trying to "bee" positive

I'm feeling like my good friend Christina when she wrote this post. Being confined to the house with this nasty ass flu (not sure if I mentioned it on here) is anything but pleasant. But today when I awoke, again feeling like I'd been swimming in a snot pool all night, I said to myself, ENOUGH. Even if my body is physically sick, I'm going to change my mental outlook and try to enjoy the day, enjoy life! After a 5 minute nose blowing extravaganza, I got dressed into fresh clothes (without patches of dried snot on the sleeves) and finally finished up the loads of laundry I started last Thursday. Since it's a balmly 80 degrees without a single cloud, I decided to give my make shift clothesline a whirl. As they say in McDonaldland...I'm Loving it! With the help of the sun's strong rays, our lightweight shirts dry in about a half hour and they smell so fresh and summery. What I didn't plan for were the birds that like to sit atop the trellis where one end of the clothesline is attached. As a result one of my tanks got shit splattered but it was mostly confined to the straps. I just moved the clothes a bit further down the line, no big deal. Oh and I also need to turn the clothes inside out because I neglected to realize that the sun fades colors in no time. So I'll make sure to do that for next time. Sorry Tom! (One of his red t-shirts is now a combo coral/salmon hue but I'm confident he can still pull it off.)

So back to enjoying this beautiful day! I made an ice cold green tea latte which I haven't been drinking too much lately because milk = more mucus production which is the last thing I need right now but since I'm not going to let this sickness dictate what I can and can't indulge in, I'm gonna have one! Armed with my latte and Oprah book I headed back outside to recline on the lawn couch and absorb the sun's vitamins for a while. I watched as my clothes blew slightly in the breeze casting ghostly shadows on the ground so I thought, I've gotta snap some photos.


When I came back to my spot on the couch there sat a curious bee on my latte straw. Thank GOD I didn't just pick up my glass without looking and swallow him down in one giant gulp, I thought! And who knew bees were around in February?!? It was the first bee I'd seen in a while and the only bee I could see in my backyard. I said hello to Mr. Bee and sat perfectly still while he milled around the straw and hovered over the glass occasionally dipping his bee feet into the milk. I was feeling rather generous so I let him have a few sips and after he filled up he buzzed off into the orange tree.

The orange tree looked so vibrant against the bright blue contrast of the sky, so of course it was time for another photo.


Did I mention that's where Mr. Bee went after his latte? I guess I was too caught up in photo taking to realize he was only inches from my face. So of course I freaked when I heard the buzzing (practically in my ear) and screamed and turned to run as fast as I could but was shin blocked by an ottoman. I leapt over the ottoman and the buzzing stopped. Then I felt...

...THE STING.


That f*cker stung me on the side of my neck. I slapped my neck about 20 times (of course while screaming with what little voice I had left) and then he flew away. He didn't die and there was no stinger left behind so now he's able to inflict his evil wrath on someone else (possibly me) again! I'm not taking any chances, so I packed up my shit and came back inside to nurse my gaping wound in addition to this nasty ass flu. I felt better when I was miserable.