Sherri Cornelius

Geez, I was busy yesterday. Got up at six to take the man to work so we'd have the van, and kept going till about four in the afternoon.

First off was the annual running of the gauntlet, otherwise known as school enrollment day. It went a little more smoothly than usual but still took an hour and a half to complete. Thank goodness I have a daughter old enough to tell me what the date is, and to remind me what grade each child is going into, and to run back to the Pre-K table to pick up the form I accidentally left there. Abby was a huge help.

The weather was great, overcast and relatively cool (mid-90s) so we grabbed a brunch of Sonic and took it to the park here in town. The park is in deplorable shape, the toys I scrambled across as a kid still in place, but unpainted and broken down. Even the "new" area is in terrible disrepair. The brand-new skate park is nice, if you skate, but the vandalizing teenagers wreak havoc on the rest of the equipment, and apparently the only thing the city does for upkeep is mowing. Really sad.

We were back from the park about a half hour when the neighbor lady called, inviting us to go to a real park in the neighboring town. The sun came out about half-way through our second park excursion, and the temperature shot up immediately. We gamely endured for a while, hoping the clouds would come back, but the sky just kept getting bluer and bluer, so we finally gave in and left, limp and sweaty.

After a brief rest at home it was back in the van for a third trip to Shawnee, to pick up the man. I was definitely too wiped to write, so I browsed the internet. Researching a topic of interest to a friend, I came across the Absolute Write forum, which I always mean to join and promptly forget. I'm finally a member, and plan to spend some time there, try to break up the boredom of going to the same sites all the time.

And then, to top it off, my 1st grader lost his very first baby tooth last night. At 2 a.m. I remembered I'd forgotten to play tooth fairy, so I had to track down a dollar bill by flashlight, lest I wake him. I got a picture, but I'm too lazy to upload it. Visualize the most handsome 6yo boy made cuter by a snaggle-tooth smile and that's close enough.

I'm feeling pretty run down today, and luckily the laundry was done Monday, the house is relatively clean, the kids are keeping themselves occupied. I have the option of lazing around for the most part, and I am taking full advantage of that SAHM perk.

Update: Check out my fragrance-free blog, Poison Scents.

Well obviously I didn't go to Conestoga. There really was no possible way to do it on such short notice, so...that's that. Maybe next year.

I appreciate all the encouragement given on my neurotic post. Sometimes you just have to step back and take stock, and that's what I did. Looking at reasons I have trouble writing, without blaming anyone, helps clarify things, and, for some stupid reason, declaring anything to the world brings answers more quickly and decisively.

So after posting I had a revelation. If you've been reading long, you know I have chronic sinus and eye problems, manifesting as inability to see and concentrate, developing into headaches. Doctors haven't been able to tell me why, and medicine doesn't help. I may have found the cause, though I don't want to get too excited about it, in case it turns out not to be so.

It could be (at least partly, and I am in no way getting excited)...

*drumroll*

...a fragrance sensitivity.

After I figured out that my deoderant was the cause of that pinchy feeling between my eyes, I did some research of the Google variety and came across a list of symptoms associated with a fragrance sensitivity: blurry vision, brain fog, chronic sinus problems, migraine headaches, even asthma-like symptoms. The list could have been written by me.

So what could I do, except rid my home of fragrance, just to see what happened? People, that's a lot of stuff. Seven or eight plastic grocery bags. Perfume gives me a headache, I've avoided it for years, but I never thought about all the fragrances sitting around my house: scented candles, shampoo, kitchen cleaner, lotion, deoderant, virtually EVERYTHING has fragrance added. You might be surprised to know, as I was, that even products labeled "unscented" probably have a masking fragrance. All of those things went out to the shed for a trial period.

The change was instant. My vision cleared to a certain point, concentration improved. That pinchy feeling between my eyes left, but returns whenever I come in contact with a fragranced product.

The resulting quest for unscented products took me to Walgreen's and Wal-Mart, where the headache came on from just standing on the lotion aisle for several minutes. No wonder I always feel terrible while shopping.

I've had to compromise on some products, because it is just damn hard to find truly fragrance-free products in the stores. There was one body wash, one bar of soap, one anti-perspirant, a couple of lotions, and forget about shampoo. And don't forget that fragrance-free products cost way more than all the stuff I've been using. Since I'll have to order the shampoo off the internet, I've taken the shampoo out of the shower and put it in a plastic bag under the sink. When I open the bag, the smell hits me in the face. It's incredible how the constant barrage of chemicals becomes mere background noise.

I'll probably start making my own soap so I can control the ingredients, and maybe lots of other things. Stay tuned for more developments.