Allergy Tests Take 1

So today I had my first battery of allergy tests. They tested me for a mere 92 allergens. It sounds like a lot, but it's really quite a limited test. I was mostly tested for foodstuffs, grass, pollen, and cats.

I was so nervous heading into the doc's office...cold sweats, high anxiety. See, I have a HUGE fear of needles, and I had imagined sort of a mad scientist scenario where they strap me to a table and stab me with jagged needle after jagged needle. Fortunately, it wasn't like that at all.

Really they use these plastic toothpicks to poke you in the back a few (92) times.

The worst part about it is the waiting. You can't lean on your back so you pretty much end up sitting on the edge of the "table" wearing a paper shirt that wasn't designed to be accompanied by today's low-rise pant styles (it left my gut hanging out--I'm pretty!).

Anyway, they come back 20 minutes later and see how things look. The good news? I'm not allergic to my darling cat. The bad news? The skin test shows that I might be allergic to [insert dramatic drum roll here] chocolate.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Now the good news is that isn't definite. Basically at this point I have to keep a food journal and see what unfolds. My mom thinks I should just gorge myself on chocolate to see what happens--get over the waiting.

The worst part about this whole "going to the specialist" ordeal (and it was an ordeal), is that the doctor seemed to think I was making up the allergic reactions. In fact, he is convinced that I merely have eczema. Here's the problem with that doc, I moisturize daily, and never have dry patches of skin--just flaming red itchy hives.

His other solution? Ply me with pills daily. Great. Yep. Just take claritin every day for two months. And here's another pill for emergencies only...and another steroid cream. And the capper, stop using hair product (except for some special shampoo they floated me some samples of).

I mean, can we just do a real battery of allergy tests and figure out what it is so that I can avoid it instead of taking meds daily? Seriously. How about a whole body approach versus a medicate the symptoms approach? Is that too much to ask in this day and age?

Clearly, I'll need to get a second opinion.

Freezer paper stencil fun

So KB dropped in for a sweet afternoon of crafting. She had been raving about freezer paper stencils, we decided I simply had to try it. I can safely say it was easy and fun.

Here's the image I chose to start with. Note: I always choose the hardest possible pattern or way to do something--it's just what happens.



So it took my approximately 2 hours to cut out the stencil. It probably would have helped if I had some Scherenschnitte scissors handy (mom, we'll need to find those when I'm out later this summer). As it was I struggled a bit with my regular Fiskars and a slightly dull xacto blade.



And voila. Once the paint was dry I removed the stencil and was pleased with the results--even though I had chosen a ridiculously complicated pattern and placed the stencil on a seam (not recommended).



It's just too cute.



The only downside is that once you use the stencil that's it. It's truly a one-of-a-kind design.



I could do this all day...if only I could figure out a way to make a living at it...

I've got nuttin'

Nothing to say. Work stinks. Morale is at an all-time low. Nobody is doing a thing about it. This pointlessly dull job is just leaching the creativity right out of my soul. Possibly through my nose. Note to self: You know that insurance is a completely dull industry. Stop deluding yourself into thinking that maybe YOU can make it interesting. You can't make people care about something that's potentially expensive and not always necessary. Sigh.

On the allergy front, I had a mini-allergic reaction last night. Possibly to the tiniest taste of salad dressing. The restaurant from which said salad was obtained was rigorously questioned about the dressing (which I ordered on the side). I asked for lemon dressing. They stuck a container of orange dressing in there. I double-checked and asked to make sure that it was the lemon dressing. They assured me that it was, although they tried to screw me out of cranberries on the salad so it's hard to trust 'em.

Basically, now that I'm insanely allergic to mango I have to double and triple check everything I might imbibe. I guess I may just have to avoid orange foods (especially sauces) all together. Anyway, I stuck my pinkie into the dressing and had the world's tiniest taste. Sorry to say that I didn't taste even a smidge of lemon. I promptly tossed the dressing and ate my salad bare. Blech. It really does taste like you're snacking on your lawn when you eat salad without something to wash it down.

Anyway, long story even longer, last night I started getting hives again and downed some Benadryl. Had some more today while at the daily grind. It stopped the hives for a while. Of course, who knows what will happen tomorrow when I have to stop taking the Benadryl...gee I can hardly wait for those allergy tests...

Clip art fun

Lately at work I've had to make my own fun using clip art to create fake logos. Here are a few for your amusement. Good times.


It's cheese...in a box...cheese box!


Alert, this just in, employees are leaving work due to extreme headaches at an alarming rate. More on this breaking story on the evening news.


Rats. Are they in your house? Find out tonight on the nightly news.

When allergies attack

I have had a run of severe allergic reactions in the past few weeks which have each been increasing in intensity. The last one has been just brutal. It was one week ago and I still I have absolutely no energy and keep occasionally breaking out in hives.

The scary part is that I have no idea what the cause could possibly be. I'm allergic to two foods, and am quite adept at avoiding any contact with them whatsoever. I guess I'll find out soon enough when I visit the allergist in a couple 'o weeks.

Again, no energy to move, to blog, to work, even to talk. Nothing. My doc put it best yesterday on the phone when we were discussing my reactions to all of the meds I'm on. "Steroids are a real bitch."

At least Miss Mabel has religiously been keeping me company.





Ok, back to bed for me. Sigh.

Excuse Time

I've just been way too tired to blog lately...what with working the job, and looking for a new one I'm pretty beat at the end of the day. :-(

I've had some fairly interesting job inquiries. Not interesting, like, wow you've got my interest [insert thumbs up here]. More interesting like "would you be interested in relocating to Smalltownsville in the middle-of-nowhere,USA?" [insert harrumph here]

Ah, well. Supposedly the job market is going strong. Right? Isn't it? Um, even if it isn't, you hereby have my permission to go ahead and lie to me. I don't have the energy to stick with this job much longer--it's leaching every ounce of creativity from my addled corpse.

Here's to keeping my fingers crossed that I figure something out soon.

I'm still working on that pink baby sweater. I've got the back and both front pieces done. Now it's just the sleeves, borders, collar and sewing...if only I had a pinch of energy...



Rolypoly fish heads are never seen drinking cappuccino in Italian restaurants with Oriental women. Yeah.