Explosions

Remember in my last post how I said, after getting voluntarily soaked by Lee, that we would now see if being damp for a prolonged period of time brings on the common cold? Well, I don't know if it was coincidence, or if God is laughing, or if the old wives' tale is valid, but the next morning I woke up with a sore throat. Which I then had for 3 days. And somewhere in the three days, I got all stuffy and started talking funny, and began coughing and sneezing. All of which is extremely annoying, except the latter. I happen to like sneezing. The pressure build up and subsequent release is like a drug--pleasant and addicting. Just with no bad side effects. Of course, it may have been a sneeze that dissected dad's carotid artery but...it had to be weak already for that to happen. And the doctor who told us that has yet to help the situation, so it may not even be true. Either way, I got a cold the day after wondering if being damp would give me one.

So, does going out in the rain and getting chilled cause the common cold like the old adages claim? I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

I do wish I could have used the "get-wet-then-get-sick" chain of events to my advantage though. Like, mom could have been scheme-y and denied me the carriage, instead making me walk in the rain to a potential husband's house. And then I could have gotten sick there and had to stay because I was too sick to be moved safely. While there, he would be terrified that I might die, realize he can't live without me, and fall in love with me.

Yes yes yes, I'm in a Pride & Prejudice mood (but when am I ever not in a P&P mood?). 

Other than vamping up my intake of vitamin C and D, standing in the woods eating elderberries, chewing oregano like tobacco (what is wrong with me? Two drug references in one post...sheesh), and doing a bunch of other health-nutty things to get better, it has been quite busy. I spent the weekend with Jennjordan (one name because they're really like one person--hang out with one you get the other. Which is quite fine with me because I love them both haha). That was crazy at some points but fun at all points.

Around home though, we've been having numerous explosions. First, last week the dishwasher blew up. Okay that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but one moment it was fine, and the next moment there was black smoke pouring out of it, and little flames were sparking off the control panel. Dad ran down in the basement to shut off the breaker, but the electricity had surged for just long enough so that not only did we lose the dishwasher, but also the refrigerator. We are attempting to get by without the dishwasher (a chore for us kids but really not that bad), but the refrigerator is more difficult. We do have an extra fridge over in Andrew's place, so while it is still good weather we can easily, though inconveniently, cross back and forth.

Mostly I guess we are all thankful to still have the house, and be out "only" (in comparison) the fridge and dishwasher. The thing blew up at about midnight, so it's amazing mom and dad heard/smelled it quickly enough, before it did more serious damage. As it was, the whole house was filled with smoke. Yet, most of the kids slept through it. I woke up a little after it happened apparently, and laid there for like a 1/2 hour wondering what in the world the commotion was about, and why my fan on the landing was on the highest setting instead of the lowest like I had set it to, and why I smelled something weird, and why my bedroom seemed hazy in the darkness. I actually thought there was some sort of fire but decided if it was bad mom and dad would be shouting. And I just really didn't want to get out of bed. So I went back to sleep, and when I got up the next morning the first thing I asked mom was "did the house catch on fire last night?" And she replied, "yup." I think I laughed when she said that. But don't think I have amazing deducing skills or anything, because in the following I relate more to Watson:
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Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes wakes up Watson.

Holmes: "Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce."
Watson: "I see millions of stars and even if a few of those have planets, it's quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life. What does it tell you, Holmes?"
Holmes: "Watson, you idiot, somebody has stolen our tent!"
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 The second exploding incident involves Sanna. She was laying in bed, playing with a glow stick and somehow snapped it so that there was suddenly glowing liquid splotched across her face, over her pillow, on the wall, and on the floor. In the words of dad: "it was shocking but beautiful." (ha ha). She started screaming, though, and while they got her cleaned up mom googled it and discovered that very same thing has happened to lots of people, of course, and that it is non-toxic, though slightly painful.

So now I have the urge to go buy a bunch of glow sticks, break them open, smear the liquid all over my skin and either go trick-or-treating or just run through a field at night like a mad woman. Or a Na'vi. Seeing as parts of their skin glowed, or at least the little things on their faces. Same difference.