shakes, germs, unsightliness at the beach, and history repeating itself!

It might have made sense to take
 a pic of the shakes BEFORE we
 drank them, but why postpone
 pure joy longer than necessary?

Spring break is officially over.  Back to the grind.  Mini left her lunch sitting on the counter when she left for school today, so I know that life is back to status quo.  Officially.

I have many spring break posts to share with you, but I decided to start at the end and work back.  Why not?

Last night the kids begged for shamrock shakes.  It was the last day to enjoy the minty shakes, so they felt it was their right.  We are Irish, so it made perfect sense.  This from a woman who cannot figure out why she cannot drop a few pounds, but who also cannot order shakes for kids and deny herself.  If denying myself means dropping a few pounds, I don't want to be denied.  Damn it.

Besides, I felt bad for myself that break was over.  I am back to changing diapers, longing for nap time, begging Tank to make his own lunch, and wiping snotty noses.  I skipped the close up photos of the oozing noses this morning (you're welcome), even though - believe it or not - the opportunities presented themselves over and over again.  SAME KID STILL?!  'Take your kid to a doctor' is what I want to say, but all that comes out at pick up is niceties like, 'He loved playing trucks today.  The zoo book is still his favorite,' etc.  Remember I had a crazy mom (Narcey) for far less than that.  (there are way more links about this saga, so if you want to read about a crazy lady do a search for 'Narcey).

This little cow demonstrates
 what my glands felt like every
 time I blew my nose . . . 

Glands felt like they were
 popping out of my neck.

A few weeks before break, I fought hard to keep the germs at bay even though the little guys I sit for are always so eager to share them with me.  I continued to fight the good fight.  Billy sneezes in my face each and every time I change his diaper - it is like a weird reflex for him when he lays down.    Seriously.  Well, I lost my war on germs (even though my hands showed the cracks from CONSTANT washing) and ended up with a sinus infection.

I tried to get by without antibiotics, but that wasn't going very well.  So, I took the drugs and started to feel much better.  Knowing that antibiotics can lead to a yeast infection, the doc gave me a Diflucan pill upfront.  That's the way I like my meds - ready and available as needed.

Well, I started to sense that something was um amiss, so I took the Diflucan.  I was about to leave for Florida after all.  Symptoms grew worse.  And worse.  Finally I recognized the issue.  History was unfortunately repeating itself.  Remember last spring break when I left for Scotland and unknowingly had a fungal infection . . . um, 'there.'  Well, that's the kind of history that should NEVER ever happen twice, but then what would I write about?

I called the dermatologist who dealt with it last time.  I hoped that since I had blinded her with the unsightly 'area' last time, we could just chat about the uncomfortable-ness of my 'situation' and move on from there.  She prescribed the same tube of stuff, but her messenger warned me that it might take three weeks to clear up.  T-H-R-E-E??!!  WHAT IN GOD'S NAME?!

I wonder if that was the case last time, but that maybe I was just so damn relieved to finally have a doc who knew what she was talking about (recall that my OB was perplexed and kept treating it as a yeast infection gone terribly, inconsolably wrong) that I didn't notice how long it took to heal.  AND last time I was not headed to the beach.

At the risk of over-sharing, I could not wear undergarments.  For awhile.  Friends, not sure if you have picked up on it or not, but I am a pretty straight laced kind of chick.  No undies is unchartered territory.  I joked with my fellow babysitting friend, Becky, that it was super easy to pack for Florida because my underwear all sat nice and clean in my drawer ready to be packed.

I was concerned about hitting the beach with upper, inner thighs that appeared already sunburned.  We are talking totally raw!  But, hey - there are lots of worse things out there at the beach.  Some things I instructed 13 year old Reggie to avert his eyes from.  Others I wished I had averted my eyes from.

One woman opted to wear a thong bathing suit, but she was very overweight.  So overweight, that her thong bits were not visible.  They were busy being swallowed whole by her behind.  Hey, I am not here to judge, but there are acceptable suits available for every body type.  She wore a t-shirt that apparently covered up the top of her thong bottoms.  That left her heiney to appear to have no garment covering at all.  Folks, what I am trying to say is she looked naked from the waist down.

It took me very little time to fill in the pale parts of my legs - thanks to our OUTSTANDING weather in Florida.  Boy did I need that part of life to go right.  So, I relaxed about the unsightliness of my upper, inner thighs and waited, um patiently (not really) for the awful issue to clear up.