Blue-Footed Musings

Yesterday morning my temperature was normal. I felt just good enough to get up, do laundry, and take care of the kids. I let my hubby sleep in my daybed for most of the day. I stayed downstairs with the children and tried to keep them occupied. We listened to music, colored pictures, wrote silly poems. That was enough to wear me out. By the end of the day, I was exhausted and my fever had come back.

I’m trying to take it easier today. There are things that have to be done, of course. I already did the dishes, made lunch, threw in a load of laundry, and walked to the end of the driveway to pick up the paper. Now I am in bed, and I will try to stay here as much as possible. Lying down is essential to recovery.

Tomorrow we have to get back to our usual schedule. Marshall is well enough to return to school. I have no choice but to return to work. My deadline is looming. My boss was able to squeeze a few more days out the schedule for me, but that’s it. Now it’s up to me to make sure the work gets done in time. I have never missed a deadline, and I don’t plan to start now.

Do you know what’s really bad about the flu?

EVERYTHING.

Everything about the flu is really bad.

We are still sick. We are totally exhausted. But I suppose we can take some small comfort in the fact that we probably have the B strain. The doctor said the B strain is a little less awful than the A strain.

The name of the game is “Flu” and it’s played like this:

Feel a little better. Get up. Immediately feel worse. Get back into bed. Feel cold. Bundle up. Start feeling so hot that you can’t stand it. Sweat so bad that you soak your clothes. Feel chilled. Change clothes. Fall asleep for a while.

Repeat and repeat and repeat, until it’s finally over.

ANGER: you have to use it or lose it. Channel it into something good, or let it go.

I still have not finished my 2017 photo album or my 2017 posts. We are now more than halfway through February, and it’s past time to start looking forward rather than backward. Consequently I have decided to push off the photo album until later this year. The kids are getting older, and I take fewer pictures of them, so yearly albums aren’t a necessity any more. Every other year ought to suffice. I realize that if I don’t finish the 2017-2018 album later this year, that likely means I will never finish it or any other. But that’s not an immediate concern, just something to keep in mind as we get closer to year’s end. As for the 2017 posts, those have to be finished now or abandoned. I’m making that my project for the weekend.

Patriot’s Dream by Barbara Michaels

Grade: C+

I’m enjoying my Barbara Michaels binge, but I wish that her writing had been more consistent. Patriot’s Dream is not one of her best. I just read it a couple of weeks ago, but I don’t remember the details very well, so forgive me for any inaccuracies in this review.

Patriot’s Dream was published in 1976, the year of the United States Bicentennial, and the story goes something like this: a young teacher is on the cusp of a mental breakdown, and she needs some time off, so she goes to Williamsburg to stay with her elderly aunt and uncle in their historic home. In exchange for the free room and board, she does housework and cooking for them. She starts having vivid dreams about the Revolutionary War. The dreams revolve around some of her ancestors, who once lived in the same house. During her waking hours, she attracts the attention of two suitors. One is nice and boring. The other is mean and less boring. The story moves back and forth between past and present, culminating in a brief meeting of the two timelines and the weak suggestion of reincarnation. In the end, no one element of the story ruined this book, but nothing quite worked either. I struggled to finish it, and I was dissatisfied with the ending.