Sniffle, Sniffle

I've always prided myself on never getting sick. Throughout my childhood and even through the first few years after college I could go multiple years with nary a sniffle. I could probably count the number of fevers in my lifetime on one hand--no exaggeration. Then I moved to the east coast where I seemed to be struck down by some sort of horrible weeklong illness on an annual basis. Skip to the present where I have an almost two year old. Now it feels like a constant barrage of coughs, runny noses, stomach aches, and fevers.

My typical M.O. is to ignore all signs of impending illness, maybe even trying to prove that I'm not getting sick by staying up late, waking up early, and exercising particularly intensely. As you might expect, this phase pretty rapidly induces a moment of realization, at which point I float the idea of possibly being sick to my husband (and also my sister now that she's staying with us). Once my husband and sister confirm my diagnosis, I am officially a patient. I will admit to the fact that I am not a very good one (I may be prone to crankiness, whining, and sometimes tears when I'm under the weather and maybe that is exacerbated just a little bit by also being pregnant), but I blame that on inexperience. Lucky for me, I happen to be living with two exceptional caretakers.

With cold and flu season upon us, here are some little things you can give to those whose immune systems are falling short. In addition to just being a nice thing to do, you may find yourself getting a little extra TLC when you get struck by the cold or flu du jour. 

Do you know why homemade soup is the classic gift for an unwell friend? Because soup tastes awesome to sick people. Being sick myself, I know this firsthand. Soup may in fact be the only thing I've eaten for three days. Well, soup and cupcakes (but we're not going to talk about that). These three make me feel healthier just by looking at them: Indian Spiced Carrot Soup with Ginger, Green Soup with Ginger, and Golden Beet and Beet Greens Soup (pictured).

If you had said "tissue box cover" to me a few weeks ago, I would have pictured something beige, crocheted, and most likely spotted at someone's great aunt's house. Then I went to the Jonathan Adler warehouse sale where these were about $8. My husband likes to have kleenex in every room (guess who's not complaining about that now!) and I never realized how unattractive the boxes were until they were concealed by a white lacquered cube. Make sure to give one of these with a tissue box inside and a cute note. Just think, you'll be doing your part to make drippy noses a little more chic. 

We are slipper people, probably because we don't wear shoes in the house and our floors are cold. If you're trying to convince a shoe wearer to convert to slippers there is no better time than when he/she isn't feeling well. Who wants to wear shoes while sick? These shearling scuffs are just so much better. 

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A stack of magazines or a great book are perfect gifts for someone who should be spending the day in bed. Assuming it's a good friend or family member, already read magazines are perfectly acceptable, just so long as they're recent issues and you haven't torn out all the good pages. That way you can save a tree and provide entertainment--look at you multi-tasking!

Have a lovely (and healthy) weekend! Maybe you can even fit in a flu shot for you and everyone in your household. Oh, and we have some fantastic posts in the works for next week, so see you then!