Sharing & the Neti Pot

I know that sharing is a good thing. I mean, parents always tell you to "share your toys", "share your cookies", "share your space in the back seat of the car", "share your brand new sweater that you haven't even worn yet". Share, share, share! You get the idea.

Well, I decided to "share" something this week. I let Bill "play with" my cold. Yep! I shared all the snot, and sneezing, and coughing, and headaches, etc. with him so he wouldn't feel left out. I got it a week and a half ago (the crud that's been afflicting every person in the immediate world it seems like), and SUFFERED MIGHTILY with it. My nose ran, my stomach muscles and muscles that I didn't know that I even had ached from all the coughing, and I felt like cr*p. You get the idea. If you've had it, you know what I'm talking about. I ate chicken soup and crackers and not much else. It all tasted flat and crummy so why eat.

Anyway, this week Bill is enjoying the "crud". Now, I didn't really give it to him on purpose - although last night he seemed to indicate that it was entirely my fault that he was now feeling like cr*p. BUT, remember the sharing thing mentioned above. I guess that is deeply ingrained in my being and I just couldn't help myself. That, and the fact, that even though I was sick in bed on two chairs, I still had to do the majority of the cooking and "what little food we actually had" preparation. So, I suppose one of those virulent little crud virus bugs just happened to get into something he consumed. So, we're back to share and share alike. However, as I am now on the mend, I hope that he doesn't decide to reciprocate and share it back, because, believe me, I DON'T WANT IT BACK!!!!!! I've enjoyed all the coughing, running, blowing, and sneezing that I want to for a while.

HOWEVER, I did happen upon a neat little gadget called a Neti Pot. Perhaps you've heard of it. I saw it on "Live with Regis and Kelly" a few weeks ago, and actually thought it was kind of a joke. Then, in the midst of the coughing, sneezing, snotting, etc. last week, I saw a doctor on FOX and Friends News one morning listing the 5 top treatments for "the crud". And believe it or not, the Neti Pot was at the top of the list. It is really a help.

SO - - I decided to give it a try. Now, before I jumped off and bought one of these things I found this cute little old elephant tea pot sitting on my shelf that looked like it would work just fine. So, I filled the little guy up with some warm saline water and stuck his trunk up one nostril and proceeded to pour the water up my nose. And, lo and behold, I could feel it traveling through my sinuses behind my eyes, and then out the other nostril. That really got things moving up there.

After a couple treatments with the elephant pot, I decided to buy a Neti Pot if I coud find one the next time we went to town. The elephant's trunk was a little large at the end to comfortably fit up my nose. I did it but the Neti Pot works much better.

But, it DOES work. Clears all that thick mucus out of your sinuses, and makes it easier to blow out. I'm a firm believer in the Neti Pot. I really began feeling better as soon as I started using this thing. My head didn't ache anymore and I could keep my nose blowed with a minumum of pressure. So, that's my experience with the Neti Pot. It will stay in my cabinet from now on.

You can research it online by Googling "Neti Pot". You'll find a lot of information about it.

So, that's it for the sharing. Hope Bill gets feeling better. I guess he's going to stay in bed today. Perhaps that will get him back on the road to recovery. Now if I could just get him to try the Neti Pot! He's one of the sceptics yet.

JB

Conflake Candy

Here's a recipe that I absolutely think is DEEEEElicious!!! I was in a poopy mood a couple weeks ago, and just decided I needed to have some sinful something to munch on. A friend of mine e-mailed me this recipe so I thought I'd give it a try. U-m-m-m-m-m-m-m.

So, perhaps you'd like to give it a try as well. It's really easy to make and keeps well.

Grease a large bowl to mix in and put in:

4 1/2 cups corn flakes (can use frosted flakes instead of regular and crush them a little)

1/2 cup coconut (packed in the cup a little)

1/2 cup skinless peanuts (I substituted chopped almonds, and I'm going to try macadamia nuts next time)


In a separate heavy pot, pour in 1 cup of white corn syrup and one cup of white sugar. Place on the stove and carefully bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and add 1 cup of cream or crunchy peanut butter. (creamy is better). Blend well with cornflake mixture and drop portions onto wax paper on non-stick baking pans. Let cool before eating.

That's all there is to it, and actually, I really liked them warm as well. They were a little more sticky that way, but really yummy.

You'll see what I mean if you give the recipe a try.

Enjoy the recipe.

JB

Left Handed

Well, I see our new president is left-handed. How can I tell? Simple. I watched as he began signing papers immediately following his inauguration, and his hand was up and curled over the paper his was signing.

Now, I'm left-handed too, as I'm sure are many other folks out there. Luckily, when I was a kid, they had stopped trying to force a child to write with the right hand, or I might really be psychotic today. Never know what switching hands might do to you.

Of course, in school, when we were learning to write, print, or put little marks down on the paper, the teacher told us to slant the page slightly to the right to make it easier. I don't remember them telling me to slant mine to the left for the same reason, but that's what I did - at least, apparently that's what I did, because I don't write with my hand all curved around and smearing across my paper. That's really all it takes to correct the situation.

When our granddaughter, Lacie, was born left-handed, I shared all my "lefty" wisdom with her. Especially the saying, "if the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left handed people are in their right minds". I've always loved that one!! But, I did tell her about turning her paper to the left, and I believe that she does - don't you Lacie?

I gave serious thought to e-mailing the new president and telling him this little tidbit of information, but wouldn't you think that a person of his intelligence would have figured it out by now? And then he signed the bill repealing all the Pro-Life legislation President Bush had enacted, and I thought, "Why should I tell him?" He can just continue looking "left-handed".

So, if anyone reading this has the same problem, give your paper a slant to the left and see if your hand doesn't just miraculously straighten out. I have never minded being a "lefty", though, especially since nowadays, there are plenty of "left-handed" gadgets to get. One of the pluses of being left handed is that if you happen to inherit a really good hand potato peeler from a right handed person, the side they always used is probably dull and not much good, BUT, the side I now use is brand new. Can't beat a deal like that!!

So, President Obama, if you ever read this, turn your paper to the left. It works!!

JB