Last weekend, probably Friday, I began noticing that something weird was going on with my face, particularly around my eyes. I asked Bruce and my mother about it but neither seemed to think things looked much different than usual. But I knew something wasn't right. By Sunday night, something was definitely wrong and I began to think about what the heck I had done differently in the past few days. I came to the conclusion that it must be the new tube of mascara that I started on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. My eyes were itchy, a bit swollen, and red like I had been crying or someone punched me. The wrinkles under them were very defined and I looked like crap. The whites of my eyes were fine, but the skin around them looked terrible.
I went to school on Monday with make-up caked around my eyes and wearing my contacts. I thought I looked OK and would get by with it with minimal attention. I did not wear mascara and planned to lay off of mascara until this situation cleared up. I also planned to throw away the new tube of mascara and go back to the old brand (I don't always buy the same brand of mascara). Well, by the end of 2nd hour, I could tell that my students were looking at me in a strange way. I finally said "Guys.....do my eyes look weird?" and almost unanimously, they said "YES!" Alrighty then! So I got out my mirror and checked it out and yes, it seemed to be getting worse. So I decided that maybe a call to the doctor might be in order. I got an appointment for 1:30 that afternoon, which means I only had to leave school about 1/2 way through my 6th hour class (and due to my 7th hour prep, I didn't miss much time with the kids). I ended up with a diagnosis of "contact dermatitis." They gave me a shot of steroids, steroid pills, 2.5% hydrocortisone cream, and was told to also buy Claratin for the antihistamine. Wow. But finally, yesterday and today, things were starting to look better. I have not worn mascara since last weekend and don't plan to do so until maybe Sunday. Today was the first day since Monday that I wore my contacts. My glasses at least hid some of the redness for the past 3 days! It was the tube of mascara shown above that did this to me. I know lots of people use this one but I guess it just doesn't agree with me! I should have taken a picture of my lovely eyes to show you, but darn, I didn't!Then, Tuesday night around 9:45, our carbon monoxide detector went off. You see, I had moved it from its usual spot (where it has been plugged in (in the hallway) for 14 years) to another outlet so that I could plug in a Christmas decoration. The new outlet location butts up against the outside of our house where a gas lantern burns in the yard. About 3.5 hours after moving the detector there, it went off. Bruce unplugged it, plugged it back in, and about 10 minutes later it went off again. Great. We thought maybe it just didn't like its new location and being that close to a gas lantern, so we moved it back to the hallway. Well, about 15 minutes later, it goes off there. Wonderful. Now it is past 10pm and of course, both girls are asleep. So Bruce began making phone calls and we decided to go spend the night at my parents' house. Bruce ended up talking to my dad, my brother, my brother-in-law, 2 friends of the family, Ameren, the county sheriff's dept., and FINALLY the local fire chief agreed to come over to our house (at about 11pm) and bring a newer, more updated detector. It does pay to live in a small town sometimes. Scott, I know you read this, so THANK YOU!
Bruce had planned to just stay home, wait the suggested 30 minutes, and if it didn't go off, stay at our house. The girls and I and Shinza had already gone over to my parents' house. I called him and told him that I just wanted him too to come over there to sleep because I didn't want to take any chances. So he agreed. We slept in my parents' bed, the girls each slept in a twin bed in their two extra rooms, my mom slept on the couch, and my dad slept in a chair! Yeah, we invade their house and they give up their beds for us! I tried to reason with my dad about this and his response was something like "your mom slept on that couch for 9 months while she was sick; she sleeps fine there! And I sleep fine in the chair!" Whatever.....it was too late at night to try to argue with him. It also pays to live near your folks!Bruce went to Wal-Mart and got 2 new detectors the next day. He decided that maybe we ought to have one in the basement as well as upstairs. One of the new ones is shown above.
The week did get somewhat better after that, although I had to stay home with a sick B1 yesterday. She had some sort of stomach thing going on which was really only pain and nothing else. Last night about 12:00, I was wondering if she had given it to me but by this morning, I felt better. I had to go to school today after a sub ran my class yesterday. That is not so bad when you plan for a sub. But when you have to stay home unexpecedly, it can suck. Luckily, it looked like I had a decent sub as things were left in order on my desk, etc. The kids didn't complain about her either, which always helps. Today could have been a terrible day at school but it was actually fine!
I am tired though. I need a good night's sleep in my own bed, with no middle-of-the-night interruptions. I am hoping to get that tonight. But first, we get to go to B2's first ever basketball game, which begins in a little over an hour! YAY! :-)
(Hope this makes your day, Dan C.!)
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