Death says "Hi!" and wanted me to give you a hug.

A week and a half ago, I started to get the sniffles.

Which erupted into full-blown death. Well, not quite death, but pretty close.

At the apex of what seemed like my final struggle in this mortal existence, Jeremy, at 3 AM, (who I'd been kicking all night) rolled over and asked if I would like a blessing.

I gave my feeble "yes," and was so grateful for my priesthood-bearing husband, and for the words of comfort that came from my Heavenly Father. I felt better, but knew it wasn't over, but it would be eventually.

So, after Jeremy ran off to work ten minutes later (in his words, "hey, I'm up, might as well"), I lay in bed, and my brain wouldn't turn off. For some reason, my mind was asking me stupid questions like, "Hey, what was name of the actor in "To Kill a Mocking Bird"?" and I spent an hour trying to figure out if it was Piers Anthony (Nope..wrong media), or Vincent Price (No...with Price as the father in that movie, I could only imagine that Scout would have happily run screaming into the arms of her would-be murderer, Mr. Ewell), tried to do the alphabet slowly so I could figure out his name (didn't help), and finally figured out that it was Gregory Peck, and then I started wondering how anybody could ever think that Cary Grant was cuter than Gregory Peck, and how come he didn't get more roles?

I had high hopes that I would feel much better when I woke up, now that I got that out of the way. Nope.

Let's just say school was cancelled for the rest of the week. Poor Josh kept announcing, "HEY! We didn't do school work!" every day, and I had to keep explaining to him that I just wasn't up for it. I didn't feel too bad, especially since he and Eva also developed a minor version of what was still surging up in my body. Can I just tell you, nothing is sadder than little kids with coughs, runny noses, and watery, saggy eyes? It just breaks the heart...

Anyway, as the days progressed, I got worse. Jeremy was getting really good at playing fetch and carry. I swear, I won the lottery when I married that man.

After a week stuck indoors, I started to get cabin fever, and I insisted that we all go to Wal-Mart on Friday (which turned out to be a good thing, because we decided to get another filter for our humidifier...the old one turned out to have mold...which made me REALLY paranoid), since I had to get drugs anyway, and we all headed off. Big Mistake. Halfway through the store I felt like curling up in a ball on the floor, and I would have if Jeremy wasn't off in the automotive section, and I wasn't manning the Lily, who thinks it is really funny to escape the seat belt in the cart, turn around and stand up to play with the unpurchased groceries, totally oblivious that her very life is in her tiny hands.

I went home and went to bed, and (aside from a few necessary trips to the little girl's room, and a few other things) was there until this morning.

I learned a few things while laying there.

Like, when you have a severe sinus infection, you can't taste ANYTHING. NOTHING. I mean zip. I got some lemon-ginger herbal tea at Wally World, and it is really strong. I mean REALLY STRONG. Nothing.

Had some eggs. Nothing.

Some soup. Nothing.

Toast. Pringles. A brownie. Ice cream. Spicy enchiladas. N O T H I N G. It was like I was eating paper.

If that wasn't bad enough, my body decided that it didn't want to eat anything. Zero hunger pangs. So, I couldn't tell if I was hungry or not. I kept going over that saying, "Starve a cold, feed a fever," and I was trying to figure out what my rule was, and I got confused, and I thought it was "Starve a cold, feed the flu." Then I thought, "Do I have the flu??" And then my crazy brain turned it into, "Stave a cold, starve the flu."

Jeremy would come into our bedroom where I was camped out and periodically ask me if I was hungry. "No," I'd say. "But I should eat something anyway."

I tried to entice my body to eat high calorie foods. Tina's blog about her fabulous Peanut Butter Cup Torte inspired me, and I thought, "Gee, if I can't get one of my own, I'll just make one up!" So I wrote a list of what I would need:

Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Moose Tracks Ice cream

Warm Delights Brownie (Thank you, Rebecca, I shall forever be addicted...blast you and all those Warm Delights last summer...)

I looked at the list and added:

Pringles

I looked at it again, and seriously doubted that Jeremy would go for it, and then put "Tissues" at the top.

Jeremy looked at the list after I'd finished and quipped, "Looks more like a candy run."

I gave him a wide-eyed, watery face and managed to choke out between coughs, "But I'm almost out of tissues..."

When Jeremy came back (he's such a saint), I assembled my poor-man's PBC torte, and took a bite. Nothing. Now that's just sad. Furthermore, the sugar started to make me feel sick after two bites. So much for my calorie-dense self-medicating. At least the kids enjoyed it. I think Josh and Eva came to visit the smorgasbord more than the sick when they came to "check on mommy."

My one consolation was that my doctor told me that no matter what, my baby would get what she needs. So, while I languish and grow thin, she is rolling around like the fat little butterball she is, totally oblivious to what is going on, except for the frequent nap interruptions she gets from my incessant coughing and nose-blowing.

With my newly replenished stock of tissues, I was (and still am) creating quite the pile. Lily thought they were great fun, and would sneak up and steal used tissues and start ripping them apart...ew...the worst was when Jeremy had to peel the said used tissue from between her toes.

Jeremy observed my white, moist mountain and said, "That's where you are losing all your weight...an ounce in every tissue."

Eww...sadly, it's true.

I'm glad things are getting better. I think being sick is horrible. It's like Death pays a house call, and gives you a taste of what it could be, smiles a little, and then knocks over your vase of flowers on his way out.

P.S. Don't buy Vick's flavored tissues. It's a bit much up the nasal cavity.