The team suffered a humiliating loss, The Daughter got some coveted time home alone, The Husband got lots of work done, I got to watch The Son play ball, and best of all, we came home to leftover deli tray delights, a yummy fruit salad, and the rest of the chocolate cake — none of which I could partake in but c’est la vie.  At least it was a “no spend” day 

Kroger — $129.79

• Kashi Cinnamon Harvest cereal — $3.79
• Cascadian Farm Purely O’s cereal — $3.50 (saved $0.79)
• 2 pkgs Roman Meal hot dog buns — $3.19/ea.
• 2 pkgs Coleman hot dogs — $5.49/ea.
• Tostitos corn chips — $2.50 (saved $1.11)
• Ruffles potato chips — $3.79
• 2 bags french rolls — $1.89/ea.
• French’s mustard — $1.00 (saved $1.39)
• green bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.59)
• red bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.59)
• yellow bell pepper — $1.00 (saved $0.59)
• green onions — $0.99
• cucumber — $1.50
• celery — $1.59
• red cabbage — $1.71
• 1.33# loose carrots — $0.78
• 1.98# red grapes — $7.90
• 2 boxes Driscoll blackberries — $3.00/ea. (saved $2.99/ea.)
• 2 boxes Driscoll raspberries — $3.00/ea. (saved $2.99/ea.)
• 2 boxes Driscoll strawberries — $3.00/ea. (saved $1.99/ea.)
• watermelon — $6.99
• .5# deli sliced colby jack cheese — $3.00 (saved $0.75)
• .48# deli sliced mild cheddar — $2.88 (saved $0.72)
• .54# deli sliced turkey breast — $3.23 (saved $1.08)
• deli sliced virginia baked ham — $6.55
• 1.05# deli sliced roast beef — $7.34 (saved $2.10)
• Breyer’s chocolate ice cream — $4.90 (saved $0.72)
• 12-pk Sprite — $3.67 (saved $0.72)
• 6-pk Propel — $3.99 (saved $1.00)
• 9″ double layer personalized chocolate/chocolate cake – $12.99

Kroger — $4.09
A tub of prewashed organic baby Romaine lettuce — that I forgot to pick up during the first trip to the store.  I didn’t mind the second run, however, because it gave me a welcome respite from cleaning house and an excellent excuse to stop by and catch a few minutes of The Son’s baseball game.

• bag of organic pastry flour — $2.49
• 2 whole chicken legs — $2.00
• 1 large whole boneless, skinless chicken breast — $8.46
• Applegate Farm sliced smoked turkey — $5.69
• Bluesky soda — $.89
• Odwalla B Berrier — $3.29

Indoor Skate Park — $25.00
A $25 gift card for The Husband’s grandson whose birthday is later this month.

Tuesday night The Son played right and left field during a 8pm baseball game.  Something out in the grass made a real meal out of The Son — particularly his ankles.  Yesterday they itched; today he was in agony.  Poor kid has bite after inflamed bite on both legs.  And they’re huge bites.  Obviously he’s having an allergic reaction to whatever poison those bugs pumped into him.

Every 3 or 4 hours today I’ve nursed his bites with a regimen of ice, rubbing alcohol, and then a generous dollop of StingStop.  But I knew that wouldn’t get him through the night so after dinner I ran out for some serious supplies.  I don’t like giving my kids medicine.  I especially don’t like giving them things that will make them drowsy or will affect their moods.  The Son has only had Benadryl one other time in his life — a few years ago he had a reaction to an antibiotic (something else I rarely give to the kids) and he broke out all over with terrible hives.

But desperate times call for desperate measures and if you could see these poor ankles, you’d know these are desperate times.  With the help of the pharmacist I bought three different remedies:

• Children’s Benadryl — $6.49  (The Son at age 13, 5′10″ tall, and weighing 125 lbs definitely could be given the adult Benadryl except that he cannot swallow pills.  This will be administered tonight at bedtime and will serve both to make him drowsy and relieve the itching.)
• Claritin Reditabs — $19.99/40 tablets (I can’t give him the Benadryl and the Claritin at the same time but the Claritin takes longer to take effect and therefore was less ideal than the Benadryl for getting through the night tonight.  I’ll give him his first Claritin tablet tomorrow morning and hopefully it will provide the necessary relief through the day tomorrow without making him drowsy.)
• Benadryl Gel — $5.79  (This will be applied topically as needed tonight and tomorrow and beyond.  I probably didn’t need to make this purchase and could have just stuck with the StingStop but I figured as long as I was breaking so many self-imposed rules about medicating my children, I might as well break them all.)

On the advice of the pharmasist, I did not get the tube of Cortizone cream.  He said that it suppresses the immune system and could increase the risk of infection due to scratching.  Although he’s doing his level best not to scratch the bites, since The Son is still somewhat lax in his hygiene habits I took the pharmacists advice and went with the Benadryl gel instead.

Folks, have you ever been so thoroughly fatigued that you literally hurt.  That’s where I am these days.  I’m so tired that my body hurts and any type of activity, even the most basic everyday activities, requires a monumental act of will to accomplish.  On top of that, my sleep is completely out of whack.  I’m so sleepy (a symptom distinctly different from the fatigue) that it’s everything I can do to stay awake during the day.  But if I lie down to nap or to sleep, I simply can’t fall asleep.

I desperately needed to do some grocery shopping today and woke up with every intention of getting that chore accomplished.  But it didn’t happen.  Instead, The Husband came home this evening and he, The Son, and I went to the store together where I bought milk we didn’t need plus a few essentials while the “boys” stocked up on frozen dinners to help them get through until I feel well enough to start feeding my family again.

Movies — $11.00
The Daughter and The Son ventured to the movies together today to see Kung Fu Panda.  The Daughter rather liked it; The Son not so much.  I loved the nearly 3 hours of home-alone time 

I paid for admission; each child paid for his or her own refreshments (The Son was the only one to imbibe; The Daughter munched on M&M’s smuggled in in her purse).

Amazon — $30.00
A gift certificate emailed to my older brother as a belated birthday present.  Hm … after counting on my fingers I calculate that he just turned 46.  I can’t remember the last time I bought him a birthday present; it just seemed like the right thing to do this year.

Kroger — $44.43

• gallon of Horizon 2% milk — $5.39
• 1/2 gallon of Horizon chocolate milk — $3.19 (saved $0.50)
• Breyer’s French Vanilla ice cream — $4.99 (saved $0.70)
• Breyer’s Chocolate ice cream — $4.99 (saved $0.70)
• Kroger cherry ice cream — $2.99 (saved $0.50)
• Kroger sharp cheddar cheese — $1.77 (saved $1.22)
• Kroger medium cheddar cheese — $1.77 (saved $1.22)
• Marie Callendar’s frozen dinner — $2.50 (saved $0.34)
• 2 Marie Callendar’s frozen pot pies — $2.50/ea. (saved $0.16/ea.)
• 2 Marie Callendar’s fish dinners — $2.50/ea. (saved $0.34/ea.)
• Swanson Hungry Man dinner — $1.77 (saved $0.84)
• cherry tomatoes — $3.99

Over the past 8 years I’ve made a number of small ($100 - $200) purchases of GE stock and now have a grand total of 25.2054 shares.  Since GE is close to being at a 5 year low, my investments are currently at a net loss.  But I’m in it for the long run (one of the reasons I’ve stuck with a single stock) so I’m not too worried.  Besides sticking to a single stock and investing with only the long run in mind, I’ve also been sure to only invest money that I can afford to lose if that’s the way the cards play out.

Ulta — $15.06
I spent most of the day today driving people here and there.  Between one of those “here’s” and “there’s”, I stopped at the library.  While there I ran across the street and picked up a much needed bottle of Matrix Biolage shampoo for myself.

Safeway — $49.39
Knowing I had a long drive later in the day, I stopped to fill up The Tank’s tank.  Amazingly, the price per gallon was actually lower today than it was yesterday when I stopped to fill up the little car.

I pumped 12.766 gallons at $3.869/gallon.  The Tank’s odometer read 125,168.

Wendy’s — $9.22
The Son had an 8pm baseball game tonight — at a ballpark 45 minutes away from home.  And it started late.  So at 15 minutes ’til midnight, we pulled into a Wendy’s drive-thru window and ordered some dinner.  We had carpooled with another family (well, mom and son) to the game so I bought burgers and Frosty’s for the boys.

• gallon of Horizon 2% milk — $5.39
• 2 #s Horizon salted butter — $4.99/ea.
• 2 cans Crown Prince albacore tuna — $2.49/ea.

Safeway — $40.46

I filled up the Impreza’s gas tank:  I pumped 10.378 gallons at $3.899/gal.  The odometer on this car reads 26,255.

Chipotle — $4.41

A large quesadilla with extra chicken for dinner for The Daughter tonight.

Being home sick with the flu has definitely slowed down my expenditures but hasn’t stopped them completely.  I promise a full accounting when I’m coherent.

First, let me express how deeply touched I am by those of you who reached out to me via email to see if I was okay.  It did my heart good to know that there are people out there reading my blog and who care enough to check up on me.

Second, let me put any fears to rest:  The Husband is doing just fine.  Most of my absence has to do with my own personal health issues right now.

Right now, as in at this very moment, I’ve got a bad case of the flu.  But on top of that and going back several weeks, my remaining 1/2 of my thyroid is so completely enlarged that it’s messing up my life big time.  I need to have it removed but that’s a long drawn-out process of doctor appointments and scheduling and, well, I’ve been so overwhelmed I’ve just been putting it off.  Everyone seems to concur that my goiter is most likely the cause of my sleep apnea.  Now that the goiter is so big, my CPAP machine seems to be completely ineffective which means that I’m not sleeping.  Or rather when I am sleeping, my goiter is obstructing my throat to such a degree that my CPAP machine cannot effectively keep my airway open thus my brain receives a signal about every two minutes that I have too much carbon dioxide in my system and I need to do something about it.  So my body wakes up just enough to start breathing again; just enough to keep me out of REM sleep.  When I wake up in the morning, I’m exhausted.  As a result, my Fibromyalgia has flared.  So I’m exhausted and in pain.  I drag through my days feeling overwhelmed, barely staying awake, feeling blue and frustrated and pathetic.

In Daily Dollar news, The Daughter is now officially a Junior and out of school (as of Thursday).  The Husband and I have decided that it would be a great experience for her to be the family budget keeper this summer.  On May 31 we sat down together for a few minutes with the YNAB software program* and walked through a quick overview.  Then she allocated our June budget dollars into categories.

My hope, once I recover from the flu, is to

1. share the how’s and why’s of having The Daughter be in charge of the entire family budget this summer;
2. catch up with all of my missing Daily Dollar posts;
3. journal a little more about the financial and emotional repercussions of suffering from chronic illness and having a terminally ill husband.