The cure for a bad day

Sometimes, when you have a bad day -- a day when you had several Christmas/Hanukkah parties to attend, but had to cancel all of them because you're sick and no one wants to hang out with a sick person, and you feel like a leper and even your boyfriend tells you he thinks you'd sleep better on your own (because he doesn't want to say what he's really thinking, which is that he doesn't want to come down with your horrible illness, what with his grant application due next week), and you can't take your temperature because after combing through your entire bedroom you realize that thieves stole your thermometer because it was in the box along with all your jewelry that they took, and then when you think there's no way things could POSSIBLY get worse you check your mail and what do you find? A jury summons -- on days like that, a little bit of retail therapy is in order.

And sometimes, on days like this, one pair of black, fleece-lined clog boots just isn't enough. Because if happiness isn't a new, second pair of black fleece-lined clog boots, then I don't know what it is.

Thank goodness for friends like Slinky, who know where to find a pair of clog boots in my size!

Sick day

I've been feeling under the weather all week. It's been all I can do all week to drag myself home, throw some food into the microwave, and shovel it down my throat without tasting it before heading to bed around 7 pm. Yesterday, my roommate suggested I take a sick day. Other people didn't even bother suggesting it; they assumed there was no way I'd be going in to work.

I assumed the opposite, because teachers never take sick days. When I mentioned to a couple of my co-workers today that I am feeling under the weather, here are some of the responses I got:

"I took my temperature this morning and I had a fever. I felt too bad leaving B alone with our crazy class, so here I am." (B has mentioned once or twice that this class is driving her to drink, so I understood her hesitation.)

"I haven't been able to keep down anything but toast since Monday."

"I had to have a CAT scan yesterday."


"I had explosive diarrhea all day yesterday. No warning whatsoever. But I have too much work to do, so I came in anyway."


Uhhh. Well, I don't have explosive diarrhea, or a fever. But I feel crappy and I'm staying home, dammit. I'm pretty sure the kids will survive without me.