It always happens..I have all these wonderful plans for the long weekend. I have a stack of books on my bedside, just waiting to be read. Instead…I spent the entire weekend in bed, sick. My hubby and nine year old son had symptoms of a cold earlier in the week. My hubby had gone out the night before his symptoms appeared and I blamed it on a hangover (sorry baby!). Ok, I can admit it…I was wrong. Unless hangovers are contagious, he really was sick that day.

Ok, back to me :). The symptoms started Friday while I was at work. Tingly nose, itchy throat. We’d done a lot of cleaning around the office so I assumed that my allergies were just reacting. At lunch that day, I took my son to his school’s Open House. I put on a happy face, but my head was throbbing. Luckily the powers that be decided to close the office early that day in honor of the Labor Day weekend.

I get home around 3:30 and I can barely see to drive, my headache is so bad. The normal allergy/sinus meds weren’t kicking in. I drank some coffee, and that seemed to alleviate the pain for the time being.

Hubby and I had plans to take our nine year old to the mall to do some final back to school shopping. I was able to get through that relatively easily, but by the time we got home it hit me. I lost all energy and crashed.

I woke up the next morning at 6 am, thanks to our three year old son. That’s when the coughing began. I coughed so much I thought my ribs would crack. The coughing lasted all weekend, and finally, after an entire 3 day weekend of drinking the all-powerful, cure-all Robitussin, I’m finally starting to feel normal again.

The downside of the meds was waking up, wide awake, at 3 am. I got a lot of quality reading done in those early hours! I finished Inside Out Girl, Sweetsmoke, and Chelsea Cain’s newest, Sweetheart. I’ve started Woman of a Thousand Secrets and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (for the Sci-Fi Lit class I’m taking). Look for my reviews of these books (ok maybe not Frankenstein) later this week.

Ok, this was meant to be a short little message explaining my absence but as usual I started rambling :). I hope everyone has a good week, and I’m sending out a special prayer to all those affected by Gustav. Also, there’s still time to enter the giveaway for a Tess Gerritsen book!

I’m a member of an amazing online bookclub, Pageturners. We formed after Oprah reinstated her book club about 5 years ago. In that time, we’ve grown to be close friends. Together we have experienced the birth of one “Pageturner Baby” and at least 4 “Pageturner Grandbabies”. Our members range in age from late twenties to early fifties. We live all over North America—CA, OR, MO, TX, MS, FL, MD, NY, VA and Canada. In the past few years, we’ve tried to arrange an annual Pageturner Convention. The first “official” convention took place in CA, last year was MD, and this year Pageturners hit D.C.!

The convention took place over a long weekend. We visited the Library of Congress and saw Thomas Jefferson’s amazing library. We walked up to the Capitol and then down to view the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, and the White House. Our final full day together was spent in historic Harpers Ferry VA.

Do you belong to a bookclub, online or face to face? Do you plan gatherings like this, or do your book clubs meet just to discuss books?

Caption: Pageturners in front of Capitol Building. From L-R: Vicki (MD), Sherry (MO), Jenn (VA), Tracy (NY), Marie (FL) and Toni (CA)