Acupuncture

I have been trying to add more self care to my life. My job can be stressful, not necessarily in my daily tasks but with the things I have to endure. I hear and see a lot of things that come through the systems. My supervisor is also a micro manager and the two together just wear me out. 

I work all day doing my best to be on top of things while fighting my vestibular disorder and keeping the supervisor pleased. I spend so much time worrying about all the things that need to be done at work and at home that It’s easy to forget about myself.

One of my recent purchases from amazon is an acupuncture mat. I have always wondered if acupuncture really works, so when I seen these mats and the fact they did not actually have “needles”, I wanted to give it a try. 

Well? What did I think?

I actually love it! 

It haa some really sharp plastic tips that do not pierce the skin but will cause some prickly pain. It’s not unbearable. My 10 year old nephew even tried it out. He though it was fun but not really understanding the whole point of it (no pun intended). 

I lay my bare back on it while leaned back in my recliner. At first there is a slight uncomfortable prickly feeling. Then it turns hot and numb. After a few minutes, I’m in a complete relax mode. I have even fell asleep on it. 

After a about 20 minutes, I take the mat away leaving my back with a burning feeling something equivalent to slight sunburn. This sensation last about 4 minutes then I'm back to normal. 

It’s certainly one of my favor things right now and use it about twice a week to relieve stress and tention.

https://amzn.to/3QAqGYv

Have you ever did acupuncture of any type?

Solar Eclipse

Today you will be seeing a total eclipse unless you are near the East coast. We will only see about 90% I think. This is a big deal for some people. I know people that are traveling to Indiana to get the best view of this celestial event. I will step away from my office and walk outside for a few minutes to witness the event.

The next time we will have a solar eclipse will be year 2044, so it’s possible I will see another one. Many people will not. 

People ask “Why is this such a big deal?”. I think it’s because this is one natural event that we can actually see. If you want to see it, make sure you have special glasses so that you do not ruin your eyes. 

Me and Nick are ready with our glasses. We had to try them out yesterday. You can not see a thing out of them except the sun. It’s actually weird how small the sun is when you look through these things. But anything created by God is amazing and today he will give us a little show.

Yip Yip

 I took a break from the big crocheting project I have been working on for church and decided to crochet something funny. 

How many of you grew up watching Sesame Street?

I do not remember watching sesame street when I was young. I was more of a Captain Kangaroo and muppets kid. I’m not sure why mom never turned the channel to Sesame Street. Maybe it was because we couldn’t get that channel. I don’t know.

I was a little older when I watched Sesame Street though I always knew who Big Bird, Ernie and Cookie Monster was. Then there were these little martians called “Yip Yip’s” they were another Sesame Street favorite. They were usually in a pair and would get started saying “yip yip” and couldn’t stop. 

I thought they were funny so I decided to crochet one to see if I could. 

The result was good. It made me laugh. I had a little fun with it then I took some photos and gave the yip yip to my sister. It can be used to hold a small plant or little trinkets. 

What shows did you watch as a child? 

What was one your favorite characters?

Just Breathe

I’m here. I have just been too tired to blog. I want to get back to blogging regularly. I have a tiring job. It’s office work where I do a lot of researching for child and family services and by the end of the day, my eyes do not want to be on a computer. I’m home by 5:15 each day, have dinner and take a walk. Afterwards, I clean up the kitchen and take a shower. I sit down in my recliner to relax and end up falling asleep within 5 minutes. On the weekends I like to hang around the house in my loungewear all day and watch Netflex movies while working on a big crochet project that needs to be finished before Mothers day. I also do my house work on weekends.  Then Monday comes quick. 

Ok, I know all that is no excuse to not keeping up with blogging. I just need to breathe. 

Speaking of breathing.

For the past four or five weeks, I have struggled to breathe sometimes. It just started all of a sudden. It’s like an elephant sitting on my chest. This happens when I get my heart rate up and when I lay flat of my back. I struggle to breathe. I had asthma when I was a child and I’ve always heard it will probably return in my adult years. Well, I guess I’m in my adult years now. 

I went to the doctor for a check up and everything checked out perfect. My blood work was all good. He did an EKG and a chest xray to rule out and heart problems. Everything was perfect. So, the only other explanation was Asthma so he gave me an inhaler to try for a week. It seemed to work. I was using it almost every day. I rarely get out of breath but I was getting out of breath and wheezing just vacuuming a room. 

I had to go back today after recording my shortness of breath and using the inhaler. I kept a log.

He suggested I had either exercise induced asthma or allergy induced asthma and gave me another type of inhaler to use once a day. He wanted me to do a hit in the office for practice. Guess what? It worked! I went for a brisk walk tonight and never got out of breath. I was so excited. I can’t wait to see how well I do walking into work tomorrow. Now I can breathe. Asthma can be scary. 

Valentine and Dieting

 Happy Valentines Day!

I hope you all had a great day full of love. 

It was a good day for me. My vestibular disorder has been on a low the past few days. I think the Meneier’s is going into another remission again. I hope so. Thank you all who have prayed for me. 

Me and Nick did a Valentines breakfast last Saturday at a The Toastery in Belmont. 

Since I’m feeling better, I felt like doing a little craft project for the girls in my unit. I made them all a small jar of sugar scrub. They all seemed to love it. 

I also made a little sweet treat to share with the office. I used premade rice crispy treats and dipped them in chocolate. Everyone thought I worked really hard making them. 

There were a lot of sweet surprises at work. There were candy, doughnuts, and cupcakes everywhere I turned. But guess what? I ignored it all and did not eat a single sweet today. I am proud of myself. 

Sadly, I put on 30 lbs since thanksgiving. Everyone tells me I do not need to lose weight but I do. I need to lose about 40 lbs. I have tried so many different and expensive diets. They will work until I complete them, then the weight comes back on. That’s why I have decided to go back on Nutrisystem. It’s just so easy, the food is good and it works for me. You can read about my first journey with Nutrisystem At the top of the page. 

The doctor also had me on 3 weeks of Prednisone and took me off of the diuretics I was taking. Both will cause weight gain. I do not like it when people tell me I do not need to lose weight. They are not in my skin. I am generally a small person so I can feel weight. Here are just a few ways extra weight affects me. 

• Heart burn at night.
• Snoring
• Always tired
• No energy
• Fatigue
• Shortness of breath doing simple task like getting dressed or folding clothes. 
• Chafing from my legs rubbing together.
• Sweating
• Achy knees
• Rapid heart beat
• Headaches
• Bloating
• Fluid retention   

So see, it’s not always about the appearance. It’s how it makes me feel and when I get to where I feel unhealthy and my clothes get too tight, I know it’s time to take hold before it gets out of hand. 

So yes today I had to make a choice. The doughnuts or feeling healthy.

Pregnant Onion

 Have you ever heard of a pregnant onion? Well, I have one. Just look.

See them babies in there? 

This is not really an onion but looks like an onion. It is scientifically called Albuca Bracteata also known as a Lucky Onion, Sea Onion or simply a Pregnant Onion. This plant is actually a type of succulent.

Years ago, my Mother in law had gotten me one but it did not last long. I didn’t take care of it like I should have. Now that I love plants, especially succulents, I went on a mission to find another one. 

I was unable to find one around here so I went online. Amazon to be exact. Gosh, you can find anything on Amazon now days. 

When It came in, It was in a 3 inch pot, about the size of a grape and looked weak and unhealthy. I was disappointed but it was not dead so I prepared it a better pot and gave it lots of water. The onion finally started growing and I have moved up a pot size twice now in two years. My little onion us now flourishing. It has had many babies and grown up to about six inches around.

I just put it in the sun and keep it watered a couple times a week. The tiny babies eventually break through the skin and fall off. I just noticed today that one of the seedlings is sprouting. 

Pregnant onions will also produce a stem of white flowers that will bloom in the spring. Mine has never bloomed but this week seen a flower pod standing tall above the other leaves. I was excited and can’t wait to see her bloom. .

Do you have any unique plants?

Praying Friends

 Do you have friends that pray for you?

I do. I have friends at church, work and friends I have never even met that pray for me. We all need these kind of people in our lives.

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬ ‭KJV- ”Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.“

I believe in the power of prayer. God has answered many prayers for me and continues to do so. We have to be patient and he will answer on his time. He knows what we need and when we need it. 

I have cried mad at God because I sometimes think he is not listening to my prayers. When I just be still, I know he is working on me. I need friends to pray with and for me and I am so blessed to have friends like this in my life. 

Speaking of praying friends, I received the cutest little surprise in the mail. It was from one of my blogger friends at https://lifeisgood-smile.blogspot.com/.  Inside the card was a mini prayer square she made by hand. I can picture her thinking about me as she knitted the tiny square.

If you look closely, you can see the shape of a cross in the center. 

I carried it in my pocket today. Though these little prayer cloths have no healing power, they do bring comfort knowing a friend prayed for me and I will always cherish this little prayer square. 

Pray for your friends today. There doesn’t need to be anything wrong with them to pray for them. It may be your little prayer that gets them through the day. If you simply thank God for people in your life, it would be suffice.

Cook an Acorn Squash with Me.

I have blogged about acorn squash before, but lately I have been hooked on these little things. They are rather easy to prepare, healthy and delicious.

Though they are called squash, I believe they tastes more between a sweet potato and pumpkin. Acorn squash can be peeled and cut into cubes or mashed. I choose to eat them right out of the shell. There is just something fun about eating out of the natural bowl. 

Acorn squash are only 56 calories, 5% carbs, zero cholesterol and zero fat. They are full of potassium, magnesium and vitamin C.

Ok, so get your squash and wash it. 

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds like you do when you cut open a cantaloupe. (This is the hardest part) some of the squash seem to be easier to cut that others. 

In a small glass. Combine butter, cinnamon and brown sugar and melt it all together and brush the entire inside of the squash until coated. You can cook it without any of this but I love all the flavors together. 

Go ahead and sop on as much as you want. You can’t have to much.

Now place in air fryer for 20 minutes at 390 degrees. 

Just look at that goodness. You know its ready when it’s soft and a fork will pierce it easily. 

You can enjoy it as it i, but I love adding some yogurt, nuts and honey. All of these flavors blend good together to create the perfect snack, small meal or enjoyed as a side. 

I only eat half at a time, so I just put the other half in the refrigerator until I am ready to cook it. 

When I want to take it to work, I will cook it in the morning while I’m getting dressed and throw it in a bowl to reheat later. Cooked acorn squash heats up well without messing up the flavor. 

Have you ever had acorn squash? If so, how do you prepare yours?  

Don’t Take My Plate

It seems like the older I get, the more things get on my nerves. Things used to bother me but I could easily over look it or have a different response. I can still control myself but I am probably only about two years away from being vocal.

One of these things is when I am at a restaurant and the waitress comes along and ask if I’m done with my plate. I used to look up with a smile and simply say yes or no. Now I just look at them with a straight face and say no. 

Tonight my waitress was heading to the table. I had put my fork down for a moment and she wanted to know if I was finished. No. I still had half a plate full. 

Even if I am finished with my meal, if there is a little bit of gravy left on that plate, I’m keeping it close to me until I throw in the napkin. Sometimes me or Nick will be finished, but will sometimes dip into each others plate to taste. Sometimes there is that extra chip waiting to dip that last little bit of cheese left on the plate. You get what Im saying?

If I want my plate taken away (and sometimes I do), then I will let you know.  Taking my plate can make those left still eating feel like they are eating alone and cause them to rush while making me look like a food vacuum. 

So, please don’t take my plate. It’s rude. 

2024

 Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great time ringing in the new year. We usually stay awake to see the ball drop on TV and around the world but not this time. Nick has to work this New Years day so we hit the sack early.

We went to church yesterday morning.  Me and Nick go to two separate churches, but I decided to go with him to his this time. It was sorta nice sitting in a more quiet setting without the bands and loud music (which I do love by the way) that cause a sensory overload I have been getting in my bad ear. This can easily trigger a vertigo attack for me. 

We did go out for a nice steak dinner before heading back home for the night. We ran into a couple friends we knew while we were there and did some catching up on our lives. 

I hope this year will be a good one but I feel like it’s going to be wild ride with it being election year, leap year and year of the Olympics. I feel like a lot of things are going to happen. So buckle up.

I do not make resolutions but I do try to set goals. I accomplish most of them. 

This year I plan to get healthier. The past few months have been hard on me going through more than usual effects of Meniere's Disease. I am currently loaded up on Steroids to see if they help. So far they seem to be helping. I will start weening off of them in two days. I have been on Prednisone for 2 weeks now with one more week to go. Since they seem to be working, I will be getting steroid shots directly through my eardrum into my inner ear 3 times in a series of 3 weeks. This will not have any side effects and will only help my inner ear issues. He just did not want to go this rout unit we knew if it will work or not. I can and will continue to have issues but hopefully no more vertigo attacks out of nowhere! 

I am beginning to get “moon face” . This is weight swelling in my face but will go away once I’m off of steroids. I can’t wait. However, I am full of energy and I can’t stop eating! I have gained 10 lbs in two weeks! I need a detox!

Here are a few of my plans for the new year.

• Talk and walk with God more.
• Eat healthier and get this steroid weight gain off.
• Purchase a lap top with my Christmas money.
• Start walking on a regular basis again.
• Do some in home workouts to keep toned.
• Save money for the new Ford Bronco I want.
• Maybe a new tattoo. 
• Maybe start a new blog on a new platform (while keeping this one).
• Start a new skin care routine.
• Vote
• Spend more time relaxing and enjoying life.
• Stay away from anything or any person that brings negative vibes.

We only have a little while left on this earth. We need to enjoy and live life abundantly (John 10:10).

Do you set any new year goals?