Martian Death Flu

I have the martian death flu. I knew I was getting sick a couple of days ago when I came down with a cough, quickly followed by a sore throat. Yesterday was a snow day, so I got to stay home and rest, which was a really good thing since I discovered that for the first time in a long time, I had a fever! I thought rest would help, but I woke up this morning at 4am and couldn't get back to sleep after that. Around 5:30am I started getting really bad stomach cramps, and without getting to graphic, let's just say I couldn't keep anything down. At 6:45 I got a phone call saying that our school was open today, so I had to get up and get ready for work. Right around the time I was getting dressed I realized I wasn't really in any shape to teach. I headed off to work anyway because I needed to make sure my sub had a lesson plan. I spent 20 minutes trying to write out a lesson plan, while answering phones to tell people that we were open today. I was also trying to not be sick again, but wasn't so successful with that. I left work at about 8:30 and headed home. I stopped at Safeway to get some supplies like gingerale, Buckley's cough syrup, some chicken noodle soup, and buns. I finally got a short nap this afternoon between 2 and 5. Now I'm going to make my chicken noodle soup and watch tv for a little while, then it's back to bed for me!

114

Today I did something I promised myself I wouldn't do again for a long, long time. You see, I have an addiction that I've been trying to break myself of. It's been hard, but I thought I was making real progress until today. I was even good over the holidays - a time when most people "fall of the wagon," so to speak. There wasn't even a very good reason for my weakness today. I didn't have a bad day or anything, I just simply fell prey to temptation. I'm not particularly proud of this. Yes my blogger friends, today I bought some new socks. Plural. Not as in one sock for each foot; I bought several pairs of socks. Ten pairs to be exact.

I was walking through Zellers this afternoon on my way home from work. I was looking for a cute pair of slippers to wear on pajama day next Friday when I came across the socks. That's when I spotted them. A 5-pack of gorgeous blue socks. They were calling me. I grabbed them. Then I spotted the equally cute 5-pack of pink socks. PINK! How could I be expected to resist beautiful socks in my favourite colour? But by that point I'd already fallen in love with the blue socks. So, I ended up buying both packages. I am weak. You see, a while back I decided that I owned more than enough pairs of socks to last a lifetime, so I decided to stop buying myself socks. I was doing pretty good too - I haven't bought my own socks since April. I got a pair of socks from Paris back in the summer from my best friend. I got four pairs of socks over Christmas from various friends and family. But I haven't purchased any socks for myself in ages.

Here are most of my socks (the ones currently in the laundry hamper stayed there) piled on my bed. The new pink and blue ones are on the right side of the pile in front. Aren't they pretty? I have socks for pretty much every major holiday (Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween, and Christmas). I'd love to complete my holiday sock collection with socks featuring Canadian flags (for Canada Day) and socks with turkeys (for Thanksgiving). I also have a fairly extensive collection of handknit socks from my relatives in Germany. I get a new pair each Christmas. I love them for the cold weather - I wear a pair at night during the winter to keep my feet from freezing.

After taking the picture I decided to count all of them. Yup, if you haven't already figured it out, I have 114 pairs of socks, including the ones currently on my feet and the ones in the laundry hamper. My socks used to occupy one whole dresser drawer on their own. One drawer isn't enough to contain them all anymore. I had to put the cold weather socks in a different drawer since they take up a lot of room. The holiday socks, since each pair only gets worn once or twice a year, ended up getting moved to another drawer too.

Here's the sock drawer with all the remaining socks crammed into it. Hopefully I'll be able to get over my momentary weakness and not let it happen again this year. Then again . . . life is short and I do love my socks!

Welcome, 2008!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed their holidays . . . I have! So, how did you spend New Year's Eve? I went to see a movie with a friend and then came home. Since we were both rather tired, we skipped the whole "watch the ball drop on tv" thing and headed back to our respective homes to try and get some much-needed sleep! I was in bed reading (I'm re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if you're curious to know what's on my nightstand) when it became 2008 :-) I'm looking forward to a 2008 that's full of more adventures, friends, and family. Since I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I don't have any to share with you today. I hope we can share the adventure of 2008 together!!