July: Cut or Keep??

Let's do a little running tally of the goings on this month.....

4th of July visit with Grandma & Grandpa: +4
One very bitter wasp: -1
Check engine light on the trip: -1
$600 mechanic bill: -3
5-day trip to visit Nana & Granddad: +4
Check engine light on the trip: -1
Mosquito making a buffet of my ankles the whole trip home: -1
Started working out: +1
Strep throat for 4 days: -4
Cancel plans to see Leanna and Mawmaw: -2
Mom comes to help out: +2
Worst rash I've ever had: -3 (potential to lose 2 more points if it's not gone before the beach on Saturday)
5 days no air conditioner: -5
Caleb gets to play with his friend Noah for 3 days: +1
Stomach bug bites Jon: -3
Stomach bug bites Caleb: -1 (so far not bad, but potential to lose more points if the bug makes it to me, and even MORE points if we're not healthy by aforementioned beach vacation)
Finally celebrate KarenN's birthday: +2
Brand new air conditioner installed: +4 (potential to gain more if it's more powerful/efficient than the last one)
Beach vacation: remains to be seen, but I'm gonna give it a +6

So how do we end up? Let's see.... Well, we're at a -1 right now. But you just never know what good things could come. :)

A not so random blip

Okay, so remember not too long ago when I got bronchitis and then had an allergic reaction to the antibiotic? Well, this past week I got strep throat. And had an allergic reaction to the new antibiotic! Only this time it's ten times worse, and I'm miserably itchy. I stopped the medicine yesterday morning, but the rash has gotten worse today and just about become one huge red mark, so I'm thinking it might be something other than the antibiotic. I've been keeping plenty of Benadryl in me, but so far it's only good for making me sleepy, which is fine, because I don't notice the itchiness when I'm sleeping.

So I'm not taking any antibiotic now, and I still have strep. My fever is still down, so that's good, but my throat still hurts. I wish there were some way I could flush whatever stuff is in me out...maybe I need a sauna to sweat it out. Or even leaches. Hm....

On the brighter side of things, our A/C went out. Yeah, okay, that's not so bright. BUT the landlord is finally biting the bullet and getting a new air conditioner! Hooray! The A/C goes out every summer, so I'll be glad to have some more reliability--and hopefully more efficiency, too!

Happy Fourth!

Today we've enjoyed an excellent 4th of July at my parents' house. Barbecued chicken for lunch, grill bratwurst for dinner...Caleb swam in a pool just his size on Grandma's back porch...now we're watching our third fireworks show of the evening on TV. They're pulling out old favorites to perform--Aretha Franklin, Barry Manilow and Neil Diamond. Sadly, Barry Manilow is the only one of the three who can still sing! That was a bit of a shocker. Other than that small disappointment it's been a great day!

Oh, except for the wasp who attacked me. I got my first wasp sting ever. And then two more, just to make up for lost time I suppose. Jon tells me that if I weren't jumping up and down and screaming like a banshee then maybe the wasp wouldn't have kept stinging, but I'm not sure about that! We tried a few home remedies: ice first, then an onion slice, then back to the ice, then some pennies taped on the stings. Add some Benadryl spray, Neosporin and an antihistamine and voila! I'm in pretty good shape. :) Don't ask me what helped the most!

Hope everyone had a great 4th as well! We don't realize how blessed we are to live in this free country!