Ugh, a cold

Often, when I experience some kind of emotional stress, I get sick. (I used to regularly get colds after exam week, when I was a student).

Yeah, I think I'm brewing a cold right now. Midday yesterday my throat got scratchy, and in that particular "this-isn't-allergies" way that I notice I get right before a cold. And I was sneezing a lot during lab.

It got SOME better overnight, and I'm still at the stage where I need to blow my nose (instead of the congested stage - "better out than in, I always say").

But yeah. This is not great given how arduous tomorrow will be: full day of class PLUS student defending their master's thesis (not my student but I am on the committee) PLUS meetings at church that are likely to be "fraught" because of the contract discussion.

I THINK I'm going to stay home this afternoon and do research reading (and re-read the thesis that is being defended tomorrow). It's raining like stink right now but if it's let up a little in the early afternoon I think I am going to do something I rarely do and go and get a milkshake, my throat feels like it needs it. It's not BAD, just kind of scratchy - I made it through class okay by having a cup of water to drink from and will do that for next class.

I gargled with salt water last night and I suppose I can do that again this afternoon. I mostly rely on home remedies for these kind of things because most OTC meds play badly with my metabolism or the other meds I'm on. 

At least next week is Spring Break. I have stuff to work on in here (the research I didn't really get done last week and into this week because of the stress over the budget, and also the presentation I am giving in mid-April). I take one furlough day which will be Friday of spring break. (Actually, if I'm really sick over the weekend, I might move that to Monday of spring break).

I also have some over-spring-break personal projects. We are planning a lunch for our departing person (she had an interview with a school district yesterday and frankly, they'd be fools not to hire her, she would be perfect for them) and I want to make her a pair of fingerless mitts as she's admired the ones I've worn over the years. I've kind of clothing-stalked her the past few days and I think purple would be a good color AND I think I have some appropriate purple superwash yarn in the stash (I always do stuff of superwash for people who aren't knitters themselves....)

I also want to finish the current Pony; I finished her head and ears last night before running out of energy to do any more. And probably hand-quilt some more. I figure with the budget cuts AND no local place for longarm quilting, I will just hand quilt the next few quilts. (And I'll be staying home more; fewer trips out to Sherman)

I was fussing a little because I hadn't received the shipping notification for my Doki Doki crate for this month (they charge your account pretty early; I didn't realize that was okay but I guess it is, if the statement hasn't "closed" for the month yet). I was afraid either I'd been dropped off the rolls between the charge and the mailing (an easy enough fix, but it would likely be a refund rather than a box, which would make me sad) or something really big had gone wrong.

I sent them a somewhat distressed e-mail, and noted that this was my sole remaining "fun" expenditure for a long time, and also said, "Help me, Doki Doki, you're my only hope!"

Well, late that evening (they are on California time), I got notification of the shipping (thank goodness) AND a nice e-mail back from one of the people there (he noted that the "Star Wars nerds" in the office were pleased by my reference) and said that there was a "special item" they had made for the crate that took longer than expected.

I'm actually surprised at how agitated that made me, that I didn't know whether the box was coming or not. But I suppose again it's that feeling of EVERYTHING being out of control. And I often do tend to latch on to the little things - one of my colleagues once commented on how preternaturally calm I was on the phone when I had to call the fire department about a report of smoke in our building. The big things I can generally handle (Even though I was scared over the dad-in-the-ER thing, I was able to keep my head enough to figure out the most efficient way to get information). The little things are what I tend to fall apart over. (And little things are important to me. I think that's the whole thing of the Doki Doki box - it's not big, it's only 10 or so items a month, but it does make a big difference to be able to say THIS WEEK I WILL BE GETTING THIS IN THE MAIL. I HAVE THIS TO LOOK FORWARD TO.)

But yeah. I'm gonna stay subscribed. Both because I love the boxes but also because I appreciated the sympathetic response I got from one of the guys at the company. (They also do candy boxes, of Japanese snacks and candy, but I like the little toys better and with all my weird dietary restrictions there'd be a lot of things I couldn't eat)