Obsessions for This Month

The Meimei, she is homebound and sick again - brought down by a final project, stress at work, and a viral infection that Won't Go Away (though it has been downgraded to "common cold/ stress-induced asthma" at the last visit to the doctor). That doesn't mean I have a few things occupying my time while I'm home lounging in my pajamas...

- A $7 cotton top I got from Ross (Empire waisted but low cut, so I need to wear it with a cami underneath) and a V-neck tee from Nordstrom Rack that cost me... dun dun dun... all of $0.01, due to an unexpected computer glitch that everyone else let pass while I was there. Whee!

- The blind item section on Crazy Days and Nights. I could not care less about "Timmy," but I like how some of the more current-day ones actually have some pretty good reveals. And lordy lordy, do I ever laugh so hard when I read those reveals.

- Safeway's house-brand "healthy" food. I am crazy-addicted to the O Organics Golden Flakes Medley with Flax Cereal (it was on sale, too!) right now; before that it was the Eating Right Vegetarian Masala. As much as I shouldn't be patronizing the big-box stores, God help me if they weren't turning out such good stuff on my budget!

- And speaking of great stuff... the Foodland near my house not only has Ezekiel 4:9 bread, it also stocks a pretty good (though more cardboard-flavored) sprouted-grain loaf at a fraction of the cost of the original Ezekiel. I like to make grilled-cheese sandwiches with this using low fat cheddar, smoked turkey, and mango chutney.

- Boosting up my usual hot-salt-water gargle for my sore throat with tea-tree oil - a handy tip that I got from an alternative-medicine practicioner friend of mine - to kill more germs. Still doesn't make the whole thing tolerable, but I find that I've sounded less froggy since I started doing this. Aromatherapy with the tea-tree oil also helps for those moments when I'm too wheezy to deal with my inhaler.

- Speaking of tea, my beverage of choice during this time is hot ginger tea, made with straight-up fresh ginger (not candied), hot water, and some honey - I've found that the combo really works wonders in keeping laryngitis away. In the past I've boosted this up with cinnamon sticks and lemon; however, since it's still way too hot outside for me to turn the combo into a real Hot Toddy, I've added chopped apples to the ginger instead.

- Probiotics. I swear that my throat and lungs (and the rest of me) would never have gotten better if I hadn't started myself on those acidophilus capsules to make up for all the antibiotics I got from my other doctor.

- During the moments when I stop wheezing, I've started taking stock of my makeup box again, and I must say this: I have way, wayyy too much shimmery brown eyeshadow. It's a good thing that my friends and I are planning a Makeover Night pretty soon, because as much as I can't keep them, I couldn't let a good thing go to waste.