It has been a busy, busy couple of weeks. And not even thanks to NaNoWriMo, which I pretty much gave up all hope of winning midway through last week. There have been a lot of errands to run, and freelance gigs to get done, and stuff needing done around the house. Hopefully, next week we’ll get back to sanity and a normal blogging schedule.
In the meantime, I wanted to pop in and say, Happy Thanksgiving! I have much to be thankful for this year. Well, I do every year, truth be told; but compared to where we were at this point in time last year, this year has been much more gracious to us. This year we’ve witnessed God’s provision in several areas, not the least of which has been health and finances. It hasn’t been a year without challenges, but it’s also included a lot of awesome, for which I am incredibly grateful.
Here’s wishing a lovely “ritual sacrifice with pie” day to you and yours.
This week did not go as planned. Matt and I ran all over town running errands and stocking up on winter supplies. Wednesday was supposed to involve a quick morning run to Sprouts to stock up on produce and bulk dry goods, after which I was going to catch up on writing and freelance work. But just before we left, the insurance adjuster FINALLY returned our call (did I mention here that we were involved in an accident last week?).
We spent probably 45 minutes on the phone with him, asking and answering questions about our claim, and then he approved us for a rental car, so we had to go pick that up, which ate up another hour or so. By the time we finally made it to Sprouts it was noon already. Tuesday and Thursday were even more hectic. The upshot of which is, I haven’t added a single word to my NaNoWriMo word count since Monday.
This introverted homebody is completely worn out. But at least we’re ready if the winter weather that’s expected to hit this weekend turns into a big deal. Today was all about getting caught up on my freelancing so I don’t have to work through the weekend, so it hasn’t exactly been restful. My new plan is to spend Saturday vegging out and recharging my brain, and then Sunday, while Matt is distracted with football, I will make a valiant effort to catch up on my word count before deciding whether to throw in the towel on trying to win ‘WriMo this year. Unless ice knocks out our power, in which case my chances are pretty much screwed. But at least we’ll be well fed and we won’t freeze to death.
If you’re new around here, you probably don’t know that I have a second (now defunct) blog about homemaking, prepping and frugal living. A couple months ago, I decided to put that blog on permanent hiatus and merge those posts with this blog, but then I never got around to the merging part. Until now. Since NaNoWriMo doesn’t leave a lot of time for blogging, throughout November I’ll be updating and re-posting some of the most popular posts from that blog. Like this one about making your own allergy eye drops, originally posted last December. It’s my most re-pinned post ever on Pinterest. If you’re suffering like I am this time of year, you’ll find it timely and helpful.
You wouldn’t think that the middle of December, with snow on the ground no less, would be prime time for a hay fever attack. Alas, here in Oklahoma, allergies don’t really have an off season, and the other day I woke up with a major case of burning red eye and stuffy sinuses. Naturally, I was all out of my allergy meds and eye drops, so once again I turned to Dr. Internet to see what kind of relief I could find in my own kitchen.
I normally take antihistamine drops when my eyes redden and swell up like that, so I was skeptical about how well anything I could make myself would actually help. But I was also desperate. So after consulting a few home remedy recipes online, I came up with my own simple recipe for an anti-bacterial saline solution:
1 cup filtered, purified or distilled water
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp honey (for its antibacterial properties)
Boil the water, then mix in the salt and honey until it dissolves. After it cools, use a clean eye dropper or medicine dropper to place a few drops in each eye (I used a syringe for administering oral medications to our pets — washed thoroughly with soap and water and rinsed really well, of course). Most of the recipes I found online called for distilled water, but again, I had to use what I had on hand, which was purified bottled water.
It worked! I felt instant relief, and after a few more applications, all of the redness, pain and itchiness was gone. The best part is that since these drops aren’t medicated, I could use them as often as necessary without having to wait for the dosage to wear off. I also used some of the solution to flush out my sinuses and found myself breathing easy the rest of the day.
Do you have a favorite home remedy for allergies? Tell us what works for you in the comments!
