Stuffy nose dry cough sore throat

Blood warning and obv shitty parents warning
So I grew up in two households because divorce and my parents both remarried and fucking hated each other which often became my problem. Now my folks got divorced when I was about 7 years old and both remarried. My birth mother remarried to a trans guy(he was cool af) and my other parent remarried to this lady named Leilani. Now at first my new stepdad seemed kinda grouchy and rough around the edges but he was kind hearted and actually played the role of father figure really well but Leilani was a different story. My first impression of her was…cautious. The first time I met her was at a small festival my parent had taken me to and the first thing she did was give me a giant lollipop and asked me a bunch of questions about myself. That was why I felt wary of her I had spent enough time being the rope in a fucked game of tug o war to know that those smiles and good times don’t last long. I hate that I was right. If I thought my parents where fighting to begin with I was sorely mistaken Leilani hated my mother more than anyone in this world and it was terrifying because Leilani was smart and one of the most hypocritical, narcissistic, self absorbed, manipulators I have met. It felt like she could dance circles around me any time I tried to speak up about anything or contradict her in anyway it would be an immediate rapid fire of “clarifying questions” and “observations” but most the time they were worded and geared towards berating/belittling me or my mother (fyi I don’t give a fuck how much you might hate your kids other parents but DO NOT FUCKING LOOK AT YOUR CHILD AND SHIT TALK THEIR MOM TO THEM LIKE WTF?!?!) this was extremely common. It got harder to bite my tongue as her insults became worse but I would have my time soon enough. (A little history about me real quick. I get sick with strep or bronchitis every summer without fail and it usually lasts a month and a half to two for me so it gets pretty bad.) one summer I get an especially bad case of bronchitis that caused me to cough so much I was coughing up blood. As I’m in the bathroom painting our sink and mirror red in comes Leilani who looks at me with blood on my chin, shirt, and hands and asks me a question…”so you going to school tomorrow?” I was taken aback and very confused for a moment because I know this isn’t a joke cuz she doesn’t joke but eventually I found my words and asked her if she had not seen the blood on me from my coughing? Oh she had she fucking had but all she said to me was “oh don’t over react about your symptoms.” I couldn’t fucking deal with this shit anymore and not do smth so I waited until my parent and Leilani left then went to the kitchen to grab one of Leilani’s drinks and took a biiiiiiiiiig swig. I swished it around in my mouth for a while before spitting it back into the bottle and putting it back in the fridge. Not a week later Leilani is on the couch not even half as bad as I was or even coughing that much but still she was acting completely pitiful as if this was the worst illness in the world. With a smirk on my face I walked into the living room where she was sitting and I asked her. “So are you going to work tomorrow?” Looking at me she says “no I’m to sick my throat hurts to much.” With a smile spreading across my face that would put the grinch to shame I looked at her and savored the moment before saying. “Awww don’t over react about your symptoms.” I know she knew that I got her sick but I also know there wasn’t shit she could do about it cuz how tf are you gonna prove to people that you’re now 11-year-old child got you sick intentionally because you decided to be a piece of shit. Needless to say she was not a happy camper after that but I had made my point and I never got any trouble for being sick or having my symptoms not taken seriously. Now this ain’t the only thing Leilani has done but this is one of my favorite stories to tell because I’m lowkey proud of myself for A.) standing up for myself and B.) being enough of a little hellian to be smart enough to use what is essentially biological warfare(especially with how young I was.)
but as a little side note for whoever reads this if your in a situation where you are physically unsafe don’t fuck around like I did cuz I knew I wasn’t gonna find out cuz my folks where thankfully never physically abusive and I don’t want ppl to take my experience and get hurt. I’m not saying you shouldn’t stand up for yourself but essentially don’t poke the angry POS. If that is your situation I hope you can get out and to safety as soon as possible and I hope this story brought a little joy into your day at the very least.

Good Day fellow Doctors! M, 28yo guy here. As you can see on the Pictures i posted: I get this blisters / sore throath every 6 - 8 weeks. It starts by having slight pain swallowing and gets worse the next 24-48 hours. Then all these blisters and my throath start having this nice and strong red color. It burns and swallowing and speaking does hurt and i feel pretty weak for the next 2 - 3 days. After that it stops burning though the blisters remain a week longer or something like that but my nose gets all stuffy and running for a few days. The like after a week im finally all good for said 6 - 8 weeks and then it starts all over again. I have this Problem since summer 2017 and im slowly gettin depressed because all Docs around me are just taking a look for 2 seconds and say "aah thats normal go home drink tea and stay in bed". I almost never get sick. This is the only thing i get over and over. Today it start again after just 4 weeks.. 6 months ago i had it non stop for a whole month. (other nice things to know are the white coating on my tongue - the constant tough mucus / slime that runs from my nasal cavity in my throat (that have to swallow almost constanly)
Maybe one or some of ya all know something about this, what helps or even could cure this? (whatever it is)
[ Sorry for some bad grammar or other mistakes :) ]
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Hi all! New here. Been having sinus symptoms for over a month and it's been miserable. Wanted to write out what I've been experiencing to hopefully meet others who've had something similar (and help prepare for what to tell the ENT doc on the 17th)
I'm 26 and don't have much in terms of medical history, but I do have spring allergies (tree pollen) that cause lots of nose run and sneezing + I had surgery to remove all of my wisdom teeth on March 14th, so my face has really been going through it!
I think in either April or May, I noticed a weird itchy tickle in my throat, like that urge to dry cough. One night I woke up to bloody spots on my white shirt; from then on many times I blew my nose, no matter how gentle or how long between, I'd get some bits of thick dark yellow mucus followed by a bit of blood, always from the right nostril only. Also been having cold sensitivity in the area where I had my upper right wisdom removed and some days I've felt some pain there when inhaling through my nose.
I've had an on-and-off recurring tickle in my throat and lingering postnasal drip for over a month now in addition to the intermittent blood spotting; all symptoms and how bothersome they are vary by the day. Went to a doctor and was given Zyrtec, which has only provided temporary relief from the postnasal drip. Neti pot and saline nasal spray have also been tried, with only temporary relief.
This sucks 😭 I've already been dealing with my cat's mammary cancer diagnoses/treatments and dealing with this too has been really adding to the torture

Was diagnosed about a year ago, haven't had any new symptoms until recently. I noticed sharp ear pains, some ringing, etc. I think I've developed sjogrens because my eyes and mouth are dry often. I know it involves salivary glands, so does that also affect ears?
My ears have been drier that usual, and I don't know if that also causes ear pain and maybe hearing loss. I also have random sore throat and some pains on the sides of my neck.
If any of you have similar symptoms and have asked a doctor about it, please, let me know what they had to say about it. I'm seeing my rheumatologist in October, and I'm going to ask him questions about it anyway, but in the meantime, anything is appreciated!

If i breath in deeply from the mouth it makes this sound, i’m a bit sick rn tho and i have some mucus in my throat and a dry cough. Could it be because of this or is it asthma? The first breath is a normal breath and then i slowly breath more deep, two weeks ago my doctor listened to my torso and it wasn’t this bad and he couldn’t hear anything and said it was clear. I’m freaking out help

I’m a 21 year old Female, 5’7, 11 stone and have no other health issues other than asthma which I have a blue inhaler for and an easy flow powder inhaler also, though ironically I’m quite a heavy cannabis user(I can’t get adhd medication currently & smoking helps I know it’s not good for me though I’m aware). I fell on a run a week ago tomorrow, and cut my hand quite badly it took the brunt of the fall. The past few days I’ve been in bed feeling very flu like. Sore head sinus pain, my nose is stuffy and runny and yellow in colour, sore throat, blocked ear, no appetite, bad cough I’ve been hacking up ashy mucus also since I haven’t been smoking because of feeling poorly, but the worst of all is the night sweats and prickly heat rashes. My symptoms have slightly improved however I still woke up in a wet sweat this morning, and I feel the sickness moving more into my chest which is common for me due to my asthma I usually end up needing an antibiotic when viral bugs move to my chest, but I’m concerned to think an infection could be causing these symptoms. I took a Covid test which was negative. I can feel and see my pulse in the cut which is uncomfortable I’d say the pain is a 4/10 it hurts using my hand as it’s in an awkward place on my hand, I’ve been treating it with saline solution, savlon and in the picture I have petroleum jelly covering it hence the shine. The 2 issues could be completely unrelated but I can’t be seen by my gp and any pharmacist I’ve spoken to hasn’t given a straight answer as to if it looks infected. I live in a different country to my family for university and so it’s up to me to get myself better but without any proper medical advice you can imagine I’ve been worrying. so I’d appreciate any opinions or advice, thank you in advance :)

We got JJ just a few weeks ago from a family who found him lethargic by a creek on their property. He was underweight, frightened, and unable to walk. We got him just 2 days later and he has put on weight so fast. We had his first vet visit where they confirmed a "light positive" heartworm test and demo. Mange. They wanted to treat his mange first, and to start heart guard + until his treatment in the fall/early winter. I was told this was because the steroids for heartworm could cause his mange to return.
Our problem is he is very young, and as he's gotten more comfortable in our home his only speeds are sleeping and full blast. They estimated his age around 1-1.5 based on teeth, but aren't sure because he seems like he wasn't around people and will eat anything he can get his teeth on. When he runs too much, eats too fast, chews himself too much, his cough seems to be harder(like he's clearing his throat, occasionally a little spittle, normally just a dry backnof the throat hacking) and his breathing, even when asleep, just doesn't seem to be as easy as it should.
Any advice on how to keep him relaxed to ease his breathing is greatly appreciated. Everything I've read only tells me how to care for him during treatment, but what can I do to help until treatment is possible?

I’m a 21 year old Female, 5’7, 11 stone and have no other health issues other than asthma which I have a blue inhaler for and an easy flow powder inhaler also, though ironically I’m quite a heavy cannabis user(I can’t get adhd medication currently & smoking helps I know it’s not good for me though I’m aware). I fell on a run a week ago tomorrow, and cut my hand quite badly it took the brunt of the fall. The past few days I’ve been in bed feeling very flu like. Sore head sinus pain, my nose is stuffy and runny and yellow in colour, sore throat, blocked ear, no appetite, bad cough I’ve been hacking up ashy mucus also since I haven’t been smoking because of feeling poorly, but the worst of all is the night sweats and prickly heat rashes. My symptoms have slightly improved however I still woke up in a wet sweat this morning, and I feel the sickness moving more into my chest which is common for me due to my asthma I usually end up needing an antibiotic when viral bugs move to my chest, but I’m concerned to think an infection could be causing these symptoms. I took a Covid test which was negative. I can feel and see my pulse in the cut which is uncomfortable I’d say the pain is a 4/10 it hurts using my hand as it’s in an awkward place on my hand. The 2 issues could be completely unrelated but I can’t be seen by my gp and any pharmacist I’ve spoken to hasn’t given a straight answer as to if it looks infected. I live in a different country to my family for university and so it’s up to me to get myself better but without any proper medical advice you can imagine I’ve been worrying. so I’d appreciate any opinions or advice, thank you in advance :)

We got JJ just a few weeks ago from a family who found him lethargic by a creek on their property. He was underweight, frightened, and unable to walk. We got him just 2 days later and he has put on weight so fast. We had his first vet visit where they confirmed a "light positive" heartworm test and demo. Mange. They wanted to treat his mange first, and to start heart guard + until his treatment in the fall/early winter. I was told this was because the steroids for heartworm could cause his mange to return.
Our problem is he is very young, and as he's gotten more comfortable in our home his only speeds are sleeping and full blast. They estimated his age around 1-1.5 based on teeth, but aren't sure because he seems like he wasn't around people and will eat anything he can get his teeth on. When he runs too much, eats too fast, chews himself too much, his cough seems to be harder(like he's clearing his throat, occasionally a little spittle, normally just a dry backnof the throat hacking) and his breathing, even when asleep, just doesn't seem to be as easy as it should.
Any advice on how to keep him relaxed to ease his breathing is greatly appreciated. Everything I've read only tells me how to care for him during treatment, but what can I do to help until treatment is possible?

On Wednesday morning, I went for a 4 mile run for the first time in my life (I’m training for a 10K). On Monday, I ran 1 mile and was a little sore. Then I walk/ran the 4 miles. At the end of the run, I was wheezing, and it felt like my throat was gonna close up, and I thought it was because I was so unfit with my cardio lol.
Later on Wednesday , my throat felt a little sore when I swallowed. Like it was bruised or something. I kinda assumed this was from the wheezing. In addition my knees and hip flexors hurt from running.
Thursday, I woke up and the throat pain was worse, but still only exists when I swallow. I am not coughing, and it’s not itchy or scratchy. Just super tender when I swallow. In addition, my entire body was SO SORE!! Shoulders,biceps, neck, jaw, back, abs, legs. I am fine if I am completely still but moving is so painful, even just turning in bed. It feels like i did a really really intense workout and I’m sore/stiff from it.
It’s now Friday and things have not gotten better. Throat is super super painful and body is still so sore it’s hard to exist lol.
Is my soreness and throat problems likely from running 4 miles for the first time? Or is it likely some other sickness that I need to be aware of?

I feel kinda torn on whether at home Covid testing is useful nowadays or not and how to advise people, or even what to do myself.
On one hand, I suppose it’s helpful to know if you have COVID so that you can isolate yourself more and stay away from friends/family/the public. It also just gives people a firm answer which is satisfying and maybe keeps them from coming to the ED. It also is essentially still a “get out of work for a week” pass for many people.
On the other hand, I feel like testing for COVID in an average healthy person is not gonna change what I would tell them to do (or what I would do myself) if they’re sick, assuming they are vaccinated. Ibuprofen/dayquil/sleep/gatorade until you feel better, don’t go getting other people sick, try to get a mask to wear if you have to be in public. Also, some people definitely take a negative Covid test as a sign for “well I guess even though I have a sore throat and cough and congestion I have to go to work now cus it’s not Covid.”
My internal answer is, admittedly, that testing for Covid at home is not useful for most people any more (living with elderly/immune compromised etc is different) and that if you’re sick you should stay home and do the same things whether it’s Covid/flu/RSV/Rhino etc.
Just curious what people around here think. Happy to be told I’m an idiot and that we should obviously continue testing for COVID for eternity cus why not. Well until the next pandemic comes around I suppose.

Title: I am 31 years old, make $92,600 base, live in Northern Alberta, work in Forestry, and recently returned to work after a year off for maternity leave.

• All $ in CAD. $1 CAD to $0.73 US.
• I will call my spouse H.
• We aren’t looking to change spending habits too much, this was more a fun exercise to see what we spend and how we’re doing financially now that I am back to work.

HHI: $166,000
Section One: Assets and Debt
Retirement Balance: Total $76,431 (joint)

• My retirement accounts include a DCPP of $62,495, an RRSP of $8125, and a TFSA of $130
• H’s only has a spousal RRSP of $5631
• DCPP amount is from a 5% base contribution plus 2% matching from my employer, and 3% from me. I have had this account since 25 (when I started at the company) and have done the matching the entire time except during my maternity leave. They continued the 5% base while I was off on maternity leave, I had the option to get the matching as well but we couldn’t swing the cost while I was only on EI.
• RRSPs are mostly from excess benefits money. I have flex benefits and get an annual amount to “spend”. Before we had our kid there was about $500/month split going into our RRSPs. Now we do $42.30/month split ($21.15 for each). The spousal RRSP means I can claim this on my taxes, instead of him claiming on his.
• TFSAs will be our next focus once we’ve caught up on the annual bills from May to July - annual house insurance and two vehicle insurances. We haven’t been consistent with depositing into our TFSA’s, so we have $80K+ room in each.

Equity: The house is worth $400,000. We owe $303,000. Equity is $97,000.
Savings account balance: $450 in emergency savings (this is a priority starting in August to beef up), $2000 in property taxes sinking fund (to be spent by July)
Checking account balance: $5288.15 - we both got paid today so I will be moving money around and this number will be down a lot by the end of the day.
Credit card debt: $16,635

• $12,855 LOC. This is entirely from vehicles - before I went on maternity leave H sold his truck and we took a $9500 loss - pulled the money out of the LOC to pay off the lien. In April, we needed a different vehicle so we took $6500 out of the LOC to purchase a new-to-us car. We have yet to sell the vehicle we replaced, but when we do that money will either go onto LOC or into emergency savings. We’re aiming to get $3000 for the sale.
• $530 My CC. This is from not budgeting for two road trips I took in the last two weeks, plus some other overspending on random things.
• $3250 H CC. This is from overspending on groceries/gas and vehicle expenses.

Student loan debt: $0

• H went to trade school (8 weeks/year for 4 years) to become a journeyman mechanic
• I took a 2-year diploma program that cost $12,000 (including books and random spending). My parents saved up $20K for me to go to college/university, so I got about $8,000 in cash from my mum once I graduated as I didn’t use all of the savings for school.
• I lived with my mum while in college and H lived with roommates so his income went to rent/groceries/bills and I had basically no living expenses as my mum covered everything.
• When he went to trade school I was working, so I covered our bills while he was off (and he got EI and some grants during that time frame).

Other Info:

• H and I have had combined finances since we were 19 when we married. This has greatly changed our financial situation.
• I have access to an employee stock purchase plan - I have about $1400 in my company stocks with no plan for them at the moment.
• I got a salary top-up when I went on maternity leave. My employer covered my 1 week EI waiting period and topped up to 100% salary for 11 weeks. The rest of the time I was off I was getting $1158 biweekly from EI.
• We qualify for the Climate Action Incentive from the federal government. This is about $1200/year.
• We get CCB for our kid of $140.61/month. This will increase to $273.74/month come July as our annual income was less in 2023 compared to 2022.

Net Worth: $164,484
Section Two: Income
Income Progression (Post College/Trade School):

• H has been in his field for roughly 8 years and his starting salary was about $37,000 ($19/hr). Two years ago, he took a $20/hour pay cut moving from a journeyman mechanic ($45/hr) to a service advisor ($25/hr). He’s since gotten a $10/hr pay increase from switching employers and switching roles/getting a raise. H now makes $72,800 not including any overtime, which he does get fairly regularly.
• I've been working in my field for 8 years, and my starting salary was about $41,000. I have not changed careers, but I have changed employers. I got two raises when at my first job post-college from $20/hr (41,000) to $23/hr ($47,800) to $30/hr ($62,400). When I started at my current employer in 2018 I was offered $78,000 annually, plus moving benefits (approx $2000). I’ve consistently gotten a 2-5% raise every year (except this year - but I did get a raise 2 weeks before going on leave) or have gotten promoted and am now making $92,600 before bonuses. I get two bonuses a year, one is based on company performance and has been $0 to $10,000. My other bonus is performance-based and has been anywhere from $1200 to $4000. I got both bonuses while on maternity leave, the company performance one was cut in half based on hours worked. I also had to pay back EI because of my bonus income.

Main Job Monthly Take-Home:
Mine: $4768.90 (two paycheck months)

• My monthly deductions include ESPP $213.60, DCPP matching $213.60, social club $5, flex benefits $26, plus taxes $701.27, CPP $203.97 and EI $59.14. In September I usually have an increase in my monthly take home as my CPP/EI is maxed out, but this might not happen this year as my RTW date was the end of April.

H: $3687.28

• H gets an advance on the 15th of $1000 and at the end of the month gets the rest of his pay. His end-of-the-month pay has ranged from $2600 to $3900 already this year because of illness, time off and short months.
• H’s deductions include taxes $623.25, EI $78.23, CPP $263.07, and $61.10 of HCP, but we’re not 100% sure what the HCP is cause he declined his benefits. This reminds me he should talk to payroll and see what’s up with that. He hits his 1st anniversary in August so we’ll see if he ends up maxing out CPP/EI in September or so.

Side Gig Monthly Take-Home:

• I craft and go to some markets and things, but don’t make much after counting all my costs. If I didn’t sell things I made, I’d have no room for craft storage!
• I am working on a custom quilt that when finished will bring in $275.

Any Other Monthly Income Here:

• As said above, we qualify for the CAI and CCB. CCB is $140/month currently and CAI is $400 quarterly.
• I get $500/year from my benefits to spend wherever and however I want. So far this year I’ve spent it on clothes and hiking boots. I have $190 left.

Section Three: Expenses

• Mortgage: $950 bi-weekly - $1900/month on 2 pay period months.
• Property Taxes: Sinking fund of $185/biweekly (we pay this annually in June. It is $2250 this year, last year was $1950).
• Home Insurance: $1640 annually. We pay this in full in July. I expect it to increase this year, but I’m unsure how much.
• Retirement Contribution: In addition to pre-tax contributions above, starting in August, biweekly contributions will be $377 to H’s TFSA and $226 to mine. H’s is more as I have my DCPP and when H’s total is closer to even or maxed out, I’ll max out mine.
• Savings Contribution: $200/biweekly starting in July, we also will have a home maintenance fund and will save $425/month.
• Debt Payments: LOC minimum is $130/month. We pay anywhere from $200 to $2000/month. This will increase come August, and the LOC will be paid off in May 2025. Both CCs should be paid off by September.
• Donations: $20/month to the animal shelter, and $20/month to SOS, I also volunteer at least 5-15 hours a month to a local sports group and to the foundation my MIL set up after my BIL passed. I sit on the board for both non-profits. We also randomly donate money to other things, or go in on 50/50 raffles different nonprofits have.
• Utilities: In the winter $600/month, the summer around $300/month. Gas and electricity combined. I live somewhere where it hits -40C and +40C depending on the time of the year.
• Garbage Rental: $40/month, $120/month when we get it dumped - approximately every 4 months. We live on an acreage and instead of carting garbage bags to work every week or going to the dump, we rent a dumpster for the driveway and call to have it dumped when it's full.
• Septic System Inspection/Cleaning: $400/year
• Internet: $105/month for unlimited fibre optic.
• Cellphone: $70/month for H. I have a work phone at no charge.
• Subscriptions: Amazon Prime $99/year, Spotify $11.54/month, Patreon $10.50/month (Money Feels <3), PlayStation Plus $32/quarter, Kindle Unlimited $10/month, Crunchyroll $9.99/month ($60.95/month total)
• Pet expenses: Roughly $100/month for food and litter for our two cats. Plus $400/year for an annual checkup. This will go up some as they age and probably have to have dental cleanings done.
• Car Insurance/Registration: No payments we own both vehicles outright. Insurance is $1500/year for both vehicles, we pay this in May/July. H spends around $300/month on gas as we live 30 min out of town. I have a work truck so I have no commuting costs. Annually we spend $160 on registration. AMA is 262.50 annually in July.
• Paid Hobbies: Don’t have fixed costs for these right now as we cut them out while I was on maternity leave. In January though, we’ll each get $100-200/month for hobbies.
• Daycare: $900/month ($450 the 1st and 15th). This is slightly more expensive than some others we found and does not qualify for subsidy or grants, but L loves her day home and the caretaker is great.
• Life/Disability Insurance: $125/month for both of us. This is $500K each for life and $100K each for critical illness.
• Food: Roughly $800/month in groceries and I’m not sure about eating out. Since going back to work a month ago life has been hectic so we’re spending more than usual on eating out/convenient foods. H has ADHD and forgets his lunch at home or in the car every day which is a waste, so he buys lunch either at the nearby grocery store or restaurants. I sometimes pack leftovers and sometimes go get food. I’ve been trying to get freezer meals and leave them at the office so I don’t have to pack things back and forth and we haven’t been making meals with leftovers.
• L’s Baby Supplies: $75/month? We have to buy diapers and wipes monthly pretty much.
• House Cleaners: This is an expense we had before H took his pay cut, and we’ve been slowly putting it back in the budget on and off. Roughly $200/clean which happens sporadically as the house is a mess and there is no time for two working parents to clean with an 11-month-old butt scooting everywhere. She always manages to find floor snacks
• Family: We send my sister-in-law money on a fairly regular basis, anywhere from $20-$100. She always pays us back, but we treat this as a write-off in case she doesn’t.

—
Day 1 - Friday
2 am - L wakes up and I get her back down 3 times before 3 am. At 3, H takes her out of the room to burn some energy before they both come back to bed roughly an hour later. Thanks, L. Thank you, H I was getting pretty frustrated with our darling child.
6:30 am - The first alarm goes off and I grab L for a cuddle and morning nursing session. Once she’s done, she rolls around and tries to climb both of us to get our phones before we all get out of bed at 7. Today is a PJ movie day at daycare so we don’t bother dressing her only changing the diaper and then H and L are out the door by 7:15. I leave for work at about 7:45 after doing some putting around.
8:15 am - I get to work and my first stop is the coffee machine. I get back to my office after talking to a few coworkers about our social club golf event next weekend. I see that an industry-specific mentor cohort program is open for applications so I find my most recent resume (2021!) and do a major update before applying. This year one of my goals is to work on leadership skills and mentoring so why not apply?
9 am - I had a hard time finding a bra this morning so I go online and purchase two new ones from the local bra-tique for pickup. My total is $170 after my 10% discount for signing up for their email list. This money is coming from my $500 annual work benefit for whatever I want and I now have $20 left. I eat my breakfast at my desk - yoghurt and homemade granola today.
11 am - I have a webinar on caribou to attend so I log into Zoom and while it's loading, pull up our cashflow forecaster to get the payday finances done before the weekend. $1750 to H’s cc to cover some overspending/vehicle expenses, $100 to the LOC, $373.10 for utilities, and $450 for daycare. Total is $2673.10 I’m not sure if I should include the bills in the daily writeups, but ah well. Day 1 spending is off to a great start.
1 pm - I get the notification that my bras are ready for pickup. Woohoo! I get new bras for the weekend! I send $50 to H’s TFSA once I confirm the bank account is connected.
2:30 pm - Eating lunch now as breakfast was so late. Freezer butter chicken with broccoli. I only have 1 more freezer meal at work so I make a note to restock.
3:30 pm - I work on some cycle times for the log haul for this coming logging season. It takes me a few minutes to remember exactly what I’m doing and how to do it. I am super glad I came back to work at the end of April as I get 3-ish months of slow time to get back into the swing of things before work starts to pick up.
4 pm - I am struggling to do any more than format my Excel sheets so I figure it’s time to pack it up and head home.
4:30 pm - After picking up my bras, I go to Once Upon A Child for some cheap baby clothes. L is in between sizes and we somehow managed to misplace all her more summery sleepwear so I’ve been grabbing a few here and there. OUAC has a sale on, 5 sleepers for $15 so I grab 5 of those and 4 other onesies for summer. We have a family photoshoot on Canada Day and I’ve been hunting for something that’ll match L’s ribbon skirt. $30.45
5 pm - I stop at the store to check the mail and grab a 12-pack of mixed tequila smashes. $37.55
5:30 pm - H calls. He’s off work and headed to get L. I pull burgers and fries out of the freezer, start up the BBQ and get the air fryer going.
6:05 pm - H and L arrive home in perfect time as the burgers and fries just finished cooking. I have an open Pineapple Tequila Smash and I hand H one to drink with supper too. L also has a veggie pouch with the burgers and fries.
7:20 pm - L is in bed nursing to sleep after her bath while H preps episode 4 of Obi-Wan Kenobi for us to watch. We watched it when it was first coming out, but he saw the discs at Walmart last week and figured to grab them. We thought we hadn’t seen all the episodes, but so far we’re 3:3 so we might’ve seen them all.
7:40 pm - L is down and out and I sneak out of the bedroom. I start a load of laundry and find the two bras I couldn’t this morning and handwash them. I sit down with H and we watch some Obi-Wan Kenobi.
10 pm - I check my email and see one from a local photographer group I really like. I’ve done at least two shoots with all 3 of them separately before and they’ve now joined forces. I went to their open house yesterday and won 50% off a boudoir package in 2024. I’ve wanted to book in since they announced their group, so I go through their open spots and book for November. My initial deposit is $262.50.
10:30 pm - We finished the last 3 episodes and watched all previously except for the finale. Of course. It was pretty good, but near the end, I started to scroll on my phone more than pay attention to the show. I swap the laundry, shower and head to bed at 11 pm.
H’s spending Day 1: $7.54 for lunch, $267.58 on vehicle parts/oil change that we didn’t budget for. Normally we would’ve, but communication is kinda crappy atm, and I think that’s due to sleep deprivation.
Day 1 total: $775.62 spending + $50 to TFSA. Oof off to a spendy start for the pay period.
—
Day 2 - Saturday
2:40 am - L is awake again and not going back down. This time it’s my turn. It’s already been a not-great night, hopefully, this 2 am party time doesn't keep happening.
4 am - We go back to bed. Our internet is on autopay and the notification comes through for my credit card. $105
7:20 am - L is up for the day. I don’t want to get out of bed yet, so I cuddle H and L rolls around, tries to stand and almost deletes everything on my phone. Then she notices my boobs so it’s time for a quick nurse.
8 am - I run the coffee machine and get breakfast going. We’re having pancakes this morning. While they’re cooking I pop some milk in the frother to make a fancy coffee. TBD if I drink it while it’s still hot. I feed the cats their morning meal.
8:30 am - H gets up and I’m still cooking. He grabs a coffee and takes L into the living room so I don’t trip over her and the plastic container horde.
9:30 am - H plays some Baldurs Gate 3 and L watches while I sort through the laundry I did last night. I try to get dressed and none of my shorts fit anymore so off in the donation bag they go. It’ll be a summer of dresses I guess! I start another load of laundry.
9:50 am - L is ready for a nap. Just kidding she just wanted some boob instead. We go outside afterwards to get some morning sun. Hopefully, this will tire her out and she will go down for a nap later! She hasn’t been big on sleep since she was born and gets major FOMO so we have no semblance of a schedule on weekends.
10:45 am - I bring L back inside and change her into outfit #3 for the day. Her trike got rained on and she gets soaked when she sits in it. I switch the laundry over, start yet another load and then pass L to H so I can head to the store, fill the Jerry can with gas for the lawnmower and do the recycling. 20 L of gas is $32.78 and I grab two lime slushes for H and I ($5.19). It’s +20 already and gorgeous. Total $37.97
11:30 am - L is ready for a nap! By 11:50 she’s down and I head outside to mow some of the lawn. It’s usually a 4 hr job so I don’t think I’ll get it all done today.
1 pm - I head inside for lunch, we’re having tuna sandwiches. L napped for 20 min and I didn’t get more than half the lawn mowed. After lunch, we head into town to hang out with my friend K and her two kids. We met in college back in 2014 and have babies of a similar age so it’s always nice to go over and visit.
4:30 pm - We leave K’s house and I swing by Wendy’s for a cold coffee-type drink for the drive home. I try the chocolate frosty-cinno and it’s terrible. Should’ve just gone to Tim’s for an ice cap. $4.19
5:05 pm - L fell asleep on the drive home so I hang out in the car with the windows down for another 5-10 minutes before moving things inside. She wakes up and we head in. H picks a meal and starts making dinner. L is fussy and still tired so I nurse her and we hang out in the cool basement while H cooks. I sort through the laundry that finished off today.
6 pm - H is still cooking our dinner, I reheat leftover pasta for L. H runs her bath and I bath her. She’s still grumpy on and off so she’ll probably be going to bed right after this.
6:45 pm - H and I eat chicken wings and shrimp poppers. L has decided it’s not bedtime yet, I tried to put her down and she got a second wind instead.
9:30 pm - I work on the website for one of the non-profits I volunteer for once L goes to bed at 8. After I’m done, I head into the craft room and work on the custom rag quilt project. One row left to sew together, then to put the final 5 rows together, figure out my borders and start cutting all the edges! It’s not ‘due’ until mid-July but I’d rather get it done sooner and not have to rush. My SIL texts and asks to borrow $50 till Thursday, I send it over out of my spending.
11 pm - H and I both go to bed after some kitty snuggles
Day 2 total: $92.16 (not counting $105 for internet)
—
Day 3 - Sunday
7 am - L is awake and I nurse her a couple of times cause she can’t decide if she’s happy or not. It was a decent night, but she must still be tired from not napping much yesterday. It’s my day to sleep in so H takes her out of the room by 7:30.
9:30 am - I get up make some coffee and slowly start on breakfast
10:30 am - L and I are eating breakfast, I made scrambled eggs, fried up leftover sausage, tomato and she also has two crackers with cream cheese. H and I wrote up a grocery list before I sat down and he’s off to town to get groceries and fuel up the car before the work week starts. Usually, H and his best friend C have a grocery shopping bro-date every Sunday, but C and his family are out camping this weekend so H heads in alone.
11 am - L is ready for a nap. I put her down and fold her laundry and the house laundry, taking a few breaks to scroll Reddit or Facebook and drink more coffee.
12:30 pm - L woke up and is kinda grouchy so we have a dance party to elicit baby giggles. H gets back from shopping and we put the groceries away, they cost $374.03. This is actually cheaper than the last few times we did a stock up so that’s nice! Groceries include ground beef, frozen chicken, wings, fries, cucumber, tomatoes, grapes, bananas, yoghurt, frozen lunches, macaroni, Ichiban, burgers, buttermilk, perogies, frozen fruit, frozen veggies, gravy mix, hollandaise mix, and more. We’ve been buying more convenience foods lately, but I do have 3 suppers planned for the week. He also grabbed me a big coffee mug for $6. He got gas for $60.83, and once we unload the groceries, he runs to the store for bacon, 2 jars of our favourite cowboy candy (pickled sweetened jalapeños), chips and a Starbucks frappe drink for $41.93. I make some sandwiches for lunch for tomorrow so I don’t have to scramble in the morning.
1 pm - Lunch is Ichiban noodles for H and I and baby charcuterie for L - strawberries, grapes, ham, cheese, and cucumber. We head outside afterwards to enjoy the weather, L is so close to walking, she pulls herself up onto everything right now. She has an after-lunch snack of mown grass and dandelions.
3 pm - We’re back inside and H puts on Die Hart 2. L goes down for her second nap at 4:15 and we finish the movie. I wake L up at 5:45 so she doesn’t sleep too long. When she wakes up she makes a face identical to her dad’s and it’s hilarious.
7 pm - H is cooking dinner, we’re having eggs Benny and bacon for supper. I prep L’s diaper bag for tomorrow and we run it out to the car. I also put all my laundry away so the closet is ready for the week. H sits on the chair once we’re done dinner and both cats flock to him and spread themselves over his legs.
9:45 pm - I finish off piecing the quilt top and head downstairs to shower. L is getting tired too so as soon as I’m done we head to bed. H is not far behind us.
Daily 3 total: $482.79. This is pretty usual for a grocery shop day.
—
Day 4 - Monday
6:35 am - My alarm goes off. Can’t lay in bed today as I need to meet my coworkers at the office at 7:30 am. We’re doing a team bonding mountain hike and it’s a 2.5 hrs drive away. I grab a banana, toast a bagel, add cream cheese and I’m out the door before 7 after filling up the cats' food.
7:30 am - I get to the office, fill up a water bottle, make a coffee and grab a few things from my office. Almost everyone is there, and we leave at 7:45
9:45 am - We’re there! I’ve seen 2 moose, 1 mule deer, 1 elk and almost hit 2 caribou on the highway already today! We start up the trailhead at about 10 am
1:00 pm - This mountain is much steeper than anticipated. A coworker and I decide at about 300 metres to the top that we shouldn’t push it. The last km has been extremely steep and we’ve hit our max. The rest of the group has gone ahead and summitted. We eat our lunch with a great view and start the trek back down.
3:30 pm - We’re back at the trucks! 11.2 km round trip. We hit the road to head home and stop at Dairy Queen for a celebratory ice cream. I spend $4.92 on a medium dip cone.
6 pm - Back at the office. I call H and let him know I’m headed home now and he suggests chicken wings for supper. I’m down for anything as long as I don’t have to cook.
7 pm - We all eat dinner. L has some veggie pouch, chicken wings/nuggets and leftover pasta. I am almost too tired to eat. One cat keeps trying to get L’s nuggets so he gets in trouble and shooed out of the dining room.
8:15 pm - I try to put L to bed and she goes down for a bit but decides ultimately that it’s not actually time for bed.
8:40 pm - I go and have a hot, hot shower, my muscles are sore and tomorrow might not be fun. L and H party in the TV area, she’s pulling herself up onto everything and trying to crawl up the couch. Not sure where she got this energy from! One of our cats comes for some aggressive cuddles and pets and H puts his dirty t-shirt on the chair for him. Our cat loves dirty laundry it’s hilarious.
9:20 pm - Time for bed for everyone. Hope tonight is a good night and we all can get some rest.
Day 4 Total: $4.92 (this would have been covered by one of the superintendents but a few people got ahead of her in line so she couldn’t pay for us all). My card is also charged by the garbage disposal company for the dumpster ($40.43 - counted in the bills above).
H didn’t spend any money today.
—
Day 5 - Tuesday
7 am - The first alarm went off at 6:30, but we are all tired and don’t want to wake up. I nurse L for a bit then we get up at 7. I’m pretty sore this morning so I’m not moving too fast. Get her dressed and H and L leave by 7:10. H fed the cats this morning so I don’t have to.
7:30 am - I forgot to pay H’s other cc and it’s due in 4 days so I pay it off now - $93.80 (random Amazon purchases and my KU). I pull some chicken out of the freezer to defrost and make my breakfast of homemade granola, hemp hearts and yoghurt. I leave the house around 7:45 to head to work.
8:20 am - I get to the office and immediately get asked some questions about blocks we have slated for this Fall/Winter. I’m not 100% sure of the answer and have to double-check with my boss. I grab a coffee and chat with the head boss before my boss arrives. I clarify what I need and relay the info back to my coworkers.
9:30 am - I eat my breakfast while I scroll through online courses offered by my company. I got an email yesterday of one I’m supposed to take so I book into that.
11 am - I book H and myself massages, 2 each - one this month and one next month.
12:30 pm - I took a long time to eat breakfast so I’m not quite hungry yet. I grab my running shoes from the truck and take a slow walk on the elliptical to help my sore muscles. This morning hasn’t been too busy, but I’m having a hard time starting my next big task (cycle time calculations) so hopefully the slow walk helps some.
1:30 pm - I’m back at my desk and diving into cycle time calculations. H grabs KFC for lunch $24.12
2 pm - Lunch time, I’m having a leftover sandwich from yesterday, a grapefruit cup, grapes and strawberries. I also grab a chai with milk from the coffee machine. I eat while I plug away at the cycle times.
3:45 pm - I finish off one section of cycle times and my brain has had enough. I go fill my water bottle and chat with a few coworkers. At 4:15 pm someone comes by to sign a few cheques I asked for and I leave the office at 4:30 pm
4:40 pm - H grabbed buttermilk instead of heavy cream and I need it for supper tonight so I swing by the grocery store. Then, I head out of town to a colleague’s house to drop off one of the cheques. $4.95
5:15 pm - I check the mail, get home and start cooking. We’re having Skillet Dijon Chicken with Asparagus and Mushrooms for supper. I also make some macaroni for a side. H and L get home about 5:45 to the cats waiting at the door.
6:20 pm - Supper is served! It is delicious. L and H aren’t fans of the asparagus, but the chicken, macaroni and sauce are perfection! H also riggs up a tie to L’s water bottle so it doesn’t hit the ground every 30 seconds. We fed the cats at the same time and they’re not begging for food quite so much tonight.
6:50 pm - We’re finished supper, H cleans up and I bath L.
7:30 pm - H calls my/our best friend J via FaceTime and we chat with her and her daughter R for a few minutes. L tried to steal the phone and gets mad when we don’t let her. J’s daughter requests a morning call so I promise to call at 7 am. J doesn’t think R will be awake yet so we’ll see!
8 pm - L is tired and ready to go to sleep. I put her down, have a hot bath, throw in some epsom salts, and read a bit on my KU.
9:40 pm - Bedtime!
Day 5 Total: $112.17 (removed $10 for my KU - counted in subscriptions)
—
Day 6 - Wednesday
7 am - I nurse L, she had a weird wake-up last night so we’re tossing the idea of taking her into daycare today. I’ll probably take her in a bit later and H will take his truck so if I have to WFH for the afternoon I can. Try calling J and R and there is no response - I am not surprised.
7:45 am - L and I leave the house, she’s not coughing much and doesn’t have a fever or anything so she’s good to go to daycare today
8:15 am - I drop L off at daycare
8:30 am - I get to the office. I talk with a few coworkers and ask our admin if my new phone has been dropped off yet.
9 am - My new phone is here! Now to start the setup process, everything takes forever with all the authentication apps we need. I also go through all my iCloud photos and organize/save them to my OneDrive while the phone is getting set up.
12:30 pm - I think the phone is finally done. Now to eat some lunch, I’m having leftovers from 2 nights ago - chicken nuggets, strawberries, grapes and a Cherry Bubly.
1:30 pm - H goes to a food truck for lunch. $35.01. This includes the tip.
3 pm - I had some more phone set-up to do. Might be finished now? Get an email about the cats’ annual checkups and vaccinations so I book their appointments for August.
4 pm - SIL paid me back the $50, plus another $50 she’d borrowed earlier. (+$100) I work on the photo garland for L’s first birthday for a bit.
5 pm - I haven’t gotten much done today beyond setting up my phone. I leave the office and pick up L at 5:20. I talk to her day home provider for about 15 min about how she’s been doing, etc.
6 pm - We get home! H has cooked supper already, so as soon as we get in the door we sit down to eat. Supper tonight is perogies and garlic bread. L also has a veggie pouch. H tells me the old vehicle was sold, and the buyers are doing a payment plan. We will get $300/month for the next 10 months. A lump sum would be nice, but H’s coworkers will handle all the paperwork so it’s no more work for us.
6:45 pm - Time for a bath! H cleans up supper, cleans the litter boxes (we have 3) and starts some laundry while I take L and get her cleaned up.
7 pm - All finished in the bath. We head downstairs and hang out until L is ready for sleep. I mostly scroll my phone and H plays on his Rog Ally. L climbs the couch and me and scoots around on the floor hunting for different treasures.
8:40 pm - L is ready for bed. I put her down and read some more KU
10 pm - H and I head to bed. I washed and dried a baby quilt to bring to work in the morning for a coworker.
Day 6 Total: $35.01 for H’s lunch. I spend $0, and ‘make’ $100
—
Day 7 - Thursday
6:35 am - The first alarm goes off. It’s a new one on the phone and nice to wake up to! L doesn’t want to wake up and she grumbles and rolls around.
7 am - We all get out of bed. I get L dressed while H packs up what he needs for the day. I get her milk together and they’re out the door by 7:15
7:50 am - I leave the house. After H and L left, I did the dishes and packed up my stuff for the day. Made a smoothie for breakfast (yoghurt, flax seed, orange, banana, rhubarb jam, frozen berries, watermelon, cranberry juice and milk) and there’s lots left over so I pop that into the fridge for tomorrow. I need gas in the work truck, so I head there before going to the office. I have a fuel card so I don’t spend any $ on fuel.
8:30 am - Get to the office and it’s time to make a coffee. I have some things to get done before my webinar at 11 am.
9 am - I show the quilt to my coworker, she loves it and buys it! (+$100)
11 am - Oops. I didn’t get the login link earlier and don’t know who to contact to get it so no webinar for me. I scroll Reddit and my socials and work a bit more on my cycle times. I snack on some grapes and drink another coffee.
1 pm - Lunch time! I’m having leftover skillet Dijon chicken and macaroni. It is still delicious, that recipe is going into the rotation for sure! H goes to McDonalds for lunch and spends $35.66. He bought a coworker lunch as well, she was having a rough day.
2 pm - Chat with a few coworkers about different projects/things we need to think of for this next year.
3 pm - I have an afternoon pick-me-up snack of Brookside pomegranate-flavoured chocolate and a ginger ale.
4:30 pm - I’m tired and don’t feel like doing anything else. I leave the office and call H to see what we should do for supper. We decide on potstickers and veggies, I’ll start cooking when I get home. I stop and check the mail on my way home too.
5:45 pm - H and L arrive home. I take L into the spare room and we call my mum and grandma for a video chat. L rolls around the bed and shows off how she’s almost standing!
6:10 pm - We sit down to eat, L isn’t that interested in either the potstickers or veggies so we pull out some leftover macaroni and she goes to town on that.
7 pm - Bath time! H cleans up and does some more laundry. It just seems to never end.
7:30 pm - Bedtime for L. I read some of my book while I put her down.
8:30 pm - SIL texts again to borrow $50. I send it over out of my spending. I get all of the borders cut for the custom quilt.
9 pm - H has SING on so I sit down to watch it, he’s also playing his Rog Aloy and I’m reading some more of my book.
10 pm - We go to bed.
Day 7 Total: $35.66 for H’s lunch. I spend $50, and ‘make’ $100
—
Weekly Expenses:

• Food + Drink: 575.09
• Fun/Entertainment: $0
• Home + Health: $38.78 (includes gas for lawn mower)
• Clothes + Beauty: $200.45
• Transport/Vehicle Expenses: $328.41
• Other: $496.30 (CC payment, photoshoot, TFSA and $ to SIL)

Total Spending: $1639.03
Reflection:

• This was a more expensive week for sure. I don’t usually spend money on clothes and the photo shoot deposit was a random impulsive spend. The vehicle expenses were also a bit different, usually, they’re budgeted for but not this time.
• Honestly surprised we didn’t order dinner at least once this week - usually we do!
• Events-wise, it was a typical week except for the mountain hike, those are not part of my usual work day. This time of year is slow and mostly involves prep for the coming winter.
• This was a fun experiment to write! I did have to cut some things as my word count kept increasing and I didn’t want it to be too long - is this too long even still? Too much detail on baby routines?

I've been sick for a few days, and I'm trying to figure out if it's the common cold or a flu. (It's not COVID, I got tested twice two days in a row.)
The first few days my illness was defined by causing me a lot of pain in my throat, and frequent coughing. Now the throat pain is waning while my nose gets stuffy and head feels heavy. I associate this pattern with the common cold, but I can't find a source on if the Flu does this too. Does anyone know if both illnesses do this? Thanks.

Where we live there is a nasty summer cold going around and my husband got it this last weekend and was out of commission until Wednesday. He still has some lingering sinus stuff, but for the most part is feeling much better. We made sure he stayed away our 3 month old(4months next week). And it seemed like the LO and I had avoided it until I woke up yesterday with a runny nose and the LO sounded stuffy and was coughing every now and then. I started taking zicam and all the meds right away and masking around the babe.
Anyway, my mom watched him during the day and said after 10 am he had no signs. When I got home later(still masking) he seemed fine. Then this morning and once again he sounded congested and was coughing some. But other than that he’s eating fine, no fever, not fussy and is overall pretty happy. I spoke to the pediatrician and they told me everything to watch out for and what to do in the mean time.
However, one of their suggestions has me stumped and I’m trying to figure out how to do it in a safe way. They said just like when adults get colds and should sleep propped up a bit to help with drainage, we should do this with the LO. Logically this makes sense to me, but safe sleep wise it doesn’t. He still sleeps in the bassinet beside me at night and so I’m trying to figure out how to prop him up in a safe manner while he sleeps.
Has anyone done this in a safe way and could provide guidance on how they did it?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6
Home didn’t feel the same after I returned from the hotel. My dad knew that I knew how he’d gotten that high-paying job. And he knew what I had been doing to help us make ends meet before getting entangled with Creole. It got even worse when one day he walked in on me as I was applying the ointment to cover my scars. That broke him. He started crying uncontrollably upon seeing me with the deep scar on my neck and my missing eye surrounded by my skull. It was the first time I’d seen my dad cry like that. And I couldn’t do anything to console or help him. Because I knew if I did, I would start crying and wouldn’t be able to stop.
We were both at rock bottom, with my mom trying in vain to figure out why we were so upset. Creole must’ve known what I was going through and allowed it to continue. For an entire month, he didn’t call on me for anything. And that worried me more than if he did. Because there was always the looming and constant fear that he would get bored with me. And him being bored with me probably meant my immediate death.
It was a relief when I was home alone again that I received a knock at the door. I looked down at my phone to make sure that I still had plenty of time since my last ointment appointment. Satisfied that I had plenty of time I stood up and answered the door. Seeing that smiling face and red uniform instantly brightened my day a little.
“Hey Jacob, what’s he got for me this time?” I asked him as the forever smiling bellhop stared at me with his button eyes. He happily presented me with an envelope and gave me a little salute at completing his mission. I took the envelope and opened it up, sighing when I saw the all too familiar handwriting.
“Marvelous Ms. Mace! It would seem that I require your skills in another endeavor. Jacob shall escort you to the store, and do make sure to bring all your tools. K.C.” I heavily exhaled through my nose and invited Jacob into the house so I could gather my things.” I quickly ran upstairs and rounded up my lockpicking tools, pepper spray, and this time a pocket knife as well. I’d gotten myself one after the ordeal of the hotel. Just as I was applying more ointment and resetting my timer I heard the front door open and a bunch of grocery bags rustling.
My heart instantly dropped. My mom had gotten back earlier than expected. I quickly finished putting the ointment on and ran downstairs as quickly as I could. I nearly ran into my mom as she was hanging one of the bags on the stair railings.
“Jesus, Maria, Jose, Macedonia!” My mom shouted in surprise. I half expected it to be because of Jacob but a glance around the first floor revealed that he wasn’t anywhere in sight. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.” My mom sighed fanning herself dramatically.
“Sorry Mom,” I apologized, wrapping my arms around her and squeezing her. “I’m going out, ok?” I told her. She looked at me judgementally, mostly at what I was wearing before wishing me good luck and the usual million things to be careful of. I nodded at all of them and parted with a kiss on her cheek. As I exited the front door it was my turn to nearly have a heart attack as Jacob surprised me by poking his head out of the bush next to the front door.
“How’d you get in there?!” I silently shouted at him. He pointed at the open window just above the bush. And I couldn’t help but snort and giggle at the thought of him diving out of the window into the bush once my mom had arrived back at the house. I helped him to get out of the bush and brushed the leaves off of his uniform.
We started making our way towards the voodoo shop all the while my mind continued to wander in various scenarios in which my situation was going to end. Most of them with me and my entire family dead or turned into voodoo dolls.
“Jacob?!” An unknown voice broke my endless doom loop. I looked up and Jacob and I stared at a sketchy dude across the street from us who quickly ran over and grabbed Jacob by his gold-trimmed collar. “Where the fuck have you been man?! I’ve been trying to call you for months!” He shouted at Jacob who just stared at him with his permanent smile and tilted his head in confusion.
“Leave him alone, we’re trying to be somewhere asshole,” I told the guy, grabbing Jacob by the arm and starting to tug on it. The guy looked at me like I was literal shit on his shoe and stared back at Jacob.
“Who the fuck is she? More importantly, why the fuck are you dressed like this? It isn’t Halloween you freak,” he shouted at Jacob. He continued on about how he hadn’t made a single delivery in months and that some scary people were looking for him. Jacob continued to stare blankly at this guy before turning to me and taking his hat off.
“Hey, asshole! Don’t ignore me!” he shouted at Jacob as he placed the hat on me. I stared at him in confusion before he lifted his hands to cover his button eyes. He then lowered his hands and pointed at me. It took me a few seconds to figure out he wanted me to cover my eyes. So I hesitated for a moment before lifting my hands and covering my eyes.
As I covered my eyes I heard the guy let out a choked scream before a sickening crunch and tearing, overpowered the sounds of his muted screams. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and suddenly wondered something. My glass eyes didn’t have an eyelid. So how exactly was it shut right at that moment? Did it turn off on command? I didn’t have long to wonder at the logistics as I felt Jacob’s hat being taken off of me.
I lowered my hands and was met by Jacob’s usual smiling face. And not a single stain on his uniform at all. I looked at him and then around us in confusion. There wasn’t a single sight of the asshole. Not a body part, not a drop of blood not even a scrap of clothing. Absolutely nothing. I knew better than to inquire about what had happened so I simply continued our walk towards the voodoo store.
“Mace! It’s been so long! How’s the eye treating you?” Creole asked me, giddy with excitement upon seeing me. I was instantly reminded how much I hated him. His stupid smile and his constant giddiness. It irked and annoyed me.
“It’s fine, sir,” I told him as dryly as I could. As usual that didn’t register at all to him and he simply nodded and looked over at Jacob.
“I see you two came upon some trouble. But Jacob handled it, so no harm done!” Creole said with a smile and walked over to the register. I followed after him and watched as he picked up the template doll from the register and started tossing it up and down in the air.
“What’s the problem this time?” I asked him, stuffing my hands into my jacket pocket. He stared at me for a moment with that toothy yellow grin for a few moments before letting some giggles rise up from his throat. I could already tell that this was going to suck.
“Seems, that while I was away. A rat got into some of my potions. Made quite the mess of the shop, you should’ve seen it! Now that lil ol’ rat has run off and made a nest in the high school. I’m gonna need you to deal with it for me.” He smiled as he caught the template doll in midair and gave it a hard squeeze in between his gloved fingers.
“No,” I told him. That got his attention. He raised a brow at me and tossed the doll onto the register table. “I can’t,” I said as I felt my heart beating out of control. Since I was a little girl I had an absolute phobia of rats. Everything about them disgusted me and freaked me out. And now I had to go and kill some probably giant monster rat.
“Oh Mace, we both know you ain’t in a position of refusing me.” Creole extended his hand out to me and the contract that I signed with him. He was right, I had no right to refuse him. But at the same time, I’d rather have him kill me than have to face a giant rat. Not to mention if it had gotten into his potions, there was no telling what that thing had turned into.
“Can’t you have the cops handle it?” I asked, still trying to find a way out of it. Creole slammed his fist down on the hard wooden table and I swear it felt like the entire shop would come crumbling down in top of us.
“You’ll be doing it. Understand? I don’t want to have to visit your parents any sooner than I have to, Macedonia.” He told me in a low and gravely voice. His yellow teeth sharpened into fangs and I quickly looked down at the floor and finally nodded after a few moments of trying to think of a way out of it.
“Yes sir…” I told him submissively.
“Splendid! Jacob will be coming with you, naturally. You two seem to make a good team.” His mood shifted instantly once I became cooperative. His usual bubbly and happy personality returned. I simply nodded and looked over at Jacob. He kept up his permanent smile and gave me a little wave. I returned it with a half-hearted smile of my own.
“Well off with the two of you then, the sooner you deal with that rat the sooner you can go home again,” Creole said with a smile as he dismissively waved the two of us away and without giving me any other way of protecting myself from whatever monster rat he’d accidentally created. I sighed as I followed after Jacob as he fished out the magic skeleton key and inserted it into the voodoo shop’s door.
I watched as the door contorted and warped into one of the high school’s main doors. I grabbed the metal handle before Jacob could and pushed it open. Being inside the darkened school was like having one of those nightmares where you’re back in school again, or when you come to school after hours and the entire building is eerily quiet.
“Let’s just get this over with,” I mumbled to Jacob as we started making our way towards the cafeteria. If a giant rat was going to be anywhere, it’d probably be there. We passed several photos of past classes and clubs and I came to a stop at the photo I had managed to get into. I’d snuck into cheer practice with Jess who had been a cheerleader and had gotten my picture taken with the whole squad. It brought me back to simpler times and was a cruel reminder of what had happened to my friends.
I looked over at Jacob and noticed that his button eyes were trained squarely on a photo. I walked over to him and noticed he was looking at a picture of the video game club. And staring straight at me with a happy and toothy grin was the old Jacob. Before dropping out and becoming a drug dealer, before becoming an undead bellhop. Jacob kept staring at the photo for a few more seconds before turning to look at me. There was no indication on his permanently closed and stitched smile that he felt any different but something felt off about him.
As I was about to ask him what the matter was, but a loud crash and rattling came from the direction of the cafeteria. I instantly shoved my face into Jacob’s chest in absolute terror. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hard squeeze. I don’t know what it is about Jacob that gives me such a calming response whenever I’m near him. Whatever it is, it was powerful enough to give me my strength back as I quickly dug into my pockets and pulled out the can of pepper spray and my pocket knife.
“Okay…I can do this…right?” I looked back at Jacob for confirmation. He gave me two thumbs up and we continued on course toward the cafeteria. Finding the doors locked I quickly handed my items to Jacob and got on my knees to begin picking the lock. It was second nature to me at this point, there had been plenty of times during high school where I had broken into the cafeteria to steal some food or a snack. In just a few swift flicks of the pins and tumblers the door swung open.
Jacob went first before motioning for me to follow after him. It certainly seemed like the rat had been here. Judging by the simple fact that the tables and benches were strewn and thrown in every possible direction. In the direction of the kitchen, the whole metal screen separating the kitchen from the cafeteria was broken and bent in various directions. I was suddenly realizing that I was probably going to be fighting a bear-sized rat with only a knife and some pepper spray.
“I don’t hear it,” I whispered to Jacob as the two of us began approaching the kitchen. We poked our heads into the utter devastation that had happened to the kitchen. Appliances were ripped from the wall, the freezer door had been ripped from its hinges, and the remains of dozens of frozen lunches were strewn about in every possible direction.
I picked up a frozen round pizza and said a silent prayer for the only decent thing the school ever gave to me. Despite all the destruction, however, there was no sign of the rat. I suddenly became afraid that the thing could turn invisible. It was then that I noticed that Jacob was staring up at the ceiling. I quickly dropped the pizza and followed his gaze upward, terrified that the rat was hanging from the ceiling like the mirror version of me had done. But instead, I was greeted by a giant gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Well, it isn’t here. Where the hell else could it be?” I asked Jacob who looked back at me and shrugged. I groaned and started looking around at the floor trying to think of where it could be. I stared too long at the floor though as my new glass eye just popped out of my head and fell to the floor.
“Oh fuck off,” I hissed in anger as I quickly dropped to my knees and began scrambling after it. I managed to catch it just before it rolled under the stove and cleaned it as best as I could before inserting it back into my skull. As I was letting the magic item return vision to my left side I stared at the stove for a moment before a thought crossed my mind.
“What about the home econ room? They have a cooking class there.” I quickly stood up and Jacob quickly nodded. The only problem was that the home econ room was on the other side of the school from where we were. Plenty of chances for the rat to ambush us. So as we started walking down the halls towards the home econ room I made sure to hold on to Jacob’s hand. Our high school isn’t even that big and yet the walk from the cafeteria felt like it took sixty years, mostly because every single noise caused me to stop and wait to see what was going to pop out and attack me.
By the time we entered the area where the home econ room was, I was able to hear something rummaging around and destroying things in the classroom. It seemed that my hunch had paid off. The only problem was that I was too scared to move even a muscle. I looked back at Jacob and he gave me a thumbs up. I squeezed his hand tightly and nodded back at him, letting go of his hand and fishing my can of pepper spray out of my jacket pocket.
I glanced into the classroom through the window. Besides the absolute devastation of the classroom, I watched in horror as a giant rat’s tail was dragged along the floor like some enormous worm. I quickly shook my head and turned to Jacob.
“I can’t do it,” I whimpered at him, feeling the onset of a panic attack incoming. Jacob rubbed my arms and waited for me to slightly calm down. I did my best to get a hold of myself and again peeked into the window of the destroyed kitchen room. I got a good look at the giant rat as it broke into one of the stoves. Most of its fur had fallen off in giant patches, and giant spikes were piercing out of its back. As it turned its head to toss the stove away from the wall I could see that one of its eyes was missing. I breathed a sigh of relief, it was blind in that eye just like I was.
I took a deep breath and carefully tried to open the door, but the handle only jiggled a little, it was locked. That slight movement of the door triggered the rat, as it quickly whipped its head towards the door. My eye met its eyes, as it still had its right eye along with a giant cluster of eyes above and below it.
“Shit,” I mumbled as it let out a loud screech and proceeded to charge towards the door. I felt Jacob quickly grab me and shove me away just as the giant rat busted down the door on top of him. I landed on the floor on my ass and watched as Jacob struggled to keep the rat from bringing its full weight on top of him and squishing him into a puddle.
“Hey, shithead!” I screamed at the rat getting its attention. I aimed my pepper spray at it and pressed down, spraying it in its giant cluster of eyes. It let out a pained shriek and fell over as it tried in vain to get the stinging chemical spray out of its eyes. I quickly dropped the empty can and winced as the stinging began to form in my good eye. One good thing about having a magic glass eyeball is that it isn’t affected by pepper spray, so I at least had one advantage over the rat.
At least I thought I did, as a deep rumbling noise came from deep inside the rat, I took a step back as I held my knife out in front of me as if it was some kind of sword or spear. I watched in disgust as a new cluster of eyes spawned from the empty eye socket, and before I could process that, the rat pounced on me and pinned me to the floor. I thrashed and kicked trying to get it off of me, and even began stabbing it in the neck. It screamed and began rumbling again as long slender tentacles began to spawn from its back and began thrashing around like whips.
“Oh, you gotta be fucking kidding!” I screamed as I began stabbing it in the face and the eyes, any spot that could get it off of me, doing my best to avoid its mouth which was constantly snapping and gnashing at me. One of my stabs ended up landing underneath the rat’s snout and I was too careless. The knife became stuck inside him and I tried to use my left hand to give me more leverage to pull it out. In doing so I got too close to its mouth and it clamped down on my hand.
I screamed my fucking lungs out, and on instinct yanked my hands out of its mouth. And watched as my pinky, ring finger, and half of my middle finger remained in the rat's mouth. I let go of the knife and clutched my bloody hand with my other. The rat eagerly chewed on my fingers and was about to come back for more when Jacob slammed a metal desk chair against its head. It stumbled and looked over at him, just in time for Jacob to bring it down on the rat's head. It screeched and quickly began scurrying away. Instead of chasing after it, Jacob quickly dropped to his knees and began taking care of me.
“W-we gotta get outta here, before it comes back,” I whimpered, staring as a fountain of blood came pouring out of my damaged hand. Jacob quickly ripped off his sleeve and made a tourniquet and a bandage for me out of it. I couldn’t really stain it since it was the same color as my blood. Jacob quickly picked me up bridal style and ran towards the stairwell entrance just as I heard the rat coming back for another attack.
We entered the stairwell and Jacob quickly rushed us upstairs just as the rat crashed through the door. We made it upstairs and found ourselves in the science wing of the school. Jacob quickly ducked us into a classroom that happened to be open and quickly closed and locked the door, pushing a chair up against the door as well. We both ducked down as we heard the rat running past us on a wild goose chase to find us.
I whimpered and winced at the pain stinging from my hand. It was then that a terrifying thought entered my mind. I wouldn’t be able to pick locks with a hand like this. At least until I could get used to only having two and a half fingers. Would Creole get bored of me if I couldn’t pick locks anymore? I looked around the classroom and suddenly was struck with a familiar feeling. Like I’d been here before. I looked over toward the teacher’s desk and was flushed with memories of the only science class I’d ever enjoyed and passed with a grade higher than a C. Mr. Picot’s chemistry class.
“Jacob, I have an idea.” I winced as I stood up and quickly whispered to my smiling savior. He quickly came over and got on his knees as I wobbly sat up on mine. “In that cabinet,” I pointed towards a big metal cabinet. “Mr. Picot keeps some dry ice in a thermal cooler. We can make dry ice bombs to fight that thing.” I told him, Jacob quickly nodded as he agreed to my plan. He helped me stand up on my feet and the two of us walked over to the cabinet. I dug into my pocket and pulled out the tools.
Jacob helped me as he held the left hook pick steady for me as I used my good hand to fiddle around. I was lucky that Mr. Picot used a pretty cheap lock for the cabinet. After only two failed attempts we got the locker opened. Jacob quickly opened the cooler and pulled out the small block of dry ice from its container. I went under Mr. Picot’s desk and quickly grabbed a couple of mini water bottles that he always had on hand in case someone needed some water during a test.
Jacob carefully drained each bottle so only a little bit of water was left and cut the dry ice into little chunks, wrapping them up in a paper towel and adding them to the water bottle. I was impressed at how skillfully he was doing this. I’d always imagined Jacob as the typical school-hating wanna-be gangster. But here he was proving that he knew what he was doing. The water would stop an immediate release of the CO2 into the bottle and give us time to chuck it at the rat.
Our best bet was going to be getting it to swallow one, so with our arsenal of six bombs made and carefully being carried by Jacob in a lost and found backpack we’d found in the classroom, we exited the classroom and started making as much noise as possible. Banging our hands against the lockers and me screaming as loudly as I could. Soon enough we heard the loud scurrying running towards us again.
It had changed again, with its mouth having split open like a flower full of teeth and bleeding gums. If I didn’t walk away from this completely traumatized of rats I was going to be very surprised. Jacob reached into the back and pulled out a bomb, giving it a good shake before tossing it. Unfortunately for us, it blew up midair and sent a loud bang throughout the school. That didn’t seem to bother the rat as it kept charging towards us. I quickly took a bottle from Jacob and started rushing towards the rat.
It tackled me to the ground and screamed at me with its giant gaping mouth. I shook the bottle as well as I could and stuffed it into its mouth, acting quicker on this occasion to pull my hand back out. It swallowed the bomb and I winced in anticipation. As if on cue the bomb exploded in the rat’s throat and nearly decapitated it. It staggered over me for a few moments, as if trying to figure out why it had lost function of its whole body before it tumbled to the floor and let out a long death gurgle.
“Thank god,” I sighed as I crawled out from under it. Jacob was carefully opening the bottles to relieve their pressure. It turned out we only needed one after all. I walked over to him and shoved my face into his chest, letting a wave of emotions come over me as I began to cry uncontrollably into him. Everything bubbled to the surface at once, my fear of rats, my situation, my hopelessness, everything all came to the surface at once. I stood there crying into Jacob’s chest for a good five minutes before I finally got some bit of composure back.
The two of us made our way back down to the first floor and toward the main entrance. As we were about to leave I looked back to see Jacob staring at his old picture again. I wondered what he could be thinking about, but I figured it was better not to dwell on that, so I simply opened the door and stepped back into Creole’s shop.
“Mace! Goodness girl, what happened to ya?” Creole asked in shock which I couldn’t tell if it was genuine or fake. He walked over to me and quickly grabbed my hand, removing Jacob’s makeshift bandage to get a good look at it. “Oh dear me, quite the nasty bite it gave you, huh?” He asked me, that stupid smile replaced with a look of concern on his face.
“Can you fix me, sir?” I asked him as he looked at the hand and reached into his pocket. He wordlessly doused my hand in some potion and I half expected my lost fingers to start blooming like some flower or something. But instead, the bleeding ceased completely.
“There we are. That should deal with any infection as well, can’t have my new toy breaking so soon after I bought it,” he said with that stupid smile returning to his face. I stared back at him and felt my anger boiling over. I was his toy. No better than a frisbee he could throw around. And easily replaceable if he broke me too badly.
“What about my fingers?” I asked him, wanting to know if he could do anything with them. He stared at them for a moment before letting go of my hand and shrugging.
“If I had them I could sew them back on. Unfortunately, we don’t have them do we?” he said with a smile that quickly grew sinister as I was sure some other horrible idea had crossed his mind. “I could always chop it off and give you a new hand,” he said with a sinister snicker. I quickly held onto my hand and backed away from him.
“No thank you. I’ll manage with this.” I told him as I turned to leave, surprised to see that Jacob had replaced his damaged uniform in the time I had been talking to Creole.
“Oh, Mace my darling? You still can pick locks, can’t you? I would hate for your injuries to end that hobby for you,” Creole asked me as I kept my back to him. I looked down at my hand and bent my remaining fingers. It was doable, it would just take me a long time to get used to.
“Yes, sir,” I told him, opening the front door and listening to the sad bell jingle its tone as I left the shop. I was sure that he was just looking for any reason to break me further and get rid of me. Or he would finally get bored of me and get rid of me that way.
Either way, I was resolved with one simple goal. Free myself from King Creole by any means necessary.

28F with no medical conditions, just a pesky and unconfirmed case of strep.
I woke up Saturday with a bit of a sore throat and by Monday it was extremely red and swollen with white spots as well as fever, body chills, cough, and a headache. Immediately called out of work and went to urgent care where they ran a rapid strep test. Test came back negative but did a throat culture to see if I had another strain of bacteria. Was prescribed lidocaine viscous for throat pain, ibuprofen for fever, and promethazine for cough. Doctor told me they would not prescribe antibiotic until results came in. I was originally told it would take 1-2 days for my results to come back, then I called back and was told 3-4 days. I was happy to have a few days off work but I still haven’t heard anything and I need to go back to work. I called back this morning and now I’m being told it will take 7-10 business days to get my results back!
I’m wondering is it safe to go back into work since my symptoms are nearly gone or do I need to wait for results to come back in? I still have a bit of white spots and a pesky dry cough but no fever or other major symptoms since Tuesday. I’m also debating going to another urgent care and asking for antibiotics but unsure if they would prescribe any. I’m a teacher and barely scraped by enough sick time and I can’t afford to be out any longer but I also don’t want to risk my kiddos getting sick. What should I do??

I’ll cut right to the chase. I work in a government office and one of my colleagues is a guy from Mainland China and he makes a ton of extremely loud noises all day long. I’m not sure if this is a cultural thing or if I’m being insensitive but it’s pissing off many of my coworkers but we are all terrified to bring it up because our work culture is such that it would be deemed to be a racist attack. This man constantly clears his throat, blows his nose obnoxiously, coughs gutteraly, farts and burps without any self awareness at all. I can hear his hacking through over ear noise canceling headphones 10 metres away. My coworker brought it up to our previous manager and he literally said that he can’t do anything or talk to him at all. We just have to “live with it”. Now, I don’t understand how it’s right to possibly hurt one person when the entire team is irritated. I have no idea what to do, and I’ve considered quitting over it. Our organization really wants us to address the person directly first, but it would be such an awkward experience. I could see the person complaining to HR about me

Hi everyone! I have enlarged turbinates in my nose. It causes blockage so it's harder for me to breathe out of my nose, I have a sore throat almost every morning, there's so much pressure in my face, and I can’t stand it. Doctors gave me a steroid rinse and an oral one to take but I reacted poorly to both. They did a simple allergy test on me for things like pollen, pet dander, etc. I wasn't allergic to anything. The only thing that helps is Claritin and Flonase but it is only temporary. Is it worth it to get a full panel allergy test to see where this could be coming from? I'd rather get allergy immunotherapy than surgery.

I can be in a perfectly fine mood, but if anyone even mentions a notably raw area, I get incredibly annoyed. If anyone asks me to stop picking, especially when I’m really into it, I’ll defensively say “no” or storm off to the bathroom.
I’ve been treating a mood disorder for about 17 years and I have scratched and clawed my way to stability and I’m really proud of the progress I’ve made. But I only mentioned my picking to one therapist long ago. I think she was good about it, that she wouldn’t start a plan to get me to stop, but rather continue talking about the topic to inspire more awareness in me of my habit. I had to leave her soon after and I never talked about it again.
It’s the one habit I’m terrified to face. The amount of drive I have to pick at an area till I feel satisfied with the process is almost animalistic. My problem areas have always been the skin around my fingernails, any acne I have, literally digging into my skin to pull out a facial hair (I don’t hair pull otherwise unless for cosmetic reasons), and the worst is a spot inside my nose on my septum that’s a scar (I think from snorting substances in the past) and it constantly regrows dry skin.
That spot gives me the most satisfaction, but it takes a while because I can’t see what I’m doing. But of course, this is definitely the most embarrassing and it’s dangerous because I use sharp tweezers to pick at it. I do it everyday, some days worse than others. I’ve had blood pour out of my nose from doing this. Pulling away a piece of skin that’s not so dry opens up the flood gates.
I get so unjustly enraged when someone comes around, because I have to stop. I do it around my husband, but attempt to be stealthy…I know he sees me doing something, but I stop when I know he’s looking at me. I just know one day he’ll finally ask me what I’m doing and that’s such a hard conversation for something so embarrassing and physically painful and I’ve been carrying so much shame, but even more frustrated by that over powering drive to do these things that hurt and leave noticeable scabs and scars. He has asked about the open sores I have on my face from picking acne so he knows I pick my skin. Digging in my nose just adds an extra level of embarrassment.
This is all coming to a head because I have started to take adderall for adhd. I’m just giving it a shot and so far so good. My anxiety is way down and my thoughts have stopped racing. It even relaxes me to the point where I could take a nap. But I fear the picking might be worse.
I have long swaths of time where picking is worse, usually due to how dry I am I guess, but I know stimulants can make people pick at themselves. Maybe adderall isn’t right for me, but perhaps this is bringing everything to a head where I need to be more proactive about the picking.
It’s sincerely a drug. I love it when doing it, but I hate what it does to me.

I’m a white/caucasian female, 28 years old, 5 foot 6 and 108 pounds. I’ve had a URI/cold for a week. Cough, chills, post-nasal drip, sore throat, a bit of congestion, but no headaches or fever. I’ve been to urgent care and was prescribed stronger versions of OTC meds (800mg ibuprofen, mucinex DM-like cough syrup). I still have a cough and my phlegm is yellow, but no wheezing or chest pain. Wednesday I took some DayQuil in the afternoon, and became nauseous and dizzy/faint about an hour later. It’s been a consistent feeling since then. It’s a cross between pins and needles and a limb being asleep, to describe the feeling, and it’s all over my body including my face. My vision is also a bit spotty and I’m a bit more sensitive to bright/fluorescent lights. I do have anxiety, but this feels different. Is this maybe because of my sickness or is this something else? I went to urgent care yesterday and my blood pressure was a bit elevated at 131/70, but I was definitely feeling anxious about it at the time. This is also the third time I’ve been sick in about two months. My next step is the emergency room, and I really don’t want to spend a bunch of money to be told I’m probably fine.

Hi,
So, last Sunday we went to a villa with a couple of friends and slept there. I ended up having unprotected sex with a girl who might be quite sexually active. There might have been some cunnilingus although I’m not sure (I was too drunk). Just the day after, I was already feeling like shit (alcohol didn’t help), and 2 days after, a sore throat started. It’s still here and I have like two white spots there, some general body ache and bit of a cough with flem. I worry this might be something like oral gonorrhoea, but there’s also the fact that other people who were there also have a bad sore throat right now. And considering we were most of the day/night in a pool and beach, it could just be a normal strep.
Could this be oral gonorrhoea? I will get tested but I’m waiting 33 days at least because I wanna do an HIV test too.