When I pulled up to the house after work last night, Joe and JB and Brett and Brady were all in the process of unloading the replacement dryer from the back of the black truck.

(It doesn’t work, by the way. The new dryer. Doesn’t. Work. We’re going to buy a new dryer power cord as soon as we can find one. And if it works, I might just bring the old dryer back in and see if it works. And if it does, I might just return the second new dryer altogether.) (Either way, it was sweet as hell for Joe to return the dryer for me yesterday.)

Joe and JB went to the Hickory House for redneck food and baseball. Brett and I went in search of food and a dryer power cord. When we got home I actually fell asleep on the couch, which is something I virtually never do.

I was just plain tired. I wanted to knit more on the baby hat for Krista, but I’ve got some lame form of PMS, and I had it already for five or six days. If AF arrives on time, I will have been PMSed for just shy of two weeks. This SUCKS SUCH ASS. I’m tired, my boobs hurt, and I’m bloated. And no, I’m not preggo. But because my cycles were so easy most of my life, I get to pay for it with PMS and pain. At least I’m not feeling terribly angry or crazy, I guess that’s a blessing I can move into the count column.

I woke up around eleven and went to join Mr. Brett in the bed. Shortly after, I heard a truck in the driveway and remembered that Joe had asked about sheets for Jeremiah to sleep on. Knowing as I do that males lack the linen-closet-locating gene, I got up and put on a bathrobe.

There was a bug in the bathrobe and it stung me on my right shoulder, halfway between my neck and the outer edge of my scapular.

I dropped the robe and selected other covering, (rather!) and went downstairs to tell Joe where the linen closet is. I soaked the bite with a teabag until JB mentioned baking soda and I switched to that. The bite turned white with massive swelling, and the skin around it turned splotchy and red, but the baking soda eased the sting. I stayed up for about an hour to see if my head would fall off, then I went to bed and slept like a dead woman.

When I got up this morning, Joe had already left for the day, and Brett was up and around downstairs. I made the bed and put away two baskets of laundry, then filled the empty baskets with dirty laundry off the floor. (No, no one who shares my bedroom is capable of noticing that his laundry has been sitting in a basket, clean, dry and folded, on top of the dresser for a week.) (It’s those missing chromosomes. Men can’t see things that need to be done if they think they’re not their job.) I got dressed and went downstairs and greeted Brett and Brady on their way out the door.

Today the bite spot is about the size of a quarter and the skin is darker than the surrounding skin. That bug was hiding in my bathrobe, and it tried to kill me! Damn it!

JB was still asleep in my office when I left and I hope he slept well; most people who stay out at the farm say it was one of the best nights of sleep they’ve ever had. I have no idea how long he’ll be in town; I think he’s leaving for Europe in the next couple of days. Yay, JB! Boo, biting bugs in bathrobes!

Tomorrow I’m going to Iowa City with Tahmi. I’m gonna do my housework tonight and first thing tomorrow morning, and then go blow off a whole entire day with my girlfriend. Yay, Tahmi! Yay, blowing off chores! Yay, Iowa City!