Wheeze. Cough. Blow. Sneeze.

I'm home sick today so I thought I'd throw up a blog post since I'm not at work trying to go online while trying to not get caught by the 4957439540 attorneys that constantly parade back and forth behind me.  And for some reason my home internet has been working since the weekend and we will see how long that lasts.  (Update:  my internet went out again 3 times while in the middle of this post but thankfully came back by the time I finished.)

I think I caught the cold June Gardens had a couple of weeks ago.  I'm not sure if y'all heard, but she had a cold recently.  We changed over to a new computer system last week at work and they have been having training classes for about 6 or 8 weeks (because we have probably over 200 people in our office but the training room only holds 8 people at a time).  They have contract trainers working with us and I got migrated to the new system last Wednesday and took a 3 hour class.  The trainer who actually works for our firm as an employee and not a contractor had been traveling to train people in our offices in D.C. and Raleigh.  He came back late last week and on Fridays, he offers one hour classes on very specific topics and I decided to take one this past Friday.  He hacked and he sniffled, and he leaned all over us coughing on top of our heads.  He told us it was just allergies.  But on Sunday I woke up sicker than sick.  And since he was in Raleigh, I think he caught June's cold germs and brought them back to Atlanta and gave them to me.  So yes, I caught June's cold.

I had to go to work yesterday even though I felt like hell because of a huge deadline that I could not pass on to some other poor soul to do for me.  I hate when people come to the office sick and get everyone else sick so I tried to stay in my cubicle and not get near anyone.  Also, I had to take my car back to my mechanic yesterday because the parts were supposed to be in and I've been having to stay home way too much to avoid driving my car anymore than I absolutely have to so that I don't damage it worse before they fix it.  And then they called me yesterday afternoon and told me the manufacturer had shipped the wrong part.  Ugh.  So I've had my car in there 3 times already and it's still not fixed.  But they did put my new tires on yesterday so at least I hopefully won't slide into anyone when I'm driving back to the mechanic again.  Especially since the weather guy said we're probably going to get close to 6 inches of rain here in Atlanta over the next week.  Do you know what sucks?  Trying to get your car to the mechanic 4 different times in 2 weeks when you're alone and don't have a boyfriend or husband to give you rides. 

So anyway, I'm sitting at home drinking the Hot Brazilian Miracle Elixir for colds (lemon, garlic and honey which tastes what I imagine dirty gym socks taste like) as often as I can stand it, loading up on other meds of the completely unnatural type, killing tons of trees with all of the tissues I'm using, and sounding a lot like Bea Arthur or a female Tom Waits whenever I talk.  And wheezing.  Lots and lots of wheezing and coughing.

But one good thing is that I was home when Hot Brazilian was able to call earlier today and managed to stay connected for an entire 45 minute conversation!  Sadly, I spent over half of it hacking....

As soon as I answered when he called and he heard my oh so sexy and gravelly voice he asked, "Punkin, are you drinking the "tea" I taught you about?"  I told him I was and he asked me what I put in it.  I told him lemon, garlic and a tiny bit of honey.  He replied, "Good girl!  But you're missing one ingredient.  If I were there I would have made it for you and added love." 

Yes, 6 years into our relationship but several years living in different countries and we're still like that.

Several of you asked what he told me that I had been waiting 4 years to hear.  Some of this may not make much sense since you don't know his entire background and it's not really my place to share all of that.  Plus, the story of what he's been doing down there is super involved and long but I'm only giving y'all a VERY short version.  It's such a crazy story that if I told y'all all of it you would think I was making it up even though it's all true.  But a shortened summary is as follows:  a friend of his in the House of Representatives found out he was back in the country and asked him to fly up to the Amazon to help him on his re-election campaign.  One thing led to another and HB ended up becoming a political activist fighting against the incredibly corrupt state government in working towards his ultimate goal of helping the children of that state get a fair chance at a better life.  He has been working with some other people and what they are doing is extremely dangerous.  A few of them have been killed.  A blogger friend of his was executed while sitting in the middle of a crowded restaurant because he was speaking out.  And I've been scared for his safety the entire time. 

Anyway, last week he told me some things have happened recently that I assume have him really scared and worried (he said he didn't want to tell me what led him to his decision so that I wouldn't worry more), so he is giving up his fight at least for now.  As proud as I am of what he's doing, I could not be happier to hear he's going to lay low for the rest of his time down there.

So that's that.

In other news, Sadie.....thank you so much for the middle-of-February-thinking-of-you gift you sent me!  I love it!!  That was so sweet and thoughtful of you and I appreciate it more than you know!

And Tee, I'm looking forward to our Atlanta Pie meet up in April!!  

Well, I suppose I better go drink some more HB Miracle Elixir.  It really does seem to help shorten the life of a cold even though it tastes like complete crap.....