When Life Gets in the Way

Well, my plan for this weekend was to write a review on some face wash I had tried. That didn't get done, but I will do it at some point soon.

The last couple of weeks have been tough. First my illness kept me down a lot, work has been crazy overwhelming, and this morning we woke up to a huge flood in our apartment. One of the little pipes in the toilet tank broke, and it leaked all night and we woke up to maintenance pounding on our door because it had flooded the downstairs apartment, too. 

We slept through the flood because it happened in our spare bathroom and den, so we didn't have a clue! I seriously had to answer the door in pjs. Plus the dishes were everywhere and nothing was clean because I've been sick for two weeks. So incredibly embarrassing....

Now we have these loud, smelly blowers in our apartment to dry the carpet, and the carpet guys are coming back on Tuesday to take them away and put in new pads, plus shampoo the carpet.

If all this wasn't crappy enough, I've also fallen off the wagon as far as my weight loss was concerned, and I can't blame my illness entirely. Ever since going back to work, I've been so dang tired in the evening that I've been making poor food choices constantly. Since getting sick, I haven't been able to keep my work out schedule, and so I have no idea what I weigh at the moment...

But I digress. So I'm not perfect. Not even close. Life has gotten in the way the last month, but I promise I'll get better. One day at a time, right?

Sick Day

I know it has been a little while since I actually wrote a health update, so I wanted to do that today. The last few days I have been horribly sick with some kind of cold or flu or whatever sickness is currently spreading like wildfire through my workplace. When I started getting the tell-tale tickle in my throat on Wednesday, I was struck with a bout of extreme frustration, because in past years I have had until October before coming down with the yearly plague.

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Working in a germ-factory like a school, it is almost impossible to avoid coming down with something when everyone else has it. You can get all the rest in the world, take Vitamin C, eat healthy, and avoid touching your face; but inevitably, eventually you will catch something. So how do you deal?

I am a special case because I am deathly allergic to penicillin and most of the alternatives, so I don't even bother going to the doctor when I'm sick. I just have to suffer it out. I do take NyQuil to help me get through the first couple of nights, and DayQuil when I have to go to work. They don't work well, but they take the edge off.

First, I drink LOTS of juice. Water is too rough/tastes weird on my throat when I'm sick, so I make a half juice/half water concoction and drink that 24/7. Yes, yes, I know that juice is mostly sugar, but I'm sick so I feel that I can have a free pass on this one. Besides, it's better than the constant flow of 7UP, which is all I would drink when I was sick as a kid!

Hot tea and coffee help too, but avoid any kind of dairy creamers. Milk and cream in general are not a good idea when sick with a cold or flu, because liquid dairy can increase mucus  production. Some studies have debunked this as a myth, but I'm just saying it from personal experience. Every time I have milk or cream or ice cream when I am sick, I feel a little worse. Cheese seems to be okay. Better to be safe than sorry!

Chicken soup, or any kind of soup, is good for you. It's easier for your body to digest, and just feels comforting!! My favorite is Marie Callender's Potato Cheese, but it's expensive and there isn't a Marie's near where I live now. I settle for Tomato Basil from Fresh & Easy, or some sort of Chicken Noodle. I have a great recipe for Zucchini Soup with a chicken broth base, and I would have made it this week if I didn't feel so terrible! Next time I make it, I'll post the recipe!

The other two things that help when I'm sick are lots of trashy magazines and lots of sleep. The celebrity gossip is so much fun and I don't have to think much, plus the more sleep I can get, the faster I feel better. 

That's it... I know there are tons of home cold/flu remedies out there but I'm simple and stick to the basics. 

What are your favorite home cold/flu remedies? How do you deal when you're sick? I'd be happy to hear any good advice! 

Now, I'm going back to bed!

Until next time,
J

Liebster Award and DonorsChoose.org Announcements!

I have a couple of announcements to make this week so I thought that I would do them both in one post! 

Donors Choose Announcement:

Donorschoose.org is a nonprofit organization that helps teachers like me get supplies for their classrooms. Teachers choose items that will benefit their students, and create a project to fund. As it is a new school year, and my school is lacking in 21st century technology, I feel that it would be amazing for my students to have a Nook Tablet in the classroom. They could use it for reading, of course, but also for research on the internet, projects, and educational apps. 

If you would like to make a tax-deductable donation to my project, please click this link: 

My DonorsChoose.org page! 

If you donate a dollar or more by Tuesday, August 21, you can use the code INSPIRE and a company will match your donation to my project! You will also receive personal thank you notes from my students and me once my project is funded completely! 

The Liebster Award!

First of all, I am especially blessed to receive the Liebster Award from not one, but two friends in the same week! I would like to honor them both by answering both sets of questions from their pages. 

Lisa's Blog is Beautiful in Pittsburgh, and Selma's is Meteo Beauty. Both of these ladies write wonderfully informative blogs that are definitely worth a visit! :)

The Liebster award recognizes up and coming blogs with less than 200 followers. I am told that the word "liebster" is German for "dearest," "favorite," or "sweetest." In order to accept the award, one must abide by the following rules:

Product Purge #1 - What I'm Throwing Away and Why

As I've mentioned before, the switch to natural and organic products does not come overnight. I loathe to throw away some of my most treasured items, but others I don't feel so bad. I am starting to go through my collection of products and throw away the ones that are almost gone and have dangerous ingredients and chemicals in them. The following are the items I decided to throw away this week:



1). Generic Eye Shadow from a random Christmas stocking gift a few years ago. 

These probably came from the dollar store or some place really cheap, and they have no brand whatsoever. Not that I'm knocking the dollar store, but it's not the best place to buy makeup. I have used these a couple of times, and they are terrible. They smear all over my face and last maybe 1 hour at most. Considering their ingredients aren't listed, who knows what horrors they contain! :)

Decisions... decisions...

I've made it my goal this summer to find new healthy recipes that I can make from scratch using inexpensive ingredients Seeing as that I have a lot of ideas that I want to try, I've decided to add recipes and food as a main topic of my blog. I will still be reviewing and discussing beauty products, but I'm just going to feature healthy foods just as often! :) 


The hubby and I are on a budget this month, so when we went shopping yesterday, I made sure to get some ingredients and items that could be used in different ways. 


Some of the things I purchased were: 

A New Project

Welcome! This blog will be a place to talk about beauty, products and their ingredients, and general information about being healthy. This is also a place where I can share my views on some of the current beauty practices and products out there today. I might also throw in some random stuff like tips on being frugal and saving money, which is another of my interests.