I don’t get sick too often, so when I do, it’s really hard for me to sit around the house and do nothing.

 

Last Thursday I began feeling congested. By Friday I had a headache, body aches, fever, chills and nausea.

 

I’m told there’s something going around. Well, that something found me and kept me almost out of commission for a week.

 

I spent the next few days trying to do my regular reporting/writing assignments, along with house-related chores. I got through everything. It just took me a little longer - and the sub-zero temperatures didn’t help.

 

My girlfriend Rita had the same symptoms that started a few days earlier. I’m guessing babysitting her grandkids had something to do with that. Young kids are pretty much incubators when it comes to germs.

 

But I can’t say for sure where I picked up my bug. It seemed like everywhere I went, someone was wheezing, coughing or sneezing.

 

Everyone I came into contact with either just had something, or was feeling like they were coming down with something.

 

I’m not complaining, though. 

 

I used some of my down time productively. I made a big pot of my home-made chicken soup. That lasted four days and got me through some feverish nights.

 

I sorted through two boxes of work-related papers and junk mail that had been building up over the past few months.

 

I started cleaning out one of my closets and filled a plastic garbage bag with old shirts and pants that don’t fit anymore. I’ll have another bag or two to donate soon.

 

I emptied all the leftover containers that had been sitting in my refrigerator and freezer for who knows how long.

 

All the hand tools I’d been using in the house over the past few months are now neatly organized - on my stairs. I intend to move them into the shed, once I shovel a path and get the shed door open.

 

I even had some time for entertainment. I got a chance to watch some football playoff games and college basketball games over the weekend. Had I been feeling better, I probably wouldn’t have been watching much TV. 

 

And another perk from my week under the weather - I lost nine pounds.

 

It’s a weight loss plan I’ll call the Tylenol/ Robitussin/Tea/Chicken Soup diet.

 

The great thing about that diet is, even if you decide to eat something else, it probably won’t stay down long.

 

But I don’t recommend it.