The Power of Popsicles

Over the holiday, I came down with the dreaded Noro-Virus, commonly known as the stomach bug. This strain is particularly mean & ugly and also highly contagious. Half the family is coming down with it and looks like half the community, too. By Sunday night after Christmas, I was down for the count. Luckily, I had decided when I was grocery shopping for the holidays, to throw some "just in case"items in the cart. Gatorade, that sugary, salty, revitalizing drink and Popsicles (the old fashioned mixed flavor bag).  Gatorade is not my go to drink, not by a long shot. But it is what the doctors now tell you to drink when you get a stomach bug. When I was little it was coke syrup. When my kids were little it was de-carbonated coke ( if you add sugar & stir coke gently, you take the fizz out) then along came Pedialyte.  So the re-hydrating drinks change with the times. But there is one constant, one perfect fix for the "bugs",  Popsicles. (my personal fave is rootbeer, of which you get only 4 in the variety pak) When anyone gets sick, my immediate response is popsicles. Think about it. When you are sick, most times you have a fever or sore throat . Popsicles cool as they work their way down your throat. You don't even have to chew. You break off a piece, put it in your mouth and let it melt. It is cool, it tastes good, keeps your mouth & throat moist and it is adding much needed fluid to your body a little at a time, when just thinking of having to drink another  mouthful of something sends you running for the bathroom !
(when I was little, a Popsicle with the big red circle on the package, was quite a treat. When the ice cream man came around, nine times out of ten,  I picked a Popsicle...rootbeer)
So I had about 25 Popsicles and drank 3 -32 oz bottles of Gatorade over the last few days. It was breakfast, lunch & dinner for three full days. Now, I hope I don't have to see another bottle of Gatorade for  awhile, but tonight while I watch TV, I will have a rootbeer Popsicle...just because.....

My 7 great kids all chipped in and gifted me with a Kindle for Christmas (what an awesome gift !) Needless to say, as I layed in bed for 3 plus days, I read a book. It was The Heights by Peter Hedges. It was the only book downloaded on there that I could figure out how to open! It ended up being a pretty good choice. The chapters were dialogue by character, so it was an easy read. ( in my condition, I was lucky if I could focus ) It was the story of two marriages, one pretty good, the other a farce. They were the haves and the have nots. Add in a Hollywood ex-flame ,  a roving eye and gossipy neighbors and you have got some good conversations going on ! About two thirds through the book, I thought I could have predicted the ending..but there was a twist. A pretty good read...I recommend it.

I  WISH EVERYONE A GREAT BEGINNING TO THE NEW YEAR. LET'S DO SOME GOOD WORK IN 2011, PEEPS!
 Please stay tuned.