Comfort food, plumbing, state of the cold

[cjsmith]

Comfort food:

Take 1 can Campbell's cream of chicken soup (+ water)
Add a big pile of instant rice
Pour in enough lemon juice so's it tastes like I'm trying to fake avgolemono

When I am sick, this is the best thing in the world. It's pure heaven: comfortingly warm and starchy, and not spicy, crunchy, sweet, or greasy. Best of all, it's possible to make/obtain even when the most strenuous thing I can do is stand up for five minutes. (Y'know the feeling: getting dressed is major exercise and counts against those five minutes.) I made three of it. I'm eating like a queen for days, now.

Sadly, making this did produce dirty dishes....

Plumbing:

I am assured we will have functional kitchen plumbing by this evening. The thuds and bangs coming from under the house are reassuring. The plumbers haven't even had to shut off the supply side, which is very handy.

Rob says while the plumbers are here we will get an estimate for replacing the still-working galvanized drainpipes on the other side of the house. We don't know how long it will be until those fall apart; we think not long, though, given the state of the stuff that did break. I'd really rather fix them now than wait until we have raw sewage in the crawlspace.

State of the cold:

Throat = scratchy
Temp = 99.2
Cough = big red-faced eye-watering fits in between stretches of calm
Nose = running like a marathoner and finally (despite Vaseline) starting to crack and bleed
Voice = starting to return, not yet reliable

I could see myself going in to work if my temp's back down. Me, my face mask, a bottle of cough syrup, some serious decongestant, and my comfort soup. I might not be very productive, but I'm sure I'm less so sitting here in bed. I admit I'm loving the rest though.

Comments

[anirishpenguin.livejournal.com]

I hope your feeling better soon. Hopefully your plumbing will be working in no time as well.

Take care

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I haven't heard any violent noises for a while, so maybe they're at the stage where they're fitting things together. :)

[just-cyd.livejournal.com]

mmm, your comfort soup sounds so very good. i will change my mental image of "chicken soup" to this for next time. :)

glad to hear the plumbing is progressing, as is your cold. *hugs*

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's sooooo the right thing sometimes.

Thanks! The plumbing is a lot better now. Rob came in and showed me a section of old drainage pipe. It was almost completely blocked - maybe 90%. I was impressed.

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

May your external plumbing run like gangbusters and your nasal one dry up!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! The plumbing's finished for now and LAUNDRY IS IN!

[wooddragon.livejournal.com]

Now there's cause to celebrate! I *hate* having the washer or dryer down for any reason.

[kennita.livejournal.com]

Poor dear -- I hope you feel all better real soon.

And I hope your miscellaneous plumbings are soon all repaired and/or replaced as appropriate and operating at optimum efficiency.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I'm tired of feeling bad! Yech! The plumbing's done, though, and LAUNDRY IS RUNNING! Man, it's the little things that make a girl happy. Clean clothes.

[kennita.livejournal.com]

Hope you got to hug 'em while they were still warm from the dryer :-) .

How much is replacement plumbing for the galvanized pipe that's not yet broken going to set you back?

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, we discovered that end of the house is cast iron. I don't know how it's holding up because we can't directly compare it to the other stuff. It'll be $3K+ to replace, partly because cast iron is a lot harder to cut apart than galvanized steel. Given our finances we're going to wait until at least summer. (fingers crossed!!)

[airporter.livejournal.com]

Okay, caltrops in your throat would be disgusting, and it's a bloody vivid image that I'll never rid myself of now. *grin* I do hope your throat's now better than that.

And by the way, when my throat's all scratchy, I go for ice cream - vanilla and heavy cream. Yeah, you end up more congested, but the relief is incredible, if brief. What's your way to ease it?

Oh, right. Cheese.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Why thank you! I do try. And yes, it's MUCH better than before! Man, that was awful. It kept me awake for most of the first night. I'm glad THAT'S over.

HAHAHAHA cheese! You know me, all right! Seriously, sherbet is great for it, I think.

[redgrrl.livejournal.com]

I'm FINALLY on the other side of this exact cold. Best wishes for a speedy recovery, but expect to be lowing your nose and having occasional coughing fits for longer than you'd expect.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Oh yuck! Well, I'm glad you're through it. Me, I always have coughing fits for weeks after something like this, but MAN am I tired of being in the thick of it. Here's hoping neither of us catches something this annoying for quite a while!

[sunnydale47.livejournal.com]

I'll have to get some instant rice so I can try that the next time I'm feeling lousy!

I hope you and the plumbing are both all better soon!

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

It's soooooooo good for what ails ya. (Except maybe for what's ailing you right now. I don't know how it does with tummy upsets, just with colds.)

This last time I forgot the lemon juice and it was just as wonderful.

I use so much rice that it comes out sorta like risotto. :)