Grandma's Hot Toddy

It is with great joy that I share this important news:  I am no longer drowning in snot!  I've been upgraded from "drown" to "wade".  Mucinex and Aleve are still my closest companions, but we've agreed to stop seeing each other so often.

During my forced bed rest I revisited a home remedy that stands head and shoulders above the rest, and if you read the comments from my last post you may recall the mention of Grandma's Hot Toddy.  This wonderful elixir---used only for medicinal purposes, of course---works wonders on sore throats and weary muscles.  It even helps clear a stuffy nose. Here it is:

1 cup boiling water
1-2 shots whiskey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2-3 tablespoons of honey

Mix til blended and drink it up! The quantities of whiskey, lemon juice and honey may be adjusted up or down to suit your taste.  Grandma's Hot Toddy won't cure a summer cold, but after downing a few of these babies, buttercup, your outlook is sure to improve.

Per Grandma's Cold Timetable (a week to get the cold, a week to have it, and a week to get rid of it) I am on week three of the program so things are looking up. My old pals Mucinex and Aleve will pack their bags and head back to the medicine box, and Jim Beam will reposition himself in the downstairs pantry where he will start collecting dust on his shoulders again.

Well. . .okay.  Maybe Jim can stick around a little longer.  He doesn't take up too much space and you never can tell when the need will arise for an emergency hot toddy.  These summer colds have a habit of relapsing, you know.

Til next time -
Lisa

A Cold Summer

"Heddo. By dose is stuffy and by throat is od fire. The good dews is that this is a virus you cad't catch over the idderdet." 

Yes, buttercup, my word pronunciation sounds like the above, thanks to this nasty summer cold invading my sinuses. I caught this villainous virus while performing a good deed.  My daughter, Stephanie, suffered from this icky stuff last week.  She sounded pitiful, and I rushed to her apartment armed with chicken soup, cold medicine, juice pops, OJ, a thermometer, and lots of sympathy.  My "mommy ministrations" brought a smile to my girl's face; they also left me vulnerable to the dreaded Summer Cold.

I know I taught her to share, but does she have to be such an overachiever?

Why are summer colds worse than winter colds? And if I present this question in writing with lots of scientific sounding gibberish do you think the government will award me a grant for the study of this perplexing puzzlement?  Just asking.

Colds are rotten any time of the year, but in the summer they seem especially awful.  Maybe it is because summer brings mental pictures of water and beaches and lots of sunshine.  Winter, with its bare-limbed trees and icy winds seems destined to be inhabited by viruses.  Summer is supposed to be the anti-winter.  Unfortunately, cold viruses didn't get the memo.

My grandma always said a cold sticks around for three weeks:  one week to catch it, one week to suffer with it, and one week to get rid of it.  Lucky for me, even though I'll be a mouth breather until the first of August, my fingers can still fly over my laptop's keys, unaffected by the traffic jam in my nose. 

"I bay be stuffy, ad by eyes bay be itchy ad red, but I cad still read ad write.  That bakes it a good day."

Til dext tibe -
Lisa