A sore throat for Patty, a sore loser for a husband

Hi everyone:

Today, Patty is suffering from an intensely sore throat; the discomfort is bad enough that she's not really aware of other symptoms we often anticipate. As most of you know, Patty takes several pills, several times each day; the soreness has made this a pretty unpleasant task. We think the chain of illness started with Colin and gradually made its way through our family; I'm the only one who seems to be largely unaffected (so far.) Hopefully, Patty will overcome the bug before it gets any worse. The unfortunate reality of Patty's overall health is that what might not be a big deal for most could quickly become a real problem for our patient. The last thing we want right now is a hospitalization for a cold.

Kelly had a sleepover last night, which meant that we were still pushing kids to settle down until the wee hours. In addition, Patty seemed to have a rare extra burst of energy last night, so we sat up talking and watching true-crime shows on TV until almost 5am. The phone started ringing less than two hours later, and I couldn't get back to sleep because I kept convincing myself that Patty's pulse was weak and that her skin was cold. This constant need to check that Patty is okay seems to be a habit I may never shake. Needless to say, on only a couple of hours of sleep, I've been a bit foggy today; perhaps we'll wrap things up early tonight.

Our plan for this afternoon is to go to a movie (Pan's Labyrinth...again), and then grab dinner, most likely burgers at Red Robin. This morning, the kids brought me breakfast in bed -- an omelette and potatoes, both of which tasted amazing. Clearly, we have some budding chefs among our brood. My plan is to start working on shaving off some pounds, starting tomorrow, so I'm making a special point of treating everything I eat today as though it's my last meal.

I attempted to bake a birthday cake today. I had helped Kelly a couple of weeks ago with a bundt cake project for school, and somehow convinced myself it would be, well, a piece of cake. Patty's vote was to purchase a finished cake, but I pooh-poohed that idea, because I thought this might be a nice undertaking with the kids. Alas, I was laboring under the misconception that each half of a double-layer cake required its own cake mix, so I ended up with sloppy, pineapple-flavored lava all over the bottom of the oven. The experience left me feeling a little crabby, to put it mildly. It also left us cakeless. Patty has decided that we'll be picking up a cake on our way home from our outing today.

Love,
Brian