Tracye wrote: Nyquil is a good - no, GREAT - bedfellow - but he is not a longterm partner. He's a one-to-two night stand. Three max, and by the third night he's beginning to lose interest in helping a gal out. Don't abuse Nyquil, just love him for the shortterm.
Girl, you ain't lyin'. That is so, so true. I feel rather rode hard and put away wet, as I have been around the cold medicine block. So, I broke it off with NyQuil, deciding to go with the non-drowsy cough syrup coupled with not one but two Advil PMs. Sounds good, right?
No! That cocktail kept me up until four in the morning. You try staying awake on two Advil PMs - it is a trip.
But what kind of sick (literally) moron am I? I'm the kind of sick moron who tries this recipe for disaster a second night and is surprised when doing the same thing gets the same results.
I won't even go into how I realized today that I felt like my entire body was carbonated and maybe I was having side effects from the non-drowsy (read: laced with meth) cough syrup.
I've been drinking a ton of water and eating fish tacos in an effort to cleanse my system.
What were we talking about again?
Sherilee wrote: I'm curious which of Cathy Lamb's you'd recommend for a first-time reader?
Hmm. You really can't go wrong. They are all fast, fun reads. The first I read was Julia's Chocolates, which I recommend mostly because I love the visual of abandoning your wedding dress in a tree at the side of a road.
I'm not giving anything away. It's on the cover of the book.
My conscious asked: Speaking of your year-end posts, dear Cha Cha, you sorta left us hanging on what your plans are for 2010. What gives?
Yeah, well, Wretched Cold sort of took over any thoughts I had toward the future. It made me think back wistfully to my younger days, like, "I used to wear jewelry and sing and wear bras. Those were the days!" I was in the autumn of my years. But now I've started to feel better and am less, you know, at death's door.
So, basically, I have two resolutions for the new year. The first is a continuation of last year's goal to cook more. I like to cook, and last year I received some kick-ass knives for Christmas. This year, I received a kick-ass blender, and I gave myself a little present in the way of The Earthbound Farm Cookbook. It's the sort of cookbook I dig - gorgeous color photos of all of the recipes, because I'm a visual learner. And all sorts of useful info about eating organic and knowing where your food comes from.
The second resolution?
Umm? It's sort of shameful.
See, I'm an editor. But really? I'm an editorial manager. At a Fortune 500 company. Not that I'm hot shit (I'm not), but just some context. I'm an editor / editorial manager ... and I don't know the proper usage of lay and lie.
I KNOW!
I'll learn it, but then I'll see something shiny or Hoarders will come on TV or Lil' Frank will poo on the floor ... and I totally forget about my romance with the tricky verbs. I get it, but I never really embrace it and make it my own. I flirt with it and then forget allll about it.
So, 2010 is the year I finally master lay / lie / lain / laid / lalala.
I feel as though I have totally just thrown down the gauntlet. Bwah ha! Verb mastery shall be mine - and no wind, no rain, no trash TV shall stand in my way!
Wish me luck.
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15 comments:
So, I am also an editor of sorts (ahem), and teach writing for a living, and the whole lay/lie thing sends me into a tizzy every time I think about it. However, I will say that associating lay with place (as in lay/place it on the table) has really helped me out. Beyond that, when it goes all past tense, I'm digging for the grammar manual.
Who knew before now of the cleansing powers of fish tacos?? GREAT!
Now my throat is sore and my nose is stuffy and I think that I may have to sleep with NyQuil tonight. At least he's forgiving, I don't have to shave my legs and put on fancy airs.
Maybe I just need a few fish tacos.
Hey, did you see that Bret Michaels is going to be on the New Celebrity Apprentice?
When you figure out the lie/lay/lala/lu thing, do let us know... and I hope you get some sleep! '2010: sleepless for a year' does not have a ring to it!
My mom drilled the difference between lie and lay into my brain when I was a kid, just as she worked with our pronunciation so we wouldn't pick up a Missouri accent.
Oh, and while we're on the subject of editing, the phrase is actually "rode hard and put away wet." It's an equestrian thing... ;)
As my college algebra teacher tried to tell us, "own the knowledge." Her way of saying don't just complete the homework but really understand and remember the concept. Ya, right! The only way to do that is to actually use it (something I've never found I needed to do on a regular basis with a graphing calculator). So my challenge to you is to use some form of "laid" once a month on the blog. That would be very entertaining! [wink, wink, nudge, nudge]
OMG! I'm high on cold meds but deeply ashamed about my road / rode mix-up. I know that. I don't know lay / lie, but I know road / rode.
As for cold medicine - I highly recommend Mucinex. Stupid commercials, but that stuff really works and doesn't make you feel tired or hyper or anything. Except less snotty. It's fantastic.
As for lay/lie - the only thing that helps me is to remember "chickens lay eggs; people lie down." Of course when you move beyond that to past tense I'm generally lost...
Hope you feel better soon!
I see great things lay ahead for you. (Could NOT help myself.) That is so true about cold meds--they are for short term lovin'. And I confess Tylenol is the only one that doesn't keep me up all night (in a bad way, of course).
I'm noting that book, thanks!
Thanks for the book recommend, it's downloading now to my Kindle. I'll miss the wedding dress visual, but thanks for filling me in on that! Looking forward to an easy breezy read to kick off my year.
All the best in 2010, Cha Cha! I'm not even going to touch that verb stuff, but I know you're going to rock this year!
i can not can not can not get lay and lie right. or whatever it is. and also. i always spell weird wrong. no kidding, i just did it again.
Hope you turn the corner on what ails you. And you can get up and around. And quit laying around. Or lying around. Or quit lying about laying around.
Looking forward to the lay/lie post because I don't know either! Do share your wisdom with us, please!
Ok my dirty mind went immediately to the fact that you are going to master the lay. Sorry. It's not worthy of either of us. But maybe the cold medicine will help make you laugh about it.
Okay, totally separated at birth (and by 15 years or so) 1) I love the phrase "rode hard and put up wet" My Mom said that all the time.
2) I can never sleep when I am sick. Never. I used to have some cough syrup we called the golden elixir. It will still even the worst, tickliest (I know that is not a word) cough and will put ANYONE to sleep. It is prescription only , contains codeine and costs a bundle even with insurance. One half teaspoon will make you hallucinate, but sleep.Heavenly, beautiful sleep. Let me know if you want the name to ask your Doctor.
3) Lie, lay, I have nearly given up. I have a book somewhere that explained it in a way that really worked for me at one time, but I can't remember it. I avoid saying lie/lay if possible ("recline" back on your mat...)
4) Freakin LOVE fish tacos. Let's compare notes on the best in town.
5) Used to collect cookbooks. Pictures are the best. Now I usually use epicurious.com. Always something great but you can't take it to bed and flip through the pages and feel the lovely paper.
and just for future reference.... this last cold I had, and it was terrible, horrible, no sleep, constant cough... when I ran out of golden elixir I drank jaegermeister. It worked and I slept. (and then took my top off and danced on the bar)
I wish you a great 2010 and beyond!
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