Monday morning update

Hey, y'all! Sorry I haven't been posting in a while. I've been amazingly busy with work; I'm actually working on four projects at once. This never happens. And in my business (freelance writing and editing), you take work when you can get it, because there are months that can go by with absolutely nothing. So. Here I am, blogging, when I should be working. But the coffee isn't ready yet.

My allergies have been kicking up to miserable proportions lately. It's weird, because I guess if you have allergies to pollen and dust and stuff, you can become allergic after a time in a new environment. Growing up in the midwest, I had summertime allergies. Then I moved to California, and had no allergies for a few years, and then got really bad hayfever. Then I moved to Costa Rica, and had no allergies for almost five years. And a couple of years ago, here I am, suffering from seasonal allergies again. Ugh. In the middle of rainy season, it starts. I wake up nearly unable to breathe. So I end up having to take a Benadryl every night before I go to bed. This can't be good for the long term. And in the short term, the inside of my nose is so dried out that [warning: this might be gross for some of you, if you want to skip to the next paragraph!] it cracks and bleeds. So which is worse, painful nosebleeds or not being able to breathe? If anyone out there has any suggestions on better ways to deal with allergies, I'm all ears.

A friend of mine was surprised that I'm allergic to lots of things, but not animals. Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for that, otherwise I'd be in terrible trouble, considering I sleep with two cats and at least one dog every night!

In other news, my mom is coming down for a month at the end of August. She was supposed to be here for son's birthday in July, but discovered at the last minute that her passport had expired. So we had a little mini-party for son and his playgroup friends, but we're still planning a "real" birthday party for when she gets here. InbioParque looks promising, though I found it not a little ironic that the food they provide for kids' parties includes hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken nuggets, since raising meat is one of the biggest environmental problems on our planet, and cutting down rainforests in South America for cattle pastures a huge threat to biodiversity. I am pretty sure the reason for their menu is that parents in Costa Rica (and let's face it, pretty much everywhere else, too) aren't that enlightened when it comes to children's food. [As an example: every time we go to Gymbo Fiestas for a play day and they're setting up for a party later in the day, the amount of absolute sugary, fattening crap they put out for little kids is appalling.] We'll have to see what we can do on the food front if we decide to have a party there. Otherwise, I really like InbioParque.

And I'm adding the Grist podcast to my blog; check it out! (If you want your own, find it here.)