Finally

My rash finally consumed my entire body

I finally asked my husband to figure out what Dr to send me to

I finally have some relief in my neck and shoulders

I finally got my husbands watch fixed

I finally got my husband to agree to never, ever, ever, ever! Take me to a casino hotel in ABQ again!

I finally got some medicine that should have me part of the living population by Friday

The videos that we made with Family Search were finally posted online

My husband has been making a conscious effort to use the power of the Priesthood more this year and I have to say, he's been doing just that.  When by Monday the only progress my rash was making was to consume more of my body he called a friend to come over and give me a blessing.  It was all I could do to make dinner because I had a pretty nice headache and my skin was on fire and I could not stop scratching.  He announced that he was calling someone right then.  Well, it was dinner time AND it's FHE, you shouldn't bug anyone.  He was unpersuaded.  Now the panic really set in.  He was calling someone over that has major OCD and him and his wife have a spotless house.  The kind of spotless that leaves you uncomfortable in their house….you know the kind…..everything is fru fru (which is also the name of one of my favorite bands)  and not functional nor comfortable.  I seriously don't know what's wrong with me sometimes.  My kids even joined in on telling me to chill and that no one cared what our house looked like.  I was trying very hard not to concentrate on every little thing out of place and the inch thick dust covering the entertainment center.  I told my husband that I was pretty sure the blessing wasn't going to work because I was in such a foul mood. 

I held onto some hope on Tuesday and spent most of my day running errands.  I decided to go to the jewelry repair shop in the mall to have my husbands watch fixed and I had a few things that needed fixing as well.  I handed over all my goods and at the last minute I decided to have the ring I wear on my right hand have the missing diamond replaced.  I left to run some errands while they fixed everything.  I came back an hour later and everything looked great except for my ring.  You could totally tell where the repair was made.  The diamond was a dark color.  I asked about it and the cashier said that it was just because it wasn't an exact match and I could talk to someone if I really wanted to.  Well, I was feeling too self conscious and so I left.  But I only made it a few steps and gave myself a pep talk and made myself march back in there and ask for an explanation. I got some story about it being the only diamond they had and he thought I might notice and not like it but thought he would try so I wouldn't have to wait.  He offered to order me a new diamond but it was going to take like 10 days.  He was expecting me to take the instant gratification and I said, ok, order me one, the one you put in is not acceptable.   Well, all of a sudden there might be another diamond somewhere that would be a closer color match to what I had.  Now I had 30 more minutes to kill.  When I came back someone else helped me and you couldn't tell this time where the repair was.  I thanked him and asked if there was anything I needed to do.  He said "yes, that'll be 62 dollars, let's go over and ring it up."  I'm sure the look on my face was amusing because he started laughing and told me that he just wanted me to lighten up and laugh and sent me on my way with one last apology.  Even though I was in complete misery, I was very pleasant but very direct so I'm not sure what it was that he was sensing.  

From that little ordeal I had to go directly home to get the oldest for a youth Temple trip.  I was hoping that just being in the temple would cure my disease ridden body, but to no avail.  At one point while I was cleaning up the dressing room I spotted a magical tube containing some super thick lotion and I stripped right there to try and relieve the pain I was in.  Luckily only my daughter witnessed the madness.  While this was happening Jared was in the font with a massive bloody nose.   Apparently we just felt like keeping things exciting for everyone.   It was such a good trip though and I'm glad I went.  The temple president came down and talked to us at the end of our session and he was so good and so on point and you just couldn't help but smile at his enthusiasm and love for the work.  

This morning I woke up to the rash covering my face and every other part of my body that hadn't yet been affected.  I was so out of sorts that I took my youngest to an orthodontist appoint that isn't until fri and almost missed my appointment at the chiropractors (which is still going really well and I get even more hopeful with each visit).  I told my husband that I was crying "uncle" and could he please find me somewhere to go to get my rash cured.  He called a dermatologist that he has known since residency and they got me right in -major blessing - it is normally  6 weeks even for emergent stuff.  Sweet miracles were about to happen for me, I could feel it.  My husband gave me a little warning before I left.  "I don't know why I keep doing this, but Dr ___ is even more attractive than your ortho dr.  and you're gonna have to get naked, so behave yourself."  lol Sure enough, I did have to get naked.  I also left with the ammunition I needed to never have to return to the casino hotel ever again AND a cure for my rash.  After the Dr laid out the plan for curing my rash, I said "I hope so." and he chuckled and said, "there's no hoping, it will go away!"

So, what is this ammunition?  My dear sweet husband was trying to do something wonderful for me.  Every year there is a conference in town for the state that he is in charge of for podiatry.  It is at said casino hotel.  Every year he gets a hotel room there and wants me to be able to "get away" and hang out with him between his duties.  Well, it was nice in the beginning when the kids were small and not sleeping through the night.  Now that the kids are older and my bedroom is nicer than the hotel, it has no draw for me.  I was grumpy about it and told him that it was a waste of money and time and I didn't need nor want to go.  I obviously was breaking his heart and I clarified with him that if I went it was because he wanted me to go not because I wanted to go.  This was not my "love language, it was his."I just wanted it clear incase he tried to use this as "nice things he's done for me" later.  

He also lovingly booked me a 4 hour spa treatment there at the casino that I had to be at at 8am.  I'm an early riser, no problem.  This time was especially no problem because I never got to go to sleep.  The room next to ours decided that the casino wasn't good enough for a drunken party and that there room was perfect for a 20 person party.  From 11-12 we listened praying that they would go away.  Nate finally called and complained because the hotel was full of podiatrists and professionals for this conference.  They finally showed up to break up the party and it took them another hour to leave.  They moved the party into the hall trying to figure out what to do going back and forth between rooms.  At 2 they decided to try having the party again.  The funny thing was you could hear everything they said.  Even the pleas for being quieter so they didn't get kicked out.  All of this was not helping the feelings I was already having about being in the stupid hotel room in the first place.  I called the desk again around 2:30 and politely told them that either they were checking out or I was, it made no difference to me, but one of us was going.  That ordeal took another hour while they packed up all their stuff to leave.  I was so not living the dream!

The next morning I had the worst spa package I've ever had in my life.  At one point I wanted to just get up and leave before I had received everything.  It was so incredibly bad.  Even the facial that is usually my most favorite thing felt like a torture session.  So, the dermatologists best guess as to how the freakout of my skin started?  The spa.  It started at the spot where I had received razor burn from some disposable razors they had there and so the reaction started there, but as to why it is over the rest of my body is that is just took longer for each area to show the signs of the allergic reaction to the lotions and potions they used.  That's why I have it on my face and ears as well.  So when I called to give my hubs the prognosis he agreed that I will never have to go to that horrible place ever again in my life!  He was thinking that little adventure would count as my valentines day present.  Poor guy, No Way!  I told him that I fixed my ring and that could count instead.  I don't think he wants me to have those kind of memories attached to valentines day :0)  It's a little reminiscent of our 10 year anniversary that went horribly wrong.  But, hey, we're still married and we laugh about that anniversary. 

While reading "house of glory" I came across a story of Lincoln in there under 'be consequences what they may'  It is a hilarious recount of Lincoln's reaction when meeting for the first time the woman that was to be his bride.  He talked about the fact that she couldn't have wrinkles because her skin was too full of fat and she no teeth and she looked weather beaten etc.  He told her all this but told her that he kept his commitments and would marry her.  Well, she refused and he ended up marrying someone else, but not before he tried to get this other woman to marry him a couple more times because he kept his word.  

Being married doesn't mean you have to stop being honest.  In fact you should always be honest, especially before you actually seal the deal in matrimony.  We tent to think a lot of things "cruel" in our day, but I contend that it is the pretending not to have a problem and then letting that fester into a far bigger problem is the truer act of cruelty.  We used to be a lot tougher.  That's why I love black and white movies.  They didn't dance around things trying not to hurt feelings, they said what they meant and meant what they said.  We could use a lot more of that.  

As further evidence that I have no idea what I'm talking about, ever…..Just on Saturday after attending a genealogy conference I told my husband that I didn't think the movies we made would see the light of day.  I figured that they decided that they were only fit for the trash and weren't ever going to use them. Well, on Sunday I needed to look something up and what did I stumble across?  Our videos.  Crazy!