The simple pleasure of breathing

I'm sitting here on the motel bed, propped up by four, count'em FOUR, pillows. It is a wondrous luxury. The bed had three. I stole two and allowed my hubby the remaining one. Then I inquired of the lobby clerk if there were extra pillows and she went out of her way to dig me up the last two pillows she could find, hiding in the laundry room. With this pillow bounty, I'm hoping that I will actually be able to to sleep tonight!

Last night, in another motel, was horrible, horrible, horrible. The head cold that I thought I'd fought my way through the worst of, came back to double attack my sinuses. Last night was all about having to decide between lying horizontally or breathing. One or the other. I couldn't do both at the same time. In fact horizontally, vertically, at a 45 degree angle, hanging upside down - breathing was only barely manageable in any position. Any attempts to clear my sinus passages led to pain from my nose all the way up over my head to the back of my skull. The kind of pain that makes one cry at the very thought of causing it again.

With two thin pillows and a very uncomfortable hard backboard, I doubt I managed a couple hours of sleep, snatched in ten or fifteen minute increments. I was better today being up and walking about. You might wonder why I don't take a decongestant, hmmmm? I'm not sure of the science of it but the simplest answer is that I'm "allergic" to them. I've been popping Vit. C, drinking cup after cup of hot tea, and I found a herb shop where I bought some herbal cold formula for an exorbitant price. As tired as I was from no sleep, I was still dreading the necessity to try sleeping again. But the fates seem to have taken pity on me and although I'm still breathing through my mouth to a large degree, blowing my nose now only causes dull throbbing instead of migraine level shooting pains. I'm feeling hopeful that tonight will be, if not pleasant, at least far less of a nightmare then last night.

On a completely different note, isn't this exciting - I'm typing this on my laptop on the free wifi at the motel! I've never done that before. It's very cool. If I'd remembered to bring my card reader for my camera, I could even have downloaded some photos to show you some of the "funner" parts of this weekend's getaway. Alas, you'll have to wait for me to get home for more details.

Hold on - I can share one pic with you. Along with the four motel pillows, I have this soft, fluffy creature to help comfort and cuddle with me.



His name is Ice Bat. Isn't he cute!!? Okay, so maybe I'm a tad bit strange. I saw these little voodoo dolls in another store and I thought they were cute too.

He's fairly large - a 14" tall or so I'd say. I don't have a ruler handy, so I'm just guessing. He also comes in a smaller, but less huggable, size. I found him in a little shop here in Ashland and when I wouldn't stop hugging him, hubby figured the only way to get me out of the store was to buy him. (He also says I'm suffering from chihuahua withdrawals and that's why I needed something to hug. Hmmmmm...) You can see some photos of more of his other Ugly Doll friends here.