The Saga of the Escaped Mouse

Yesterday was our day to run errands. You know the usual, gas in the car, groceries, bank, etc.

Our last stop is to obtain feeder mice for our pet snake. (Yes, we have a pet snake.) The pet store puts the mice in flimsy cardboard containers. If left too long in the container, the mice will chew through it. So we head home.

Upon arriving home hubby says he will dump the mice in the snake’s aquarium while I begin removing our newly acquired possessions from the car’s trunk. As I come in the door, I hear hubby say, “I know there were two mice in there, but there’s only one in the aquarium.” “What?” says I. And he repeats his statement.

Now I’m not worried about one little mouse loose in the house. I have six (6) cats and one (1) dog, whose ancestry is infamous for going to ground to catch vermin. Surely they will be vigilant and catch the mouse within a few minutes.

No such luck. They didn’t even exhibit any interest whatsoever in locating the mouse.

After a few hours, I figure the mouse is laying low until nightfall. Then he will make his excursions into the unknown in search of food. Surely, then he will be brought to justice by my legally appointed guardians of the realm.

By bedtime, I’m too tired to care that we have a four footed intruder lurking who knows where in the house. So I head to bed, confident that my guardians will succeed in bringing this intruder to his ultimate destiny with the grim reaper.

Morning comes and I wake craving that first glorious cup of coffee. I set the coffee to making and start up the computer. I must check my groups and such for any earth shattering news of the day. While I am engrossed in my search for knowledge, hubby wakes. His objective is the TV and current events. Then suddenly he notices one of my cats is staring earnestly at the underside of the sofa. Casually, he says, “The mouse must be under the couch.” I ask why and he says that Priscilla (one of my cats) is intently focused on what is under there.

So I get up and tilt the sofa back, thinking the cat will apprehend the mouse quickly. What was I thinking? Her…move…catch the mouse? Noooooooo…she just continued to stare. And where’s the dog? Oh, yeah, she’s running around the living room playing.

Well I can’t hold the sofa tilted forever, so I set it back down. I looked down and there he is. I reached for him but he scooted back under the sofa. BUT he left his tail out. Lucky me! I grab his tail and bring him up. NOW I have the interest of my four footed guardians. They begin begging me to let them have my little white prize. NOPE. NADA. NOT GONNA! You all had your chance and you blew it. Me, Mama, Queen of the Realm had to do the dirty deed. And I wasn’t going to share my prize with any of them….except the snake. (You forgot about the snake, didn’t you.)

To the aquarium he went. At least there he won’t be raiding my food stores or destroying realm property.

Moral of the story: Sometimes, if you want a job done right, you have to do it yourself.

How the Hell Did I Get This Rash!?

About a month and a half ago I went to my doc…the usual check up thing…cholesterol levels, etc. I told him at that time about a spot on the bottom of my right foot that was driving me crazy, itching, burning, etc. He ordered a cream for it.

Well I got the prescription filled and applied it. It made my foot swollen and painful. Had to stop using it. Started using some antifungal creams. These didn’t seem to work. I know it takes several weeks to get it under control, but I so wanted this mess gone.

Then it started spreading. I only had one toenail that was fungal but suddenly all of them were fungal and the itching and redness had spread to my other foot. Bought more antifungal creams and some antifungal spray. Tried that for awhile. Still no results.

Woke up one morning with an itchy rash up both legs, on my hands and arms and back. My first thought was scabies….I work in a nursing home and scabies can and does run rampant in nursing homes. And sometimes the staff is exposed to the rash weeks before a definitive diagnosis and treatment are initiated.

So I made another appointment. In the meantime I used foot soaks for relief and continued the antifungal creams. I searched the net for other non-prescription home remedies for both fungi and scabies. Bought some tea tree oil and neem oil. Made some tea tree oil soap and neem oil soap. Used daily, sometimes twice daily. Also got some witch hazel. All of these did not get rid of the rash but managed to keep the itching down some.

Finally, I got in to see my doc. He said it was a fungus and ordered an antifungal pill and pills for the itching…which by the way, knock me out.

After 10 days of the pills, I still had the fungus. So I called him again. By this time, I’m sure he thought I was nuts….and believe me I’m close to being committed because of this rash. He called in another prescription…another cream. Used it and still no results. By this time I’m having additional problems with my skin peeling and cracking which are painful. My feet and hands began to swell. Can’t wear my rings. Had to get some expensive support/compression hose for the swelling in my feet and added some pure lanolin, just to lubricate my skin.

So I drop by his office and give him a written request for a referral to a dermatologist. About a week later I get a letter in the mail with an appointment date and time and, of course, paperwork to fill out.

In the meantime, I’m still using the tea tree oil soap and lanolin, have added a salycylic acid soap (for acne and fungi). Wearing the dang support/compression hose, especially to work.

August 31 cannot come soon enough. Will keep you all posted on my progress. Hopefully, this will be alleviated soon. I so want my skin back to normal.

UPDATE:

Some sort of allergic reaction, to what we don’t know yet. Had two biopsies done, one from my back and one from my knee. Was given a steroid shot and a script for antibiotics. Have to return to the dermatologist in 12 days.

UPDATE:

Biopsies came back as contact dermatitis….in other words, cause unknown. So now I’m on Prednisone for 17 days, then we will do patch testing.

MISTAKES HAPPEN! DANG IT!

We all make mistakes, that’s a certainty. I think every quilt I have made has some sort of mistake in it. And this latest top is no exception.

Almost all of my points did NOT match up, but I persevered. In other words, I was too lazy to take it apart, so I embellished it. Don’t you love that word! I think it was invented by someone who made mistakes and would rather cover them up than fix them. Well that’s what I did… I covered them up with yo yos and added leaves for color. I plan to add a few more yo yos to this top before I actually quilt it.

I think I like that word, “embellish”. I may use it more often….on other, future mistakes. I’m sure there will be plenty. 🙂