Tips from the sick girl.

I think I'm sick more often than most people. Maybe it's because my sickness is more memorable, but I really think I get more viruses than most. Is it because I was formula fed as a baby? Is it because I work around a community of adolescent germ containers and spreaders? I think it's really the love affair viruses have with me. They love me, a lot. So far in the 2010-2011 school year Ruth has succumbed to at least four viruses. I try to keep them away but man o man are they persistent. Here are my tips on sickness this winter.

1. Airborne. This is a great little tablet that you drink when you get that foggy, I'm in another dimension feeling right before illness hits.
2. Sleep. Make sure sleeping is your favorite thing to do. It already is my favorite thing to do so this one is easy for me.
3. If you can't breathe very well or find yourself coughing up strange slimy stuff, try to sleep propped up, leaning on your husband (the pillow thing, not a real husband... unless you have a husband and then I suppose that's fine but then he can't sleep either so you might as well use the pillow kind.) This helps the strange slimy stuff go down your throat instead of sticking to the back of your throat.
4. If you can afford it, use vapo rub. I know, everyone thinks this is a kid thing but it really works. I like to put it below my nose like a greasy mustache.
5. Netty pot like mad. This is not a drug, though it sounds like it. Go to Walgreens and invest.
6. In prevention, use hand sanitizer (especially in the classroom) and wash your hands up to your elbows. Keep doing this until the skin on your hands is so rough and scratchy that you can injure someone with a handshake (which you shouldn't do anyway because germs love it when we shake hands. Don't let them get their way. Just be rude.)
7. Take your temperature a lot. It's just interesting.
8. Wear layers for temperature fluctuation during illness. Roommates always appreciate your layering options when your temperature is scary high. April and Tonia can attest.
9. Call your mom. Moan slightly.
10. Always shower. It makes you still feel like a normal person, even with pounds of snot, hearing difficulties, chills, aches, and the little gnome in your head hammering on your skull.
11. THERAFLU. Good stuff. Tylenol. Decongestant (without the silly behind-the-counter-showing-ID-I'm-not-a-meth-dealer fiasco). Antihistamine. All in one packet of bitter apple medicine happiness. And, it takes you to a happy place.

Viruses, I am NOT that cool, ok? Stay away from me. I will fight. I will win. Be scared.

The Year of the Rabbit.

Today begins the Chinese New Year. I am particularly interested this year because it is the year of the rabbit. A student of mine informs me that the rabbit is considered to be very lucky. According to the most recent viewing of a Chinese paper place mat, I was not born on a rabbit year. Apparently, I'm a horse and I don't really know what that means. It would be great to be born on a rabbit year but considering I could be a boar or a rat... I'll take the horse, that's fine.

NPR financial analysts stated that the year of the rabbit will be filled with "hops" in the stock market. Rabbits are gentle and kind creatures, so we should see some economic recovery amid the little hops throughout the year.

Children born this year will be good-natured, lucky, considerate, wise, serene, never aggressive, intelligent, and quick. Rabbits symbolize beauty. Of course. So, congrats to all you pregnant people. Great rabbit kids are on the way.

In finding out more info on the year of the rabbit, I uncovered something really sad. Many Chinese are buying rabbits to celebrate the new year and to have good luck but (as I fully well know) rabbit care is difficult so many rabbits are being abandoned or dying unnecessarily. There are not enough exotic pet vets in China to care for all the new bunnies... and they are breeding like, well, you know. There are even folks selling bunnies online and sending them in the mail in a plain box, causing the bunnies to die of starvation, overexposure to the cold, and lack of water. Rabbits are showing up dead in dumpsters throughout China. This should not be tolerated. Rabbits are our friends. PETA has something to say about this, right?

PETA issued a plea about the situation, “There’s no better time to help rabbits than during the Year of the Rabbit, and you can do so by refusing to support the pet trade that causes so many animals to suffer,” said Beijing-based PETA representative Maggie Chen.

“Rabbits aren’t just cute and fluffy, they are high-maintenance animals that require significant resources, equipment, attention and veterinary care,” Chen continued.

Protect the rabbits! Love your big eared, furry, hoppy friends! They need us to honor them rightly! Do it for Skip.