A weekly round up: eats, workouts, watches, and reads. This week COVID took a hike but left a cliche behind.
COVID Part II
The bad news: stepson #1 got it as well, and like me his symptoms started long before he got a positive test result.
The good news: we're both back to negative territory and hubs and stepson #2 are fine. They both had it back in January, so I guess it was just the other half of the house's turn to go down. Stepson #1 had to miss the first two days of school and he was more than OK with that.
The cliche news: both stepson #1 and I have lost our sense of taste and smell. He noticed it right away, but one of my symptoms was loss of appetite so it took me a while to catch on.
I'm guessing that I won't be talking very much about food until I get my smell/taste back. I get hungry but after a few bites everything tastes like cardboard and it's kind of a chore to finish a meal. Stepson #1 and I can both taste salt and we can smell and taste chocolate and that's about it.
The garden threw us one last zucchini and I wasn't sure if we'd get around to eating it as a side for dinner before it went bad. Years and years ago we had a massive crop of zucchinis so I went on a zucchini bread making spree and the family favorite back them was chocolate zucchini muffins so that's the route I took this time. BTW can I just say that while zucchini bread is delicious it's also an inefficient way to use up excess zucchini since most recipes only call for two cups?
This is what two cups of shredded zucchini looked like before being shredded and going into Oh Sweet Basil's Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. I ended up getting 18 muffins out of what was supposed to be a batch of 12 which is handy because I have a house full of chocolate lovers.
Workouts
Normally my laundry is 50% workout clothes and this week it was 0%. It's too soon to tell how much of a setback getting sick was but I'm at the point where I can't sit still anymore so I'm starting to test the waters with short runs.
That half marathon that I was going to run in late September and wasn't crazy about even before I got sick? I'll sit on it a week or so before trying to give my registration to someone else but...nah. I'm not going to get there from here. I think there's something in the water because I feel like every time I go on Facebook I see yet another person dropping out of the race and offering to transfer their registration to anyone who will take it. I also know a few people who are killing it in their training so I'm excited to see what they do on race day.
Watching
Dreams do come true. Almost five years ago my stepsons saw the first half of The Maltese Falcon and this week they saw the whole thing. I don't want to spoil an 80 year old movie so I'll keep it vague, but in a nutshell this is a movie about the quest for something that you can never have. The boys were totally Team Fat Man and were trying to figure out what had happened to the falcon and how much more time it would take the gang to get it.Reading
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! I've got a good one. The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark. It's a simple little thriller about a con woman, a journalist who's trying to take her down, and the excellent reasons why both of them are doing what they are doing. It got me hooked on page one and has kept me there ever since, which is my dream reading experience. Just FYI, this is the same author of The Last Flight which I raved about and The Ones We Choose, which was a DNF. Two hits more than makes up for one miss.
For those of you who've had COVID - did you lose your smell/taste? How long did it take to get it back?
I can't imagine how it must feel like to lose the sense of taste and smell. Eating would only make sense if you feel hungry, otherwise there's no point. A not-so-great-way to lose weight, I guess.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what will happen with your registration, Birchie. I don't think you lost a lot of fitness last week. Who knows, maybe the rest was exactly what was needed!
It's a different experience for sure!
DeleteAt least you still have chocolate! But I am sorry about the cliche symptoms, and I hope they pass soon.
ReplyDeleteBeing able to taste chocolate does not suck! It's just going to take a bit for the virus to clear out.
DeleteI haven't had COVID yet (*fingers crossed all the ways*), but we're pretty good about still taking precautions. We're still masking and hand sanitizing and not eating in public places. But I know it's only a matter of time and I hope we don't have any long-term consequences. Not having smell/taste sounds terrible and I hope it returns to you quickly!!
ReplyDeleteHey all of those things are keeping the odds in your favor and very likely have helped you to avoid it this long. When I get sick it usually takes me a bit to fully recover so I think it will take a little bit of time to come back to normal.
DeleteI did NOT lose my sense of smell or taste, and I'm so sorry that you lost yours. I hope it returns quickly. Those muffins look very good -- I wonder if I can get my kiddo to eat them... it is uncanny how quickly she can sniff out anything I try to sneak vegetables into.
ReplyDeleteIt is what it is. My husband and other stepson never lost theirs when they had COVID. It's all a crapshoot.
DeleteI think it's worth a shot at trying the muffins. They are really good and the zucchini melts away to nothing.
Oh NO! That really sucks. When I had Covid, I did not lose smell or taste. I'm not sure what variant we're on now, but I had the December omicron version, and they said that one didn't usually have that side effect. Well, you'll just have to go on an all-chocolate diet! Obviously.
ReplyDeleteThe more I think about it, I feel like the "December" version of COVID is way better than the "August" one. Both seem to have been relatively mild, but the August version seems to have a few lingering side effects.
DeleteYay for the all chocolate diet!
Oh nooooo! I'm sorry you lost smell and taste, I hope they return ASAP (I love your "eats" roundups! I mean, it's not all about me but I do love them.) I just got back from vacation and I think I have about 1000000000 zucchinis ready to be picked (maybe a slight exaggeration).
ReplyDeleteI just saw a new post from you pop up so that's my next stop on the internet! I can't wait to catch up with your adventures. Something tells me there will be zoodles galore at your house this weekend.
DeleteSorry to be so late commenting...my brain is on delay, LOL. Sorry, also, that your Covid symptoms are lingering, especially the taste and smell. That would be so tough to deal with. Myself (and the one daughter who also tested positive) both had very mild symptoms (basically, "bad cold" gunk), but she was in bed for almost two solid weeks the last time (almost two years ago). She lost her taste and smell and it took several months for those to return to normal for her. I hope your situation is much better!!!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Several months would be terrible. Thankfully everything got back to normal for me the next week.
DeleteI haven't had COVID yet, either (or have never tested positive; I feel like SURELY I've had it at this point?)...
ReplyDeleteHope your recovery goes smoothly and things are back to normal soon.
That's exactly how I felt "pre-COVID" - I really couldn't say that I hadn't had it, just that I had never gotten sick from it.
DeleteLoosing the sense of smell/taste sounds terrible... I hope you could taste the chocolate zucchini muffins? They look amazing.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, for some reason I could taste chocolate so it was lucky that I had a zucchini that I needed to use up at the time. The muffins are a winner!
DeleteOh, man. I hope that your senses come back sooner vs. later! How frustrating (but... at least you have chocolate?).
ReplyDeleteThanks Anne, everything got back on track. At least there was chocolate!
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