Life Last Week #2016-19

Halfway through May already but who's counting?  ME!

It's been an interesting week and I'll have to go back twenty-three years to give you the beginning of the story.  When Vic and I were in Saipan working for the cable company out there, one of our technicians came into the office with a bag of mangoes that a customer had given to him.  I had never eaten a mango and I more than made up for it that day.  I don't know how many I ate but they were so delicious.  Big mistake - I had a severe reaction that caused my lips to blister and it took weeks for me to recover.  No more mangoes for me.  Fast forward to last year when Vic and I were in the middle of our first Whole 30 (and craving something sweet), we found dried mangoes at Trader Joe's.  I thought perhaps I'd try them so I had a few slices, and a few more, and a few more, with no problem at all.  So, I'm cured, right?  When Costco had champagne mangoes last weekend, I picked up a pack and ate one on Monday and one on Tuesday and on Wednesday, my lips started tingling.  On Thursday, I broke out in red patches on my face and my ears started to itch and peel, and I was so self-conscious that I called a friend and had her pick me up from work.  I didn't go in on Friday either as I was able to get an appointment at the clinic and came out with an antihistamine and some cream for my face and ears.  Lesson learned - I am allergic to mangoes and a fresh one will never pass my lips again!  I'm slightly less red and itchy so I've made progress and am back at work.

I had a much higher note earlier in the week - do you remember the Girls' Night Out I attended last week?  I came home on Tuesday from work to find a voice mail saying that I had a Golden Ticket and I won a $100 gift certificate.  I can spend it at any one of twenty-ones stores downtown - three of which are high on my list of favorite shops.  I can't wait to go on a little shopping spree.

Sophia came down for the weekend - she was working at the Girl Scout camp on Saturday at a one-day horse camp and the timing was perfect as it was a particularly busy Saturday for me.  We went to the movies on Friday, "Mother's Day" with Julia Roberts and Kate Hudson, very cute, and then she headed off to camp on Saturday while I went to my Navy Wives meeting, had lunch with a friend who moved to Florida but was here for a retirement ceremony, got a manicure and my bangs trimmed, and was home in time to barbecue before Sophia got home.  We watched some Game of Thrones and then headed to bed.

Sophia headed back to school on Sunday while I went to the Family Readiness Group's Halfway party for families.  It was such a trip down memory lane - all the little ones running around having fun.  Took me right back to Vic's first deployment when Sophia was almost two.

This is us during Vic's first deployment in 1995 - Sophia, me, and my friend Brenda's son Ricky (Ricky just graduated from the Air Force ROTC program at Indiana State University and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant)

The rest of the week was a blur of laundry, chores, errands, grocery shopping, and meal prep - Day Fifteen of the Whole 30 today.

I've also managed to post every weekday this week on the Magical Holiday Home Forums - so great to reconnect with my Christmas-loving friends over there.  I've been very remiss about Rudolph Day posts this year and hope to remedy that situation starting this month.  Christmas in July is coming and I need to prepare.

Have a great week!