Ooh Ow Oh Sneeze Snuffle Ow Ugh

Shoulders - sore, arms - sore, back - sore. Even my fingers are sore from yesterday's labors. I remembered how hard house restoration was ... somewhere around 3am, the fourth time I'd awakened from pain and stuffiheadedness. Yes, it appears that I truly am allergic to paint. (And polyurethane too.) I had tried to write off that two months of sneezing, snuffling, and stuffiness to ... moving ... living in the country... maybe a dusty house. But now I have to accept that the day we started painting is the day all of my symptoms returned. And boy do I feel crappy. What's worse is that I have a networking meeting tomorrow - a really important one, at the college. Now there's never been any guarantee that job would come out of it, but it seems all the less likely when my nose is all Rudolf and I'm trumpeting my snottiness every two minutes. Sigh. I've opened all the windows, maybe that will help. And I probably shouldn't watch TV tonight - but ALL my shows are on tonight. Double sigh.

Anyway, one of the reasons I am so sore is because I did a bunch of heavy yard work yesterday. You know, as a break. While the paint was drying. I transplanted the two peonies that were in my designated compost area, then turned all the compost. That kind of shoveling always wipes me out. I wanted to share with you this enormous peony root:


For those few wimpy little sprouts, the root is the size of your head!