*Gargling noises*

I had the sore throat from hell this weekend, accompanied by a lovely mucus-y cough, nausea, achiness and an awesome headache. The only reason I know it's not the flu is because my darling husband forced me to get a flu shot this year (again).

So while I was camped out on the couch or in bed, I needed things to occupy my time. Here's how that went.

1) Watch eight or ten episodes of Downton Abbey in a row. I'm late to the party, and just started watching, and it took me a few episodes to really get into it, but now I'm about halfway through the second season. How good is it though?! Nobody spoil anything, but I totally want Mary and Matthew to wind up together, even if they're cousins and that's weird. And I think Anna and Bates are adorable together and his horrible blackmailing wife needs to go away. Also, I love the theme song. If my life had a soundtrack, I'd want the theme song to be on it.

2) Play a whole lot of Candy Crush. Again, late to the party. (Man, why don't I ever pick up on trends when they actually become popular?) That hasn't stopped me from powering through 40-some-odd levels in four days.

3) Drink a two-liter of Diet Sprite. I have a very nice husband who has so far managed to not get sick in the last few weeks, despite the fact that I keep coming down with random coughs and aches. He goes to CVS and buys me Sprite, because that is what you drink when you are sick. Being a nice wife — and assuming Matt would get sick too — I offered to let him go get me some Diet Sprite so he could drink it too, without it messing up his blood sugar. But Diet Sprite is not the same as regular Sprite, and I believe it does not contain the same healing powers that regular Sprite does, and that must be why I keep falling ill.

4) When tired of drinking aspartame, switch to green tea with honey. My college roommate was a big believer that tea could cure everything. We had an entire cabinet in our apartment devoted to the stuff, and naturally I couldn't stand drinking it, especially when I was sick, because Sprite is for sick! But hot tea + sugar packet + a big squirt of honey is preferable to feeling like I'm being stabbed in the throat, and Diet Sprite isn't very soothing.

5) Sleep. Don't get me wrong, I do like sleeping when I'm actually doing it, but I'm not one of those people who likes to go to bed, because there are usually other things happening that sound like more fun. That said, I've been sleeping real good this weekend. Nothing like cough syrup to knock you out. (Kids, don't do drugs. Also my cough syrup is non-drowsy, and I didn't even take the full dosage.  Maybe it was a sugar crash from all that green tea.)

What do you do when you're home sick? Any habits that have stuck with you since childhood?