I lost a week of my life to the flu...

I was really busy last week (but I can't remember doing what), and this week I had the FLU! Yay! First time as an adult, and I can't even be sure that the one time as a child that it was the flu. I was on holiday (Holland? Don't remember, really - I was sick the whole time), and was sick the evening we got there until right before we went back home. My parents are Army, and we were stationed in Germany on/off for 9 years, so we took our holidays in Europe most of the time.

Now you visit the doctor, they shove a q-tip up the nose and a second one down the throat, and can tell you whether it was strep or flu.

I have an excellent immune system, so this is really the first time as an adult with the flu. Let's hope it doesn't happen again any time in the near future. And my mom says it was a MILD version. Bleah.

But today was a GREAT day. I actually made it through the whole day without a nap! What a strange concept a nap is, but what a necessity it has been this week. Today, my Mom drove me to Williamsburg, VA. We went to the Kingsmill Shopping Center, which was having a sidewalk sale at every store, including the Knitting Sisters. I love that place. They are so nice there.

I had called a few weeks ago because I ran out of yarn for my baby dress. They did not have the colorway, but had promised to help me find that dye lot at another store if necessary. When I went there, they had just gotten more in, including one in the right dye lot! Perfect! They also had a bag sale, with bags sorted by color. I bought a bag of beautiful brown yarns for $20.Two skeins alone in that bag covered the price. We went to an antique store, the bead shop, and my mom went to the cross-stitch store there as well. I found an antique lace magazine there for $1! I couldn't find a year on first inspection, but the pricing and language suggests pre-1950s! I'll hopefully be able to find a date - it is in somewhat sorry condition. I'll take a pic of it later.
We then went to New Town in Williamsburg for lunch, More Than Just Beads, and Barnes & Nobles. The bead store there had just what I wanted - accessories for my facinators. I think I can make them now. B&N had a great selection of magazines, just none that I wanted/could afford. But there were 75% off knitting (and wire jewelry) books I couldn't pass up (thanks Mom!).
I would also like to note that the Richmond Main Library has an excellent selection of knitting and crochet books. I am currently enjoying a book from the 1970's of styles from the 1920s-40s. I would like to say that if you are going to take a book out of the library, don't tear the pages out. I mean, yes, it's YOUR tax money and all, but it's our tax money too, and use the stupid copier instead. It's $0.10 a page after all. Jeeze. I have checked out a dozen craft books so far, and a third of them are missing pages - one or two pages at a time. Half of them are scribbled on. I know most of these are old, but there have been copy machines since the 1970's. Just saying. You are just going to lose that page, anyway. The book is going to be there for a LONG TIME. I checked out a bibliography on George Washington from 1860! It'll be there when you need it. Stop tearing out pages, people.

By the way, the bibliography written in 1860 was better written than the one written in the 1980s. And it was a quickie written by request for people in the UK, as compared to something someone had time to work on in the 1980s. Yes, I am geeky enough to check both out (they were next to each other) and read them at the same time. :) There is a little more detail in the 1980s book, but it was just starting to get easier to do research at the time.

It is so cool reading a book from 1860. There is a pressed stamp (pressed into the paper, not inked) stating that the book is the property of the Richmond Library. The book had been rebound, but it is so neat to look at. Plus the language then was more stately. At that point the written language was generally the same, but it was definitely more stately.

I have an in-person interview and a phone interview on Monday! Amazing for someone suffering from the flu all week. I am looking forward to both - they are both wonderful positions, both at potentially wonderful companies. Wish me luck!