The Sick Day: A Top 10 List

Both my RRHB and I have been struck by the nasty cold going around. We woke up this morning feeling faint, coughing, and feverish. Right now, I'm all achy and exhausted, meaning the last thing I want to do is sit down at the computer and write. Except the weekends, Saturdays in particular, remains the only time I can squeeze out of the seven days to get anything done for me. And by 'for me,' I mean work on the book, blog, read, conquer a to-do list.

1. I've been reading The Value of Nothing by Raj Patel. Today I learned that, "the energy cost of the 550 million Big Macs sold in the United States every year is $297 million, producing a greenhouse gas footprint of 2.66 billion pounds of C02 equivalent" (emphasis mine; 44). That's certainly not cheap food by any standards.

2. I had decided that January was non-fiction month. I finished up A Year in the Merde, loaned to me by a co-worker, thinking it was a memoir. Oops.

3. Opening up my virtual drawer where the novel has sat for many, many months was both freeing and panic-inducing. It's almost time for me to put it out into the world. I'm terrified of this -- but I can't hold on to it for much longer. One more draft and I'm ready to take the plunge to try to find an agent. Given the state of Canadian publishing, I know this won't be easy.

4. My emotional state vacillated so much this week -- from elation to heart-pulling sadness, from determination to abandonment. And then I had lunch with a sweet, good friend who has had a very, very hard time over the last little while. Perspective, the giants say, is everything.

5. Dinner parties are the new house parties in my life. I think I might try to have them once a month, if that works, for two reasons: 1) we have some amazing people in our lives and 2) I like cooking. Pleasure is just that simple.

6. Work is the new holiday. Since I lost all my holiday time due to illness last year, I think I'm in a funk -- I'm craving a proper holiday. More than a week. Somewhere that takes an effort to get to. Sightseeing. Walking. Sleeping. For the first time in my life, it's kind of an unaffordable luxury. Our house is our holiday at the moment. We made the choice, as my RRHB said the other night, to buy and fix up the house. But I'm a selfish girl, sometimes I want to do what I want to do...even if it's not in our budget. However, we're sticking to our budgets.

7. Swimming during the week is the new eating lunch at my desk.

8. The weather has almost been warm enough to garden. Or at least consider the idea of gardening.

9. Our Niagara Falls mini-break (one night's stay in a hotel; The Family Stone show at the Niagara Casino) was exceptionally fun. I highly recommend going with the flow.

10. Being a vegan is impossible.