Oh Yes, it's Red Black and Dinosaur time in the hizzie!
Happy 4th of July (observed)!!!!
I suppose we will observe the 5th of July next week. And the 3rd, observed that on June 30th so I think we're covered. Did you celebrate? We didn't really. Not really. Like, sure, in that "life is a celebration" kind of way, we celebrated. We existed within the day and there were fireworks out and about. We didn't bother going to bed because who wants to be woken up by the blitzkrieg, but yeah... I dunno, I'm never that keen on celebrating a holiday that largely involves celebrating some things I'm pretty ambivalent about by threatening to burn down houses and freaking out animals and people with PTSD.
I. Am. Lame.
I'm resigned to this. Ultimately it's sorta my schtick.
Next year I'm sure Allan's enthusiasm for small aerial explosions and destroying any semblance of a sleep schedule will take precedence over my lameness. But for one more year... It's staying up watching The Avengers 94 (or wherever they left off... I'm sooooo lost, and there isn't nearly enough Loki, so maybe I'll just watch that again and again and again instead) and cursing the noise. While Allan stands in her room staring out the window and looking for lights in the sky until she falls plumb asleep against the window pane.
(Actually we finished off Kim's Convenience, because yay Canada, but boo abrupt ending without a chance to wrap everything up)
On and onwards into summer-summer.
I guess June mostly killed off the worst of the grass with that last little flame ball, so maybe I'll be able to go outside again in July? Hard to say. I spent the actual unobserved 4th at the park in the middle of a field of grass. This resulted in a lot of itchiness probably due to Allan's insistence on basically smearing herself with grass and then climbing all over me.
Somebody had left a Fisher Price play barn in the field by the playground. Nobody knows who or why it's there but the kids are obsessed with all that novelty. I love the way kids befriend each other. It's so simple and easy. You see somebody and maybe you say "You're my friend" or maybe it's just implied. But you ask "wanna play a game" and then offer some game. Or you ask "can I play with you?" and that's it. You're BFFs for life. Or until one of you has to go home for lunch. Allan made a few friends yesterday. I failed to get their parent's contact information and Allan had forgotten all their names by lunch. But she was satisfied.
But July. Here we are. I'm not feeling 100% keen on July so far. So far heat. Fires threatening to waft over this way. And, I dunno, it's been a long pre-fourth.
Last weekend, as you mighta heard, the PNW had a heatwave! It was... something. We always have a summer heatwave or two, but usually the high doesn't beat out the all time high of most of New England. It definitely makes me (1) resigned to air conditioning without a fight, and (2) a lot more likely to say "hey the high today is only in the upper 80s!!!" like this is the most amazing thing ever.
In Seattle, it got pretty damned warm. Like people died kind of warm. A lot of other people were really uncomfortable. Seattle is one of the least air conditioned cities in the nation, as it turns out. This despite the fact that we get at the one really hot spell a year at least and going on a month or two of intermittant wildfire smoke in July or August... so I think the city might want to rethink its stance on climate control.
But, well, that happened.
We stayed indoors under heavy climate control, except for Andrew, who went out dressed as a tree god for a gigantic year-in-the-making housewarming party in Duvall. He wisely chose to wait until after dark so it was only like 85 degrees while he partied. I was glad to hear about it from a distance. A very very comfortable distance in my air conditioned home. He was cute though.
Anyways, it's usually not that sexy but you gotta work with what you got. And that was definitely something I'd got in spades just about the turn of the week.
Also permeating the pre-4th week: one of my best friends and super boss, Stephanie, has been in and out of the hospital the last month with a nasty post-surgical infection that merits regular infusions of every damned antibiotic known to man, visits from infectious disease specialists, and tpossibly additional surgery. Her only help has been a bipolar ex boyfriend who's on a manic swing, so I was trying to figure out if there was a way I could fly out there (Prescott Arizona) and help, even though I'm not even sure I can fly on planes right now with the allergies.
So kind of a distracted week, and don't get me started about how worthless I was at work when the little crops of EMERGENCY work came my way. I got stuff done, but it was like pre-term-paper levels of procrastination first, and I made some dub errors for sure.
Oh yeah, and both weeks of Allan's upcoming outdoor preschool camp were just cancelled just around the time that Andrew is supposed to go back to the office (blarg, there is no reason for this and he'd better be allowed to take the cat)! Sniff sniff.
July, so far, I am not impressed.
Just to get out and have fun meeting new people, I visited a new rheumatologist on Tuesday. Third time's a... lot like the last two times?
No, wait, this time was special!!! Because we live in the island of West Seattle, I left a half hour earlier than I thought was necessary, yet still managed to show up a half hour late, throat hoarse from yelling at the vagaries of fate, out of breath from running every which way, and starting to limp because running does some impact on my various bodily pains... So not the most peaceful of meetings. My blood pressure actually read "alive" as opposed to the usual "do you even have blood?" just to give you kind of some context. They did agree to see me though. Thank god.
Yet another exam. But hey, I enjoyed impressing her with my extensive list of symptoms first. "That's a lot" she said making me so so special that I beamed and strutted awkwardly around the office trying to figure out which exam chair I was supposed to sit on.
Nothing particular showed up. When does it ever. For some reason when doctors touch me I never feel any pain. PTs, massage therapists... a stray leaf: sheer agony and longterm bruising. But doctors. Like they're flipping Jesus or some body mechanic. Because usually I'm the princess, and the pea is giving me a stress fracture. But there we are. On the exam table I am friggin' Iron Man. I also have incredibly thorough and shockingly clean bloodwork. And X-rays. What is it with my blood and bones?
My skin on the other hand is like "me! Me! Test me!!! I'm not normal! I react with baseball sized welts to things most people delight in! I develop weird hydrocystomas in uncommon places!! I'm a friggin Diva! More tests for me!"
The rest of Tuesdsay morning was booked out shuffling between various labs and being palped and covered in various sources of chemicals that ensured a later-in-the-week contact dermatitis flare up!
But hey, one step closer to a diagnostic shrug! Or not. Probably next step would be a lip biopsy, so lots to look forward to.
Allan and Andrew had a blast at home without me, even if Allan used up all her delightful on daddy for the rest of the day. They went to two playgrounds, Allan had her ceremonial mid-class meltdown before drawing some very adorable dogs and kitties. And I hear she practiced her yo-yo skills.
I spent at least a good hyper period of the day desperately trying to clean up enough that the neighbors would not be horrified when they dropped in to talk about how we have air conditinioning and they would like some. They didn't show up until Wednesday, at which point the place was a disaster again, but at least the worst areas got a little sprucing. It was briefly not apocalyptic even!
Andrew - after inviting them over - said "They'll be having a kid soon, so they should know what they're in for," but we all know he invites people over because he knows no matter how much I swear it's not my responsibility and screw all that chauvinsitic programming that makes women take the full blame for a messy house or unkempt child, I will eventually buckle and break out the vacuum and scrubbing gloves. I don't want to admit this. Because if you visit our house, you probably think that's as messy as it gets. But no! No! That is my best effort to clean, but not like go crazy buying into the Patriarchy. It's a delicate, revolutionary feminist mess!
Later in the week, I also talked to my immunologist, who repeated that I really ought to get the friggin' allergy shot already before I turn into one giant flaming phlegm ball and explode. Then they prescribed me Prograf to tamp down my dermal immune response, so ... that's a little scary. It' primarily used to prevent organ rejection. Which seems pretty high level immune suppressing. On the other hand, touching people without bursting into hives would be novel. So, I dunno. I'm going to try it out once I have the lab slips to get regular bloodwork done to make sure it isn't turning toxic. You know, fun stuff!
Maybe I can finally have weird bloodwork for a change!
Oh but then Thursday night was date night! Loki, takeout and snuggles make up for a lot. That was probably my favorite of the week, sorry Independence Day. Though seriously, why are there only 3 more episodes? I'm not ready!
Friday I kind of just let it all crumble a little and checked out of most everything except watching Disney plus, with the child and occasionally glancing at my office inbox to see what I'd done wrong the day before.
But good news: Stephanie is now home and the manic pixie nightmare ex is no longer there, so... whew
So I guess July is on an upswing. Despite Canada being on fire, which is a little bit of a bummer. We haven't had rain for a long time and there's a ton of smoke in our atmosphere. Bright side: should lower the temperatures and maybe kill the remaining grass. Always gotta look on the bright side! Air quality is only kind of icky instead of toxic, so far... so far...
But no. July will be good. We got this. It's got us. I dunno. It's summer! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
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