Shingles...and I Don't Mean on a Roof

After days of pain I decided to go to urgent care and discovered that I have shingles! Since returning from Boston the pain has gradually gotten worse and over the weekend I developed a rash on my neck and left shoulder. Thinking it was some weird poison ivy (that hurt!) I tried to deal with it. How long could it possibly last? Finally yesterday I could take no more! The doctor told me had I come in a few days earlier he could have given me some medication to help with the rash, pretty much shorten the virus. Go figure! So now I am riding it out. He prescribed me vicodin which really helped me sleep. I'm not sure if it was the medicine or maybe I am healing but I didn't wake up as stiff as I have the past few mornings.

The reason shingles appear is unclear, possible cause is a weak immune system. The doctor asked me if I had been under a lot of stress lately and I just laughed! Let's see, I'm a teacher who is off for the summer and I just got back from a lovely vacation in Massachusetts. If the doctor considers deciding what book to read next, what time I'm going to go to the pool/shopping, and what time I'm going to wake up in the morning stressful, then YES I'm under a lot of stress! In fact, Tom said this is the least stressful he's seen me. I guess this virus was just waiting to rear it's ugly head!

Attack of the Cicadas

Cicadas have been invading our area for several weeks now. They are these large, red eyed, creepy insects that do absolutely no harm and have no real purpose except to annoy. As Tom and I were running today we tried to predicted how many cicadas we thought would land on us, surprisingly we weren't attacked by that many. They have no problem flying into you when your still, I guess being a moving target was too much for them. The cicada life span is about 6 weeks which gives us about three more weeks of them. After that we can expect them in another 17 years or so. I will be glad when they are gone, however Kaiser might feel differently. He enjoys a cicada snack every once in a while. Yes, that's right...he eats them!

My Life as a Blogger

I have started this blog (thanks to Laurie!) in hopes of staying connected, or reconnect, with friends and family. As many of you have discovered, I stink at writing, emailing and calling, just staying in touch in general. I started a MySpace page and haven't done to well updating it. I do miss everyone and thought I'd take the summer to try to figure this bog thing out. So far so good!
Since school has let out I have finally found myself in summer mode. That first week off was rough, I was actually bored! Not anymore! Summer vacation has led me to Cape Cod where I spent a long weekend with my Dad and Candy and then to Boston to meet up with my hubby. I am also reading my third book. The joys of being a teacher! I don't have much else planned for the summer but I kind of like it that way. I feel like I have all the time in the world to enjoy my time off.
We were hoping to have a visit from Tom's sister and brother-in-law, Heather and Jason, this summer but they have decided to stay in Germany. They will be greatly missed but Tom and I are looking forward to our visit with them this Christmas! I am posting some pictures of their visit from last summer...hurry home guys!