25 Things about Me: #3

3. I am allergic to plastic silverware.

This is a tough one. People can’t get their brains wrapped around this one, but it is a real thing. I cannot eat with any plastic fork, spoons and definitely not sporks!

Plastic bottles, cups, straws and the like are fine, but no silverware. If I do, I get a nasty blister on my bottom lip. Kinda like a cold sore, but way worse, because there’s not topical cream that can soothe the pain or make it go away. Because it is an allergic reaction, I could slather if with Benadryl cream, but I might die from ingesting its poison. It is not pretty and very painful. So to combat having to use it, I carry a fork and spoon (monogrammed, of course) with me where ever I go, unless I’m traveling in a mode that might consider them a weapon.

A smart person told me that I may be allergic to one of the plastic compounds, polypropylene or polystyrene, and an easy way to find out would be to self-inflict with each type and see which one causes the allergic reaction. EASY?!?! SELF-INFLICT?!?! I think not. I’ll just continue to carry my pretentious monogrammed fork and spoon.

The irony of this allergy is that I hate washing dishes, especially silverware. I can remember cringing during the holidays at my Granny’s house when it was my turn to wash the dishes. My cousins would always leave the silverware for last and for me to finish. I hated that and it has carried through to my adulthood. So since I hate washing dishes, I only use paper plates in my house. I have the real stuff, but it’s only for company. But I can’t use the plastic silverware and my sink is usually full of forks and spoons needing to be washed. I could go broke buying more silverware when the silverware I currently have is dirty, but that just means more silverware to wash. Boo!

As a side note: My church changed their brand of all-in-one communion cups and it turns out that I am allergic to them, too.  So I’ve asked that I be provided a juice box and a baguette for my communion. It hasn’t happened yet, but that’s ok. Good thing taking communion isn’t the only way to get into heaven.  

Here are the other revealed 25 things:

1. I was almost born in the vault at the Alabama State Capital.

2. I fear that my appendix will spontaneously burst and I will die.