Hi, I'm Monique and I'm addicted....

...to oatmeal apparently. Oatmeal for a meal is no longer enough for me. I have to bathe in the stuff -- literally. Last night I took a bath with a cup of finely-ground oats.

Because I sort of look like this:

Alright, maybe not that bad, but it's pretty bad. I've got gnarly rashes alllll over my body, I've been trying (unsuccessfully) not to scratch, I'm missing work and I slept from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. today. Because....

I'm allergic to the antibiotics I've been taking to manage my bronchitis. I don't know why all this crazy stuff happens to me, but it does.

So since I don't want to leave you with gross images of that in your head anymore, here's what I've been up to since the 4th.

On the 5th, J.D. went to a conference in San Francisco for his work and I hung out with my parents during the day. We took the puppies on a walk at the high school cross country trail near my parents' house. Woodstock kept up and ran with me!

Lily did not.

After the run, we went back home and my mom made us Croque Madames for breakfast. It's basically like a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with bechamel sauce and a fried egg on top. Delicious!

While my mom and I went discount shopping, J.D. had his second interview with a company based in Arizona. It must have gone well, since the guy he interviewed with invited us to a party held later that night in San Francisco. That meant I had to hurry back home and rummage through my closet (keep in mind at my parents' house) of something suitable to wear. I opted for a dress and hopped on BART with him to go grab some dinner in SF before the party.

We selected a Singapore restaurant where I had coconut fried rice with tiger prawns. I pretty much ate this entire bowl.

The party was pretty fun and I ended up knowing a handful of people there. We stayed until about 10 p.m. and left after I got handled in pool. Sad really.

Then yesterday more of the usual. I went to work for a day, while J.D. finished up the conference. Since he took BART into the City, I made plans to pick him up after work. We met after work and my parents also came along, grabbed some burgers and then caught the 7:30 p.m. showing of Knight and Day. I thought it was a pretty cute movie :) Took my mind off itching at least.

For dinner I had a teriyaki ELK burger with sweet potato fries. Last time we ate at Fuddrucker's, I had a bison burger I believe. At some point, I'm ready to try the ostrich!

Polished it off with two cupcakes split amongst four people. J.D. carried them back from SF -- almost an hour on BART! We sampled chocolate-covered strawberry (left) and mango (right) cupcakes. While they were incredibly sweet, they were also incredibly tasty!

And now here I am a day later, still trying not to scratch my disturbing-looking skin. I'm still waiting for the doctor to call me back, but I've certainly stopped taking the medicine.

I promise to resume to regular blogging when this clears up. Until then, oatmeal will be reserved for my baths alone. And if you've noticed, Woody's cone is off! So at least he's doing well now :)