Serendipity

The cold that Cubby has had all week may not be the worst cold in the world, as he proclaimed, but it's certainly no trip to the beach. Poor little dude had one of those nights last night when all the nastiness in your head drains down into your head and you can't sleep. You know those nights. He woke up crying every couple of hours. After a soothing whisper-singing of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," he managed to go back to sleep the first three times.

I did take pity on him at four this morning, though, when he woke up crying that he was too sick to sleep and wanted to wake up. I know that feeling too well when in the grip of a nasty, snotty cold; the only remedy is to get up, no matter how tired you may feel, and let your head drain.

So we got up. Half an hour and a cup of very sweet tea later, he revived long enough to tell me about his friend Turtle's tomcat, named Tommy Cat. Apparently he has a sickness, too.

Join the club, Tommy Cat. Charlie started coughing and dripping yesterday, and I've been fighting this thing off (and losing) since Wednesday.

It's super fun around here, as you may imagine.

But! Lest you think this is going to spiral down into a snot-filled whinge-fest (too late), allow me to access my inner Pollyanna and detail the reasons that it was good timing for Cubby to be home sick this week.

A.'s Roadmaster is still at the mechanic. Yes. STILL. Three weeks and counting. Apparently they're rebuilding the transmission with parts forged by hand in Kazakhstan and transported to upstate New York by yak. Or something similarly slow.

Anyway, this means that A. has been using my car to get to court and his office and everything else. Since the only thing I need my car for is to get Cubby to preschool three days a week, Cubby not going to school has meant that we could avoid the musical cars we've been playing with the Subaru and the MiL's car for the past two weeks.

Silver lining number one.

Also, due to that incredible snowstorm we got on Wednesday and the ensuing mess on Thursday, preschool has been canceled for two of the three days Cubby usually goes anyway. So he didn't really miss much this week.

Silver lining number two.

With the exception of last night, Cubby sleeps more when he's sick. So I've been getting some good long naps and early bedtimes this week.

Silver lining number three. Enough Pollyanna.

The only really unfortunate result of Cubby's illness this week is that it has prevented me from getting to the Small City to pick up my brisket. See, I had to special-order a brisket from the butcher for corning. St. Patrick's Day is coming right up, and you know I can't go back to a store-bought corned beef this year after last year's triumph.

Unfortunately, we haven't bought a whole cow in awhile and thus don't have a brisket handily sitting in our freezer for corning. When I was in the Small City on Saturday, I stopped at the butcher to get one, but they had to order one for me. It was supposed to be there yesterday, but I couldn't get there to pick it up.

I think St. Patrick's Day is going to be celebrated on March 19 at Blackrock this year. The brisket has to brine for five days, so we will adjust our holiday celebration accordingly. It's an arbitrary date anyway, right? Right.

And now that I've rambled on for far too many paragraphs about snot, broken cars, and brisket, I think I will take my leave of you. Have a fabulous Friday, my lovelies, and keep on keepin' on.