Sick days....

It's been coming on for a while. I've had a headache that most closely resembles a giant needle stuck into the back of my brain. I've been tired. I've been cranky. I've been achy all over. I knew that I was in for something miserable.

I woke up yesterday with a fever and a cough and feeling as if a truck had driven over me during the night. A visit to my doctor confirmed that I had a virus. Not the flu, luckily, but a garden variety bug that has moved in and set up housekeeping.

His advice was to go to bed and stay there. I decided to heed it.

I don't like being sick. I feel helpless and ineffective. I feel like I should be doing something besides watching HGTV all day and dozing off.

But my doctor pointed out to me that in this day and age, people seldom allow their bodies enough rest to heal. It made perfect sense to me.

Besides, I no longer have little kids who need to be tended all day. They are semi-adults now and can, presumably, fend for themselves. I have a fantastic teaching assistant who can take care of things when I am out of school, and everything else, I suppose, can wait for a few days.

So, with my husband out of town and both kids at school, I came home from the doctor, put on my warmest pj's and slipped into bed. I fell asleep and stayed asleep for the better part of the day.

Only, I forgot about the one inhabitant of my house who does need to be tended all day. That's right, Toby, the Golden Lab Hellhound, was left alone.

Toby wasted little time protesting this change in his routine. He promptly ate one slipper, one black permanent marker, two socks, one Christmas cactus, a roll of tape, a pair of boxers (Steve's or Trent's - it was impossible to tell from the remains) and several dryer sheets.

Then he had the audacity to wake me up using his cute little wet nose. Thank goodness Trent arrived home at around the same time.

"Take this dog for a walk," I ordered.

I returned to bed and slept until this morning. I'm feeling a little more human, but I know that after cleaning up the effects of the Toby Tornado, I'll be ready for a nap again.

This time, I am going to chain him to the rear axle of my car.