Tuesday, February 9, 2021

DEC: Visiting the Parents, Allergic Reaction, Avoiding Gatherings Again, COVID Scare, Relaxing

December was a mostly chill month because we mostly stayed home lol.

The first weekend of December, I had a dentist appointment while Shelle had a hair appointment on Saturday, so we stayed home that weekend and ran out doing errands half of the time.

The next weekend, we went down to visit the parents. We bought more wine bottles to bottle the rest of dad's muscadine wine that we didn't get to do the last time we visited. I think there were a total of around 18 bottles! Other than that, we just hung out and ate a bunch like usual. We originally planned to come down again for Christmas, but I'll get to that part in a minute lol.

I also noticed that something was wrong with my face after I used a cleansing balm when I was at my parents house at night. It only got worse after I washed my face in the shower the next day. I wasn't sure if it was because of the cleansing balm because I think I had it opened for more than a year (I always keep it in my travel kit, so I don't use it often) or if it was because of something else because I also recently started using a new toner and sunscreen moisturizer. 

My face was just so bumpy, inflamed, and irritated. It was so dry that it started getting flakey after a week. Like, noticeably flakey and gross looking if I didn't exfoliate my face in the shower, which only made my face more irritated. It was a never ending cycle of dry and irritated skin. Even my eyelids started getting dry and irritated! My face only started getting better after the third week when I stopped using everything but my serum and squalene oil mixture, eye cream, and Dr. Jart Ceramidin Cream to lock all of the moisture in.

I later found out that it was probably the new Pyunkang Yul Essence Toner I was using at the time. I had used it a few times before the allergic reaction, so I didn't think it was the problem, since there wasn't any immediate reaction the first few times I used it. However, I tried it again after my skin calmed down, and I immediately noticed that it made my skin bumpy again. I also think it was why my face was so extra dry and irritated for that first week and a half because I was using the toner to try to soothe my irritated skin (what it's marketed to do). I just made it worse!

Anyway, I learned my lesson: Always keep backup products that you know are your tried and true calming products for when you have irritated skin issues. I had already used up my previous toner and moisturizer that I already knew were really good for calming skin issues, so I didn't have any on hand when this allergic reaction sprang up. Instead, I had to try different new products to see if it helped or not and hope for the best. Luckily, the Biossance 100% Squalane Oil and Dr. Jart Ceramidin Cream deluxe samples I had worked out really well.

The next Sunday, Shelle and Kyle were hosting Christmas for Kyle's mom's side of the family, so I decided to last minutely hangout with Archana again. She was still in the middle of her mediation instructor course, but she would be free after that. However, CJ had already made plans to kidnap her later at 4, so I decided come earlier so we could have breakfast together before her class lol. Little did we know that she forgot she made plans to attend her friend's virtual baby shower that morning, so that's how spent our breakfast, me getting to know her friends while she makes fun of them lol. While she did her meditation course in her room, I spent the time reading, snacking, and napping like a true degenerate lol. After her course, we had lunch, and then I helped Archana clean up because CJ texted and said that she was coming over early. Lol Archana hadn't even packed or wrapped her present to CJ and her husband yet. I met CJ briefly, and it was good to see her since it had been almost a year since we last saw each other.

After they left, I went to go for a walk at the trail connected to Archana's apartment complex. Last time we went there, we just followed the road since it was getting dark. This time, since there was ample sunlight, I chose a side trail which eventually starting just going straight uphill, which I took as a sign to turn around lol. I wore my casual boots that day and was not expecting to go on a proper hike with my heavy overcoat on lol.

Since I had a light workout, I figured I deserved some bubble tea as a reward lol. I decided to try out a new place 15 minutes away (can't remember the name anymore), but it turns out that I went there before the last time I went to the Ginya in that location with Shanice and the girls. Still, the milk tea was tasty.

Then, I drove around and hungout in a parking lot for an hour to wait for everyone to leave our house because I didn't want to socialize lmao. Only to find out that LeeAnn, Kyle's mom, came over earlier and announced that her husband wasn't coming because he had a fever and that they weren't sure if it was just a fever or Covid symptoms. 

We were on pins and needles for the next few days as we waited to hear back his results. Then, we found out that he tested positive while LeeAnn tested negative. We think she waited too soon to take the test, which is why she tested negative. However, we tried to get a test the day she told us the results, but everything was booked and closed for the day. The earliest date to schedule for a test was the day after Christmas, so we decided to not go visit the parents for Christmas as we originally planned, especially since it would take a few days for the results to come out. 

Luckily, the results came out after three days, and we all tested negative. However, because we didn't want to accidentally carry Covid to our parents and because my face was still super irritated and flakey, we decided to spend our whole week off at just relaxing at home. I finally read Quickly Wear the Face of the Devil, which was SO GOOD but also SO LONG, and we also watched the rest of season one of the Fruits Basket reboot and the second season of The Mandalorian. We had plans to do a lot of baking, but reading and watching shows and starting a new drama kind of derailed us lol.

However, it actually snowed on Christmas Eve! It only snowed for a little bit, but it snowed! :D

So yeah, December was had it's ups and downs, but it was mainly a relaxing month since we stayed home for the most part.

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