The allergies struck with a vengeance on Monday.  You would think I would remember the warning signs from the previous years or at least that every Mother's Day I should have started my allergy medications, but I don't.  Maybe it's just wishful thinking that I'll grow out of them this year. They seem to be getting worse the older I get.  Every year I have to spend three or four miserable days until I get enough Claritin and Benadryl in me to counteract the effects of whatever is blooming at this time of year.  I think I'll put it in the calender with an alarm so I don't have to go through this again.  I'll do the birthdays too that way I'll have all that memory stuff together. . . .if I remember.

Honey loaded my Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo program on the computer.  It lets me manipulate photo's and scans.  My big arts and crafts project (besides the room painting) was to take photos from our life together the last four years and have them printed in sepia tones.  It was simple and I sent the photos over to the local evil Walmart where I was able to pick them up later in the day.  I put them in frames and attached them to wide ribbon.  Then everything sat on the bed while Honey and I had a miniature war over what should go on the walls and where.  His argument was that he doesn't like a lot of stuff on the walls.  Mine was annoyance at exactly what stuff he wanted on the new walls.  Apparently the dusty faded Oakland Raiders pennant was OK to go back up but the nice pictures of our life together that I spent time and money arranging didn't fit the bill.  I pointed out that this was temporary until we ripped out all the walls to put up insulation and drywall.  He finally caved, I mean compromised, and let me hang them.  It took me until today to feel good enough to hang them.  So here is the new artwork:

Monday I was practically bedridden.  Imagine my surprise when I answered the door and was handed a lovely bouquet of flowers for Mother's Day from my daughter.  Thank you Sheena!  Here is what they look like (even today):

Tuesday I was finally able to swallow and talk.  The Benadryl was still making me drowsy.  I didn't accomplish much of anything that day.

Wednesday, I finished up painting my friends doorway.  I had to run errands so the paint would dry enough for the final coat.  Our dinner plans were to include salmon but when I got to the store the only thing they had left were three tiny tail pieces.  They did have some really nice looking tuna steaks so I bought them instead.  It's been years since I did tuna on the grill and Honey mentioned that there was nothing worse than dry tuna.  Nervous?  Yeah, but I did some research at epicurious.com and found this recipe:  Fennel Crusted Ahi Tuna with Lemon Aioli over Couscous  I wish I could tell you it was fantastic but I only had partial use of my nose and zero tasting ability.  Honey raved about this dish.  He kept mentioning how delicious it was and what a shame it was that I couldn't taste it.  The only thing I could tell was that the tuna wasn't dry.  It was moist and flavorful according to Honey.

Thursday (today),  I felt up to doing stuff.  I hung the artwork and decided to play with the Paint Shop program after I dyed my hair.  I've prepared a pictorial review of my week for you.

This is the pollen attacking poor Catty.  The green ones invaded my nose and sinuses making it impossible for me to breath until today.  The red ones invaded my throat making it feel like I was swallowing ground glass.  With the new program I am now able to understand layering, cutting and pasting, scanning, and I've learned how to use the fill, paintbrush, and outline tools.

You know how on the box of hair dye they want you to do an allergy test before you use it?  Well, I've been using the same product for years so I didn't give any thought to testing it first.  Well those little allergy "hints" that I was ignoring up till now, you know, itchy watery eyes, runny nose, tingly nipples and other unmentionable parts (and not in a pleasant way), were my warning that I was ultra sensitive to anything applied or ingested.  This is what my head felt like after applying the hair dye:

It was the longest twenty minutes of the day but I did manage to get rid of that grey/white skunk stripe running down the middle of my head.  I also learned how to use the colored pencil and the smudge tool.  Of course, in about four days I'll be looking like this:

when my hair falls out.  I learned to use the cloning tool, the eye dropper, and the softener.  Wow, I kinda look like someone from Alien Nation.   Remember that show?

tags: allergies  medicine  claritin  benadryl  art  pictures  photographs  mothers day  flowers  food  tuna  hair  humor  

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