Yes, a nice dinner out sounds preferable. The tradeoff is that I will have to fend off my mother's complaints over how much it costs.

Wednesday morning, the first morning of my vacation, and I'm at 154.3.

I've got tickets to a matinee in the city and the weather is supposed to have warmed up by about 30 degrees from yesterday, when it felt like a premature January.

The contractor says he's still trying to get the kitchen done for the weekend, but he hasn't been on site for two days. He's left himself just three working days to do this. As a safety measure, I've asked the insurance company to extend my stay beyond Friday checkout at 11 AM.

Saef, I hope that you get to be comfortably re-homed asap.

I'm doing ok, still pretty down about what I now think was a big mistake, moving here and taking this job. I'm trying to forgive myself for it and stay motivated for grinding hard at this job. At least DH seems a bit happier. Though we both miss our families badly. The holidays make that worse, of course. I've not eaten my feelings too badly, though I did binge on rum cake for 2 days while DH was away.

If anyone has any great home remedies for sinus problems, please share. My cold, which atypically started in my chest is now firmly in my head with some serious sinus pain and pressure. I left work early Monday, had to do in for a couple hours yesterday, but came home and rested the rest of the day and am taking today off with little change from yesterday. Sick isn't how I want to go through the holidays.

JZJ, so sorry you're hitting yourself over this change. But if I remember correctly, you weren't too happy at your last job and that's why you did this. Hopefully things will get better.

Allison, I use nasal irrigation (NeilMed sinus rinse) for allergic rhinitis and never have sinus problems any more. When I was a child my mum would give me a bowl of steaming water with Friar's Balsam in it and I'd put a towel over my head and breathe in the vapour - it seemed to work. I think steam on its own is also quite good.

JZJ and saef, difficult times.

Allison - this is going to sound terrible when you read the recipe, but a friend suggested it and I made it for DH for seven days last week after he started to show pretty intense cold symptoms and he has pulled back to pretty healthy without it settling in his chest. He has asthma, so pretty much every head cold turns into a chest cold and he's down for at least a month. I crushed up 1-2 garlic cloves, let it rest while I chopped some ginger. Zipped both together and into tiny bits in my chopper, dumped it in a mug with roughly 2 tbsp of honey (more if you need it for taste), 2-3 ounces of whiskey, a dash of grated cinammon, and topped with hot water to fill. Let it steep for 10-15 minutes, then drank it. Ingesting as much of the chopped up stuff as possible.

I know, sounds horrible. But, I'm seriously amazed at how much difference it seemed to make for DH. The night we started it he was well on the road to bad cold, and after 7 days he was pretty much better. He started to feel better after the first couple of days, but we kept going a week because we were worried about it settling into his chest.

And yes, steam works, too. If you think it is less cold and more sinus, I drink the same concoction as above without the garlic and the ginger for sinus and it helps a lot.

Allison-- I've done the nasal irrigation too. Pretty gross but it helps a great deal. I have chronic sinus and ear issues.

Sorry JZJ. I do hope things improve. Or you can make a change. Nothing in life is permanent (pretty much anyway).

Another vote for NeilMed sinus rinse. Although I'm very willing to try Shannon's recipe, without the garlic and ginger

I've been doing a saline nasal rinse. Is it different than NeilMed sinus rinse? I'm also doing warm, wet compresses and breathing in the steamy water over the basin. And taking Mucinex Sinus Max. I just wish my head didn't feel like it's full of cotton.

I've done whiskey and hot water with Theraflu before and that did seem to help, but right now the only Theraflu I have is for daytime use and I don't feel like going out tonight. Also, I don't have any ginger. But if I did, I'd try it for sure.

Thursday morning, and I'm at 152.6. This was after walking around midtown on matinee day, leading my mother through the crowds at Rockefeller Center and Times Square. I should remember to go there when I feel fed up with life.

The insurance company extended my stay through Dec. 30th. I feel better knowing I've got this place on reserve and I can always check out earlier if we get lucky.

Maybe we will get lucky: When we looked in at the apartment at about 6 PM, the contractor had dropped off some of the new kitchen cabinets. Not all, but some. He must have come by after we left for the city around 11:30 AM, believing he'd be a no-show again.

I got some astonishingly good cookies from a client yesterday. Shortbread with pralines and pecans.

I sat in my office - Trixie in attendance to help - and I ate and savored one cookie. No distractions, no accompaniments, just me, the dog, and the cookie.

I put the rest away in their jar and will have another this afternoon.

I've never done this before. Usually I chow down the entire gift of cookies in my car while driving. I take it as a win!

Dagmar

Allison - I think the ginger was mostly for taste to try to cover some of the garlic. LOL

My nose was definitely broken in the fall, I just couldn't tell at first. My nose has been congested since, and my PCP wants me to see an ENT after the first of the year.

Allison-- yes, it is different than just the saline rinse. Look up neti pot online and you can see them. They should be readily available at pharmacies or Target and the like.

Ouch, Shannon. I had sinus surgery years (many, many) ago and it helped my issues (I couldn't breathe through my nose virtually at all) greatly then. I'm thinking at some point I need to get reevaluated once again.

Today is my last day working! Hooray! Yesterday was not fun. The kids were crazy. I had mostly kindergarten classes and by the end of the day I was DONE. Today is a work day so I plan on WORKING.

Then, heading out to do the million things before I fly tomorrow. The weather looks awful tomorrow (much rain), so I hope my drive to the airport and my flight aren't too bad.

Saef-- that sounds amazing to have Rockefeller Center and the like so close to you. Wow....

Great job on the cookies, Dagmar. I was pleased with myself for sharing the amazing cheesecake brownies a parent made for me. I did consider eating them all but knew the guilt (and weight gain) would be significant. So, I had one and brought the rest to lunch in the staff room. They were gone in less than 5 minutes.

My principal and vice principal are making a pancake breakfast this morning for us. Sweet, but I won't have any.

I so want to be under 130 on January 1 but I think I'm being somewhat unrealistic. We will see. I was 130 even this morning. Too many meals out in my future so I'll have to really reign it in and get my exercise in. I don't like staying with in-laws for more than a few days and I'll be there 9 days! Dh promised he'll take me to bikram whenever I want so hopefully I squeeze that in!

In other news, dh met our dd's boyfriend last night. He gave me his thoughts (mostly good) so I can't wait to meet him next week. They've been dating a few months and seem to be getting pretty serious. This is her first real (decent, not dog) boyfriend, so I just want him to be a good guy.

I use a bottle not a neti pot but the principle's the same.

Ouch, Shannon.

At my mother's. Other people are lined up to eat the shortbread. That's sorted then.

Friday morning, up again at 153.3. Moved around less yesterday.

Saw "Jackie" yesterday at a matinee -- it disappointed my mother, but I thought was better than I'd hoped for. Then we walked back to my apartment comparing the Kennedys with the Trumps.

At the apartment, the contractor was supervising two other men cutting boards in the hallway and hanging cabinets. It's taken so long to get to this moment. I did not feel any elation, just weariness and wondering when they will be done.

I finally went back to work yesterday for an abbreviated stay. I got all my work done, so that helped. I'm feeling much better today although still congested. At least my holiday will be better not being so sick. I'll have to pick up that medicine and have it around for the next bout (or if DH catches this). We do have a neti pot, but usually just do saline.

Hoping for a nice, albeit cold, holiday weekend. I also hope we can go see a movie (La La Land, probably), but not sure yet if FIL can sit that long. Ever since his surgery for the kidney stone, he has to go to the bathroom hourly. Hopefully he'll get the stent out soon, but they won't remove it until all signs of the stone are gone. For now, he is still seeing flecks of it in his urine--and his surgery was mid November!