Sarcasm with a side of optimism.

Itchy and Scratchy

We had another low key weekend. I'm starting to enjoy them. On Saturday, we took the Acura in for an oil change and an A/C diagnostic. Later we went to the park down the street from the house to play tennis and soccer. The quick stop-turns in tennis got my shins going, so we went over to the soccer fields shortly thereafter and within the first 5 minutes, Craig launched my ball across the field with a swift kick and it rolled and rolled until we couldn't see it past the far goal. He ran off to get it. By the time I caught up (I chased the other ball), he was already in the brush looking for it. It was hard to tell exactly where the ball entered, and once it goes in, it's immediately invisible. There's just too much brush and undergrowth. He's stepping through it cautiously, and I'm about to jump in too, but I'm nervous because I don't know what's living under there. There could be giant rats or huge insects. Who knows? But more obviously, the brush was comprised of thick fortified (almost wooden) vines with large thorns and barbs every half inch. Nature's barbed wire.

Craig's really looking hard for my ball. It was a ball he gave me as a gift last year. A nice pink and white nike ball, and then eventually, the matching bag! I tell him it's not worth it and to get out of there before he gets poison ivy or something. It's not worth getting all cut up and possibly bit by god-knows-what for a $15 ball. Plus, these things get lost. It happens.

The rest of the day was low key. The next day, we drove down to DC for Craig's soccer game and took the Acura WITH AIR CONDITIONING!! It was perfect! I really really like the car. I got to play too since they wanted another girl sub. Come to think of it, I think I've played every game except for the very first one. It was a good, fun game, and the weather couldn't have been better. Since it was an early game we had the whole day ahead of us too. Oh, I forgot to mention: the majority of the weekend was consumed by watching world cup games. :) (Duh.)

I felt like cooking so we could have some real food this week. I made us burgers on the George for dinner, and chili from a recipe I got from Men's Health magazine (it's good) for us to have for lunch. Watermelon too. I've discovered that I really like watermelon, which is weird because I distinctly remember NOT liking it.

Monday rolled around too quickly, and I was less than thrilled to go to work, especially since I didn't have access to the building. A clerical error by the gatekeepers led to my badge being confiscated on Friday afternoon, and of course, the guards who sit outside all day (yes, both of them) have nothing else to do, and anxiously dream of the day they get to do something, so they immediately sprung to action when they saw that I couldn't badge in. The damn red light kept blinking at me. Blink blink blink. No no no. They graciously gave me a freebie day for access. I was annoyed. It's not like they haven't seen me come up to this stupid office every day for the past 16 months. Jesus.

Anyway, 8 hours later, I arrive home to a very pouty Craig. He turns around and points to the back of his knee. "Okay, so you have a scratch," I observe. "It's poison ivy."

Poison ivy. Yeah, we don't exactly get that in the concrete jungle. Instead, we get other annoying afflictions (usually parasites) from living in close quarters like lice, scabies, fifth disease, ringworm and conjunctivitis. It looked like a scratch to me. He said it was itchy.

This morning, I could barely get up. I had a late soccer game with the girls last night, and got home just shy of midnight. By the time I was in bed with my eyes closed, it was probably one. The goddamned alarm clock went off at seven. Craig was exhausted too. He turns off the clock and says, "mmmm HMMMMMMMMMM!!!" I know he's trying to say "Wake upppppppppp" by his intonation. It takes an enormous effort for me to respond. "mmph." And I flop unenthusiastically to my side. Another 10 minutes pass, and Craig finally squeaks out, "waaaaaaake up" so I know he means business. After willing my eyes to open, they finally do, and I'm looking at a very tired looking Craig who can't even open his eyes.

I get up, hop into the shower. When I get out, Craig is still in the other bathroom getting ready. About 10 seconds later, he comes out of the bathroom and he still looks asleep.

Except, he's not asleep. He can't open his eyes because he has poison ivy on his eyelids and surrounding eye area. He looks extra tired and kind of pathetic. I send him off with a sheet of Benadryl pills, warning that they'll make him drowsy.

He's been out of it ever since he got home. Stupid Benadryl makes you tired as anything, and he has to take them every 4 hours to control the itching. The knee scratch is oozing something fierce. I hope the baking soda bath helps to dry him out a little, but we may try Aveeno tomorrow too just in case. I feel really bad partly because it was my ball he was trying to get (motivation was sentimental), but mostly because I can't do anything to help. The rash keeps blooming, so I don't think it has fully run its course yet.

All the bedding and clothing from that day has been washed. There's a good chance that I got some of the oil on me too, but I don't have any outbreaks yet. Could it be that poison ivy is the one thing I'm NOT allergic to?

posted by v @ 10:30 PM