Wednesday catch up

It's another beautiful October day. I love having a week off this time of year, because the weather is as close to perfect as it's possible to be in South Carolina. Warm days, cool night, low humidity, blue skies, and leaves just barely beginning to turn. And it feels so good when summer is finally over!

I went to the farmer's market on Monday afternoon and bought a bunch of apples (mixed varieties) from the mountains. This afternoon I'll turn most of them into an apple crisp, and then any leftovers will be sliced thin, sprinkled with cinnamon, and dried in the dehydrator. Apple chips make a delicious snack that's relatively healthy. And since I'm on my first apple kick of the year, I bought a six pack of hard cider, too. A bottle of cold cider goes down nicely on the porch late in the afternoon.

Yesterday was interesting. First, I found a dead mouse in one of the traps our pest control guy had left behind the refrigerator. I'd started seeing mouse poop in some of the cabinets a couple of months ago, and I cannot live with rodents, so he had to make a special trip out to put down traps. We'd finally caught one little mouse over a week ago, and we thought that was it, but left a few traps down just in case. Then yesterday there was another one. I'm very squeamish about such things and had to use a stick to move the trap into the garbage. Gregg was at work, or I'd have made him deal with it. (I'm not too proud to play the "girl card" when it comes to bugs and rodents and dead things). Then I'd barely had time to recover from the mouse episode, when I walked outside and noticed Poppy chewing on something furry. She'd killed a squirrel!! UGH!!* So that was two dead animals I had to dispose of within an hour. 

I'm not exaggerating when I say I needed a drink and a small lie-down after all that. Ahem.

Killer.

Georgie had to go to the vet today for his yearly heartworm prevention shot. He barks at other dogs, which is embarrassing, but he's super sweet to all the humans. Especially women. George loves the ladies! 

Thanks for all the comments on my shoe allergy situation. I'm currently at a bit of a loss as to how to start dealing with it all. It's hard to get information on shoe materials online, and "barrier socks" are freakin' expensive, so I may have to double up on 100% cotton socks for awhile to keep my skin well insulated while I look for good shoe alternatives. Those are going to be expensive, too. I liked Janie's comment, "No more shoes for you! Bare feet from now on!" It's been mostly bare feet this week since I'm at home, but soon enough I'll be back at work and needing to look civilized! This week is already flying by, as I knew it would.

*When Gregg got home and I told him about Poppy's squirrel, he said, "You don't know that she killed it. Maybe a hawk dropped it or something." HAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, honey, and maybe the squirrel was just scampering across the lawn and dropped dead of natural causes and then Poppy just happened to find it afterwards......Uh huh.

Catching up

 I'm home sick today. After almost two weeks of dealing with shortness of breath, a dry cough, chills, and a general feeling of being unwell, I called the doctor Tuesday afternoon and made an appointment for yesterday. 

I was pretty sure I didn't have Covid, because I'd taken two at-home tests that were negative. The doctor confirmed that it wasn't that (thank goodness) but just as I expected it was an exacerbation of seasonal allergies that led to an exacerbation of asthma. He also thought I might have the beginning of a bacterial infection in my lungs. I came home with prescriptions for prednisone, antibiotics, a new inhaler, a nasal spray, and a note excusing me from work for the rest of yesterday afternoon and today. 

One thing the doctor noticed worries me a little. My blood pressure was very high, particularly the bottom number. This was very unusual. He didn't seem too worried about it, given that I'd been feeling so bad and struggling to get good deep breaths, but it bears watching. One thing I didn't tell the doctor is that when I left work the hour before, I was very angry and upset. The office women were being horribly rude to me (they were mad they'd have to cover my desk and the front door while I was gone). Normally I can shrug off their toxic behavior, but when I'm not feeling well physically that becomes harder to do. On Tuesday when I first made the appointment and let everyone know I'd have to leave for a couple of hours, the principal overheard one of them going off on me about it and he was pissed. He called me at home that night and told me he intended to address their nasty attitudes. He said, "You work way too hard to be treated that way." Apparently he hadn't had time yet (yesterday morning) to talk to them, and when it was time for me to leave for the appointment they were incredibly rude about it. I was in tears when I left, and plenty mad, too. I'm so glad the doctor told me not to go back to work afterwards and to take today off too! Let them suffer for treating me like dirt! Hopefully by the time I go back on Friday the principal will have addressed the problem with them. In any case, I wonder if getting so emotionally upset had anything to do with my crazy high blood pressure reading? Gregg thinks it's definitely possible. When I'm not feeling so physically poor I should be able to ignore them and let it go, like usual. I don't expect things to change much, but I've gotten very good (most of the time) at shrugging it off.

I made a mistake in taking the first dose of prednisone with dinner last night. I probably didn't get over 3 or 4 hours of (broken) sleep. I'll be taking today's dose as soon as I eat breakfast! I already feel a good bit better despite the lack of sleep--prednisone is like a miracle drug for me. My eczema clears up, my allergies dry up, and I feel much better, fast, whenever I take it. I've decided to get a referral to an allergist and to talk to them about getting a full range of allergy testing and starting allergy shots. We'll see how that works out.

I meant to post last week as my spring break was winding down. They had the plant and flower festival at the farmer's market, and I went out and bought three blueberry shrubs to plant over by my raised garden bed. I got two of the variety "Premier" and one of "Pink Lemonade". The Pink Lemonade is supposed to get pink berries instead of blue, and they're supposed to be twice as sweet as the blues. We shall see! My little quarter-acre "homestead" (Haha) is coming along nicely. Even the crabapple tree I planted in front is finally, finally getting some tiny new leaves. It was a bare stick for so long I was beginning to despair that it was really alive and not merely dormant! The fig tree I planted is growing nicely. I expect by next year I should get a few figs from it. In summer garden news, I've been getting loads of lettuce and radishes, the carrots are almost ready to harvest, my tomato and pepper seedlings are ready to be planted out, the potato vines are sprawling all over the place, and my cucumbers and snow peas are finally sprouting. My gardening brings me a lot of joy.

One last thing of note from last week. On Saturday Marla and Martina came over for a couple of hours. I almost canceled because I wasn't feeling too hot, but I really wanted to see them. Marla brought little Carsen with her, too! That child is growing up fast! She'll be four next month and she's got that crazy little kid energy. Between her and the puppy chasing each other through the house, George trying to stay out of the way, and Marco getting excited and wanting to be in the middle of everything, it was like a circus over here for a little while!

She's loved the big aquarium since she was a baby. Gregg keeps telling Marla she needs a tank of her own. To which Marla responds, "And is Uncle Gregg coming to take care of it for us?" :)

This next picture was typical of the visit!

I don't know about Carsen, but Poppy was worn out when they left.

Marco loved every minute of the chaos.

George was a very good boy, as usual. He's been so patient with Poppy, and he's always glad to see Martina and Marla and even little Carsen. Here he is saying goodbye to Carsen when her daddy came to pick her up. After she left, we all had wine and adult conversation.

Irritated

When I come home from work in the afternoon, George and Marco are always eagerly awaiting my arrival and are so glad to see me. This is what happens every weekday at approximately 4:50pm:

George meets me in the garage, at my car door, to give me kisses before I even step foot out of the car. I open the door and wait for him--that's our routine. Then he jumps up and down about 10 times and dances around me as I walk towards the house. The only time this doesn't happen is when it's raining. George hates getting his paws wet and will wait for me on the porch on those days.

Marco starts to let out ear-splitting screams the moment walk through the door. Gregg says, "Get ready!" and covers his ears when I cross the threshold because he knows Marco can't be deterred from shrieking as loud as possible to welcome me! I have to go get him out of his cage immediately and let him ride around on my shoulder as I put my stuff down, take off my shoes, pour a drink, etc. 

It's like a hero's welcome, every single day.

And you know what? On a lot of those days (today being one of them) I'll whisper, "I'm so grateful for you!" to George and Marco. You know why?

Because human children can be real pains in the ass sometimes, that's why!!!!!!! And when they are I'm SO GLAD I don't have any of my own!

It's rare for me to get annoyed with the students at the school where I work. Usually I like them and have empathy for them and enjoy their company. I've always enjoyed kids in small doses, anyway. But I'd be lying if I told you there's not a few that I swear to god I'd like to drop-kick into the next county!

There are two young men at the moment that are driving me especially crazy. They're both big boys because they've failed a grade or two. They're always in trouble. Because the ISS (in-school suspension) room is near my desk, and the discipline in there is lax, these boys are always walking past my desk to get water from the fountain or to go to the bathroom. Or, more likely, cutting class and creeping around the halls. Any time I say anything to them they're rude and nasty and sarcastic in return. They think it's funny to be openly defiant and mouthy and generally just awful. One of these boys is a physically big fellow and a couple of times he came and hovered near my desk, smirking and laughing at me, Well, I'm not about to be intimidated by an overgrown BOY and I put him in his place and made him go sit down, and I called the principal on him and then I called his mama! He didn't like that, let me tell you! I was steaming mad when I left work. 

Speaking of irritation, have I mentioned lately that I struggle with eczema? Like, really struggle? The last time I went to the doctor she said she thought I had dyshidrotic eczema because it's mainly appearing (these days) on my ankles and the tops of my feet. She prescribed a pill that's commonly used to relax patients before surgery, but that can also help with the allergies that seem to be a factor in triggering the skin inflammation. Well, just like topical steroid creams they worked great for a while and then gradually became less and less effective.

I'm currently suffering through a terrible flare. My feet are swollen, inflamed, and will bleed at the slightest scratch (thanks to so many years of steroid creams). And not scratching at the moment is agonizing, because the itch is absolutely maddening. It's really awful and it's making getting through the day a struggle. I itch almost constantly and have to fight with myself not to scratch. Sometimes I catch myself doing it without being consciously aware of it, and my socks will have bloody patches. 

Look away if you're squeamish. I'm embarrassed to show you these, but maybe it will help you understand the misery that is eczema. I've been dealing with flares like this for over 20 years now.

My ankles and feet today:

It's painful to walk, I itch to distraction, and I can't wear sandals in public. You'd be surprised at the number of people who will comment on it when my feet and ankles look like this. I can only imagine having a real disability and the things people would say!

I guess it's no wonder that I'm especially irritated at rude children and teenagers at the moment.  At least Marco and George love me, bad skin, irritation, and all!