What I did today

• Slept until almost 10am. This cold is kicking my ass, and I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity to shirk my parenting duties while Jason is at home. Because tomorrow he'll be gone all day and I'll be stuck with Snotty McWhineypants and my own hacking cough. It'll be a blast!
• Raked leaves in a snowstorm. Whee.
• Walked with Liza while she rode her Big Wheel around the block in a snowstorm. It wasn't even snowing when we started, and the wind was at our backs all the way down our street, but we turned the corner and it was like someone dropped us in Alaska. By the time she got so cold she had to have a tantrum and be carried the rest of the way home (fun), the front of my coat was entirely coated in snow, and her sneakers were soaked through. She was a trouper right up until we got 2/3rds of the way around, though, and I think if she'd had snow boots and better mittens ... and maybe a snowmobile helmet ... she'd have done fine. As it was, it was a great way to introduce her to the idea of the microwave-heated rice pack. She played with it for an hour after her feet thawed out.
• Coughed.
• Knit socks while my daughter used her desk as a pretend computer. You can tell we've been watching too much PBS when she is pretending to type and saying things like, "Okay, now we go online to pbskids dot org. There's lots of games there. Okay, I pick web site 51 ... and ... ENTER!" Then she started spouting off the web address for the local public radio station, and I decided it might be time to listen to kid music during dinner prep from now on.
• Coughed.
• Took Liza to the mall for lunch and some shopping. The mall was packed - economic slowdown my ass - and she was very good about staying with me and walking the whole time. The mall was in full-on Christmas mode, lacking only a man in a fat suit and beard to complete the illusion that It's Not Actually Six Weeks Before The Holidays. It was so persuasive I was tempted to buy stuff for people we have sworn we're not buying for this year. I managed to resist. We ate, bought her some new snowboots and gloves (see point #3), got her a sample of lotion to use at bedtime, rode the escalator in JC Penney, and got her out of the Disney store with no tears or tantrums. I'd call that a success, wouldn't you?
• Made banana bread while listening to a Beastie Boys CD. Coughed. A lot.
• Realized that after making the banana bread, I no longer had enough eggs to make brownies.
• Sent Jason to the convenience store to get eggs because I've been wanting to make brownies for like a week now.
• Coughed. And made brownies.
• Ate nothing but banana bread and brownies for dinner. That's a balanced meal, right?
• Finished most of our Christmas shopping online. Go, etsy and Amazon! I've got a couple gift cards to grab from the grocery store, and I'm D-O-N-E done. Because, you know, there's only six weeks until the holiday.
• Coughed.
• Took cold medicine that is doing absolutely nothing for my postnasal drip and cough, but will nevertheless keep me wired until 1am as a side effect. Stupid cold medicine. On the positive side of things, I'll bet I can have my mother-in-law's sock done by then if I get off the computer and start working.
• Did I mention the coughing? Gahhhhh.

ETA: It's 1am, the sock is done, and I'm still wired. Must. Not. Start. Another. Sock.

Cough.