I was sick a few weeks ago…and I took that special Monday off as an excuse to escape a Math test and prepare for a Spanish test the following day. It was really Saturday, not Monday, that was the worst, the kind of wake-up-first-thing-with-a-scratchy-throat morning where you just know what’s going to follow in the next couple of days. For me, what followed was mild coughs, sneezes, and the fruitless blowing of my nose.
While I maybe didn’t deserve the extra day that I tacked onto my weekend, I accomplished something for each of those three days. One was the inevitable irritated skin around my nose. Yep, from my tissue use. The second – and just as predictable product of my weekend – was homework. That math test? Studied for it. The Spanish one? Chapter three of Don Quijote has been conquered. Amidst traveling from couch to kitchen for Theraflu tea, hiding tissues (for my mom to later find), and tossing probability questions on the floor in disgust, I accomplished something worthwhile.
The pictures I posted along with this should have been a hint, but if for some reason they were too subtle (how???), they are the last thing that I did during the weekend!
My mom’s boyfriend, who had been staying with us for a few weeks, bought a kit to make miniature gingerbread houses for me and my sister. I think anyone would spend their next couple hours as I did…
In my sleep-deprived, congested state, making the gingerbread village was the preferable option over doing homework. And I did spend hours. There is something incredibly satisfying about making something! I “built” six houses in all: two A-frame, three normal (excuse lack of knowledge about architectural terms) homes, and one slightly different one. The picture on the top left shows all of the houses lined up next to each other. You can see I couldn’t stop at just the houses…they had to have paths and driveways too. I even used the large green leaves included in the packaging. I cut off the bottoms and glued them to the cardboard surface with icing.
The other pictures show what happened to the houses after a few weeks of sitting around, receiving admiration and praise* from house callers. Eventually, gingerbread becomes harder…and harder…and cats accidentally break them…and other things need the space that they take up…and they end up outside. I wish I had a picture of the squirrel that peeled my icing driveway off and buried it in the ground a few feet away, but these ones will have to do instead. After about an hour, only cardboard was left.
This was the best thing I could have possibly done while sick! Or even if I hadn’t been sick! The pure satisfaction I got from sticking sprinkles to a cookie house surprised even me.
I will 100% do this again. I just need someone to cough on me and get it all started…
*This is an exaggeration. 🙂
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