Fireworks N' Shingles

I woke up this morning in a lot, A LOT, of pain. Just excruciating. Andrew got to the pharmacy right when it opened to pick up my prescriptions. "We just got the order," the pharmacist said. "It'll be ready in about an hour." Andrew calmly stepped up to the counter. "No, it won't," he said. "It'll be ready now." Ha ha ha, just kidding. But he did explain that his wife was in severe pain and really really needed these meds, and walked out with them in twenty minutes.

Today I've taken six Prednisone and three Valtrex and a handful or two of Tylenol (six). The pain has lessened, and the large red halo has shrunk. The shingle looks gruesome, but at least there's been a little improvement. 

After a morning of editing and a video call with a student in China, we had lunch and then the girls and I went to the creek. Greta brought a tube and floated, and then swam, in the lagoon. I got some magical pictures of her looking like a water nymph.

It was incredibly hot and humid today, with a threatened thunderstorm that never came. Andrew dragged the kids out for a run anyway, and then they took a dip in our cousins' pool. Thanks to my Googling, I realized I should not swim because of my SHINGLES. Unfair.

Tonight we went to see the postponed fireworks in a nearby town. It was a lot of fun, though humid. The girls brought their haunted dolls and some glowsticks. 

And now to bed, maybe to sleep a little better than last night. I hope. In other news, I finished a salami + slices of salami for my in-progress amigurumi charcuterie board, and began a few slices of cheddar cheese.

What We're Reading

Margo: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (a Hunger Games prequel)

Andrew: The Wager by David Grann (he finished it)

Lucia: Uglies (first volume in another dystopian series)

Greta: Stalking Jack the Ripper (in a twist, she picked out three historical horror mystery/romance/murder books at Books-A-Million on Monday 7/3, a departure from her usual mythology-based fantasy and dystopia)