COMFORT (A 31 Days of Five Minute Free Writes Post)

What's more comforting than lying in your warm bed under a bunch of blankets when it's cold outside your cocoon?  I've always loved the feeling of a pile of heavy blankets pinning me down in bed.  One of my parents' friends gave them an entire sheep's fleece as a wedding present.  They had it made into a comforter, which, decades later, I confiscated and used on my bed.  It was HEAVY, but oh, so comforting.  Who in his right mind would want to be able to move?  So soothing, all that weight.  It makes it easy to fall asleep.  I've "known" that for forever, but kind of thought it was just me. 

Turns out I'm not alone.

I've been hearing a lot recently about weighted blankets - mainly about how to make your own - but never understood what they were for. 

So, of course, I googled it!

Weighted blankets are used as occupational therapy for kids and adults with sensory disorders, anxiety, stress, and issues related to autism and ADHD.  One blanket company website lists over thirty disorders or diseases with symptoms that may be helped by deep pressure touch stimulation (the same idea as swaddling!) from PTSD to Alzheimer's to panic attacks to menopause.  Basically, a weighted blanket gives you a whole body hug.

An article in Forbes states weighted blankets may help others sleep more soundly, waking up happier and more focused.  Sounds like something we all could use.

Fascinating! 

And comforting.

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This post is part of the 31-Day of Five Minute Free Writes challenge link-up.  Today's writing prompt was for Five Minute Friday, "COMFORT."  For more information on the challenge click here.

Finally Human Again...I Think

After nearly four weeks of suffering from the effects of a sinus infection, I may actually be functional again.  I don't remember a sinus infection that exhaused me for so long after starting antibiotics, and I'm the Queen of Sinusitis!  I don't mind being SICK, but I do mind being nominally well, but exhausted and still blowing STUFF out of my head and coughing like mad.

The previous post gives the early chronology of this particular round of sinusitis  After the initial euphoria at feeling somewhat better, I seemed to slip backward some, and I was just so TIRED all the time.  Over the weekend, I was able to accomplish some things around the house, but I'd have to stop and rest, and by late afternoon, I was DONE.  Nothing else was going to happen except for coughing and nose blowing.  Monday I felt pretty good, and got some things accomplished in the evening, but on Tuesday, I hit the wall around 2:00 in the afternoon and went home.  I struggled to stay awake driving home, and had The Boy drive me to dinner because I was hungry but couldn't do anything about it.  I fell asleep in the car coming and going, and could hardly drag myself to bed.

Once I had my pajamas on and was IN bed, however, I couldn't go to sleep.  My brain was racing in circles and wouldn't let me relax.  Maybe I should have had The Boy drive me around for a while, like we used to do with The Girl to get her to sleep.  Hmmmmm...  I hadn't thought of that before.  I'll have to file that one away to try some other day.

But after all that, today I feel pretty good, and I feel ready to get back into physical activity.

My running has gone all to heck, so I expect I'll have to walk the Mini Marathon.  It is what it is.  I'll just have to adjust my expectations once again.  One of these years I WILL get all my training in.

But not THIS year.  Oh well.  You do the best you can with what you've got, and this year, I ain't got much!

I'm So TIRED of Hospitals!

I've had my fill of hospitals this year.  That Man's mother spent some time in one off and on before she passed.  That Man himself found himself undergoing open heart surgery for a birth defect (a bicuspid valve that should have been tricuspid).  My mom made a few trips to the hospital and then passed.  I went (outupatient) during the week of Thanksgiving for the infamous festive colonoscopy, and a mammogram on Black Friday.

I thought it was late enough in the year that I would finally be safe.

Uh, no.

My dad has lymphoma - a non-Hodgkins type.  He has blood tests every three to six months, and when the numbers get to a certain level, it's time for a round of chemo.

This is one of those times.  Friday, Dad went to the IU Medical Center for the first of four weekly infusions.  I got a call in the middle of the afternoon. He needed me to take him home after I got off work - he'd had a reaction to the medicine.

And what a reaction!

When I got there (after frantically calling friends to see who might be available to help me shuttle his car back to his apartment), he was pale, his speech was slurred, his blood pressure was way down, his temperature was way up, and he was so weak he couldn't sit up well.  Frightening!

Long story short, they gave him two units of blood, and suddenly he decided that lying down was uncomfortable, he wanted the Fox News channel turned on, and started ordering me around.

We left the hospital aroun 12:30 a.m., with me following him home.  HE DROVE HIMSELF HOME.  What the heck?  I didn't get home until after 2:00 a.m., and I hit the sack around 2:40 a.m.

Yes, he's mega-tired (but he's ALWAYS like that after a round of chemo!), but he's up and out and going and doing.  I was barely functional on Saturday, and there's nothing (physically!) wrong with me besides sleep deprivation.

Sunday, he drove himself to church and sang in a men's chorus Christmas concert.  I skipped church, did a miniscule amount of Christmas shopping, and watched the wretched Indianapolis Colts football game at Baltimore.  I did a little laundry, too, but that consisted of throwing some clothes in the washer or dryer, and heading back to the couch to watch the game.  Dad did better than I did!

Only three more infusions to go!

Here's a link to some information about his specific type of lymphoma:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000588.htm

The Emergency Tree

Our Christmas tree is up! Sort of.

We hauled the tree out of the attic and got ready to set it up, then discovered that about half of the pre-lit tree wasn't any more.

I REALLY like the tree, so I decided to remove all the lights and keep the tree - just use conventional strings of lights like we used to do in the dark ages of the 1990s.

So I sat down and began stripping the tree of its lights. I unwound and untangled the wires and the wire branches and fake needles made lots of little cuts all over my hands.  It looked like I'd been in a cat fight - with REAL cats - and I'd lost.

After two solid hours of this, I had removed all the lights from the bottom third of the tree. Hmmm... This is going to take longer than I had hoped.

I decided that was enough of that for one evening - I had to go to work in the morning! I took the whole tree (in pieces), put it in the laundry room, and shut the door to control the cats' curiosity. Steve came home and wondered whether the tree had met an untimely death.  I assured him that it was still viable, but undergoing renovations.

I was feeling the pressure of my self-imposed decorating deadline. I needed a tree and didn't know when I'd be able to have THAT tree ready.

I let it simmer in the back of my brain for a couple of days, and voilá! Inspiration! I had a four-foot pre-lit tree in the attic! If we put it on a small table in front of a window, it looks like a full-sized tree from the street.

So, I sent The Boy up to the attic to bring down The Emergency Tree. We set it up in about fifteen minutes and I immediately felt lighter - less stressed.

I can still mess with the other tree, but I don't have to get it done in any specific timeframe. The house looks fine, I can enjoy the holidays, and when it's time to pack everything up, it will be FAST.

Thank you, Emergency Tree!