Timing.

Doesn’t it sometimes feel like there’s some terrible irony at work in the timing of things? Take the month of January 2013 in the life of Marge, for example.

January has been really good to me for many reasons. I joined Kerrygold’s food blogger network and promptly received a shipment of pure Irish gold: 5 pounds of unsalted butter “for all my baking needs,” the accompanying letter read. I hosted my first cooking demonstration since before attending culinary school and realized I could really see myself teaching regular cooking classes. I was asked to help judge The Cocoa Derby chocolate competition, to be hosted next month by my good friends at Graze magazine. I submitted a few pieces of writing for possible publication. I began planning exciting 2013 trips to Seattle; Austin, Texas; Portland, Oregon; England and Scotland. My best friend got a promotion. Sean’s work finally opened an office in Chicago, cutting his commute in half.

Too pitiful to play outside

But all this good stuff was laced with a large dose of cruel trickery, starting with a head cold of unprecedented congestive proportions that plagued me for well over a week. (This also marked the first time in my 12-year relationship with Sean in which we got sick at the same time.) Not long after, our credit card information was stolen and Penny the Peanut partially tore her ACL (thankfully much less expensive than a full tear–which would have meant goodbye to the UK trip mentioned above). It culminated last weekend with a nightlong bout of food poisoning, brought on by one of the true loves of my life: tacos.

I hope the universe has had a good laugh from it all. I, for one, am feeling a bit worn out from all that emotional and physical see-sawing. So all I’m going to do tonight is sit down in my sweatpants to a deep bowl of stracciatella with kale (Italy’s answer to egg drop soup, punched up with my favorite dark, leafy green). I promise I’ll add the recipe soon. But for now it’ll have to wait.