Toxic Envelope Glue

Is envelope glue still made from dead horses????

Last night, while helping Arye's Shul committee with a mailing, I decided to be chivalrous. I gave away my moistener to someone else who was sealing envelopes. (For anyone who doesn't know what that is: a little bottle filled with water, with a sponge top, that is used to rub against envelope glue in order to seal it.)

I must have sealed over a hundred envelopes with my tounge. I did run and get some water to keep my mouth moist. But guess what happens when you drink water in between licking envelopes? You swallow a lot of glue. Oops. This morning I woke up with a VERY sore throat, and no voice. (Yaakov can attest to this fact because when he called me tonight, I whispered "Hello?" and he whispered back to me. By the way, I hate when people do that....But I digress.) I spent all day whispering and feeling really crummy to boot.

As most of you know, tonight was the Siyum HaShas, so Arye had been unavailable since about 5:20. No help. Mom and Dad drove him there. No help. Batch had Friendship Circle tonight, and is even studying. Wanted to, but no help.

Shauli and Nat to the rescue! On their way out Detroit to Pittsburgh (see Nat's blog for details) Shu and Nat stopped at Pizza to buy dinner for themselves and amazingly, for us, too! It's not DiGiorno, it's delivery (or is it Deliverance?)

After I bathed everybody and put them to bed, I went online to check and see if I was going to die from some horrible toxin. I found that many people are allergic to envelope glue as they may contain latex or corn or wheat. And many people develop asthma from licking it. Yeah......great to know.

Anyway, mad props to the Man Upstairs, without whom there could be no fluids with which to get rid of my (new) affliction.