It's my party, and I'll sling snot if I want to.

Last Saturday was my birthday. I normally take my birthday off from work, so this year I decided to take Friday off instead. On Tuesday afternoon, I felt poorly and hoped I wasn't getting a cold. On Wednesday morning, I woke up to a sore throat, my early sign of almost anything wrong with my body. All day Wednesday, I added lemons to my tea and prayed that it would be a mere cold and not a flu. I knew I'd know the next morning. On Thursday morning, I woke up to a cold--snotty nose and sneezing. No chills, aches, nor pains. I went to google:


Score! It was definitely a cold and not a flu.

It had been so long since I'd last gotten a cold that I experienced each symptom as a phenomenon. I was astonished to find that I could not smell or taste anything, and strangely enough, I mourned the unpleasant smells as much as the pleasant ones. One of the dogs farted, and it was weird not to smell it. I stuck my nose into Starbuck's paw and got no Fritos. Of course, I was sadder not to be able to taste my homemade pesto, or the flavors of the meat in the gyro I had for lunch, but I came to realize that dog farts and trash and school bus exhaust are as much a part of the fabric of life as gyros and the vanilla in my lip balm. I missed them all.

On Thursday, I stayed home most of the day, and attempted to take a nap with the dogs on the couch. Autumn and Linden are great napping buddies! Starbuck, not quite as much.








Friday was my day off, as planned, so I did laundry, and took TB out for a sweet sixteen lunch! Her birthday is the day before mine. At a Greek restaurant, I failed to enjoy the aforementioned gyro. On Saturday, I slept in, and DL and I took a short walk on our neighborhood trails. I had planned a White Mountains hike, but didn't feel up for it. We went back to the Greek restaurant, and my sinuses had cleared out enough that I could taste my gyro!

On Monday, I returned to work and found that my coworkers had planned a party for me the prior Thursday. Seeing as they are awesome like that, they had my party without me, but hung the decorations all over my cubicle and saved me some of the cake:


Astonishingly, the store-bought cake still tasted fresh... preservatives, man. Gotta love 'em.

MC presented me with the office card, signed by everyone, and a gift bag from herself, full of cheese and crackers and wine and chocolate-covered fruits. MC is one of those friends that makes you thankful you are alive and sharing a world with her:


Here are cute photos of the girls:





How cute is Booger??


I'm feeling much better now. I've consumed one (1) box of store-brand tissues, one (1) bag of Ricola cough drops, nine (9) lemons, and half of my rose hips that I picked and dried last fall. It'snot a big deal. :)