Damn Mosquitos

I had to go the emergency room yesterday. Apparently, I'm allergic to mosquitos. I had about elventy-billon bites starting at my toes and moving up my legs and a few on my arms. I got them at the pool while I was working, so I went to the clinic and used my worker's comp--they sent me to the ER because there weren't any appointments open at the clinic.

The doctor gave me a hydrocortisone shot and told me to take Benadryl every six hours. And try not to get bit anymore. Which means long pants at the pool when I'm not in the water. Ick. I feel better though. I actually was feeling like the little buggers had poisoned me or something. It was hard to swallow and my skin was crawling. And I had a monster headache.

On a brighter side, still no treatment effects from the Alli. I've been really vigilent about not eating too much fat at each meal. Tonight I still weighed 312...3.5 pounds down. But when I weighed 312 the other day it was in the morning, when I always weigh less. So I'll weigh again in the AM. My goal right now is just to break the 300 pound barrier. I'm trying not to get to freaked out about dieting. Just focusing a little harder on what I'm putting in my body.

I'm really loving our new house. It just feels really good to be in a place where I don't feel like I have four other people sitting on my lap 24/7. Not that I mind a little togetherness with my family, of course. But five people, a dog and two cats in 400 square feet is just too much. Surprisingly, we all fit 1000 square feet just beautifully.

Our Cingluar phones don't work at all in McGill, so we called Verizon to set up new service yesterday. Turns out that Verizon has a discount for government employees--and I was able to put our service in my name without a deposit, which was a real nice surprise. Shhh...we got Adrienne a mint chocolate phone for her 15th birthday in a month.

Did you hear that? My baby will be 15 in a month. In six months she can get her driver's permit. In a year she can drive herself to the tenth grade. In a few weeks she'll be in high school. In four years (four!) she'll be going off to college. Holy hell. She's visiting my sister in Boise for two weeks. I miss her so much, but she's having a ball.

I'm going to college this fall, taking four classes online. I'm really excited about it. I've decided to go for a degree in social work. Our little community college here has a 3/1 program with UNR--three years at Great Basin College and then the last year is University of Reno classes given here in Ely. I'll end up with a UNR degree. Our area has this program where if you work in rural Nevada for five years your student loans are forgiven, so I've decided to go ahead and apply for them. I feel a little anxious about going so far into debt, but I think it'll be okay. Hopefully, I'll end up with a grant or two as well.

I went back and forth (and back and forth and back and forth) about whether to go for a degree in education or one in social work. I'm just not sure I want to be a teacher, even a special education teacher. By the time I graduate, Nick will have graduated as well and I think maybe I've had my fill. Also, I have some pretty strong oppositions to so much of public education that I think I'd maybe end up bitter about things like teaching to the high-stakes tests.

I don't have to decide today, of course. I'm just taking basic classes that will go for either degree. In the next year or so I'll have to make a choice, but not today.