Thank you for the concern folks. I am 100% positive that the rash on the front breast is ring worm. I am only 75% sure the one on the back is. I am happy to report that the iodine is working great. Dried it out, it stopped itching and then yes, after I took a shower and reapplied iodine I covered it with nail polish. It's really just like putting liquid bandage on it (which by the way is another route suggested). I bought the black light before I saw your offer Laima -- nuts. I was able to get sort of a good look at the back and from what I could see the inner part glowed green. But if you look at the photo too you can see the discolored skin in the middle of the ring (which in this case looks more like an oval). Anyway. I can't hit it with idoine very well. In fact it is itchy now.

A fun fact. I took the black light to exam the bra I had been prior to the shower. I had considered putting it back on since I had only put it on this morning and then decided against it. I was glad I didn't when I looked at where the iodine had come off on one of the leisoins that was definitely bothering me this morning (all the rest were okay!). And where it was matched up with a green fuzz mold showing on the bra under the black light. Eww! I sprayed it with lysol before chucking it down the chute to be washed.

There. The iching was getting unbearable so I had Tim apply a bunch of iodine on my back. Athena is at my side fussing. Why won't this baby go to sleep! She is doing that really cute thing when she sticks her legs straight up in the air though. I remember when Morella did it. I will be nice when she wear that same sleep sack.

---Later ---

Oh my god. Once the itching started it's all consuming. I am now icing my back instead of fighting the urge to rip it to shreds. Morella just cried about 10 minutes ago and I went in there and resettled her. I tucked her in and sat there for a few minutes before leaving. It's almost 10:30 and I feel like I should be getting ready for bed. It's just that there are so few hours in the day.

The hunt for a Mother's Helper continues. I put an ad in craigslist and the local university and got some great replies. With the exception of the few that don't speak much english -- I feel like they would all probably work out fine (even the ones who don't speak much english). I mean, I will be here. It's not that hard to follow simple instructions and play with an almost two year old right? Or hold a baby for a second while I do something else. It's just how do I interview them? I decided that meeting them at the local library would be okay. Give Morella things to play with in a public environment where there is no awkwardness over who buys who what drink. I'll admit I don't have a huge supply of questions. I feel more like going on a vibe and whether not we get a long, then check references. I guess you could say it's how I interviewed people when I had my other jobs.

You know, I need the assistant now to find the assistant.

Morella's nap time has changed. She now goes down between 1-2 and sleeps until around 4. I am sort of hoping that with daylight savings time she'll go back to a 12-3 and then bedtime of 7:00 We'll see.

I am working on making the basement bar room into a play land cozy place in preparation for winter. I want a special place I can take Morella so that she can play with different toys and have more room to run around. I kind of want to surprise her with it on her birthday. I am borrowing my friends awesome kitchen set and have been getting other kitcheny type supplies. I have some rugs that can go down there to help cozify it, along with a papsan that is down there, a straight back easy chair, a high back chair with arms, and a coffee table ... I guess I have some furniture options is what I am saying. Also bring down lots of blankets and it's going to be so nice. I'm really excited to see how it's all going to turn out. I should take some before pictures! Yeah!

Lastly, I bought a super ugly sweater that kind of looks like a blazer made out of a terry cloth robe. The pockets are perfect, the buttons are great -- oh I love it and I can see I am going to be living in this winter. Last year I lived in a .. wait what did I wear? I don't remember. No wait, I do I wore a lot of fleece. We had gone to Saver's so that Tim could buy some blazers for his upcoming trip next week. I also got some photo albums.

Oh today was an awesome mail day! I got three separate packages from my old high school buddy Carrie. It was so fun to open each package to find what was inside -- a cool set of stacking cups, an awesome girlie skull pair of babylegs, and a neat bendy rattle that I can't wait for Athena to check out now that she is getting into toys. I also got two packages of cloth diapers from tinytush. When the original order came I was so excited to get started using them since Athena had outgrown the small ones that I washed three times right away. When I was ready to use them I noticed that they seemed a bit flimsy. Definitely thinner than the ones I had already. I chalked it up to differences in where I got them. Well a couple hours later I was about to throw away the packaging and looked at the instructions wondering if I should save them for the Helper. That is when I noticed that the package was marked "regular". I quickly double checked with the invoice and I had indeed ordered "premium."

Suck! I had washed them! Tim encouraged me to email Tinytush.com and I did. I asked if I could send them back for the premiums and she said sure. I thought more about it and decided it wouldn't be worth the postage to send it back for both of us and I asked if I could just buy two premium packages at the regular rate. The next day I got an email saying a package was sent. I was a little disappointed about it until I got an email saying that if I could find a use for the diapers to just keep them. Woo hoo!! They are perfect right now for Athena --they won't be perfect for more than another month or so, but sure helps the diapers stretch. Plus, I can use them for diaper changing pads.

I gotta stop this babble.

One last thing. I got a blog fan mail today! Thanks Anna! It really made my day. :D