I really wanted it to be fleas

I've been breaking out for the past couple weeks. A little here, a little there. No big deal, really. Just itchy. But it's not going away. In fact, I keep breaking out in more and more places. The last straw was my face. Finally, I decided to do a deep cleaning in the only room that never gets more than the laundry picked up and the sheets changed. My bedroom. I figured if there were bugs getting to me they must be coming from in there. So I did it. I broke down the bed, cleaned up the dust bunnies and dogs and elephants under there and behind the curtains, stripped and vacuumed the mattress and box spring and hoped these bites would discontinue showing up. No luck. Weirdest thing? No one else is getting them.

So then I start thinking what else could it be? Maybe the cats have fleas? So I buy them flea collars. No good. Really? What the hell? Maybe it's hives? A quick search of google images leads me to believe that's probably what has taken over my skin surfaces. So I take some Benedryl and go to bed. But I gotta wonder what is bringing them on. "Stress" my husband and sister tell me.

Stress. Lets see. I don't have any more stress right now than last year at this time, or last month at this time, in fact, February and March were more stressful when Hannah was so sick and I didn't break out then. I'm not working more hours, I'm not doing more stuff, I'm not sure what "stress" they're talking about.

What about my sleep and workout habits. Oh. Those. The ones where I get 2-3 hours of sleep at a time? The workouts I'm too tired to do? Where the only thing I really do is take the dog for a walk. My workouts that don't exist since hockey ended? My workouts that have not included a run in 6 months or an aerobics class in nearly a year? Oh, maybe that.

Kids. Maybe the kids are causing a little stress. Bubba has had a very rough few weeks. He got caught in a major lie at school and has rued the day. He has been grounded from TV, fishing, having friends over, fly-tying, you name it, he likes it, it's been banned for the past three weeks because he lied about school work. Important (to the school) school work.

Solutions? Well, about the sleep .... Not much until my shift changes in July. I think I have done everything possible, short of begging my doctor for something. Some of it works, but we have a new puppy and she likes to be awake during the day.

What about the kids? Rent them out? You can have them by the hour or the day, weekends are extra cheap right now. Kidding. This too shall pass. School is only a couple more weeks, but we are going to stick to a similar schedule for school-type work that we are doing now. Especially for math and reading. Wish us luck. The past few weeks have been full of yelling and tears and fights like I remember having with my mom (but not about school). The kind I never wanted to have with my kids.