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Herbal tea
I caught a cold. It’s not a big deal, I suppose, but I haven’t had one in over a year. The timing is kind of poor, too. I suspect I was a crawling mass of germs, yesterday, while cruising around the hospital. I hope I didn’t pass them along to J or the other J. Can’t do anything about it now, but....sigh.....
Maybe my intuition was working over time a couple of evenings ago. I went to the grocery store to look over the Celestial Seasonings herbal tea offerings. I was thinking of Sleepy Time tea for late evenings, but I don’t really like the flavor. Instead I bought Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea. Tastes absolutely delightful. While browsing, I thought their Echinacea Complete Care herbal tea sounded interesting. Never know when one might need the extra boost. Nice to have on hand just in case. The tea is full of yummy stuff and an extra shot of Vitamin C and Zinc. My brain must have been whispering to me, “I know something you don’t know. You’re lousy with cold germs. Get some of that tea ‘cuz you’re gonna need it.”
I made a mug last night. The way things were going, with a sore throat suddenly coming on, along with a stuffed up head and voice like a bullfrog, I hoped it would be of some benefit. The tea was delicious. A little peppermint, a bit of licorice, some chicory, menthol and lavender. In combination, the ingredients impart a slightly sweet (without real sugar or sweeteners) flavor with minty freshness. Cleared the pipes right out. Soothing, too. I’m not sure if it was the tea or just the end of a long day (plus cold), but about halfway through the mug, I could hardly keep my eyes open.
This morning my throat wasn’t sore and I didn’t sound like a frog anymore. I still have a cold. Mostly a drippy nose and sneezing, but nothing much more than that. Can’t say what will happen as the day progresses and I certainly can’t claim that the tea did anything amazing, but it could have helped. I’ll have another cup this afternoon and see what happens.
Sorry to hear of your cold, but glad that’s your first in a long while.
I haven’t been so lucky. On Friday, just before my assignment to run a 6-precinct site for our presidential caucuses, I came down with my third since October. Just the day before, I’d told my supervisor that I was finally feeling like myself again after all those months of malaise (and the chest pain scare, which in retrospect may have had more to do with extended coughing spells than anything else). This one is all-phlegm all-the-time, in various shades of yellow and green and even gray.
I held up better than I’d expected to during the caucuses. Didin’t lose my voice, even after having to yell out my coordinator spiel twice (half the precincts were in the cafeteria, the other half in the gym) and then shout the precinct chair spiel.
The shouting was because we had 163 people in my precinct caucus, over 1/3 of all registered voters. The six precincts averaged over 100 caucusgoers apiece, twice what we drew in 2004. As he did throughout the state, Obama was a huge winner at my site ... 35-7 with 1 Uncommitted delegate. My precinct went 8-2, and I ended up as an Obama alternate after making a late switch from Uncommitted. Uncommitted had a delegate on our first count, but enough others were swept up by the Obama forces that I would have been left out in the cold had I stayed there. The other 15 Obama reps (8 delegates. 7 alternates) are all caucus newbies, all young enough to be my children.
N, are you taking care of yourself? Getting enough sleep, eating your vegetables, eating some fruit, taking your vitamins? Huh? You need to be bundled up in a comfy blanket with a hot water bottle, hot tea, and several bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup. That should fix ya up. 
And try some Zinc. It DOES help.
The caucuses in Washington sounded like some kind of wild affair. What a turn out you had. (And you guys can even count votes!) It’s exciting to see so many young people getting involved. As an alternate, does that mean you get to go to the convention just in case?
Taking them one at a time:
N, are you taking care of yourself? Not very well, I’ll admit.
Getting enough sleep, Yeah, but it’s not good sleep.
eating your vegetables, Not nearly enough.
eating some fruit, Almost none, except when a cow orker had clementines on her desk.
taking your vitamins? Yes, that I am doing, religiously.
Huh? You need to be bundled up in a comfy blanket with a hot water bottle, hot tea, and several bowls of homemade chicken noodle soup. That should fix ya up. It wouldn’t hurt.
Maybe I’ll go look for zinc. And/or drink some of the Celestial Seasonings stuff that’s been lying around in my cabinet. As I recall, it’s sickly-sweet, so at least I’ll be able to taste something of it.
Oh, I probably would have gone to the Legislative District caucus, and maybe even the King County convention, even if I hadn’t gotten a slot. That’s the sort of political geekoid I am. But I very much doubt I’ll get to cast a vote, unless there’s a mega-collapse in the Obama campaign before April. There are many alternates listed above me, who’ll fill in for any missing delegates first.
Well, I’m in no great shape today, either, so all the veggies and fruit and vitamins only go so far. The chicken noodle soup makes me feel better mentally, although I don’t think it’s doing a thing otherwise besides nourishing me. I’ve been swilling peppermint tea all day which does keep my head cleared out some and keeps me hydrated so that my nose can run like a faucet. Ick.