LEARNED & CONFIRMED

Learned: An inability to warm up could indicate a fever - Last night I was cold in the early evening. Our home is cool, though, and I only had one layer of clothes on my arms. I chalked my coldness up to inadequate clothing and headed to a study at church. The church is warmer than our apartment, but I was still a little bit cold. I got home and quickly became covered in goosebumps. I busted out the thermometer and discovered my temperature was 101.4.

Confirmed: Drugs can come in handy - I had to get sleep last night, so I raided our stash of drugstore freebies and took some NyQuil. As I crawled in to bed I told Tim that I really hoped the "marked drowsiness" would occur quickly. It did and I slept soundly until the kids woke up. My fever was gone when I got up.

Learned: NyQuil should only be taken when I have nothing to do for the next 15-20 hours - I rarely take drugs, as I'm rarely sick, and the only ones I take are Benadryl for allergies and various OTC painkillers for ... well, for pain. Last night was my first time taking NyQuil. I took it around 10:30 pm and it helped me sleep well. It also made me incredibly groggy until I woke from a nap at 3:30 pm this afternoon. I was loopy this morning and was only able to read one school book. I plugged in a library movie for the kids and curled up on the couch to watch it with them. I dozed in and out for the first hour of the movie and have absolutely no recollection of the second. I, one who struggles to fall asleep, was completely konked out with two other kids on the couch and a movie playing.

Confirmed: Becca is thoughtful - Becca stopped by unexpectedly around 11:15 today. She knew about our mold situation, so she brought a little something to cheer me up and a sweet note.

Learned: Oatmeal cookies with chocolate and dried cranberries are wonderful - Here is what Becca brought over. Deeeeelish!

Confirmed: Tim is a good man - I got up about the time Tim was leaving this morning and headed into the kitchen to quickly throw dinner in the crockpot. He walked out the door and a couple minutes later I got really lightheaded. Convinced I was going to pass out, I set down the knife that was in my hand and laid on the kitchen floor. I figured it would be best to not have a weapon in my hand as I crashed to the ground and that being on the ground in the first place would feel a lot better than falling there. After a minute or two I told Devon, who was the only kid awake, that I thought I might pass out and crawled into bed.

I called Tim and left a message telling him how I felt and asking him to check in through the day. In hindsight, I think I was dehydrated and loopy from the NyQuil, as I've been chugging water and have felt fine (well, pretty groggy, but not lightheaded) the rest of the day. Anyway, about 11:30 he walked unexpectedly walked in the door. He'd taken the rest of the day off to come home and take care of things around here. He made lunch for the kids, got everyone down for naps, and just popped the biscuits for dinner into the oven.

It's now 5:00 pm and life is good. The fever left during the night, the newest mold got cleaned up about 11:45 today, the NyQuil hangover has finally worn off, and dinner is just about ready.