:: Good News And More Good News ::

Last night, Brian and I went on a house-sanitizing frenzy.  We disinfected, we sanitized, we purified, we washed, we rinsed, we soaked, we boiled.  OK.  No boiling.  We wiped things down and washed blankets and toys.  We went after light switches and doorknobs as if they harbored invisible but fist-sized cockroaches.

It's either that or burn the place down and start over.  That's our next option.

Today, everyone's still sick, but hope is in the lemon-fresh air.  Evan and I both outran our colds' expiration dates and so both had prescriptions called in today for antibiotics.  Apparently when doing nothing for weeks doesn't work, docs are finally willing to try something.  (I totally get it that antibiotics don't work on viruses, which is what causes most colds, but I am awfully glad to have something to take.)

I'm hopeful that by Friday we'll both be dancing on our tiptoes and grinning at the world.

Brian's another matter.  I think he's still within his ten- to fourteen-day cold-clearing-up period.  No antibiotics for him for a little while, if he ever ends up needing them.  He's got the welter-weight champion of the world immune system -- if you're a germ it seems like it's always able to knock you out.

In other good news, Evan drank all of his juice yesterday (a whole cup!) and seems to be over his cup aversion.  If you blog it, it will come.  Or something.  He doesn't always want a drink from the cup (neither do I), but he often does now.  And sometimes, he even wants more right away.

Here's proof:

Picture One: Here he is having a sip.  Picture Two: Here he is having another sip right after the first one.  (We use the cups that spill (they just have a hole on top instead of a nipple-like contraption) so when there's juice in them, they're usually held in tightly-clasped adult hands.)

My last bit of good news is that my sewing machine is FIXED.  The very wonderful Susan of Westerville Sew and Save (if you happen to have gotten to this post because you googled "Westerville Sew and Save" then let me say: I give them four thumbs up) took the time to go over it herself last week while Evan and I sat and watched (she even gave Evan some string cheese, thereby forever cementing herself in his good favor) and she replaced a part for me and since then all has been (mostly) blissful.  I've been playing with the new presser feet I got for my birthday.  I also made another skirt, which if you're lucky you will get to see tomorrow.

It's purdy.

I'm also back at work on the park quilt, which I hope to finish very soon so that when Evan and I are tired of tiptoe dancing and grinning at the world, we can enjoy our good health under the great blue sky above a nearby park.

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Oh yeah.  One more thing.  I did a little experiment today and I found the results interesting enough to share.  So, I spent some time with my friend www.mayoclinic.com yesterday reading up on the common cold and prevention and self-care and all.  They had a report (that I later confirmed at the Harvard Medical website) on how recent studies have shown that hot water with lemon and honey has been shown to be as effective at suppressing coughs as the medicine dextromethorphan (as in Robitussin DM, my medical tonic of choice for most of the last 21 days (it's also in NyQuil)).  I got to thinking about how I haven't given Evan anything for his cold and he seems less affected by his than I am by mine.  So I tested the theory.  I stopped taking any medicine yesterday at noon and drank my honeyed lemon water before bed and I have to say, it's no better than cough medicine, but it was also no worse.  I woke at exactly the same time in the middle of the night (3:40) but fell asleep an hour earlier (5:00) than the previous night (6:00) when I had taken Robitussin.  Today I coughed about as much as yesterday but found I was able to keep a lot of the worst coughing at bay by continually sucking on a lozenge or drinking a warm beverage.

So there's that, for whatever it's worth.