Sarah takes a sick day the mom way!

Good afternoon everyone!

I don't know if it was the return of Bossman from his two week European vaca, or the hellacious cold I managed to contract a couple of days ago, but I have not been feeling my normal perky self this week.  Apparently, I was so useless at work yesterday that New Girl informed me I MUST take a sick day today.

"Why?"  I ask from my office.

"Because all I can hear coming from your office is you choking on your own snot."

Goofy idea, or the best invention EVER?

I wanted to point out that for the last four years I've shown up to work feeling way worse than I did yesterday.  That's been well documented in past blogs.  But, since I have more than 50 hours of vacation saved up and more than 9 hours of comp time...why not take a day?

But here's the thing:  Moms don't get sick days.  We get sick.  And we get days.  But sick days?  Days where we lie in bed and eat soup that someone else brings us?  Never happens.

The last sick day I had, the last real sick day I had, I was in college.  The nurse gave me the "soda and crackers" slip and I spent the day in bed.  If memory serves, because that was a Looooooooong time ago, I must have really been sick because, under school rules, you were deemed "well" at 5 Pm, and on that day I didn't bounce out of bed and goof off with friends.  Nope, that was my last sick day.  Some 20 years or more ago.

When the kids were little, they'd get sick and we'd make a bed in the living room and snuggle and watch movies.  When they got older, I liked sick days better because then I would use that as an excuse to watch movies I liked.  "Master and Commander" was a big sick day movie at our house.  And it became a litmus test for just how sick the kids were. 

"I'm sick."

"Okay, you can stay home.  But we're watching 'Master and Commander.'"

"It's okay...I'll go to school."

Since the kids are grown, though,and they no longer need me, the only sick days I get to take are the days I take myself.  And I work for a man who figures if I'm not dead, since I generally work alone, I may as well just be at work. 

Yesterday, however, under the command of New Girl, I informed Bossman that I was taking a sick day.  So I planned for it.  I was going to sleep in, watch movies, stay in my jammies all day, and eat soup.

Today, I did manage to sleep in.  All the way to 6:45.  Now this might not seem like a big deal, but by 6:45 Skippy is at school, so I missed his morning routine.  (Hubby goes down to his room 4 times from 5:20 to 6 am to wake him up.  Skippy takes a long shower, and spends more time in the bathroom than I did in the 80's when we had to DO our hair. Then I make him a breakfast he may, or may not eat based on how happy he is with me.  This week he hasn't eaten breakfast.) But I got up just in time to help Hubby get the cat out of the garage.   There's nothing more fun than trying to get a cat out of a place he wants to be.

The I got Peaches out of bed.  She normally walks to school or rides her bike.  But not today.  Today, my sick day, she needed a ride to school.  So, I don clothing, and since it was steam warm and muggy from yesterday, I donned summer clothes.  I dropped her off at school and then tried to decide if I should go grocery shopping or home.  I mean, we were sadly out of food, so as long as I was home, I probably should pick up groceries.

I went home, mostly because I wanted to shop at Sam's club, and they don't open for normal customers until 10.  I couldn't very well go back to bed for just two hours.  That made no sense.

What to do, what to do?

Ah, a shot of Dayquil, a couple decongestant tabs, and some nasal spray.  The breakfast of champions! 

Then...well, the office is a mess.  And of course i have to sort out the candles from my last partylite party.

Two hours later...the office is great, the candles are sorted, and I'm off to Sam's!

By noon I'd accomplished more than I generally do in an entire day.  I even got some laundry done. 

Then my body reminded me of something very important.

I'M SICK!  Oh, and I haven't eaten anything that isn't an over the counter cold med in a couple of days.

So I did manage to squeeze in a nap.  Well, it wasn't really a nap because the cat wanted attention, but wasn't interested in lying next to me while I slept.  So after I kicked the beast out of the room, I took a nap.  But now I'm up.  Skippy is bowling tonight...I won't see him until midnight.  But Peaches will be home soon...and here's the best part:

I have to help my brother move today!

You read that right. 

So let's recap my sick day:

Slept in an extra 90 minutes. 

Helped hubby chase cat out of the garage.

Drove Peaches to school.

Cleaned the office.

Sorted Candles.

Did laundry.

Grocery shopped.

Took a short nap.

Going to help brother move.

  Maybe it's in my mom DNA that I don't know how to do sick days. But I think what we've learned here is that I  am far more productive on a sick day than I am when I have to work.
Let's not share that with Bossman, okay?