Taking it easy

I've been recovering from pneumonia for the last couple of weeks. This is a new experience for me since I almost never get sick. A few weeks ago, while we were having our new floor put down, I had some flu-like symptoms but thought it had to be a cold. After all, I had both flu shots. But things progressed, and last week I finally went to the doctor when I couldn't stop coughing and kept feeling worse. I'm happy to say, I'm feeling much better with antibiotics and lots and lots of rest. I know that overdoing it too soon can lead to a longer convalescence. The doctor said rest, healthy eating and lots to drink are key.

So I've become a "couch potato," reading and napping a lot. I have read almost every Constable Evans book by Rhys Bowen and enjoyed being an armchair traveler in Wales. I'm about to start on Bowen's Mrs. Murphy series and hope it's as good. I re-read a couple of Georgette Heyer favorites - The Grand Sophy and Sylvester, or the Wicked Uncle. They were just as good as I remembered them. Yesterday, I got out some knitting and am now well along on a nice variegated blue scarf. Maybe I'll give it to Axel if it's long enough. I ordered some pink cotton yarn to make a scarf for myself, and I also ordered a few more books. You know I'm feeling better when I start shopping online again.

Tonight we are missing the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band concert at the Opera House, but we are happy that our friends Karen & Chet are able to take our seats. I'm still coughing too much and too tired by the end of the day to take a chance. But Paul bought tickets for Beatlemania for mid-April as a consolation. With snow flurries and a stiff wind, I'm glad to be in today. I've also made dinner the last few nights, and tonight we'll have roasted chicken breasts, sweet potatoes, and asparagus - a perfect early spring meal.

Our house is in an uproar...

...but the new floor is beginning to take shape. Matt spent most of Mon. and Tues. prepping. By last night, he had the dining room and a third of the living room done. It looks beautiful, but we really are feeling at sixes and sevens. For days, the top step carpet to the basement was ripped up, so I felt nervous about carrying laundry down. I'll be able to do it tomorrow, though, since the new nosing is on. Paul has one clean flannel shirt left - and he wears them 9 months out of the year!

Max, our dog, keeps looking for a quiet place to be and follows us everywhere, including the bathroom. He hates noise and this is quite a noisy job. I usually sit in the living room to applique and read, and there's a painting on the bed in the guest room, so I join him in looking for a comfortable place to be. I am quilting a maple leaf wallhanging for my Saturday quilt guild to enter into the Vermont Quilt Festival special exhibit of the "Treasures of the Green Mountains." I've actually made pretty good head-way, using variegated beige thread on the background and variegated fall colors thread on the leaves (thanks, Karen!).

Through it all, I seem to have developed a cold. I don't have a stuffy nose, just aches and chill. It feels like flu but I had both flu shots, so if it is, it should be a mild case. At any rate, ibuprophen and Vitamin C are keeping me going.