Bad luck or blessings?

Am I blessed or just having bad luck this year?


Remember when I ran into the hanging light in the fix up house the end of February? I had bruises on my face for over a month, in fact, the last bruises went away when I was in Hartford, CT helping Staci will baby Reese' birth the end of March.




Then there was the bad luck of getting rear ended by the 83 year old woman who told the police office that the bus was totally off the road and did NOT have it's stop sign out! Fortunately, the bus driver and the other witness and myself said the stop sign was out and that I was obeying the law when I stopped and she didn't. We hopefully will settle with her car insurance by the end of the month.


The blessing is we were not hurt very seriously and Steve's back is on the mend. We have a nice energy efficient new car that is a wonder to drive. We will be reimbursed for the medical costs plus a little extra for our "pain and suffering."

Here is what an old "blown" compressor looks like after it has been removed from our downstairs air conditioning unit. Since Wednesday, July 27 our thermostat has been reading 85-86 during the day and 82-84 in the evening, mainly because we had a cool front and rain come through. We have been blessed during the hottest months of the summer in Las Vegas with no air conditioning in the largest part of the house due to the cooler temperatures. The diagnosis was Friday morning, the home warranty covers the cost of the replacement (over $1000) and all I paid was the deductible of $55. We bless the day we bought the warranty each year.


Today is Tuesday, August 2nd, and the new compressor came it yesterday and is now being installed. Shortly, we will have cool air blowing from the vents. I am so glad we put solar screens and ceiling fans in all our rooms. It has made it bare-able with the air conditioner down. We were blessed that the upstairs bedrooms were cooled by the other working unit.



Sunday, July 31 was Steve's 62nd birthday. I surprised him by whispering around the ward on Sunday morning that I was hosting an open house that evening at 7:30 p.m., after the stake Priesthood meeting. At 7:30 p.m. there were ten people here, with more coming as the meeting ended. But the bishop had to do some setting apart for new Priesthood advancements, and at 7:50 p.m. I texted him, reminding him that the "home teachers are here". As he walked from the church house to the house, he suspected, for the first time, that there might be something going on for his birthday. Our home teachers were here as well as 36 other ward members and friends. We had a good time eating my delicious home made bread, fruit and veggies and healthy smoothies! And of course, I was so busy serving everyone that I forgot to take pictures.


So last night I climbed in bed, read my scriptures and a paragraph or two in the thyroid book I just got, before turning out the light and going to sleep. I was restless, hearing Steve when he got up in the night about 2 a.m., and at 5ish, I glanced at the clock and turned over to go back to sleep but something was bothering my neck. I swiped my hand across the back of my neck and felt my shirt tag sticking my skin, so I pushed it down and dozed back to sleep.

I turned over at 5:55 and again felt the soreness at my shirt neckline on my back left side. I sat up, stretched and walked to the bathroom. I felt the back of my neck and found two welts and thought to myself: I will need to shake out my clothes and see if I can find the ant or whatever bit me. I sat down on the toilet and did a gentle shake of my t-shirt. As I stood up the flush, I saw a black something in the water.


This is what was in the toilet. I was a LITTLE freaked out! I fished it out and saved it.

It looked like a black widow spider without the red hour glass shape on the stomach.



I put it in a little cup as the thing was partially drown and knocked un-conscious. I had Steve examine the bit marks, and put antibiotic cream on my skin.

I researched on the Internet to learn that the male black widow spider is smaller, does not have the red markings of the hour glass on the abdomen, and does not bite! If they do bite, they do not have venom.

It must have bitten me when I pushed the tag down, or when I turned in the bed. I called our friend in the ward who is a retired firefighter. His son, also in our ward, is a paramedic with the fire department and he called to tell me to ice it, use antiseptic and draw a circle around the bite mark. If the swelling increases and a red line starts growing from the bite, to seek medical attention. The father, the retired experienced man, came to the house, looked at the bite marks and the spider, took a couple of pictures and showed them to his son. Then he called me to say it was a male black widow spider and to keep an eye on the bite sight.

It is hard to see the bite marks amongst my freckles. They are the two red dots on the left side and toward my neck bone. By the time I took this self-photo I had iced it several times, put on cream three times, and four hours had passed. I am blessed that it wasn't a female.




And now the cool air is flowing through the vents and in five minutes the temperature has gone from 84 to 83. Cool relief is here! The installer told me that when the compressor starts to go out, it stops pumping cool air but will continue to blow some air. We were probably loosing the compressor since we turned it on in May. He is also checking out the smaller unit to make sure it is functioning properly. I am blessed.

My advice or counsel for this post: even with granules sprinkled around the exterior of my house and spraying inside for our ant infestation did not differ the spiders! Spray for bugs around the exterior of your house every three months. I did that this morning. Can I sleep in my bed tonight or will I be too freaked out?

I know I am blessed. I am not sure about the bad luck!