What a week, what a week

Where do I even start? There’s been so much going on this week that I haven’t had any time to blog, or even compose a well thought out sentence. But I’ll try. For you, the faithful reader.

REFLECTIONS–With 140 entries, and having done the PTA reflections contest 5 times before, you would think I would have been more organized and paced myself. Not so. I ended up with hours and hours or work to do, in this, the last week. Ugh. I called upon my neighbors and friends to help, and they did. I called my friend on Thursday and said I was having a breakdown and needed some help, and she willingly stepped up and called the parents of the winners so I wouldn’t have to to do it. My family spent Monday night helping Mom with reflections. We had a movie night and watched all the film and video entries, then stuffed 100 prize bags with Nerds, del taco coupons, Wendy’s coupons, Boondocks coupons, etc. until we ran out of bags. I called another friend and asked if she had more cello bags, and lo and behold she did, so I didn’t have to make a run to the craft store. Later we stuffed 45 more with other coupons and prizes.
But Friday morning, with the help of Ryan, the PTA president and two of my best friends, we got the assembly set up, and made it through. There were some glitches, like I had the wrong age group on a child’s certificate, therefore it was on the wrong table. Some kids were confused that they were winners, but they weren’t moving on to the council level. Why? Well, because I like to give out as many medals as I can afford, even though not ALL of them are moving on. I should have been more clear on that fact. But all in all, I’m glad it’s over (well, it’s not OVER until I get all my paperwork done, get entry forms signed on the few that don’t have it done already, and deliver all the winning entries to the council person, but it’s Mostly over).

BELL CONCERT–We rehearsed on Tuesday, had a dress rehearsal with an audience on Wed, and then had a concert last night. We have another one tonight, too. But last night’s concerts was FANTASTIC!! The tabernacle was completely full! We had packed the house. We felt like rock stars! It was amazing. No, we weren’t perfect and still made mistakes, but we did very well. We hope as we play that we convey not just our love for the music, but also our testimonies of the Gospel and our love for our Savior Jesus Christ. We were set apart as musical missionaries, and our hope is that we can share the Gospel through our music. Our director always tells us to wear our testimonies on our faces, and that is what we strive to do. I can only hope that tonight’s concert goes as well.

WEIRD SYMPTOMS–Thursday at around 4:30, I began to feel like I had a canker on my tongue. Dang! I thought. I don’t have time for a canker. Within a half an hour, my tongue was covered with red bumps, and so was the inside of my bottom lip. What the heck? Thinking I may be having an allergic reaction to something ~but what, I don’t know~, I looked for a benadryl or antihistamine. In my whole box of medicines I could not find any benadryl or even generic for benadryl. I found a “Dayhist”, which is like “Tavist”, and I took that. Non-drowsy? I don’t think so. By then it was time for me to go to my Book Club dinner, and even though I was worried about my progressively swelling mouth, I went. My mouth felt like it was on fire. Or like I had taken a chili pepper and smeared it all over my tongue and inside of my cheeks. I told my friend in the car about my troubles, and warned her that if I stopped breathing, to take me straight to the hospital for a dose of epi. “What have you eaten?” she asked me.
“Peanut butter crackers….I had a salad from Kneaders, do you think that was it? And I had a flu shot this morning.”
“Flu shot? Are you allergic to eggs?”
No. Never have been.
I was a little disappointed that no one at my book club had any knowledge of strange mouth rash. Usually when we get this group together, someone has had or knows someone who’s had experience with whatever it is we’re discussing. This time, they just looked at me and said, “That’s weird.” Thanks, gals.
I enjoyed the dinner as much as I could with hardly any working taste buds, but I was quite dozy, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I would normally have.
When I got home, I called our local doctor (neighbor), but he didn’t call me back. As I went to sleep, I told Ryan, “If you come up and I’m not breathing, take me to the hospital.” Always the comforting one, he said, “If I come up and you’re not breathing, it’s probably too late.” Thanks.
After a night of thrashing about and having bad dreams, I awoke to a less swolen, less inflamed mouth. Now it feels like it does AFTER you’ve had cankers and it’s getting better, but it’s still raw.

How weird is that? Of course if I look up “mouth rash reaction to flu shot?” I get all kinds of horror stories of people who’ve had TERRIBLE side effects from a flu shot, and I decide I’m not going to read any more. Maybe it was the flu shot, maybe it was stress, maybe it’s some new allergy I’m just developing. Who knows?

AND TO TOP OFF THE WEEK– Last night I was just about to leave for my concert. I was dressed up with makeup and hair done, and as I came downstairs I could smell an awful smell. What is that smell? I said aloud. Then I saw it. Someone had tracked in dog poop on their shoe, and had walked from the back door to the bathroom, then through the kitchen. AAARRGGH! I enlisted Ryan, and he found the offending shoe (along with it’s unlucky owner) and put her to work cleaning it up. I gave her the mop with the disposable pads, as that’s the easiest and most sanitary way to clean up such a mess. But me? I was out the door. Have fun with that, folks!
Thankfully, they DID take care of it, and there was no offensive oder in the kitchen when I came back home.

THE BIG GAME Today the family is doing a bunch of clean up work, before the big game. We’ve got lawn to mow, Christmas lights to put up, and a garage to clean. The inside of the house is not much better, with disasters in almost every room of the house and a HUGE pile of laundry to tackle. So much for “resting up.” I’ve got my concert tonight, too. But the real event of the day is the BIG BYU vs. UTAH game. I’m sure that’s what most everyone I know will be watching this afternoon.

But we’ve made it through most of the week, and although it’s been rough, we’ve survived.

Let’s hope the Cougars can say the same! BYU!!! Go Cougars!!!