I Have An Emergen-C

It's THAT time of year..

It's inevitable. The temperatures are changing which means that sure as sh*t-we are all gonna get sick. And sure as sh*t, Monday night, on my drive home from work I noticed I had sprouted a sore throat that wasn't letting up. Christ! I can't get sick this week! My store manager is on vacation which means I HAVE to be at work for the next 8 days-sick or not. I had to think fast. If gone unattended, this could be an emergency of epic proportions.

Did I just say emergency? I think I did and that is exactly what came to mind when I decided Mr. Cold was asking to come into my body from the cold. I had some Emergen-C  at home and I knew this would be weapon of choice against the dastardly cold knocking at my door. I made the Emergen-C with hot water, because by now, not only is my throat sore but I am feeling a chill down to my bones.

It tasted good.
It made my throat feel better.
All of a sudden I wasn't so cold anymore.
The question was-did I kill the cold?

1000 mg of Vitamin C is no joke, (besides all the other sugar and crap that it is comprised of) and two days later I am still hitting the Emergen-C two times a day. But am I sick with a cold? A little.. slight congestion, sore throat gone...no fever and I'm up and feeling OK. I think it may have worked to shorten the duration of this cold. Hey! How about that?

I'm not taking any chances though. I figure a day or two more of this remedy, rest and taking it easy and we may not have an emergency on our hands.

Clyde And His Bonnie

The legend of Bonnie and Clyde is at it again. A married couple from Quincy, MA ; Joseph and Jennifer Carrier, decided to support their heroin habit by robbing banks up and down the East Coast with their seven dogs in tow. Their brazen crime spree started in Ludlow Mass when they robbed a bank and made off with not-enough-cash-to-make-it-worth-it. To make things worse-the couple made their getaway in a stolen brown Buick Encore-that Jennifer is wanted for the theft of.

Living the glamorous life of crime, these two then continued on to Florida where the Bonnie and Clyde act continued. Joseph walked into a Wells Fargo in Palm Coast and demanded "large bills". The teller reportedly gave him $300.00, before he reached in and grabbed more leaving with $800.00 total. I'm not sure these two-with their seven Brussel Griffons dogs-can live a life in the lamb and support a heroin habit on $800.00.

So they would, of course have to do it again. And do it again they did, yesterday. This time they chose a bank in Wilmington, Delaware and took off in the stolen car. Police were called and the couple was spotted on I-95 where a high speed  chase ensued.You know how that goes... the couple was arrested and taken into custody. I'm thinking Bonnie and Clyde didn't have a heroin habit that made them sick, but the addiction is still the same. The addiction the the high. The high that they get from stealing and the high they get from the drugs.

These two had a better ending to the story than Bonnie and Clyde, although they may not think so. They get to continue living-without each other-in prison and have a chance at getting clean and turning their lives around. Bonnie and Clyde didn't get that opportunity-prison or not. They ended up dead. Killed by the authorities that hunted them in an ambush. Although their story went on  o became one of legend the real tragedy is that they never got to live long enough to realize that crime, really doesn't pay.

Media Junkie

L

I'm slightly obsessive compulsive at times. Like most people, I am attached at the hip to my mobile device and have been chastised by My Guy, My Kids and my mom about tuning out while zoning out on my cell. A self admitted news junkie, after completing my latest update on my operating system I was pleased to find a new "News" ap that I did not have before. After close inspection I have decided that this is the greatest thing ever! A news ap that I can tailor to all my favorite news feeds! Who knew? I certainly didn't and now that I have this beauty at the touch of my finger tip I'm unstoppable. 

CNN, Huff Post, Fox News, Buzz Feed, The New York Times, ESPN and many, many more. All just for me and whenever I want. This doesn't sound like a problem, does it? But it is. The problem is that I find that I am no longer alone with my thoughts as frequently as I should be. If I find myself with a spare moment, I am at my newsfeed scrolling voraciously for anything that sparks my interest. Good for everyday news but bad for the brain which doesn't leave much time to decompress. Yet I can't stop scrolling. Obsessive? Maybe. Or possibly I'm just someone who craves knowledge. 

Take for example yesterday's NFL games. I am competing in a football pool with 19 other people for money. Since the pool has started I have consistently been in the top ten, but yesterday? I really stepped it up. After a 2.5 hour session yesterday morning, researching and carefully making my picks, I submitted my choices a few hours before the deadline. Not feeling very confident, I decided NOT to obsess over the stupid pool and go about my business. I thought a workout would be just the thing to get my mind off football and I began my workout-mobile device in hand. It is my music device after all, so it had to be with me. It wasn't long before the ESPN ap was front and center with the live game day feed right in front of my face. There I was, working out, listening to my playlist, watching 2 games on my phone. Of course that continued for the rest of the day while I had the TV, NFL Red Zone and my IPad and IPhone all live to the games I had chosen. Seriously, I never missed a down on any of the games and My Guy joked that he has created a monster. He just may be right. 

When I'm working it's not an issue, and when I'm chilling out-the TV is my best friend, but you can bet during commercial breaks the phone is in my hand and engaging my attention.  I know how to relax and I know when it's time to put the phone down, but the lure of the information that I may be missing is sometimes too much. Am I hopeless? I'm not sure, but yesterday certainly didn't help me to come to that decision. I went 5-0 on all my football pics and am currently in 3rd place in the pool. Doesn't look like I will be unplugging any time soon. 

The Stomach Sleeper

My mom always said that I "could fall asleep on a picket fence", and she would be right. Put me in the back seat of a car on a long ride and soon enough I will be out cold. When I board an airplane-no matter how long the ride-I always drift off to dream land shortly after take off. So it was much to my surprise that just as this summer had turned into fall, I found myself awake at some strange hours of the night. I go to bed anywhere between 10:00 and 11:00 PM, usually not waking up until 5 or 6 AM. Lately? I'm awake at 12:30 AM, 2:30 AM and 4:45 AM and so forth. I can always fall back to sleep, but the waking up in the middle of the night is becoming more and more frequent.

I did a bit of research and learned a few valuable things:

• I am a stomach sleeper, which could be part of my problem.Sleeping on your stomach is BAD for several reasons, but the one that really stopped me dead in my tracks is this: Stomach sleeping causes WRINKLES!!! OMG! I tell people all day long how to prevent the forming of new fine lines and wrinkles and I just realized that I am putting my face in jeopardy almost every night! I never really thought about it, but I have been seeing those "pillow marks" or vertical lines on my face and cheeks that just don't fade as quickly as they used to.  I also sleep on my side-another wrinkle producer-and the tell tale signs show more on the side you sleep on. Oh the horror!

• Stomach sleeping is also bad for your back and neck. I am always looking for a neck and shoulder massage, now it totally makes sense. This form of sleeping also puts an enormous strain on you spine and spinal strain can cause numbness and tingling. No wonder I sometimes wake up with "dead arm", like my arm has fallen asleep-but I am wide awake. And forget about what it does to your neck? turning your head to the side on your pillow causes your head and spine to be out of alignment, a recipe for more pain. 

• Here's the kicker- AGE and STRESS can be a large contributor to "middle insomnia". Great-I've got both of those in spades and I wonder why I'm waking periodically through the night? Alcohol consumption and an underlying condition could also be the answer to waking in the middle of the night. Let's hope there is no underlying condition because I'm not giving up a glass of wine at dinner. Or two. 

Bottom line is doctors say that waking in the middle of the night is a normal occurrence but that you should be able to fall back to sleep easily. So far I have been lucky to drift back off to sleep, but I have been more conscious of the position I sleep in. While I am sleeping on my back more frequently, I wonder if this position change may have something to do with the middle of the night waking? Back sleeping is not my sleeping position of choice, but if it means a better night sleep, I will continue to try it.

At most, my face will someday thank me for it, of that I can be sure.