cold = simple overload

So, sometime after I got home last night, I sneezed at least ten times in a row, then proceeded to snuffle my way through the rest of the night.  That happens sometimes, as though there is some latent allergen in the air on my walk home from the train which waits until I'm home to make its attack.  I used nasal spray, which is completely against my nature, but I was getting really darn tired of sneezing and blowing my nose (my poor red nose also objected). 

Now would be an appropriate time to clue you in on why I generally don't treat any of my ailments (not that there are many) with drugs: for one, the long list of side effects which accompanies all meds make me wary; when I was a child, I can remember wondering how the little white pill knew that my head hurt and not something else.  As I grew older, I became more aware of the side effects, which essentially mean that the little white pill is really just making its best guess and probably messing up something else in the process.  The other reason that I specifically don't take medications for my respiratory system is that they always seem to do the opposite to me that they do to everyone else.  Cases in point:

• the most alert I have ever been in the morning was the result of an utterly sleepless night thanks to Sudafed.  I was "high" for 36 hours before crashing at a dance club and nearly losing consciousness on a chaise.
• the second most alert I have been was the time I took Nyquil immediately before going to bed so I wouldn't keep Mister up with all my snuffling.  It did, in fact, prevent me from snuffling and coughing through the night, but it also prevented me from getting a single wink of sleep.
• Contac Day and Night meds have bizarre and opposite effects on me.  The happy yellow Day pills make me fall asleep for exactly two hours, then I wake up and I'm fine for the rest of the dose.  The evil blue Night pills give me muscle spasms; on a minutely basis, every muscle in my body tenses and releases.  Not comfy and not terribly conducive to sleep.

So, back to the nasal spray story, armed with that new and pertinent information.  Can you guess what happened?

Yes.  It did make it worse.  My nose refused to stop running, so half a box of tissues later, I read the side effects (yes, that was stupid) and found that on a few freak people, it irritates the nasal passages and increases snot production.  Guess who's a freak?

So, although I made a serious effort to get to work today, when I still wasn't ready to walk out the door two hours after I woke up because I had spent so much time blowing and/or dabbing at my poor, abused nose to do other important things like putting on my shoes, I called my boss and called it a day.  I slept most of today, but when the sun started to set, I thought I should probably try to be conscious for a little while and see if Mister needed dinner.  A couple of hours after joining Mister and Angst in wakefulness, I stood in the kitchen trying to decide whether the Moroccan Lentil Stew or the Bulgur-Black Bean soup would require less (germ-covered) hands-on time.  As I was pondering, a [probably germ-fearing] compassionate Mister asked if I would like him to pick something up for dinner.

Blackbird to the rescue!  Yes, Mister, I would like the Yukon Pizza with all its delightful, paper-thin, crispy potatoes spread over the focaccia-like crust and liberally sprinkled with sea salt and rosemary.  I swear, it's like someone took homemade potato chips and stuck them on a pizza instead of a baking sheet.

And while you're out, why don't you also get me one of their salads?  I think the Antipasto Salad sounds fabulous, with marinated slices of eggplant, strips of roasted red peppers, seitan pepperoni, and thin slices of baked tofu on a bed of mixed greens.

Because of the thick, puffy nature of the outer crust (the part not smothered in salty, potatoey goodness), I decided to play with one of my new herb-spice blends from Oliver's.  I used a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of the Tuscan Seasoning, spritzed on two sprinkles of white wine vinegar (you know, the amount that comes out when you leave the 3-holed plastic thing on top of the bottle), then stirred in about 2 Tbsp of higher quality olive oil to make a dipping sauce.  It was everything I wanted it to be and I can still taste the garlic...mmm....

Time to clean the cat hair off of my faithful winter coat, because it seems the time for light jacket passed sometime last night.  If I make it through without too many snuffles, I may reward myself with a glass of tempranillo-shiraz and a square of dark chocolate.

Who am I kidding?  Unless I lose consciousness before I finish, I most certainly will reward myself.  Even if I'm a complete slacker tomorrow and Sunday, I promise I will actually cook for my impending VeganMoFo posts!