Both kids woke with high fevers again, and took a dose of fever reducer. By the time those doses wore their fevers seemed gone.

A day of lounging and quiet play, snacking and plenty to drink, left plenty of time to recover. We checked temperatures throughout the day, and no one broke 98 all day! We didn't dose my more all day, and by bedtime, still normal temperature and temperament.

I, however, was extra congested and sneezed a lot. I had a sore throat and headache that I am sure was related. I did change the furnace air filter and take an extra dose of my daily allergy relief OTC.

We watched the Vikings play themselves out of a playoff spot, watched Don't Look Up, and basically just hid from the cold and waited for the snow to arrive. The movie was as fantastic as the football game was miserable. I'm so going to write a synopsis to remember it later.

At some point in the afternoon, my sniffles subsided, and with a couple of lozenges, even my sore throat abated. I'm not sure if the furnace filter made a big difference, opr the extra dose of antihistamine. The filter gets changed about every weekend, but is pretty dusty and dirty when it is cleaned. Sometimes I skip, especially in the winter because it's harder to wash inside than taking it outto spray with the garden hose. I've been looking for a hose to attach to he utility sink faucet, but is got such a small threading, it doesn't take a refular hose. While I was washing the filter, I realized the washer hook-up is a regular hose, and that I can add a splitter there and use a regular hose downstairs, too. Project for another day.

At dinner, I realized that the garlic bread tasted buttery, but didn't smell buttery or like it had garlic on it. I thought maybe the flavor waned, as we were eating leftovers, and while not previously cooked, the bread had been in the refrigerator an extra day.

It started snowing as we cleaned up from dinner. By the time the kids got out of there showers and in bed, the yard and deckwere covered in a thick layer of snow, and it continued falling heavy. I grumbled because the cans are in the garage, and tomorrow's trash day. I'll have to shovel some space to put them out for the trucks. Thankfully they come in late morning and afternoon for our things. Often later in bad weather.

Settling in to watch some telly before bed, while having a spot of hot cocoa, I realized I couldn't smell it at all. I don't expect a lot of odor from my cocoa, but some. I checked with the wife, and she confirmed it wasn't a lot, but it smelled like chocolate. I shared with her that I couldn't smell it, and she groaned externally as I had been internally.

She noted that I had asked about a gas smell earlier. The only gas used in the house is for the furnace and water heater, and there's never been an odor. She couldn't smell what I could then, but did say the garlic bread was in the oven at the time. She had me blindly smell some basil ("seems dusty," I said) and garlic ("not strong, but something familiar"), and groaned again. I prepped the coffee maker, and took a deep whiff of the coffee, but wasn't rewarded with the rich aroma I'm very familiar with. Usually when I can't smell it's because I have an actively runny nose, which I don't have currently.

I don't have a fever, but am a little run down. I often am in the winter, too, so that's not a surprise either. But with the pandemic, and the variants, these "normal" symptoms match the abnormal illnesses. The last article I read, called something like "Omicron Symptoms Same as Cold," called out that headache, congestion, sneezing, and sore throat are all Omicron symptoms. And, of course, the fatigue and loss of smell are known coronavirus symptoms. I never did break a fever, and I'm not having other difficulty breathing. I'm looking forward to our tests tomorrow, and hoping that the things are just winter normal.

The kids are being kept home tomorrow until we hear their test results. I'm looking forward to a low-key day, but might put off some meetings to tend to the kids.

Everyone seems healthy, for now.