning! But, we're gonna shake it off and move forward. The post office was nearly empty when I went this morning, and the workers were friendly and helpful. I'm taking that as a sign my luck is changing.

Besides the mustard stain on me and the obvious need for a haircut on him, strep ain't keeping us down, am I right?

(Well, it's still keeping us on the couch, but at least we're not on the couch pouting, so I'm considering that a victory over it.) 

I Did Not Have This On My Wish List

The string of words I may just hate more than any other string of words is, "Kyle feels a little warm." These are the words Mike said to me just last night and less than 24 hours later Kyle was on my lap in his doctor's office with a very high fever. 

(Kyle is kind of known for his very high fevers and, man, do I hope that notoriety changes to something more awesome in the years to come. Like Very High Paycheck or Very High Adoration For His Mother or, even, Very High Threshold for Reality TV Subjection.)

Anyway, we're doing ok, what with the vague diagnosis the doctor sent us home with (probably a virus, could be the flu, might be pneumonia, let's revisit on Thursday if the fever's not gone), but the best part of all this is that I woke up sick this morning, too. I've been feeling a little something coming for a couple days (Mike was sick all last week), but I can sometimes ignore those feelings long enough for them to go away. Not this time, it seems. This illness is kind of like our laundry pile in that way.

Just so you know, my very long holiday to-do list did not include "sit on the couch all day with Toy Story 3 on an endless loop" but I'm now adding it just so I can draw a line through it. When people ask where their presents are this year, I'm just going to go ahead and dive into why I think Lotso was more a sociopath than just a bear dealing with abandonment issues. One thing to have trouble trusting and maybe run a weirdly controlled ship but quite another to SEND ALL THE TOYS TO THEIR FIERY DEATH WITHOUT REMORSE. 

Anyway, let's hope that we're all back to better by Sunday, and here are a few other things I've been meaning to tell you about. 

- I totally failed on creating my Holiday Activities Advent Calendar, so I'm considering creating a January Activities Calendar instead. January kind of sucks anyway (well, after my birthday) what with all the dieting and exercising and cold-ass weather, so why not inject a little fun into it. I'll think on some activities and share them with you.

- Speaking of dieting and exercising, I'm giving up meat, alcohol, and sweets again this January (well, after my 30th birthday party OF COURSE), and while it seems sort of eye-rollingly ridiculous and/or annoying, it's something I kind of enjoy doing and definitely benefit from. So, yeah. That's the plan. Who's with me?

- Katie has kicked off a very cool charity donation series this week. Comment on each post so a little extra money goes to each awesome charity she's featuring. I love the idea and hope you'll comment.

So, there you have a few odds and ends of us right now. A lot less "Christmas menu finalizing" and more "medicine administering" than I'd really prefer, but this is what Christmas GETS for being smack-dab in the middle of cold-and-flu season.

This is also a perfectly fine reason to go ahead and add booze to each meal of the weekend. Or, at the very least, ice cream. Oh, don't act like ice cream isn't the perfect side dish for Christmas dinner steaks. 

My Advice to You: Start A Book Club

Kyle is sick again.

(Sick toddlers don't need pants!)

It sucks as much ass you'd imagine.

But, we're not dwelling on that. (At least not here, you can bet your sweet selves I'm dwelling on that in my living room and to my husband and in my head.) We're going to instead talk about the silver lining that was my book club while Kyle was sick because my book club is just so awesome.

I know, Book Club by itself sounds not-so awesome. Much less awesome than, say, Wine Club or Gossip Girl Club or Nap Club.

(OMG, HOW AWESOME WOULD NAP CLUB BE?)

But, my Book Club kind of kicks serious ass.

(I don't actually think it should be capitalized but I insist that it will be because it is the first and only Book Club of its kind.)

See, a few months back, inspired by Book Lushes, Kristie, Natalie, and I organized a little in-person book club. I don't think any of us were particularly optimistic about how it would turn out. I think we imagined the three of us would get together for dinner once a month and maybe say a few words on the book we decided to read. I thought my words would most often be: didn't read it.

But, Book Club has turned into this incredible girl's gathering of laughter and intelligent conversation and meeting new friends while appreciating old friends and also there's usually good eating, which is what every club -- book, napping, WHATEVER -- should include, am I right?

In January we read The Giver. In Feburary, Room. And in March, The Book Thief. (April is The Help.)

I keep thinking I'll write a post per book, a mini-review, but I also keep thinking I'll win the lottery. Meaning, my thoughts are .... cute.

So, I'll just say that I love my Book Club not just because it inspires me to read more and ask better questions about what I'm reading but because I feel I'm part of a group of smart women celebrating our own time and friendship and good pastries, too. I swear I leave that group each month thinking, OMG I LOVE BOOK CLUB.

My 21-year-old self just rolled her eyes, took a tequila shot, and flipped me off behind my back.

***

Also, it wasn't just Book Club that provided me solace during Fever Watch April 2011. There was also a girl's night prior to Book Club night (these lovely ladies are all in Book Club, fyi) and a baking night with a friend, too. In fact for a weekend that was FILLED with Fever Worry, I did an awful lot of socializing. (Don't feel too badly for Mike, I did an awful lot of Waking Mid-Night and he, god love that man, did not.)