a little bit of retail therapy and the case of the weeping eyes

Today was another hot and sticky day so we stayed in until we couldn't stand our own company anymore and then we hit up WalMart for a little retail therapy. Abby's birthday is fast approaching and I had promised her a build-a-bear, but funds being what they are she had to settle for a poor man's build-a-bear at Wally's fun factory. Lucky for us she can't tell the difference.



Abby and Simba because she actually built a lion. When she filled him with wishes her wish was to see the Toronto Maple Leafs play hockey. I'm not really sure where that came from, but it did bring a tear to her Dad's eye. After completing the bear, I mean lion, we wandered through the store and made some just for fun purchases.



Like new sun hats for the girls. Abby also scored herself a very cool tinkerbell bikini which won't be making an appearance online so you'll have to trust me when I tell it is the cutest thing ever. Then Abby unknowingly stumbled upon some clearance underwear. Three pairs of Little Mermaid underwear in a purse that were regularly priced $7.47 were marked down to fifty cents. For that price I bought what was left on the rack.

Now for me, since Zebby has shown up on the scene I have been having a rough go of it. My eyes have been especially bad. At my best I look like an overtired crack addict, at my worse I look like a went a few rounds with Tyson.



Mike has been swearing that I had suddenly developed an allergy to cats. Now I've never been allergic to cats before, but I entirely understand that allergies can appear at any time in your life. For the last few days the conversations between Mike and I have gone something like this;

Mike: What are we going to do?
Me: I don't know.
Mike: Well you can't live like this. Your eyes look horrible. I think the cat might have to go.

Obviously I don't want to do that even though Mike makes a very valid point. I have been so uncomfortable I just want to pull my eyes out and dip them in cold water and I certainly don't want to spend the rest of Zebby's life like that. Now I must go on record as saying I wasn't 100% convinced that Zebby was causing my eye problem. I kept telling Mike I felt like something was in my eye, but couldn't see/find anything. I was using allergy eye drops religiously to absolutely no avail. They didn't help with the redness or the pain even a little bit. Plus it was only my left eye that was really bothering me. I figured if all this was from Zebby it should have affected both eyes.

Tonight it flared up pretty bad again. I was more uncomfortable that I had been, the thought of blinking made me want to cry. I had to call Mike in to take over bathing Abby because I couldn't stand my eye being open a second longer. This of course started a "conversation" about getting rid of Zebby or at the very least making myself a doctor's appointment the next day. For my part, I was still positive there was something in my eye.

Now why I didn't think of this sooner I have no idea, but leaning over the sink in the bathroom I started flushing it with cool water. Really just for the relief more than anything. Imagine my surprise after flushing it a couple of times to find a tiny, seemingly insignificant, black speck on my lower lash line. Elated I called for Mike to check out what I had found. Was this what was causing me the agony the last few days? I marveled at the size of it and I blinked. And I blinked again. There was no discomfort. Oh it was orgasmic. I flushed it a few more times and worked some pus up to the lash line and folks, I was cured. It was crazy to see how small that little speck of dirt was and realize how much discomfort it had caused. In very little time all the redness was gone from my eye. I have been blinking like crazy because it's so nice to do when you don't feel like tiny razor blades have been dragged across your eyeball. My eye is still swollen and it's a bit weepy from all the irritation but I'm sure it will go down/clear up soon.

So it looks like Zebby gets to stay. Which is good because Abby would be heart broken. And I'm sure Zebby would too, he's become quite attached to Abby. He really wants to sleep with her at night, but they're both a little young for that. Zebby did hop into bed with Abby one night, but after he attacked her feet through the blankets Abby didn't think it was such a good idea anymore.