The soothing power of flavored ice

Last night during dinner I chomped down on the inside of my lower lip.  Tears instantly appeared and ran down my face.  The inside of my lip swelled up like a grape though it felt like a basketball.   As I whimpered and moaned, Mr. Aitch wondered what happened.  It took awhile for me to be able to mumble through the tears and instantly swollen lip so he could understand.

“I bowt da insoud ob my libb.”

Frozen relief

Fortunately I still had some of these leftover from last weekend.

The swelling is down a bit this morning but that part is still sore.  And it’s the same beautiful deep purplish-red color as a full-bodied Cabernet.

I’m sensitive

I’ve been sensitive my whole life but things are changing.

Emotionally I can brush off a lot more than I could a few years ago.

Physically I’m getting worse.

I’m sensitive to cocoa butter…applied topically as well as ingested.  I love chocolate and know how much I can eat before it bothers me.  I don’t knowingly apply cocoa butter to my skin at all.

I’m sensitive to dish detergent so I have to wear rubber gloves.  Not necessarily a bad thing.  I will wash dishes without them if I’m at someone else’s house.

A few years ago I discovered I’m sensitive to sodium lauryl sulfate in toothpaste so I have to be careful what kind I use.

Now it’s the adhesive on bandages.  Last summer I had some of those sticky heart monitor patches on my torso and one started melting into my skin.  Literally ate my skin.  It took months to heal.  Last week I has a blood test and the lab assistant put a Band Aid over the site.  When I took it off, my skin was red and blistered.

Tuesday afternoon I had a visit to the doctor that required a couple of Band Aids and sure enough when they were removed, my skin was red, blistered and burning.  But I had to replace the bandage to protect my clothing.  I found some gauze and paper tape to use and am hoping I don’t have any more red, blistered, burning skin.

Mr. Aitch called a repair man about our heat pump/air conditioner.  He was out so maybe he’ll call today to schedule a service visit.  Mother Nature cooled things off last night and we were comfortable with the lower humidity, lower temperatures, and a refreshing breeze.  Should be a much more pleasant day today.

Cha-ching

When our house was built, we had two heat pumps/air conditioners installed.  One for the first floor and one for the second floor.  When it’s hot in the summer, we can turn on the second floor air conditioner so it is nice and cool at night.  In the winter the heat pump keeps the first floor warm and since heat rises, the second floor heat pump doesn’t have to work as hard.  We are comfortable all year long.

We’ve had 90+ degree days the past three days with humidity levels to match and it looks like we’re in for another hot one today.  Last night Mr. Aitch noticed it wasn’t as cool in the house, particularly the first floor even though both air conditioners were on.  Seems like we have a problem.  And it’s not going to be cheap.

First day back

A former boss of mine used to say that he needed another day to rest because it was always hard to get back into the swing of things on the first day back after a long weekend or vacation.  It was a running joke with my co-workers.

I could have used an extra hour or two of sleep this morning.  The holiday weekend was great fun but oh, so tiring.

It’s supposed to get into the mid 90’s today so I doubt I’ll go for my lunchtime walk.  It would be great if I could get it in before 10:00 AM.  We’ll see if that works out.