sending the ma~~~ out to all who requested it and big squishys for everyone.

behave to the tumbling kitties and yay for new ginger boy

Thanks for the ~ma for my aunt. They don't know what's wrong. She doesn't have any symptoms, but she's had a second episode, so they can't figure it out. She's being admitted to hospital, so I'll go see her tomorrow.

All kinds of ~ma for your aunt, Vortex.

I got a call around 8 tonight. School is cancelled again for tomorrow. And, we have Monday off for MLK day. So, I've got a 5 day weekend.

I just checked the weather. It is currently -19 with a wind chill of -32. I'm glad I stayed in all day.

Health~ma to your aunt, Vortex.

I just checked the university website - classes canceled until noon.

But offices open and staff to come in at their discretion. I need to do payroll.

But do I really want to wait for a bus?

Well, luckily a compassionate person saw me and gave me a lift so I am safe at work. And trying to thaw.

It's in the 20s (F) here. As this is NC a lot of people aren't used to dealing with sub-freezing temperatures. Since I visit my sister in Michigan for Christmas every few years I have some good winter clothing, so I just nod sympathetically in my hood, wool cloak, and warmth-over-fashion gloves.

Still, I'd rather be home cuddling Liefur. Just before I left today I opened the front blind, on the window that overlooks the bird feeder. I left Liefur gazing raptly at kitty tv.

It's -2 here (a tropical paradise compared to some of you), and I'm extremely happy that Friday is my work-a-half-day-from-home day.

And, oh my god you guys, last night around 10:30, I started throwing up (and then later, diarrhea), and I was afraid it was the stomach flu/go to the ER all over again. I couldn't keep even water down, so I couldn't take the leftover anti-nausea and anti-diarrhea meds they gave me at the ER, because what's the point?

Finally, around 1:30 a.m., when things had stayed calm for ~45 minutes, I said a little prayer to whoever was listening and took the meds with a wee tiny bit of water, and then laid down with my hands on my belly, muttering "stay DOWN, stay DOWN, stay DOWN."

And they DID. So I slept through the night, and I just took more meds to stay on the safe side of my GI tract. Plus, gatorade. Yum (not).

The Boy had some dubious GI cramps after dinner, so I'm wondering if something in our dinner caused it. But it's hard to narrow down what might have been the culprit: salad with romaine and tomato -- well, either one of those could have had ptomaine/salmonella/whatever along for the ride. Pasta with newly-opened jar of alfredo sauce, shrimp that was pre-cooked and then frozen, and leftover artichoke hearts that were maybe 1 week in the fridge. So it could have been the artichoke hearts, maybe the whole batch of alfredo sauce was bad (I should check Ragu's Web site), or the shrimp could have been off (except I would think that they fact that they were pre-cooked and then frozen would kill off anything nasty).

Hard to tell. But today I'm sticking with gatorade and crackers until such time as my stomach will be happy with toast.

Yikes, Teppy. You've had more than your share of those kinds of woes. I'm glad you're feeling better.

I'd rather be home cuddling Liefur.

Kitty!

Drove to work today in non-heated car.

Got here over an hour ago and I'm still freezing my arse off.

t this post brought to you by the elusive, yet still lurking slightly Aims