The Sinus Lover’s Guide to Winter

Posted on February 22, 2011 by kim

This may be one of the dorkiest things I’ve ever posted. Still, that’s never stopped me before and isn’t that the possibility of the web anyway? The idea that you can continually embarrass yourself in new and different (notice I didn’t say interesting) ways. But, I digress.

This winter has been brutal. I think my family has been sick more than it hasn’t. At the moment, I am finally recovering from a terrible sinus infection that turned into bronchitis. This happens to me many times during the year due to sinuses that I imagine are formidable labyrinths designed to catch and trap any virus that may be wandering by. Then again, having a 3 year old coughing in your face all night really doesn’t help either. Despite all of this, I’m not one to reach for antibiotics immediately. I’m allergic to an ingredient that shows up in many of them and the remaining choices are hell on my stomach. So, I’ll often do as many preventative things I can and then see where that leaves me. Sometimes I can stave off a sinus infection progressing and sometimes (like right now) I give in and take the meds because my office is starting to wonder if I’ve gotten another job.

Here are a few things I do to try to ward off (and move along!) the sickness:

A note that these were all therapies recommended by my naturopath. I’m not claiming that they work for everyone, but they do for me!

  1. Bucky Pillow: We use this ALL the time. It could be because it’s an ingenious product or because we’re getting old. You choose. Either way, the shape above is their “hot water bottle” and it can either be heated in the microwave or chilled in the freezer. It’s the perfect size for draping over your head to help alleviate a sinus headache. Sometimes, I alternate with a bag of frozen peas (15 minutes hot, 15 minutes cold) to help sinuses drain.
  2. Neti Pot: Oh yes, I know, some of you are adverse to pouring water (or anything else) through your nose. I promise if you are all stuffed up or super dry, add a 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and a 1/4 teaspoon non-iodized salt with warm water. Tilt your head sideways and pour through. It will help clear out whatever might be lurking up there. It feels a little weird the first couple times you do it, but you get over it.
  3. EHB: Immune support botanicals (in capsule form) full of all kinds of good stuff like echinacea, goldenseal, vitamin c, b, zinc and more. No preservatives, artificial stuff or glutens.
  4. D5000: Pure vitamin D especially for those of us in the sun-deprived northwest winter.
  5. URTI Tincture:  Okay, there’s no way around it. This stuff tastes TERRIBLE, but its loaded with herbs that promote healthy sinuses and upper respiratory tract function. I swear that taking this combined with EHB is a magic combo.

Hope some of these tips might help you make it through this winter. If they don’t … there’s always Hawaii!

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Monthly Brunch – February

Posted on February 7, 2011 by kim

My sister and I have often struggled to coordinate calendars. Her and her husband’s schedule is typically packed to the gills with volunteering and social engagements and ours is ruled in many ways by the boy. We decided last month, after a particularly lovely brunch at her house, to just schedule a regular monthly brunch in which we would rotate houses. The other rule that seems to have written itself is that if you’re the visiting team, you don’t have to bring a thing! Your job is to bring your good company and your appetite.

The above picture isn’t from today’s venture, but next time I’ll remember to take photos. You get the idea though, we like to go all out. There’s no dishing up Costco mini quiches here!

Today’s menu:

  • Baked egg custard with Gruyere: Yum! This recipe was fantastic and was a much lighter alternative (it’s all relative people) from the famous McCarthy egg bake recipe I’ve been using which is loaded with butter. The fresh chives give it a nice bright taste and of course, what can go wrong with baked gruyere?
  • Baby Bran Muffins: For me, Heidi’s 101cookbooks site is in my web hall of fame for sure. Almost every recipe I’ve tried has been delicious and I appreciate the fact that you don’t notice recipes are delicious first and vegetarian second. These were just a teensy bit sweet (the way we like it) and were slathered with a little strawberry jam while still warm.
  • Herb roasted potatoes: No recipe here. Tossed a variety of small potatoes (redskins, purple and white) with olive oil, sea salt and rosemary plucked from the garden. Spread them in an even layer in a pan and roasted at 375 F.
  • Chicken apple breakfast sausages
  • Satsumas

Breakfast was finished off with a big french pressed pot of True North coffee. We lingered around the table, caught up on conversations and tried to keep D from launching a full scale game of Candyland before everyone was finished eating. And I was able to get a final measurement on the argyle scarf I’ve been knitting for Nathan since December (I promise you, there’s a reason it’s taken so long). We blissfully missed the tv-centric Superbowl bashes and had a relaxing morning with family.

Next month, brunch moves back to Beacon Hill!

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Random Bits

Posted on February 1, 2011 by kim

I love technology, but not just for technology’s sake. I love technology that is emotional, connecting, inspiring and helpful. Oh and I also love fantastic design. So here’s a random assortment of tech-type bits that I am enjoying right now.

Pinterest: I love Pinterest. I’ve been looking for a del.icio.us alternative for quite awhile but until now nothing stood out to me. Pinterest allows for an easily maintainable and (more importantly) a visual collection of your favorite places on the web. It’s easy to add new pins (links) and images on the pinned site are automatically displayed for easy selection. It makes it easy to create sweet little treasuries of web goodies.

Pixelmator: Holy pixels, I love Pixelmator! For a mere $29 USD, you get a full fledged Photoshop alternative that is intuitive, beautifully designed and you won’t have to put on layaway (remember layaway?).

Okay, I know this seems like I’m being paid to say this but I swear I’m not. I am totally impressed with the latest version of Office for Mac 2011. No … REALLY. Excel finally receives parity with the PC version (i.e. better sorting of data, conditional formatting, etc.) and Word has many handy little templates. The ribbon has been introduced into all of the applications and I have to tell you, though I hated the ribbon at first (when it was rolled out for PC) I find it pretty useful now. MS has said goodbye to Entourage (thank goodness!) in favor of Outlook which is probably the most disappointing of the bunch. The filtering is a little awkward and I have an issue (maybe it’s OS X?) where Outlook is constantly asking for access to my keychain (reminiscent of the Vista nag screens … can I do this now? What about NOW? NOW?). Still, I feel like it’s much more Mac-ish, if you will.

And that’s the nerd out round up for now.

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Office Reclaimed

Posted on January 10, 2011 by kim

Etsy MemiTheRainbow studio

In our mid-century house (that’s my fancy name for our rambler), we have a small room over the garage accessed through a small set of stairs off of the kitchen. Since we moved in, it’s been a dood room (or man cave, if you prefer) loaded with a combination of the husband’s equipment (2 basses, 1 guitar, 2 amps and an assortment of other musical equipment) and things that don’t fit anywhere else. He’s gladly offered up the room to me on many occasions, but it seemed too daunting and everyone who knows me knows I am terrible at interior design. I can write an RFP for you and plan a million dollar budget but when it comes to selecting what to put on a wall? I’m lost.

Despite all that, it’s become abundantly clear that I need a space of my own, other than the small desk in our living room. That’s the other problem, I don’t share well. In order for me to actually get down to business, I need to have the right environment. For awhile I thought I was being silly, but I’ve finally come to realize that you do whatever needs to be done to make the conditions right to write, design, whatever you love to do. Hopefully in the coming weeks … er, months, I’ll have progress to show! Any ideas? Send them my way.

Lately, I’ve been looking at lots of pictures online of really lovely home office makeovers. The picture above is of MemiTheRainbow‘s studio, featured on Etsy in a an open studio tourI love that it looks adorable but at the same time is clearly a working studio. And that’s what’s got me thinking that I might actually be able to tackle this project!

I’m just starting to collect pictures of home offices, rooms, colors, objects I like in a little digital scrapbook to help me figure out what the space should ultimately end up as. The one thing I do know is that I’d like it to be bright, clean and well organized. A nice combination of vintage and modern would be nice but I’m not sure I can pull that off. For certain I’m thinking of scouring consignment stores, Goodwill, etc. but am also definitely counting on spending money on a few nice items as well. Ideas? Send them my way!

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Speaking of Inspiration

Posted on January 4, 2011 by kim

Thanks Sharyn for the link to this video of Zak Sally, artist, cartoonist, teacher, publisher and all around cool guy. (Also happens to be the former bassist for Low.)

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Inspiration

Posted on January 4, 2011 by kim

Lately (well, actually quite frequently) I’ve been searching for inspiration. With the new year ushered in, I have a strong desire to keep the freshness and possibility it promises close to me. In the days of yore, I would have plunked myself down at a cafe with a stack of design magazines, my moleskine and a big latte mug to read, make notes and read some more. These days sitting down at a cafe alone is definitely a luxury, so I’m forced to look within shorter chunks of time. Often I’m at home trolling through the ‘inspiration’ tag of my del.icio.us links allowing myself to wander down the rabbit hole for a bit. It’s a small thing, but is nice considering for many years my job involved being on top of technology trends. I’d spent hours researching, trolling online but mandatorily rather than for fun so this is a nice departure.

    However after much perusing, I realize that my inspiration tag is sorely lacking. And the problem with del.icio.us (besides it’s rumored demise and lack of attention from its current owner). So I revert to my old standby … books. They can’t just be any old self-help-ish, Inspiration Sandwich kind of books.

    The two books below have been go to places to help me move thoughts forward. They are different, yet accomplish the same thing for me. They make me feel as though there is something on the other side of being stuck. Diane Di Prima’s Recollections of My Life As a Woman is a sometimes infuriating and undeniably passionate account of her life as a part of the beat generation. The first time I read it, I came away thinking that I didn’t want to ever again waste energy on things that didn’t inspire. Inspire. There, I said it again. The other is Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit (now spun into a sequel The Collaborative Habit). I was a bit skeptical at first, but this book is so widely applicable to any person who is creative … not singular to people who label themselves as artists. She writes about the discipline and the work in cultivating creativity and it helps shoves me out of waiting and into action. I’ll definitely be rereading these two and keeping an eye out for more resources in the coming weeks.

    Recollections of my life as a woman The Creative Habit

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    NaNoWriMo Hangover

    Posted on December 18, 2010 by kim

    If you don’t know what the title means, then you should head over to NaNoWriMo and start reading. I promise you, it’s worth it. Every November since 1999, people all over the world make the pledge to write 50,000 words in a single month. The point is not to write the perfect novel, but to just write without thought of editing or harsh judgement of your own work. Yes, it’s the journey, not the destination. For many years now, I keep saying I’m going to do it and some years I’ve even tried (most other years I got as far as logging into my account and convincing myself that I couldn’t).

    Not this year. This year, I actually finished at just over the goal. It wasn’t easy, but you know what? I actually loved the whole process. Even when I was woefully behind and wondering how I could ever actually figure out where my story needed to go next, it was still pretty dang fantastic. And now, it’s done! I promised myself mid-Movember that when/if I finished, I’d get off my biscuits and fix this blog. So, here I am.

    And where are you exactly? Well, about 8 years ago this was starbody.org until a few years ago when two things happened: 1. I had a child and stopped writing and 2. my site was hacked along with a database full of years of posts. So you might call this a clean slate.

    It’s a work-in-progress for sure, but I’ll be prettying this place up over the next few weeks and settling in. Hopefully, I’ll see you again soon.

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    The Simple Pleasures

    Posted on July 12, 2009 by kim

    disintegration

    It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to sit down and experience an album (that’s right, I said ALBUM) from start to finish. I’m a stodgy old music listener (if you haven’t guessed already) and still adhere to the idea of listening to a release in its entirety the way an artist/band intended. I know there must be quite a bit of thought that goes into which songs and what order they appear in, so at least once I like to tip my hat to that (I know, I don’t wear hats, but you get it).

    It reminds of 1989. No, that is not a typo … the numbers are not reversed. It really is supposed to be eighty-nine. I was not very music savvy and didn’t really have anyone to introduce me to the world outside of the Motown radio channels my mom listened to. It’s not that I wasn’t interested, at the time I just didn’t have the capacity to seek music out on my own. My energy was focused on surviving and assimilating into my almost all-white high school and recovering from my father’s early death. I had this friend who was outside of the circle of friends I normally hung out with. She was different in a way that I didn’t have the courage to be and I admired her (and still do) for it. Bright red hair, nose piercing and destined to be an artist. She introduced me to the Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance. And there I was in the parking lot of the Harmony House with a newly purchased cassette tape (extended play, mind you) of Disintegration in my hot little hands.

    I popped the tape in (because if you can recall, that’s what you did with a tape!) and sat in the car listening to the whole thing, from a side to b. I was totally blown away by the expansive, transporting sound and especially the haunting lyrics. These people thought it was okay to write the word ‘abasement’ into a lyric. I was totally hooked and have consistently listened to that album over the last 20 years. OMG. TWENTY YEARS! It’s been witness to the most worst and best moments of my life. I still think of it in terms of the a and b side when I listen to it now on my cassette player. Just kidding. On the Nano, duh. When I hear individual songs, my mind immediately goes to expecting the next song. It’s impossible for me to think about having picked and plucked just one track from iTunes, this is an album I put on to listen to in its entirety because the whole is the sum of its parts. If I had just picked up ‘Pictures of You’ or ‘Love Song’, I would have missed how they fit in between all of the others (and would have missed my favorite songs as well).

    So see, give an album a chance. You never know whether it might be part of your next twenty years.

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    Jack White, That Crazy Kid

    Posted on July 12, 2009 by kim

    How fun is it to be Jack White? Basically, you’ve succeeded in being able to do whatever you’d like musically and have people respect that. Courtesy of NPR, a complete listen of his latest project The Dead Weather’s album Horehound featuring Alison Mosshart (Kills), Jack Lawrence (Queens of the Stone Age) and Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age).

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    The Sadness

    Posted on May 31, 2009 by kim

    Sad news this morning came delivered by way of the internets and a phone call from a friend to let me know that my best friend’s father had passed away. Besides the fact that I am heavy with sadness, I also have writer’s block. As you may have guessed, this is the way I work through many things. I typically think and examine through writing. However, at the moment all I seem to be able to do is sit on the deck and stare at the trees.

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