Thin Skin: Day 2

My ankle is getting much better. I've been sleeping with a bandage and neosporin on every night and this morning it's gotten considerably smaller and less threatening-looking.

There is, however, a new spot of concer: the top of my foot. I am trying like hell not to itch it, but if I'm not really paying attention, it'll be a big scab soon.

My head itches as well. I'm not sure now if I am having a weird reaction to my own sweat or something, but there is definitely a link between moving into a house without A/C and this sudden onset of bumps and itchiness. All I know is my body is angry.

I haven't done any lotion or anything today, as I slept from 7 am-12 pm, then did something that, concerningly, I cannot remember, then helped Andy get ready for his interview.

He has been working at Wal-Mart since August 2005. Before then, he only had ever worked at McDonald's for a year or so. Bless him, he'd not been to an interview for 6 years. It should go without saying that I sincerely hope he gets this job. Our income would double and we would have full benefits. Not to mention, he wouldn't be in the customer service industry anymore (the job is working on the vehicles for Radford Transit), and the man who interviewed him indicated that they would work on no more than 10 vehicles a day.

Fingers crossed. I can handle my own issues. My energy is best spent on helping Andy get a new job.

Thin Skin: Day 1

Can you count the number of open wounds on your body? I can't.

I'm not talking about thin skin in the emotional sense, but rather in the epidermal sense. Needless to say, it sucks. I have a form of eczema- Pompholyx - that attacks my fingers on a regular basis, and I am beginning to suspect I have other forms/presentations of the affliction as well. I itch all the time. There is never a waking moment in which I am not aware of something irritating my skin.

I have a rather large wound on my ankle, which is a result of my scratching and scratching and scratching. At first I thought it was flea bites, to which I am very allergic, but it's been happening all over without any sign of bites as of late.

It's awful.

I fear the itch. 

Last night, in a fit of desperation, I ran across the road to Wal-Mart and got some Gold Bond Aloe and E body wash along with some Oatmeal and something else lotion by Aveeno. I've used the lotion twice, which alleviated my itchiness for a little while at least. I've just now used the body wash and hoping to see improvement over the coming days. 

I won't lament over my lost writing mojo

Or apologise for not writing more. I know that no one out there reads this, anyway. I often have too many thoughts to properly put down in writing.

My Comp I students googled me the other day and freaked out that I had so much information about myself on the internet. Should this be a concern? I feel like it really isn't. I did clean up facebook a little and also my google+. Who knows?

Of course I had about a million things to say, and now I don't. We moved into our new house. We've been here for a month and a half. We acquired another dog- Amelia- whose breed we still aren't sure of.

I'm teaching at ITT Tech now. Hopefully, I will still have a home at Radford come Fall, as well. I keep having nightmares that I work at Lowe's and I can't ever remember that I have a job, and only show up when I want. The latest one featured me not wanting to go to work to pick up my last paycheck because of how many times I have skipped work. Not terribly interesting, I know.

Speaking of money, Andy and I are strapped like never before. We have remaining bills from the apartment that seem to just keep coming. I haven't been able to pay my student loans in full for 2 months. We still owe my mother the full amount that she loaned us. Now we have found out that we are going to end up owing our contractor about $300 after the final draw is done, when we were expecting $300 ish back. That's if the lead based paint test comes back clean. If not, I'm going to have to pin the next $500 for another test on the contractor, as it was his job to do the abatement properly.

I'm much more tired than usual. Maybe I need stronger meds. It probably wouldn't hurt to see the doctor this summer. But that's $50 plus whatever she prescribes me that we definitely can't afford. I hate that my credit score has become so much more important to me than my health.

On the topic of trying to save money, I made a garden. I have a shit ton of cucumbers and turnips growing. The cukes are coming out very bitter (probably due to the dryness and hotness we have been experiencing lately). I think 7 or so carrots have sprouted. We have a watermelon or two growing, and some tomatoes. My freezer is full of blackberries and sliced peaches. I have a dozen half-pint jars full of mulberry jelly. I'm pretty damn stoked that I've found so much that is edible in my back yard. Furthermore, we have grapes back there as well, which we will have to wait and see what variety they turn out to be. Other than our mortgage, food seems to be our biggest expense.

Here's to the remainder of summer, and all hopes that the rest of my garden (peppers, cantaloupes and peppers) will get their act together and start growing. Hopefully I will blog again before I turn 27.