Red Hot Mama

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Okay, so I'm not a red hot mama, but Thursday I my arm felt like one! Greg asked me to have our custodian turn off a sprinkler valve at church because he knew it was full of red fire ants. I looked for the custodian but he left to get supplies. I took matters into my own hands, thinking, "I can do this!" I found a popcorn bag and donned it as a glove. Bravely I went out to the field, opened the valve cover, and reached it. It took about 3 tries to get it all the way turned off. Though there was now a hole in the bottom of the bag, I left unscathed, or so I thought. I shook the bag viciously to get a few straggling ants off. On the way back to the building I looked down and saw a red ant on my arm, all curled up, looking rather dead. I gave a little shriek and brushed it off. A few seconds later, that area started to burn and itch. Great, I thought. I went in to the office, washed my arm with soap and water, quickly consulted the Internet and my doctor's office and called Greg. The doctor's office said use hydrogen peroxide, the Internet said rubbing alcohol. I ran home and put the peroxide on it and it felt somewhat better. Over the course of Thursday it got red and swollen. Friday, a puss pocket formed. Greg insisted to popping it to get the poison out. His fire ant bites never did that though. He squeezed and out it came, and more hydrogen peroxide was applied. It became more swollen through Friday with a hard bump underneath and a scab finally forming. It looks better today, just a small red area with a scab. I learned my lesson. No more red ant nests for me!

This experience reminds me of the times when I've known better NOT to do something and went ahead and did it anyway and got burned in the process. Sometimes we need these little reminders, don't we?

Yesterday was a big day for us. Kristen got her driver's permit! Today is her first behind the wheel lesson. She's pretty nervous, but she'll do fine.

On the remodel side, we got windows yesterday!
Today we shop for the door handles and fans. I got he lights for the outside of the house yesterday. Wahoo! Next week, we demo the kitchen. Yikes!