Yesterday was an odd day. I woke up sick with a nasty fall cold and stayed home from work. I never take legitimate sick days, but I was so sniffly and coughy that I hated to infect others. The idea was to rest up and get rid of the cold, but I just can’t lay around when there are things that need to be done. I was outside blowing leaves, returning our keys to the apartment, and running other errands. I did watch a few more episodes of Desperate Housewives, but for the most part my sick day from work was mostly to prevent my co-workers from catching whatever I have.

Today was also an odd day. I woke up at 7am on a Saturday and watched Cedar Rapids on HBO. Then I jogged the dog. It was supposed to be flash flood conditions, which wiped out our Karaoke 5K, but it barely sprinkled. I did some work around the house, touching up some paint. Then at 11:50 I helped Brian Mego haul some patio furniture using the pickup. In return, he and his bestie Mike Franklin took me out to Red Lobster for Endless Shrimp to thank me. I gorged myself on shrimp to the point where I considered vomiting.

In the afternoon, we met our friends the Bartholics at Bikini’s, the Ohio State alumni bar, to watch the OSU vs. MSU game. I am not a Buckeye fan, but we supported our friends and cheered for them anyway. Afterwards, we went to our realtor’s Summer Soiree out on the river. It began raining heavily. There was an all-you-can-eat fajita bar, which would have been utilized much more by me had I not just done an all-you-can-eat shrimp lunch. Caren, our realtor, asked me to stand up in front of the crowd of 40 strangers and lead everyone in the traditional seventh-inning-stretch routine of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” followed by “God Bless America,” which I did. If you would have told me 18 months ago that on September 29, 2012, I would be standing in a realtor’s house on a river in Austin, Texas leading a group singing a baseball song, I would have said “no, you are lying to me, this is a silly scenario that will not happen.” But it did.

I feel like my sickness has passed and I’ll be fine for work next week. We’re anxiously anticipating the arrival of friends Walsh and Sarah for a visit next weekend, and will no doubt spend the week perfecting the house. Also this week, I start my fall Callaway softball league on Tuesday and continue our fall sand volleyball league on Thursday. There is sure no signs of fall in the air. Even today with a little rain we had temps in the 80s and nothing but sun and more 80s in the forecast for the next week.

I am sad that we weren’t able to return to South Dakota for cousin Katie’s wedding today. If we hadn’t bought the house, I have no doubt I would have returned, but that is a huge expense to justify an expensive flight just weeks later. We shall return to SD soon. Maybe not for Thanksgiving, maybe not for Christmas, but maybe in March for Alex and Ann’s upcoming baby.