Yes, I *would* like some cheese with it.

My whine, that is.

I'm feeling quite caught up in my troubles lately. Starting with the crazy sore muscles from not stretching before our walk. It continues in the dyshidrosis eczema that plagues my finger: nasty little blisters under the skin that itch and burn like crazy, until they reach the surface, pop, and then cause the worst scaly, cracked skin I've ever dealt with. All I have to do is bend my finger at the knuckle, and it will make my fingertip bleed. And if anything, even just plain water, gets into those cracks, it hurts and stings in a very intense way. Keeping it covered with a band aid helps prevent the cracking, but honestly, you know I'd rather not have to deal with it at all. It comes and goes in waves. It was just starting to heal from one wave, to the point where the skin was smooth and pink but hadn't yet recovered its fingerprints, when new blisters formed. And according to doctors, there's no known cause and no known cure, so I get to spend a lot of time playing trial and error to see what helps. Only that process isn't going so well. Also, over the weekend I started having a lot of pain in my right arm. Like, it hurt to reach certain ways or look over my shoulder, and so on. On Friday it *really* got my attention when I looked over my shoulder before changing lanes, and actually yelped in pain and snapped my head back after pain shot down through my shoulder, elbow, all the way to my wrist. It felt the worst on Sunday, and did respond to some ibuprofen (which, if you know me, I only take when I'm feeling pretty desperate), and was starting to get better by Monday on its own. A Tuesday chiropractic adjustment didn't really make much difference, despite there being quite a lot of loud bone popping during the process. As of right now, it mostly feels like a very weak wrist, and I can't put my weight on it, or twist lids or can openers, or snap really difficult snaps. I'm not sure what exactly is wrong, but I do wonder if maybe it's that my elbow or shoulder is out of place, and it's affecting all the bones down the line. On top of all that, the side of my hand (the same one with the eczema and the mysterious bone weakness) is covered in what I can only suppose are bug bites. Maybe flea? There's about 20 of them between the bottom knucle of my pinky finger and the base of my hand. They don't necessarily itch, but they're a bit swollen and painful to the touch. I actually thought they were blisters at first, before I got a good look (it's hard to look at the side of your hand, incidentally). And I have no idea where these bites would have come from. The same night I discovered them, I burned my thumb on the edge of a pot. And then the next day, yesterday, I gave myself a major sunburn. We went swimming, and by the time I had gotten sun block on all three kids, I was more concerned about watching them in the pool so they could be safe than I was concerned about putting sun block on myself. And by the time I noticed my skin feeling a little too hot, it was too late. My shoulders, back and thighs are all bright red and very painful. (Why is it that I rarely burned like this as a child? Was the ozone layer really that much better off 20 years ago??) The good news is that Alex didn't get burned. He was covered in sun block as well as me shielding him from the sun with my own body. The bad news is that we stayed out in the sun for such a long time that Melinda and Jacob's sunblock wore off, and they are both pink enough to be complaining about hurting today. :(

So, yeah. It seems like all I can think about right now is how I'm a burnt lobster who can't use her dominant hand to do much anything useful, not that it would matter because that hand is too covered in eczema and painful bug bites, anyway. And I also feel heavy and tired, and overly grumpy. Which is not made better by the fact that I need to pack and clean my whole house over the next 3 weeks before we move, or that apparently I am the only one who can get Alex to sleep and Jesse is constantly frustrated when I ask him to give it a try because I'm so worn out and sore and etc., etc.

..... There. Maybe whining will help me cheer up. Can't hurt, right? :) It does feel better to at least get it all out. And really, it's not all bad. It's just the physical things that are really getting me down. Unfortunately, physical afflictions have a way of dominating your thoughts, I suppose, simply because they are ever present. The good things? The weather got a bit cooler (enough that I felt too cold last night, what a surprise!!), we've been able to spend time with friends, we got to go on vacation a couple weeks ago, and get to do more fun things this weekend, courtesy of Jesse's work, and we aren't feeling as affected by the economy changes as most people are. We have a lot to be glad for, so don't take my whine for anything more than it is. ;)