HappyTrails

We have a winter wonderland outside tonight and by tomorrow we will have even more snow.  Hubs promised to teach me how to learn cross country skiing, but with all this snow, he is not going to have any more excuse to put it off.

It is not as though we do not have a place to go, and I can borrow some cross country ski equipment from a friend nearby.  The salt trucks have come by and spread more salt tonight, so the roads are passable — we will see what happens by tomorrow though.

One of the country clubs in the area permits the neighborhood kids to sled ride and ski down the sloping areas, so that should be a safe enough place to start learning.  And if Hubs does not quit telling the story about how he used his cross country skis on the local roads and had to be careful because other richer neighbors were driving snowmobiles, I am going to scream.

If this birdbrained ostrich can ski, so can I, and I do hope those are not famous last words…  Even if this is a spoof, it sure looks real.

Hubs and I were talking today about going to a bowling alley for some exercise.  We have not done that in ages, and neither of us has bowling shoes anymore.  I gave away our bowling shoes a long time ago because we just did not use them.  Rentals are usually available at the bowling alley, but Hubs will not wear anything that was already worn by someone else.   That will mean he will have to get a new pair.

It would only be fair if he can get new bowling shoes that I can get a personalized bowling ball with German Gal emblazoned on it.  Our discussion deteriorated from there because we started adding up what it would cost us to start bowling again.  It really would not matter so much if bowling was something we would keep as a regular activity, even if only for the exercise, but that is debatable, especially when my fibromyalgia flares up.  A flare-up can go on for a long time.

One of our biggest problems is there are no places to go bowling within 20 miles of where we live.  The nicer place to go is about 35 miles away.  Years ago, there used to be about 5 different places to go within about 10 miles, but those bowling alleys are all closed and it would be a long trip just to bowl a game or two.

Since we would be out a long time, we also figured in the cost of eating a meal out, snacks and drinks at the alley.   We will talk about it some more, but I just do not think it is going to work for us without an alley much closer.  Bowling is fun and really helps you exercise different muscles.  Somehow that long trip just throws a real gutter ball in the whole idea.

Watch this guy bowl backwards…

It is cold today, raining and icing over everything since early afternoon, and not a good idea to try walking anywhere outside on the ice.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but hoping that has done nothing for me today; we were basically stuck in the house.

It was a very good thing we had dinner early and settled down to answering email, visiting favorite sites and posting in forums.  It has been a long evening without being able to go out and do anything tonight.  One of the forum posts I read today was about using a neti pot for nasal irrigation to help with sinus problems.

That sounded simple enough, so it was time to check it out.  Wrong move, I went to YouTube to see what they had in the way of explanation and video.  It was totally gross to see people inserting the end of the neti pot up their nose and watch the process on video.  Another product called Nasopure did not look as bad.

I will not describe what I saw or post it, except to say that people with real sinus problems were being filmed to post as videos.  One gal with a sinus problem apparently could not afford the neti pot, so she was using a watering can and made her video anyway.

Is it really that important to become famous in a home made video and be totally gross at the same time?

This is our New Year’s resolution for 2009, and we are going to see how well we can stick to it.  Hubs and I both love our coffee, but Hubs never misses a chance to bring the vacuum pot with him to get tea when picking up our order at the local Chinese restaurant.  I like the Chinese tea, but cannot drink much as it has a lot of caffeine in it — maybe not a lot, but more than one mug of Chinese tea is too much for me.

Our local groceries carry so many kinds and flavors of herbal tea and expensive gourmet tea, that I feel like a kid in a candy store.  I love to pick new brands and flavors.  We still have our standby favorites like herbal tea with lemon, mandarin orange, cinnamon, and a few others, but it is always exciting to try a new flavor or brand.

We usually embellish a cup of herbal tea with honey or sugar, and sometimes slices of lemons, limes or oranges.  Hubs will try some of the new flavors with milk, but usually goes back to sugar, and fruit if we have it.  Gourmet tea is only for morning (after I’ve had my coffee first, of course) because the ones we pick always seem to have caffeine, and I do not drink any more caffeinated beverages during the rest of the day.

Tea is steeped in American history, it sparked the American Revolution!

Do not get me wrong, here, I am certainly not looking for bigger government or more laws limiting freedoms, but — yeah, maybe there really should be a law against being out in public while walking around as a garlic stink bomb.

I literally could have used a face mask attached to oxygen at the grocery store this evening.   This man was probably into cooking up his own home remedies for heart problems — a very distant relative used to do that, and we avoided going over there, the odors were horrific.

The whole problem with using so much garlic is that it gets into your system and absolutely everything smells like old used garlic — this poor man’s entire body smelled so bad that you had to be at least 20 feet away from him to  shop; otherwise I would have just left the cart and run out of the store.

Garlic is good for you, but it is likely he was drinking a garlic soup mixture on a daily basis made of water, maybe some bouillon, and tons of garlic smashed and cooked in the broth.   It might have make life simpler for him if he would just go to the doctor and get what he needed for serious health issues instead.

I was thinking this poor guy would have felt more at home in California where they have garlic festivals and everything, from baby food, to ice cream, to chocolate is made with, you guessed it — garlic!

I am not lazy today, just tired with joint and muscle aches.  Could be the crazy weather we have been experiencing.  In about about the last seven days, we have experienced below zero wind chill and biting cold, then it went to rain, then back to cold, then warm enough to open the windows yesterday, and today we are back to cold with the furnace running.

There was too much to do today and not enough energy to handle it all.  My mother is visiting in Pennsylvania over the holidays, but stays with my sister in another county.  She really had her heart set on going out shopping.  This means a long drive out to get her, another drive around to the various stores, back to my sister’s home and finally back to my own.  A bit of a rigorous day for people who do not have fibromyalgia, and a tough one for those, like me, who do have it.

Controlling Your Own Fibromyalgia Treatment

A proper diet is important.  When you have fibromyalgia pain, you need to experiment with what helps your energy level or what kills it.  I switched from caffeinated drinks to decaffeinated drinks.  That was a help to be able to sleep at night.  Eating foods that are good for you, rather than fast food, or restaurant prepared foods with all the salt and fat laden offerings are another hurdle.  Preparing my own foods which are nutritionally good with very little salt and much less fat has helped as well.  My cooking is not dull or boring, just carefully made for what I specifically need to eat or avoid.

Sleeping was a big problem.  And believe it or not, German Gal actually parted with some money for an enormous down feather bed topper.  It was heavy and expensive to have shipped to me, but great to sleep on. This was an expensive purchase because it was hyper-cleaned to avoid allergy and came with its own extra covering.  Hubs did not much care for it, but dutifully fluffs it for me every night.  Did I mention it was pretty heavy?

The down feather bed topper was a good purchase.  Actually, I bought two of them…so now I have a spare when the one I am currently using wears out and will not support me.  Getting this was pretty important to me because of back muscle pain and other muscle pain.  I learned to also use some large, soft pillows that can be scrunched for support.  Muscle pain is caused because the muscles do not relax properly and trying to sleep on a normal bed is like trying to sleep on a cement floor.  You just cannot rest comfortably and relax.

Fibromyalgia Treatment

About 8 years ago it was time to switch doctors because the lovely ones I was using were really no help.  The dumbest one of the two I was seeing kept asking me how much alcohol I drank…well, time for a change.

Fibromyalgia Treatment

New doctor — I let the physician make his own diagnosis after I gave him the list of symptoms.  It was so weird that after tests results were in, I was ordered into almost 4 months of rehabilitation for muscle weakness and prescribed medication that helped.  Never once was I asked how much I drank, which to me, is a pretty funny question, since alcohol is only really for special occasions and not even every dinner we eat at a restaurant.

At least it sounds like medicine is progressing and physicians are looking into better treatment for fibromyalgia and even specializing in it.

Yep, I seem to be a cheapskate, but really, why not?  Every dollar saved is either still in my pocket or available for other more pressing needs.  Alternatively,  less is owed on credit cards and that is always a good thing.  Some things us gals cannot do without, like deodorant and moisturizer or hair spray, but other goodies, we can make ourselves  — and make in fresh little batches that barely cost anything as opposed to the exorbitant prices at retail stores.

Most of the ingredients are already in the kitchen, and HUBS now looks for the little sticker on labels I leave on a baby food jar in the bathroom, usually something like “don’t touch this or you will regret it” in case I have made too much.   Hubs hates stuff left on the sink counter, but I need things where I will remember to use them.  Anyway, Hubs likes to see a nice dinner on time, so it is not all that hard to twist his arm.

Alternatively, use a saucer and you can make only enough mixture for one use.  Sugar scrub is my current project.  It is really a simple recipe — and one that I make just a very small amount to try out.  The first time I made it was a rounded teaspoon of sugar and added enough plain (not olive) oil to make a thin material.  Added one tiny drop of lemon juice too.  Mix well.   Next time, the mixture will be a skin moisturizer from the dollar store and sugar to see which way I prefer.

Take a small washcloth (baby washcloth size is nice for this), run it under the hot water, wring it fairly dry.  Wrap a small part of the washcloth around two finger, dip into the mix and gently scrub your face.  Wash again with a mild soap and finish with a good moisturizer.

Do not scrub any facial area for very long, just a few passes each area at first and observe any reaction or discontinue use.  Never get any part of this mixture in your eyes or close to them.

Next time I make this, I am going to try this on my feet.  If it all works out well, then I can just triple my ingredients.

Ugh, I just learned from a friend that if you have arthritis or fibromyalgia it is best to avoid the nightshade vegetables.   Well, gees, who wants to eat a nightshade vegetable anyway?  Sounds gross — UNTIL you find search around and find out what they are.

Tomatoes
Potatoes
Eggplant
Peppers

Oh, sure that would be real easy.  No pizza except white, fewer toppings on white pizza, no spaghetti, no eggplant dishes, no peppers and onions, no stuffed peppers — but like just what other kind of sauce besides tomato would you use for the plain meatballs?   No mashed potatoes and gravy, no french fries and cheese…how does one live without these things? Guess it all depends on whether your physician gets your symptoms under control or you need to do more.

Then my friend told me it can take up to a year to get this all out of your system.  It sure sounds like I need to go do some research and ask questions.   In the meantime, I could really go for a nice pizza, like right now.

I won’t show my friend this video on do it yourself Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, she will be criticizing the white flour and recommending whole wheat.   This looks easy enough and so delicious, especially if you like a lot of filling on your pizza.  The heck with nighshade vegetables and fibromyalgia, why live miserable without your favorite foods unless there is no other way?

It figures, today was one of those days where a thousand things needed done, and I barely got off the couch.  Just too tired.  We had cold and rain weather today, the kind that chills your bones.

Fibromyalgia is one of those diagnoses the doctors give when you have been examined over and over because of prolonged and recurring weird symptoms and tiredness.  As I have gotten a little older, the symptoms hit more frequently, continue for longer periods of time and the muscle pain can be pretty awful. This has been very hard on the Hubs and family as well as myself.

With my doctors’ help with medication and some physical rehab treatments, symptoms are much less severe. One of the more troubling symptoms is difficulty sleeping.  Eight hours sleep can still feel like you had none for the last couple of days.  Fortunately, through trial and error and surfing lots of websites, it was easier to find what helps.

One size does not fill all, however, and any individual suffering the symptoms is best advised to try many different things under medical supervision.  Making a journal of all foods consumed and symptoms present or not sometimes helps too.   One site said to remove nightshade vegetables from your diet.  That was way too hard for me to give up potatoes, tomatoes and eggplant.

So many people have fibromyalgia, research really needs to be better funded.