The Jolly Librarian has been home sick for several days. As the sickness subsided, the boredom set in before I was well enough to return to work.  Since viruses are going around, I thought I would share a list of things to do at home when you’re too sick to be useful but well enough to be irritable and restless!

1. Read. Okay, what else is a librarian going to say? I admit, a fever is not conducive to heavy reading. I wouldn’t recommend picking up War and Peace. But a cold is a good time to read a mystery or even some of those magazines piling up on the coffee table. I read the new P.D. James. And I caught up on several fitness magazines.
2. Watch a long movie. The first thing I realized being home during the day is that daytime television is pretty awful. The amount of yelling that goes on during many shows was enough to make my headache worse. So I put in a movie that I’d been meaning to watch, but didn’t have two uninterrupted hours to devote to it. I wrapped up on the sofa and allowed myself to go on an adventure with Indiana Jones. It was entertaining enough but not deep enough to require me to used my cold-medicated brain cells. Can’t think of a good movie? Drop by the library and peruse 1001 Movies to See Before You Die.
3. Play Scrabble online. There are several versions out there, and unlike a lot of computer games, Scrabble allows you to feel that you are developing your spelling, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills.
4. Wrap presents. This is a perfect task as you start feeling a little better. I give lots of calendars at the holidays, and they’re easy to wrap. I would wrap a present, then lie down for a little while. Then get back up and wrap another present. It helped me feel like a productive human being at any rate.
5. Clean out files. Librarians are notorious for being packrats. So we have a lot of stuff around the house. While recuperating but still contagious, you are just grumpy enough to be able to be willing to throw out all those stacks of paper, including canceled checks from the 90s. It doesn’t take much energy to shred or throw them in the garbage.

So there’s my list. But my best advice: Get the flu shot and wash your hands a lot.

Here’s hoping you stay well!