So it's day three of being sick. Well, day three of playing hooky from work. My boss is fond of saying things like "going forward..." This time it was "going forward, leave me a voice mail message before you're sick."  Huh?

I said, "going forward I don't plan on being sick."

Yesterday Melissa took the older two to a home school group time and left me alone with the Little Guy. We're both hacking and coughing but I'm the only one wrapped in a blanket shivering uncontrollably. He wants to "run and play" as he says and that includes jumping on me.  But they come home eventually and I survive the afternoon. But someone thought my misery wasn't complete and gave the Little Guy a Tickle-Me Elmo Surprise!  It's got several push button contacts that "tickle" and cause Elmo to giggle and shake.  Little Guy loves it and thinks it's about the funniest thing he's ever seen. I think watching him laughing is about the funniest thing I've ever seen.

But clearly I'm not the target audience for Elmo.  That voice grates on my nerves and that laugh is like chewing tinfoil. Please,  Lord?  Make me better so I can go back to work and not be around this thing, OK?

I've been trying but I can only read for short periods as I lay in my sick bed. So I'm about half-way through Wayne Thomas Batson's The Door Within Trilogy. One thing I've found interesting is the "Lost Chapters" that are included at the end. These are the parts that were left on the cutting room floor for various reasons. But they also contain some notes from the author that explain what he was thinking in writing thus-and-so. Although short, I find these notes fascinating.  Perhaps not fascinating. That's too strong a word. Insightful.

Shall I be honest here and say we've actually been watching American Idol this year? We haven't in the past but for some reason my daughter has found it interesting. So I've been watching with her, making comments on the songs, clothing, and such, trying to turn it into a teaching moment.  There's quite a lot you can learn from the show, actually, such as choosing a song that matches your voice.  During the tryouts I was amazed by the number of guys that tried to sing high soprano parts. I was also amazed by the number of people that must have been bamboozled by their "friends" into auditioning, for they clearly did not have any singing voice at all. It's too easy to point at the TV and laugh which seems to be the purpose of showing such people. So rather than pick on people we talk about voice quality, diction, and presentation.  Perhaps there's a better method, but this seems to have her attention right now so I figure I'd try it for a while.  The music certainly isn't the type we choose in our household, but that can be said for just about every television show.