I'm definitely allergic to cleaning!
So I have a goal of getting our living room (and bedroom) rug cleaned by the end of March. And in order to accomplish that goal, I have a number of mini goals. These primarily revolve around tidying the bookshelves that I haven’t looked at in a while to make sure the books that are in it are ones that I want, need or haven’t read (so can’t decide). The sad part of this goal is that I discovered that some of the books in that case have not been looked at or touched in so long that there was a fine patina of dust covering them. It’s not helped by the fact that this case is right next to the cat door that the dog forces his muddy self through on a daily basis (hourly when Jaryth is pounding on something). By my estimation there was about two pounds of dog fur, mud, and allergen filled dust just in that corner of the room. And because of this I sneezed approximately 800 times. Proof that I’m allergic to cleaning! Let me tell you that sneezing 800 times is NOT fun. My throat was raw, my eyes were running, my nose was completely clogged, and I was generally miserable. I then took some Benadryl which didn’t seem to do anything but put me to sleep. Granted I got a better night sleep than I’ve gotten in a while, but still, it would be nice to not get the major allergic reaction and be able to complete the cleaning in one swoop rather than in about 5 swoops with the final three bundled up like a mummy with just my eyes showing. Mark threatened to get me a clean-room bunny suit! And what’s really sad is I was considering that as an option. Yes, I know that’s silly. But you would understand if you were biting your tongue while you were sneezing so much that you couldn’t breathe. Next time I am going to wear a painting mask and possibly gloves and goggles. I may look silly, but that might help deal with the dust allergies. I might include ear protection too, not from the loud noise of my sneezes, but because then maybe my ears wouldn’t itch afterwards either. And the bonus is that we have all these things … somewhere.
Before….
After….