Sunday, March 18, 2012

Allergies

Seasonal, yes.  It's that time of year.  Yellow shaded warm breezes.  I swear, I never had them until 2006...the year we moved down here.  And it seems like they've gotten worse each year.  Spring and Fall, doesn't matter here.  And this year, we have an early Spring...we've had temps in the 80s for maybe 3 weeks.  We hardly had a winter and in fact, did not have enough of a hard long freeze to kill down the insects. WAHHHHH!  It's going to be pestilence this year.  Sigh.  Gnats.  Mosquitoes.  Roaches probably.  Gag.

Yes. I love Spring.  I do.   I used to get Spring Fever so badly during school, that my grades would usually slump.  I would stare at the blue sky out of the classroom windows if I could.  In college, I definitely played hookie, usually with my best friend;  we'd drive off somewhere in my car, grab lunch or some frozen yogurt or coffee, and just go sit somewhere w/ the windows down, the music on, sometimes in silence, or sometimes in deep conversation.  (Yes, Cindy I sometimes long for those days again :)  Or just to have them here and there NOW.)  But, too, I loved the smell of the flowers in bloom.  The azaleas that the South is so well known for.  The wisteria was and is a favorite (though bees swarm to it LOL.)  And I see all of it abloom now.... in fact, we have one tiny azalea bush at our new home, beside the garage.

:)  (and yes we need to rake our pinestraw, argh) But....all this beauty....is now...sadly...in my late 30s, becoming the BANE of my EXISTENCE!  LOL  Tickles in my throat that are somehow connected to my eyeballs, namely my right one, as if by a string or electrical wire....like a button sounding the alarm...I feel the tiny little tickle and I know:  either I am going to gag, cough, sneeze, or seem to cry.  It happened again in Mass tonight, and briefly Mariam stopped being ...well, naughty...and asked me if I was crying, in a concerned tone. LOL  No.  "You have somethin' in your eye?"  Yes.  And I imagined this yellow spire ball of pollen somehow stuck to the pink toned inside of my throat and maybe my eyeball too. I imagine it looking like a sweetgum ball, with the spikey points, only yellow.  But w/ a maniacal evil laugh, as if so happy to be tormenting me. LOL  Gah.  And the sinus pressure....  Sometimes around my eyes, sometimes leading up to my ear, sometimes around my sides of my nose....and then, I wonder if it's just a bad tooth root hurting me, I don't even know anymore, it hurts off and on so much now in my face.   And just the past few days, a bit of chest wheeze has developed.  I knew I could literally feel that pollen blowing into my lungs.  Sigh.  No, I don't have a cold.  Most of the time, I otherwise feel fine.  No sore throat.  No fever.  This has been going on, daily for like 3 weeks now.  Happened last fall, and last spring, and the fall before that, and the spring before that, and...  like I said...2006.  And I tried taking Zyrtec for few weeks,..to no avail.  So, now I'm trying another one...to no avail.  Mucus relief, ibuprofren, sometimes cough meds, sometimes honey, ....  Maybe I could try peppermint oil or eucalyptus oil on my sinuses?  I don't know, that's all the essential oils I have right now....but I'll try anything.  And we were outside at the park a long time on Saturday, and though it was hot, it was so nice, but I knew....I knew I'd suffer later...and I did.  I took some Nyquil last night, just so I'd sleep.... And I can't take benadryl, that makes me soo sleepy during the day, and have a hangover the next day.   Anyone out there have thoughts or ideas as to what I should try?  Guess I need to do some googling....

UPDATE:  allergies have been getting better this week, but...bad news is, I am pretty sure some of that what I thought to be sinus-pressure is rather my tooth hurting me :(  I had this bad tooth that had started to chip...and finally broke...it didn't hurt me though...even though it's broke up to the gum...it's on the side, so thankfully not obvious to the world, but I thought I was going to get to coast along...continuing my 8 yr long (wow time flies! sigh) avoidance of the dentist (another post for another time, related to my PTSD and fear) .....but if this keeps up and/or gets progressively worse...I may have to break down ...and that scares the dickens out of me!!!!  SO I ask for prayers for my tooth....may my pain go away like Doug's did with his LOL  It sort of radiates along the whole side of my face, up toward my ear... just one ibuprofren or tylenol won't touch it....sigh.

Friday Freewrite

Well, I am not going to finish this (or even begin it ) on Friday, but thought I'd do the Bravewriter "Friday Freewrite" challenge here:  What four things are most important in your life?  I'm just going to go ahead and blurt it out:  My FAITH, My HUSBAND, MY KIDS, and...ok to choose one more is hard.  My Church...?  My extended family and friends...?  Definitely, but who or what am I forgetting here?  I don't want to mess this up. LOL  There's food of course, sigh...a little too important in my life.  There's Freedom...which I fear is being taken away slowly by the current administration in the U.S. of A.  There's a roof over our heads...very thankful for that, since money is so tight...paycheck to paycheck, but always the first bill we pay, never late.  There's homeschooling....the time I get to spend with my children, protecting them from certain things, giving them the freedom to be who they are and to learn on their own or in their own timing.  There's also a vehicle to drive...barely working, sometimes just one, not two, but still a vehicle nonetheless with gas mostly in the tank.   But what is truly important in life beyond my Faith, Husband and Kids?  I'm not sure...will continue to ponder...

Spirited Child

sigh, when am I going to buy this book?  How many more struggles w/ Mariam in Mass will it take?  Actually, I think I had been planning to get The Strong Willed Child by James Dobson, but I think I more so want to get Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka .......suggested by Unschooling Catholic Moms.... and then too, I think for ME, I want to get  The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World  http://www.amazon.com/The-Introvert-Advantage-Thrive-Extrovert/dp/0761123695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332011767&sr=8-1   ......  well ...we shall see...


P.S. As I "speak" she is brushing my hair LOL somewhat gently....she can be SO sweet and SO mean at the same time :P  I'm not sure if it's helping or hurting my sinus/allergy headache (that has been DAILY for the past few weeks due to the severe pollen sigh...)  but really my daily prayer has been, in Adoration and in Mass especially, Lord, please help me to be a better mother, to be more patient, to not yell.....Amen.
(a little pic I drew of us me and Mariam lol notice the bags under eyes :P)

Catholic Bubble post

agree too: http://barefootinmycatholicbubble.blogspot.com/2012/03/non-acceptance-and-other-myths.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BarefootInMyCatholicBubble+%28Barefoot+in+my+Catholic+Bubble%29

Catholic Working Mom post

I agree: http://danardoyle.wordpress.com/2012/03/18/pepsi-using-aborted-fetuses/

P.S. on Update on Lent

I think one thing I want to say, about my spiritual life right now is related to the talk I gave at Cursillo back in, oh, November I think it was.  My recurring theme in life is "Be Not Afraid."  I won't go into full detail, but what got me to thinking about it is my more recent (in a year or more time) "letting go" on Facebook of my feelings and thoughts on pro-life things.  I often post and share articles about the pro-life movement or the assault on Life in our Culture of Death.


This sums it up:  (insert quote on FB wall)
I thank God today for the gift of my life,
and for the lives of my brothers and sisters. 

I know I am responsible for the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. 

I know that the most serious tragedy of our day is the tragedy of abortion.

Today I commit myself,
never to be silent,
never to be passive,
never to be forgetful of the unborn.

I commit myself to be active in the pro-life movement
and never to stop defending life
until all my brothers and sisters are protected,
and our nation once again becomes
a nation with liberty and justice,
not just for some, but for all. Amen!
(NOW REPOST for the sake of the innocent wee ones! AMEN! ;-)
 

I guess what I am saying is that, in some ways, my spiritual life is improving....in others I am still very weak.  Ha!  I'm not sure if this was the original point I wanted to make, but I have slept since I began this post, so....

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Update on M's hair

Last weekend, a friend's ("Ms. Joann" whom the kids adore, but more on that another time) mom trimmed M's hair up a bit.  It looks sooo cute! :)  You can hardly tell she ever snipped it  :P  (Mariam that is...)  Check it out: