The Seven Year Itch

I probably should've suspected something was wrong when I woke up at 5 Saturday morning because my feet were itching so badly. After a string of night shifts, I had stayed awake all day in order to switch my sleeping schedule back to normal. So, in my sleep-deprived state, being awoken after 4 hours of sleep may give you an idea of how itchy my feet were. I gave them a good scratching, slathered on some lotion and went back to sleep for an hour or so.

I had signed up for an all day disaster relief training with the Red Cross. As the training started, the itching spread from my feet to my arms and legs. Luckily, my roommate who is also a nurse was sitting next to me. I rolled up my sleeves and asked her if it looked like hives to her (it is always so much harder to diagnose yourself). The rapidly appearing red splotches made it clear I was having some sort of allergic reaction. I itched like a 4 year old with chicken pox until our lunch break when I was able sneak away and buy some Benadryl. While it eased the itching, it did not help what was already an uphill battle to stay awake during the long and monotonous video segments.

Well, at the end of the day, I was trained to work in a relief shelter and I was also convinced that I was allergic to the antibiotic my doctor had put me on for a minor skin infection. I channeled my inner Sister Missionary yesterday wearing my longest skirt and highest blouse and now, thank goodness, the hives are all but gone.

So I guess I should just call it the seventy-two hour itch.

Honesty is it's own reward

Just talked to overstock.com- they are going to charge my account.

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I couldn't think of a title because these things have nothing to do with each other. But I figure that is the beauty of blogging. You can literally write whatever you want. So, here we go.

Last week, I had a dream that I was a pirate and I had to protect my loot from some nefarious thieves. It was awesome, first, because I felt like I watching an action movie with me as the star which is a big improvement from my normal dreams where I am at work. Secondly, it was awesome because the dream resolved (I won!) just before my alarm went off. I woke up feeling completely satisfied with my night even though I only got a few hours of sleep.

Yesterday, the world came crashing down on me. I had to find some more push pins to put it back on my wall.

Confession: this didn't really happen to me but I read it somewhere and thought it was funny. Also I do have a large map of the world in my bedroom and I figure that it is only a matter of time before it does fall down.

I bought a white blouse last Saturday. Late that night, I realized that it still had the antitheft

ink tag on it. I really wanted to wear it the next day to church so I had to weigh my options. I decided not to try to take it off myself as I'm sure that would have resulted in an explosion of ink. I ended up just wearing the blouse, ink tag and all.No one else knew because it was under a dress but occasionally I would bump against something and suddenly remember that I had a cone-shaped piece of plastic protruding from my side. In case you were wondering, I took it back to the store the next day and had it removed.

Recently, both a Jimmy John and a 5 Guys have opened within a mile of my house. My new motto- twenty-ten, the year of thin (yeah, I know, it doesn't quite rhyme) is facing some serious temptation.

I am obsessed with my new ukulele. With some of my Christmas money

(thanks mom and dad!), I bought a ukulele and 4 weeks worth of lessons. I originally bought the purple one you see below from a company that I won't name. I totally

loved this ukulele! Unfortunately, after they had charged my account, I got an email saying that they were out of stock and they were going to refund my account. I was bummed but found this ->

ukulele at a local music store which is also very nice. We began to make beautiful music together and I was happy. THEN today I

came home to find this huge box on my doorstep. It was the

purple ukulele!! (I still don't know why they used such a big box) I checked my bank account and they hadn't recharged me. Theoretically, I could do nothing and maybe get it for free, but I don't roll like that. I'll call tomorrow to see what the situation is. I'm hoping it will turn out like in high school when I would point out to my calculus teacher that he hadn't marked enough points off my test and he was so impressed with my honesty that he just let me keep the points.

Waste Not, Want Not

My parents are moving 1000 miles away, which is mostly good because it is a lot closer to me but a little sad because I really love that house. Over Christmas, my mom mentioned that I still had several large tubs in my old room. I thought it may be helpful in their moving process if I tried to cut down on the stuff they had to lug to Utah. However, as I went through my childhood memories, I struggled to get rid of anything. Even though most of these things I haven't seen or thought about in several years, when I was actually faced with the decision of whether to save it or not, I suddenly turned into a sentimental fool.

Of course there was the normal photo albums, debate trophies and cross-stitches but I thought I might share with my faithful blog readers some of the more eccentric items I found:

- Intergalactic Cow Day t-shirt, circa 1992

- A foley catheter insertion kit from my nursing school days (I actually did throw this away)

- "If You Give an Armadillo a Pizza"- my original short story from third grade that got an A+

- 14 Donny and Marie LP's with matching record player

- Roggenvolkornbrot- Canned bread from communist-era east Germany, given to me by a member while I was on my mission. I'm told that it has enough preservatives to last for another 50 years.

- A dolphin toothbrush that had been boiled and bent into a bracelet. I almost wore it back to Seattle until I remembered that it wasn't 1996 anymore. Man, I miss 7th grade.

This is just off this top of my head. There was tons of stuff like this in there. Why do I keep this

stuff? Part of me says, you never know when you might need it. But seriously? Will there ever come a time when I will suddenly have a need for the dried corsage that I wore to my brother's wedding eight years ago? Doubtful. But I'll keep it anyway.

What does this say about me? Mostly I think it says that I have been very blessed. That I had a happy childhood full of good memories. That I have good parents who helped me develop talents. That I went to schools that helped me reach my full potential. That despite normal growing pains, I have loved my life. And that makes me excited for my future life. I still have tubs to fill.

Maybe in another 10 years, I'll be able to part with some of these gems but for now I'm content to be a packrat. And if you comment on my blog, I'll keep it forever.