I Love Vicks Vaporub

I had every intention of being a better blogger this year. I figured once the holidays were over and Clara was safely off to Florence, I would block out my days to include all the stuff I wanted to accomplish. Well, that's easier said than done. Pete came down with a seriously bad cold last week, and even though I rarely get colds and used my Zicam religiously, I got clobbered by this one on Sunday. It is all in my head. I am so stuffed up it hurts. I'm not sleeping well because I can't breathe. I got up at midnight last night to look for the Vick's Vaporub -- the magic elixir from my childhood. My mother always put Vick's under my nose when I couldn't breathe, or on my chest when I had a chest cold. Just the smell of it makes me feel better.

When Clara was little and had a cold I tried Vick's on her. She screamed like a madwoman. She hated it. I was sure she was mistaken (Mother knows best, right?), so I waited til she was asleep and gently rubbed some under her clogged nose. She woke up and started screaming again . . To this day she hates Vick's and if I mention the night I surreptitiously applied it to her upper lip, she accuses me of child abuse. I just don't get it. I think it's wonderful.

Here is the other reason I am not getting much work done:
Construction.

That is my studio waaaayyyyy in the back of the yard, behind the pile of stuff that came out of the demolished potting shed and behind Pete's boat. To get to it, I have to walk on a very narrow path -- one foot wide, maybe, that is right on the edge of the pit and is currently covered with snow and ice. Not safe. Also, I can't have wood delivered for the wood stove I heat the studio with until the new walls are backfilled. There isn't enough room to get a wheelbarrow through . . .So all my tools and stuff are out in the ice cold studio, and I am stuck in the house. I am way off schedule for the year, and it is only January 13th . . . How depressing.