What's another $15,000?

Good news! We finally got an offer on the house! Yay!

Bad news! They want us to knock off ANOTHER $15,000 AND pay $2,000 in closing costs. Ummm... wtf?!?

We listed the house with a $15,000 loss... meaning that, at closing time, we are going to have to bring a minimum of $15,000 with us (plus whatever commission ends up being). This woman who made the offer wants us to take yet another $15k off the price, so that we'd end up bringing $30,000+ to closing. Uhh, yeah freaking right! We're desperate to sell but not THAT desperate... even if we could come up with $30k (which just isn't realistic). We countered and told them we'd do the $2,000 in closing costs but we wouldn't lower the price of the house. I doubt it'll go anywhere, but still... *rolls eyes*

At least we got SOME interest - even if it sucked. It's a good sign... right?

101 Paper Cuts

Note to self: Do not, under ANY circumstances, have Tiger Balm applied to you when in the middle of a flare that includes hypersensitive skin. *CRY*

I was thinking to myself "Massages always hurt like hell but help in the long run so, if DH is willing, I'll have him massage my back some and use a bit of Tiger Balm." Made perfect sense to me, right? Yeah... notsomuch when there's hypersensitive skin involved. It seriously felt like I had 101 paper cuts all across my back. Add that to the pain of him massaging - even a very gentle massage - and I was sobbing into my pillow. God, I feel like such a freakin' wimp!

So here I am in bed, curled up with my awesome NAP blanket, and typing on the computer while trying to forget that pain doesn't just exist, but is trying to swallow me whole.

Here goes everything........

You would think I'd know better by now...

but no, of course not. *sigh*

So this week I had to fly to Fresno for work. One of my bestestestest friends lives in Lemoore (about a 40 minute drive from Fresno) where her DH is stationed with the Navy, so I chose to take a couple of personal days to hang out with her for a bit. She's a very... earthy... girl. Loves to be outside, walk around, etc. She has an orchard on her property - pomegranates, oranges, lemons and grapes.

We took walks around her groves where she showed me stuff and the entire time I was in the sun but I didn't think anything of it. Then, the next day we went walking around an outdoor mall and had lunch outside on the patio at a restaurant, also in the sun. I was wearing my sunscreen (as I always do - it's second nature now to put it on) but I KNOW that anything more than 15-20 minutes in the sun, even with sunscreen, is too much.

That night I started breaking out in hives. I took some Benadryl to help calm the itching and put some lotion on them before heading to bed. Around 3am I woke up in so much pain that it took everything I had to not lie there sobbing. I forced myself to get up and get into a hot bath to see if it would help, but no go. I had to work that day (yesterday) and it was seriously horrible. The "lupus mask" was so prevalent, despite all of the make-up I was wearing, that I received several comments from people asking if I had a fever, that I looked flushed, etc. *sigh* Of course, the only med I had with me was Advil... which, of course, does nothing in a flare like this.

I'm currently at the airport and I know sitting on the plane is going to kill me, being cramped into that small space. But at least I'm going home and I already called my doctor and he called in a prescription for prednisone and Vicodin (I finally used up my 15 pills he prescribed 2 years ago). I'm already contemplating taking Monday off.

Oh yeah, and my skin was hurting so bad (uber-sensitive) yesterday afternoon and the sheets in the hotel were KILLING me, so I went out and bought a blanket. I bought a NAP blanket - this is seriously the softest thing I've ever felt and it's guaranteed against pilling and that it will keep its softness. It was a life saver last night.