Five Rows

I solemnly promise that tomorrow we will return to our normally scheduled KNITTING blog, after a few brief weeks of Packer and illness related interruptions.  But until then, I hope you enjoy this.  And, in case you don't, here's a picture of pretty yarn to tide you over: 

Remember being a kid in school and how the best kind of illness was the kind where you were too sick to go to school but not too sick to enjoy your day watching "I Love Lucy" and all the game shows on TV between naps? 

Okay, statistically speaking, your "perfect" sickday as a kid probably involved watching cartoons, but I disliked cartoons and loved a good quiz.  This brought great pleasure to my Grandmother also, since (1) I was always the kid most likely to be home sick, and (2) she disliked cartoons as well.  I have many pleasant memories of debating the answer to $10,000 Pyramid (yes, I did just date myself, it is probably the $10 Million Pyramid now) with Grandma while she ironed through Lucy's antics,  made me Lipton Chicken Noodle Soup and a Tuna Sandwich for lunch, and took my temperature.  Good times.

Of course, as I have grown up, my "perfect" sickday has changed.  It would now be too sick to go to work but not too sick to spend the day wrapped in a blanket on the sofa with my Nook and my knitting in between naps.

How I spent my time between my fever striking out of the blue on Thursday Feb 10 and my return to work on Tuesday Feb 15 can best be summed up by my knitting accomplishments during those 5 days of illness -- 5 rows.  Yeah, about as "imperfect" an illness as you could find.

On the Nook:

I did get a ton of reading done during that time, however.  Last year on Jane Auten's birthday, Barnes and Nobles offered all of her books and many related books for free download.  I've been alternating between Jane Austen books, pseudo Austen books (modern sequels to Austen), and urban paranormal books.

The actual Austen books (I've read Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and about 1/3 of Persuasion), are really great.  If you haven't read her in a while, you might want to give her a try.  Her vivid characterizations of different types of people is well worth the time.

As you would expect, the pseudo Austen books are a mixed bag, some seem to capture Jane's essence better than others.  My favorite so far has been Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife BN link here.  It is a bawdy sequal to Pride and Prejudice, and the author's attempts to keep the writing, language, and situations true to period, result in a quite funny and enjoyable read.  The book was much better than I had expected, if a bit long through the last 150 pages.

But by far the most diverting and enjoyable book I read during my illness was Married with Zombies by Jesse Petersen  BN link here.  In which a troubled couple in Seattle journey to their weekly pointless session with their marriage counselor only to be distracted from their own marital problems by the realization that they are in ground zero of the zombie apocalypse.  The book is part marital self-help manual, part zombie apocalypse survival manual and overall great fun.  To give you an idea, here is the Chapter heading from Chapter 12: "Build mutual friendships.  Just be ready to end them when your friends start trying to eat you."  Well worth the $2.99 price, in fact I'm very tempted to order the newly released sequal for full price.