Last night as I was walking to Farragut to meet Rudi for Restaurant Week (another post, I promise), I started to feel a little off.

No matter, thought I. It’s just that I’m outside walking and it’s finally cold again and my nose is running. We had a nice dinner and walked home.

As the rest of the evening progressed, I again started to feel unwell and began to fear that the sickness that had felled Rudi, my folks, and Gramma had finally caught up to me.

No matter, thought I. It’s Monday and I’m tired. I’ll go to bed early. And I did.

When Rudi woke me up this morning, I was in agony. I was woozy and it felt like Rudi had spent all night punching my left side. (He assured me that he did not, and although I’m a heavy sleeper, I’m almost positive that I would wake up to that.)

I ate breakfast. That hurt. I coughed. That hurt. I sneezed. That hurt.

Fine, thought I. I’ll take a hot shower and I’ll feel better.

You can guess where this is going, right?

I did not feel better. I got back into bed and called in sick. Less than five minutes later (after finding a position that was somewhat comfortable to lie in), I was back asleep.

When I next opened my eyes, it was 1:30. I rolled over, found another position, and closed my eyes again. It was after 3 when I next looked up.

Fine, thought I. I’m done being sick now. I’ll go read some email and knit and read the rest of my play. I got up, went out to the living room, brewed some tea. Sitting in my rocking chair hurt, so I moved to the couch. My tea sat half drunk as I slept again.

Rudi called and offered to pick up some of my favorite sick soup on his way home. I went back to sleep. He arrived home and started cooking for me. I went back to sleep.

He gave me ibuprofen and soup and reheated my tea.

Oh, is that what this is?

I’ve been awake for a whole six hours now and will shortly be taking more ibuprofen and going to bed.

No matter, say I. I’ll be fine.

How late is too late to send out Christmas cards?

(Those who have not yet received Christmas cards from me should particularly feel free to weigh in on this topic.)

Rudi and I spent today cleaning house. We hadn’t done a thorough job since our Christmas party back at the beginning of last month, so while it wasn’t the total sty it can be when it goes six months between cleaning, it definitely needed some work.

I now would not automatically throw out food that fell on our kitchen floor.

And while the living room isn’t spotless, it is passably tidy (for us).

And since we’re going to have weekly company until the Jane Austen series on Masterpiece Theatre ends, I predict we’ll have a neat Burrow until at least spring.

And maybe then we’ll come up with a new scheme to keep people visiting us on a regular basis…

Game night…?

Knit night…?

Saturday morning cartoons…?

(Oh, and I’d say that all three of us enjoyed Persuasion, although we certainly had things to say about the legitimacy of the final scenes.)

So you’re running late for work

and you’re in the bathroom washing your face, putting in your contacts, and brushing your hair and teeth

and you got soap in your eyes

so putting in your contacts is not going as smoothly as normal

when through the haze of your blurry vision

you see,

poking through one of the holes of the toothbrush holder,

…

ANTENNAE

!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gah!

::Shudder!!!::

Today was Russian Christmas. Rudi’s mother is Russian and, as such, this is one of the holidays we celebrate. We did it up right with some (vegan) borscht and some hearty bread (okay, so it was Jewish rye; think of this as a multicultural celebration), as well as a few last presents.

Sadly, I think this may be the last week for the Christmas tree. While this is good news because it will enable us to get it out in time for the city-wide composting collection, it’s sad because I like to keep the cheerful lights and sparkly baubles up as long as possible.

I’ve been busy finishing up some loose ends from 2007. I finished the last carry-over book (a quirky memoir/travelogue/history book by Sarah Vowell) at the end of last week and have already finished my first full novel of the new year. That’s good because I want to start a rapid-fire run-through of Jane Austen’s novels (at least the ones I’m not as familiar with) to accompany the Masterpiece Theatre productions that begin this weekend. And it’s also time for me to commence Twelfth Night, which is another read-along on Ravelry. Karen and I are trying to filling in some gaps in our English degrees by reading classic literature this year. We’re aiming for 10 and are including Persuasion as one of our works. (We haven’t yet finalized our list, but if you have a particular favorite work of classic literature, please feel free to leave us an endorsement in the comments.)

I’m also working on completing some 2007 knits. Two of them are (ahem) Christmas presents that didn’t get finished on time. I’m pleased to say that I finished one of them last night and it’s currently blocking/drying on the rack as I type. I look forward to sharing the details (and photos!) later in the week. The other knitting that I’m currently working on is the second sleeve for my Everyday Cardigan. I don’t think it unrealistic to finish by the end of the month, but I originally planned to have it done for my trip to Denver back at the beginning of November, so I suppose that doesn’t mean much. 2008 is clearly going to be the Year of the Sweater, as Mum and Dad gave me the yarn for the Tilted Duster for Christmas and Rudi bought enough yarn for me to make him a sweater, too. (Oddly enough, he chose the same yarn, albeit in a different color, as Mum bought me, and the pattern he’s currently leaning toward is in the same issue of Interweave Knits as my sweater will be from.) Don’t worry; I have plenty of sock yarn to keep me busy, as well as several babies arriving this year.

The final Christmassy task is to get the last items out to the mail people. I have cards still to write for anyone in my address book with last names beginning with A or B or whom I thought I’d like to write a time-consuming letter to and packages to be sent to several friends on the West Coast. I’m really hoping to take a trip to the Post Office on Saturday and to begin the rest of 2008 with a clean slate. I guess I’d better get writing and wrapping, hadn’t I?

Tomorrow evening Rudi and I are heading out to see Bucket List. I’m hoping it’s fun.

We started the year off right — out at the movies with our friend Sweetpea. Tomorrow will be replete with knitting, reading, parade watching, cleaning, writing, cat and Rudi cuddling, and getting in touch with old friends.

May your new year be filled with laughter, love, and lively conversation. And may it be better than 2007 was — no matter how good or bad the year was for you.

Happy 2008!