Blogging is more strenuous than it looks

I haven't blogged in a week.  I've been sick.  It's been a crummy, horrible, terrible cold.  The kind that sits in your chest and makes breathing a conscious act and not the involuntary respiration you've enjoyed in the past.  You all know what that kind of cold is like.  It sucks all the energy right out of you.  However, I went to work as much as I could last week.  I wanted to make sure I passed this crummy cold around to as many people as I could.  After all, they were nice enough to give it to me.  I just wanted to pay it forward.  Unfortunately I did miss my small group bible study last night and last week.  I didn't want to give this cold to them.  And, I missed church on Sunday.  So, I failed in my effort to attend church every Sunday in Lent.  I haven't been walking either.  There you have it.  I'm not all the way better, but I'm well on the way to being there.

I discovered, during this ailment, blogging is a lot more work than I thought it was.  Last Tuesday I was home.  I thought I was going to have some dental work done in the morning, so I took the day off of work.  I hate going to work with a numb mouth.  It just doesn't work for me.  I have to answer the phone all day, so I'm bound to bite my lip or do something like that and injure myself.  It's just not worth it.  The dentist (who thankfully underwent dental hygienist training), looked at my tooth and decided I could wait until May to get this work done. My insurance wouldn't pay until May, so it's worth waiting until then to have a crown replaced.  Crowns are BIG money.  So, I went home and thought I'd rest and get rid of this cold.  I tried to write something on my blog, but nothing would come to my mind.  All I could think about was myself and how crummy I was feeling.  I discovered even though blogging is a very self involved activity, it's harder than it looks.  Even though this blog is about me, (and REALLY, this blog is all about me, even when you think it's about you) it takes effort to look within myself and discover what I am thinking about things outside of myself.  It is work to put my words in an order that makes sense, not only to me, but to anyone out there that may take the time to read what I write.  Tuesday, I couldn't summon up the energy.

On Wednesday and Thursday I went to work.  I've told you guys I get paid to blog, because I usually write my blog at work.  This works for me.  But not this week.  It took all the strength I could muster to get the basics of my job accomplished.  However, I was FABULOUS at passing germs to anyone with the nerve to walk up to my desk and ask me to do something for them.  I was great at this.  I couldn't summon the attentiveness to read the blogs of my blogger friends.  This was so surprising to me.  I guess I'm getting really old.  Seriously, we are talking about sitting in a chair and clicking on a link to open a blog and reading, for pete's sake.  I couldn't do it.  I know when I was a sahm I took care of a kid when I had a crappy cold.  It's heck to get old.  Everything seems to take so much more energy.

By Friday, I was hanging on by my fingernails.  My boss was going to be out of the office most of the day.  My plan was to get a few things accomplished, like the super-important TEP request for $$ and the letters to and from the important elected officials, and then get the heck out of there.  Sometimes I can't believe how dedicated I am to doing a good job, even when I don't believe in what I'm doing.  I wonder why this is?  I think it has something to do with being a "type X" employee.  (I wrote about this here)  Or maybe it's just another way of me being focused only on me.  This is a scary thought.  I mean, do you think the people who allowed Hitler to rise to power and commit atrocities and worked in the government were only focused on doing a "good job?"  See where my thoughts can go when I can focus on more than just breathing in and out.  :)  Anyway, after I got my necessary work accomplished I went home and went to bed.  After all, what was the use of being at work if there was no one to infect with this crummy cold?

I hoped to have some energy to blog over the weekend, but it was not to be.  It was all I could do to get a few chores done.  Even though my husband is retired, he still doesn't know how to use a washing machine or dryer and cannot fold a t-shirt to save his life.  (I do not understand this in any way)  Btw, I didn't mention this, but one reason I went to work as much as I did, besides wanting to infect more people with this cold, was because it was my husband's first week of retirement.  It just seemed like I would be stealing his thunder if I stayed home from work, sick, while he was home, retired.  Does this make sense to anyone but me?  Anyway, this was all part of my thought process, but since I was under the influence of many doses of cold medicine, it could be a bit twisted.

Yesterday I thought I'd get back on track at work and on the blog.  Yet, when I arrived at the office on Monday I discovered I really hadn't accomplished all that much in my decongestant fog.  And, as icing on the cake of a Monday, my boss gave me a project.  He gave me a mystery puzzler project and said I could accomplish it any way I wanted.  I LOVE a project like this.  So, I spent a lot of time on it and GOT IT DONE.  I guess I'm a weirdo like that.  But, no blogging happened yesterday.  And, I was totally spent when I got home.  On the positive side, I discovered when your husband is retired, but doesn't cook, you can call him and have him order Thai carry-out and pick it up and have it ready for dinner when you get home.  This is the best thing, EVER!  I may do this again some time.  :)

I made it to Tuesday and I'm back.  I'm feeling like I'm going to live and my head is clearer than it's been in a week.  (no comments from the peanut gallery)  There are so many things I need to think about and write about and comment about.  AND, I need to work on my entry for the humorous writing contest.  It true, you know, when you've got your health, you've got everything.  :) 

21.  My health
22.  Eucalyptus essential oils
23.  Projects that allow me to use my brain
24.  Friends playing Words with Friends with me
25.  Old movies on Netflix
26.  Documentaries on Netflix
27.  Ok, I'll just say it, Netflix streaming
29.  Coffee
30.  Hot fires in the fireplace

Musenix was my friend