Tag Archives: bloggers sick day

Once Again, I’ve Said Too Much

This is not exactly a blogger’s sick day, but I don’t know what else to call it.  The stupidest thing happened.  Oh well, maybe not the STUPIDEST, but stupid enough to call it so, and already I am typing too much.  This morning I got a mysterious pain in my forearm, just a little above my wrist.  I didn’t worry about it, because it didn’t hurt that bad.  I just went to work and went about my business, because, you know, I work for a living.

And it kept hurting.  Off and on, with gusts of real pain followed by lengths of irritation, interspersed with increasingly shorter periods of not feeling bad at all.  I don’t think it was work related, because, well, I wasn’t working all that hard (don’t judge me), and I figured it would go away eventually.  However, I thought it would be a good idea to just mention it to my boss.  You see, if it was work-related, and it turned into something serious, and I hadn’t told anybody, I could get in big trouble.  So I always err on the side of saying something, even at the expense of feeling stupid. I know, it is not an unusual feeling for me.

My boss sent me down to the nurse.  She emphasized that she could not diagnose nor even force me to do anything, but she gave me an ice pack and some ibuprofen and suggested the following:  I should continue to ice and take ibuprofen as needed and wear a wrist brace, which she also gave me, when working.  And I should rest it.  I mentioned that I type a blog every night, and she told me I shouldn’t do that.  She said I could type a very short one, while wearing the wrist brace, and explain that I had an arm problem and would not be blogging for the rest of the week.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Not blog every day?  Say it ain’t so!  Still, one does not want to aggravate an injury, or whatever it is.  And I don’t want anyone at work reading my blog and getting mad at me if my arm still hurts (oh yeah, like any of them reads my blog! I have such an ego).

So this is all of today’s post.  It is longer than I had intended, and perhaps longer than recommended, but I’m even leaving some stuff out.  What can I do?  I know, sign off before I up my word count even more.  Don’t tell the nurse, but I intend to post again tomorrow.  Perhaps I will attempt to type one handed.  Then there could be no possible objection.

 

Slacker to Shout-Out

After a rather horrible blogging week (culminating in a Lame Friday Post that got zero Likes!), I find I must have a Slacker Saturday.  Or maybe it’s a blogger’s sick day.  At any rate, I intend to just type in some nonsense, hit Publish and get on with my evening.

First some complaining:  my head is spinning.  I had a headache every day this week.  When I woke up with the beginning of one this morning, I foolishly took some migraine medication.  Oh well, sometimes dizziness is better than pain.  It hasn’t been totally bad all day.  I got a few chores done: three loads of laundry, a (very) little cleaning and a trip to the store.  Oh, shout-out to a local business!  The post won’t be a total loss.

I went to T & J’s Fruits and Vegetables in Herkimer, NY (where I live).  I had taken some sausage out of the freezer for dinner and wanted a green pepper to go with it.  There were red peppers there too, but I decided on one green one for tonight.  I picked the one I liked best.  Then I saw some eggplants that looked nice.  Eggplant, pepper and sausage.  What could be better?

When I put them on the counter I saw some homegrown strawberries.  Yum!  The lady at the register recommended some cherries that were there as well.  I put my stuff down and said I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t something else there I’d like.  I was glad I did, because I had almost forgotten we’re out of yellow onions.  Sausage and pepper without onion?  Say it ain’t so!  I got some of the strawberries but declined the cherries.

Driving home I remembered garlic. Damn!  I had pulled the last bulb off the braid I had gotten at the Mohawk Valley Garden and Herb Festival in Little Falls last September (come to think of it, that braid lasted a LONG time.  I must not be cooking enough).  When I got home I checked and there are still a few cloves left.  Phew!

I feel certain my dizzy head will allow me to cook dinner without major mishap.  Perhaps I could write a post about it tomorrow on Wrist to Forehead Sunday.

 

Baby Fat

Oh dear, I just sat here looking at the blank computer screen and watching the end of an episode of Reba.  It is a silly show but not without charm.  Uh, I mean, I never watch television.  I don’t have time to watch television, let alone a foolish half-hour sit com.

We all know that’s not true, at least anybody who has read many of my blog posts.  Hell, just yesterday I was talking about Galavant, and that’s one of the classier shows I watch.  How many times have I hurried through my post so I could get back to watching World’s Dumbest, a show which is sadly missing from the schedule many days lately (I’m not ending this with a question mark, because it was rhetorical).

OK, I’m just rambling.  The reason I’m rambling is that I do NOT want to take another Blogger’s Sick Day.  And yet, here I sit. My throat is sore, my head aches, and I have that all-around crappy feeling.  I believe it is nothing worse than a common or garden cold this time, but you know what a big fat baby I am about these things.

I believe there is a theory that I could strive to be less of a big fat baby.  As a matter of fact, I have already taken steps in that direction.  Today was my first day back on the South Beach Diet.  I don’t really expect to be less of a big baby, but I hope that soon I will be less fat.

 

Non-Sequitur Sick Day

On the brighter side, I haven’t had a headache in a long time.  On the darker side, there’s Darth Vader.

I am attempting to write my blog post while on a break at work, so that I merely have to type it in later, when I will be pressed for time if not brain power.  I am a little pressed for brain power now, in case you hadn’t noticed.  Unable to come up with anything of substance, I fall back on trying to be funny.

I’ve always tried to be funny.  It’s fun, it sometimes gets you friends, and it can cover up a load of insecurities.  Of course there are those times when the humor falls flat or you get accused of trying too hard or being inappropriate. Nobody’s perfect.

My headache is getting worse.

That is when I stopped writing and went back to work.  I felt fairly bad-ass for powering through a migraine.  At least, I felt that I was bad-ass, which is not quite the same thing.  What I actually felt like was Westley in The Princess Bride after Count Ruger has sucked five years of his life out of him on that torture machine (I’m just going to assume we’ve all seen that movie numerous times and and quote all the best lines).

Full disclosure:  I am in fact NOT pressed for time right now as was earlier predicted, because I called the director of the play I am stage managing (Lunch Hour at Ilion Little Theatre) and told her I was ill.  So it is a stage manager’s sick day as well as a blogger’s sick day.

It ought to be Non-Sequitur Thursday.  Unfortunately, except for that lame Darth Vader joke in the first paragraph, I’m afraid I’m kind of… sequential.  Not consequential, mind you.  However, as a consequence of my migraine, I’m going to go sit on the couch and relax.  Hope to see you on Lame Post Friday.  Have fun storming the castle!

 

Me and Balzac

Hello, and welcome to another edition of Lame Post Friday.  I am your host, Mohawk Valley Girl.  To be perfectly honest, I would be taking another Blogger’s Sick Day, but it would be so tiresome in me to complain about my aches and pains.  Uh, I mean I don’t have any aches and pains.  I’m great!  I’m fine!  Everything will be delightful!

I got to work today and immediately sought out my friend, Dale, to say to him, “Balzac.”  I did not see him at first but paused to say hello to my friend Karen.  I told her, “If you see Dale, tell him Balzac.”  I thought she might not remember that, even after I explained why, but it did not matter, because I soon saw Dale and told him myself.

The explanation, which is not nearly as captivating as the word “Balzac,” is that Dale and I often work on crossword puzzles together.  Balzac was an answer we could not figure out.  While I was reading something completely unrelated the previous evening (while I waited for my desktop to boot up), I found out that Balzac was the writer referenced in the mysterious clue.  I spent the rest of the evening repeating, “Balzac” to myself so I would remember to tell Dale.

Full disclosure:  I have never read anything by Balzac.  I don’t know that I have even ever mentioned him in a sentence before this.  However, if this has been remiss of me, I believe I have made amends in the previous 24 hours.

If the ghost of Balzac is listening (and I’m sure I don’t know why he should be), I hope he is having a pleasant Friday, as indeed I hope you are yourself.

This was perhaps a silly post, but at least I didn’t whine too much.

 

Name Brand Lame

Is it Lame Post Friday or a Blogger’s Sick Day?  I feel really bad, too, because I had some good topics to write about.  Only I can’t seem to write today.  I can’t even read, if that gives you any indication (and it should).  Oh dear, now it is turning into Wrist to Forehead Friday.  Oh poor, pitiful me!

Um, those last two lines were me making fun of me.  Nobody has to chime in with any unkind remarks, unless such behavior is essential to your own health and well-being.

I woke up with a headache today.  I did not think it was too bad at first, but it escalated.  Still not too worried, I took some Equate Migraine Relief (just a little gratuitous product placement) and a nap.  I have spent the rest of the day fairly headache-free but SO LIGHTHEADED!  It sucks to be me!

On the brighter side, that parenthetical comment gave me a topic to expound upon at least briefly.  Product placement is often derided on movies and television.  Some people believe the producers are merely sucking up extra bucks from the manufacturers of those products.  We, the poor hapless viewers, are tricked into watching high quality commercials which will no doubt hypnotize us into purchasing said products.

However,  it seems to me that to NOT have the products placed is to take away from the realism of the scene.  For example, when was the last time you walked into a bar and ordered “a beer”? Nobody does that!  They ask for a Labatt’s or a Heinekin.  They might possibly say, “What do you have on tap?”  but they expect to hear specific brands listed and to pick one.

The fact is we are a brand name society.    Some people drive the same make of car for decades.  Others are intensely loyal to a certain brand of sneakers.  And there is the tendency to mix up brand with product, as in calling tissues “Kleenex” and photocopies “xeroxes.”

Oh, I know, many people eschew brand names and are proud to do so.  My Equate pills are, of course, a store brand, which are cheaper than the Excedrin they imitate.  I purchase store brands in many of my favorite foods.

It raises an interesting question.  Which is better?  When are you paying for just the name?  I have long threatened to have a party where I serve two of every refreshment, one name brand, one store brand and solicit comment.  You know, one dip with Crowley Sour Cream and Lipton Onion Soup Mix, one with Hannaford versions of same, served with store and name chips, of course.  The advantage of this, of course, is I’ll have twice the chips and dip.  I do love chips and dip.

My running shoes have been name brand for years.  I wear different brands, but I haven’t worn a non-name since I started to enjoy running in the army.  My non-running shoes have been… whatever I happen to pick up at a good price.

How about you, dear readers?  Are you loyal to any brands or do you proudly purchase whatever is cheapest?  Do you perceive a difference in quality?  Do you feel a blogger like me should refrain from making lame posts when feeling light-headed from non-name over the counter drugs?  Are you having a nice Friday?

Mine has been intermittently enjoyable.

 

Too Sick to Type Anything Good

I called in sick to work today, and I am taking a Bloggers’ Sick Day. On the one hand, you might think I would not have to. After all, I spent the day sleeping and trying to hydrate (a doctor told me the body can ride out many things if it just stays hydrated). One might think I would be feeling better enough to write something decent (wait a minute, would this be one of those hypothetical people we discussed yesterday? Never mind). It has often been observed, I can’t do anything about what other people think about me.

I am feeling marginally better. I woke up in the night with dreadful insomnia. After striving NOT to toss and turn for a couple of hours, my stomach started in. I’ll spare you a blow by blow of my sufferings, but it was bad. I am a HUGE baby when I am sick, and this was worse than my usual sinus, headache, light-headed things that I seem to spend so much time complaining about. One thing about intense nausea, when it finally goes away, I feel SO HAPPY! When the headache goes away, too, my life will be perfect.

Being sick makes for quite the boring day. Sleep felt good when I finally got some, but I couldn’t sleep all day. I read a little, but my head didn’t like that. I thought about turning on the TV but couldn’t quite make up my mind to (indecisiveness is often another symptom of these illnesses). I got on Facebook, but all I could think of was this other (terrible) job I had. A guy had called in sick, and the boss said, “But he was on Facebook this morning.” I was not even on Facebook at the time, but I remember thinking, “Oh, come on, to sit in front of the computer and maybe hit a few keys, you can do that with your head in your hands feeling awful. Getting stuff done at work, not so much.”

This morning, I wondered if any of my Facebook work friends would say, “She can’t be too sick; she was on Facebook.” So I made sure I posted how awful I was feeling. Then I felt guilty, because other people have far worse illnesses than mine (see above statement about me being a baby). Then I got off Facebook, because my head was hurting again.

My husband just looked over and said, “It sounds like you’re saying more than, ‘I’m taking a blogger’s sick day.'” Thus proving my point that you can type in dire circumstances. However, as the late, great Truman Capote once said, “That’s not writing, that’s typing.”

Also, I’m Lightheaded

Yesterday when I shared my blog post on Facebook (as I always do), I made the comment that I proved I could make a blog post even when I had a terrible headache/upset stomach thing going on (NOT due to the subject of the post, I made clear). I did feel dreadfully ill. I felt proud of myself for not taking a blogger’s sick day. I felt better today.

Till after work, when I felt ridiculously tired and brain dead. OK, I felt brain dead most of the day at work, too. I tried to work on blog or novel during lunch but could not. I returned to a letter I had started to a friend and found I could not make much progress on that either. What gives, I asked myself. Headache aftermath?

All this by way of introduction to this week’s Non-Sequitur Thursday. I feel it is a non sequitur that yesterday I was ill but today I am taking a sick day. Is it easier to overcome illness or inertia? Hey, how did you like that sentence? Every word but “to” began with a vowel, and some people wouldn’t even count “to.”
And now I just ended a sentence with a preposition. That is one thing you are not supposed to end a sentence with.

And now I’m being silly. What a surprise. Sorry, sports fans, my head’s just not up to it. I’m going to slap on a non sequitur-ish headline and call it a night. Happy Thursday, everyone.

It Really, Truly Is a Blogger’s Sick Day

Remember yesterday, when I kind of sort of didn’t wuss out on the blog post? I seem to remember saying that a Blogger’s Sick Day had been a real possibility. Guess what today is.

Oh, if only I could end it there, hit publish and have done with it. Well I can’t. I have felt too awful to write a blog post but not too awful to write at all. I wrote a couple of pages on the play I am working on. It is turning out to be a farce, and it gets sillier as I go. And yet, the silliness is beginning to make sense. Perhaps that is just the virus talking. Whatever.

I was supposed to do laundry after work. I got halfway to work and realized that although I had the dirty clothes (Steven had put them in my vehicle last night), I had forgotten the detergent and the quarters. And my cup of coffee (the coffee was not essential for laundry, but it was going to make the quality of the day ahead of me much better).

Reflecting that a sorrow shared is a sorrow halved while a joy shared is a joy doubled, I told my sad story to one of my work friends. He offered to loan me $20. When I said no, thank you, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a five dollar bill, which he insisted I take. He also found me two dollar coins in another pocket, which he pressed on me. He wanted me to at least be able to have some coffee.

There is more to this story, but I am too ill to continue typing. I am going to bed. This has been my Non-Sequitur Thursday post for the week. Thank you for playing.

At Least the Turnover Was Good

In my defense, I have a sinus headache.

I thought I would lead with that instead of making it the headline.  Now I don’t have a headline.  Yes, it’s Tired Tuesday.  I was working on my play during breaks at work today.  I was aware, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I did not have an idea of what to write a blog post about today.  If I was smart I would have spent some time thinking about it.  And here we come to the ugly truth about me.

When I got home I looked in my notebook and found a post I started in January about Munson Williams Proctor Art Institute, which I had visited in December with a sister and a friend.  I thought I could use it, so I typed it in.  Turns out, not so much.  I need to work on it.

I know, I KNOW, just work on it now.  I draw your attention to the first sentence of the post.

The other thought I had was to give another shout-out to Heidelberg Bakery, because my husband went there earlier and bought us bread and a treat.  I thought I could spend at least a couple of hundred words expounding on the delightful experience of eating a chocolate turnover. Yum!

Then again, who wants to read the word “yum” two hundred times?  I’m thinking it is marginally more entertaining to read about me not writing.  But perhaps I flatter myself.  I hope you’ll tune in tomorrow,  Wednesday, when I will strive not to Wuss Out.