Stressed!

Lately, I have been a little frazzled...well, ok, a lot frazzled.  I have some major stressors in my life at the moment and most days I just want to go to my bedroom and crawl into bed and hide, but I can't.  There are people counting on me to get up and function as a human being.  Darned responsibilities!

I have been dreaming of a stress free life.  Literally, I have dreams of sitting on a dock, the sun streaming down on me, and my toes dangling in cool water.  

And yes, in all of these dreams, I am THIN and either wearing a vintage bikini or shorts and a cute midriff shirt.

I also dream of escaping to a serene cabin deep into the mountains, far from civilization.  I think I just want to run away and hide from everyone and everything.

I yearn for a simple life with peace and tranquility.  I pray for it, wish for it, and dream of it.

Will I get it?  No time soon, I'm sure, because I am a working woman, a mother of six, a grandmother of soon to be eight, and have a father with a terminal illness.  But a girl can dream, can't she?

Kicking The Habit

I have to confess something, I have an addiction to nasal spray.  Actually, the Mayo-Clinic calls it a rebound effect rather than an addiction, but I could not make it through the day without it, therefore, I call it an addiction.

For months I relied on nasal spray to allow me to breathe, it would be the first thing I did in the mornings and the last thing I would do at night before going to sleep.  I kept a bottle on my nightstand beside the bed, a bottle in my purse, and at times would have a bottle in my car.  If we were going somewhere and realized we had forgotten the nasal spray, we would turn around and go back for it or stop and buy a new bottle.  -  I say "we" here because my husband has the same addiction.

Our addiction started with allergies and nasal congestion.  Originally I bought Afrin No Drip Severe Congestion with Menthol.  It worked amazingly at keeping our sinus' clear plus it would give that little extra jolt of menthol to open up your head.  I could use it in the morning and breathe normally all day.  But, after just a few days of using it, I was also having to use it before going to sleep to be able to breath all night.  After a while, I was also having to use it during the day.  If we visited a place with particularly dry air I would have to use my spray.  It became so that I was dependent on the spray just to be able to make it through out the day.

I was buying 4 to 6 boxes at a time, every few weeks which was getting quite expensive.  The Afrin at our local Walmart runs around $7.98 per bottle so it was at this time that I switched to the store brand equivalent.  You got twice as much product for half the price, and it worked just as well for me, minus the blast of menthol.

During all of this, I never once connected my nasal spray to the symptoms I was having - dryness and stuffiness, itchy nose, sneezing, headaches.  All of these things I contributed to my allergies.  Then, a few months ago, I had a nurse friend at work notice the bottle sitting on my desk and he cautioned me on using too much.  He told me that the way nasal spray works is to constrict the blood vessels which is not something a person with high blood pressure already, such as myself, should be doing frequently.

This made me stop and think about what I was truly doing to my body, but I didn't seriously consider quitting until just a few weeks ago.  I have been having a really hard time sleeping lately and while doing some more research on the side effects of nasal spray, I noticed that sleep disturbances were one of them, along with a whole host of others.  So, I decided it was time and no matter how difficult, I had to do it.

I started out by doing some research on how to kick the habit, so to speak, and decided on two ways that I would try.  One way was to add saline solution to my nasal spray and continue using it.  As the bottle emptied, continue filling it with more saline solution, watering down the nasal spray and weaning myself off of it.  This was going to be my Plan B.  

I decided first I would try only using the nasal spray in one nostril, allowing the other nostril to heal and adjust back to not having the spray.  It would be stuffy and congested but I should be able to breathe through the nostril that I was still using the spray in during this process.  After a while, the nostril that I wasn't using the spray in would go back to normal and I would be able to breathe through it and not use the spray at all, allowing the last nostril to adjust back to normal.

It has been two weeks today since I started the process of only using it on one side and one week since I have used it at all.  I still have some stuffiness and dryness, but it's tolerable and I'm hopeful that in a few more days and I will be back to normal, though I may use a saline solution to help with the dryness and to help clean my sinus'.

I can already tell a huge difference in the amount of sneezing I'm doing - or rather, not doing and the itchiness is pretty much non-existent.  Overall, I am very happy with my decision to kick the nasal spray habit.  Now if I can just get the hubby to give it a go.

If you are considering using Nasal Spray, I caution you to please only use as directed.

Autumn Walk

Recently I have began a walking routine, - which is a major accomplishment for me because I hate to exercise.   I have put on some extra weight, so I know that it is necessary for my health.  I don't enjoy it, but I endure it.  The one thing that makes all this walking worth the effort is the magnificent view that comes with living in a remote country setting during the Autumn months.  So, I wanted to share with you guys what you would see if you were out walking in my neck of the woods.

What do you see when you go walking?

Acrylic Nail Removal

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I suffer with fingernail issues.  Some of them are soft and some of them are dry and brittle, breaking and cracking easily.  Pretty much all of them seem damaged in some way.  I do have a few that will grow fairly strong and lengthy, but that just looks silly, having one or two long nails and the rest short.  So, way back in the early Spring I decided to have acrylic nails put on.  I would go back every few weeks to have them filled in and repainted.  But, as anyone who has acrylics knows, this can be a time consuming and expensive adventure, so I decided the time had come to remove them.

Removing my acrylic nails at home:

I didn't have time to go back to the salon to have them removed, nor did I really want to pay for something that I thought I could do myself.  So, I bought some acetone and sat down the other evening to soak my nails.  I soon realized that this was going to require some effort, not the instantaneous effect I had hoped for.  I did a little research online on acrylic removal and started the process over again.

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This time I heated a bowl of water up in the microwave, poured my acetone into a ziploc bag, and placed the bag into the bowl of warm water, creating a double broiler effect.  This was to heat the acetone up, since it is a solvent and highly volatile, you don't want to place it directly in the microwave or on the stove.

The instructions I was following said to let your nails soak for 15-20 minutes, then you should be able to peel the acrylic right off.  (Here's where I want to tell you what happened with mine and give you some tips on how to not have it happen to you.)

First, that acetone gets hot, and I mean hot, - quickly, so I wouldn't suggest bringing your bowl of water to a boil like I did.  Almost immediately after putting my baggy of acetone into the water, I placed my nails into the bag to soak, and OUCH!  Hot!!  Room temperature water is probably plenty warm enough, won't make that mistake again.

After about 20 minutes of soaking, after I let it cool down somewhat, I pulled one hand out to test it.  This is what your nail will look like after about 20 minutes of soaking.

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I thought I would try my pinky fingernail first because it had grown out the farthest and was already somewhat loose.  I pried on the acrylic and - SNAP, off it came bringing my fingernail with it, down to the quick.  ** Insert expletive here. ** 

It was obvious that I was not doing something correctly and 20 minutes wasn't going to touch this stuff, so I stuck my hands back into the little baggy of acetone, mindful not to put in my little pinky that was now bleeding.  I could feel the acrylic getting gummy and would use my fingers to rub it off.  Fast forward to the end, 2 hours later.  Yep, you read that right.  I sat there for 2 hours soaking my fingers in that little baggy of acetone before I got most of the acrylic rubbed off.  And I'm pretty sure that I have damaged my nails further in addition to totally drying out the skin on my fingers.

So where did I go wrong?  Here's what I learned, after the fact:

• Trim your nails down and rough up the acrylic a little with a file or buffing pad.  When you file down the nail before soaking it in acetone, it helps the solvent work in two ways: there’s less product to remove, and  rough surfaces have more exposed surface area for the solvent to be absorbed into.

• You can rub vaseline around the outside of your nails to keep the acetone from drying out your skin and cuticles.  Make sure not to get it onto your nails though because you want that acetone to penetrate the acrylic.

• After you've soaked for about 10 minutes or so and the acrylic is gummy feeling, you should take one of the  wood sticks that come with a manicure kit, I'm not sure what they are called, to GENTLY push the acrylic off your nails. You would lay it on the top of the first layer of acrylic and gently, at an angle, push the acrylic towards the top of the nail.  (DO NOT attempt to push from the base of the acrylic where it meets the nail. This is what I did with my pinky nail and it's the reason why it broke off in the quick.) 

• The acrylic should 'flake' off with little pressure. If it gets difficult to push it then you need to soak the nails again. Try soaking in five minute intervals after the initial ten. Before submerging back into the acetone, use an acetone soaked cotton ball to swipe the loose acrylic off your nail.  This keeps from gumming up your acetone.

• Solvents can become saturated (meaning they can’t dissolve any more solute), so make sure to always use fresh acetone.  For the 2 hours that I sat there, I just continued to use the same acetone that I started with and I think, had I refreshed it, things might have moved faster, even the way I was doing it.

• You will want to continue this process until all or most of the acrylic is removed. If your nails are particularly thin, pushing, even gently, on your nail is painful after awhile. If that happens you can use your buffer to LIGHTLY buff the remaining acrylic off your nail. Just be sure to use gentle pressure and keep the buffer parallel to your nail.

• After you've buffed off the remaining acrylic, you are pretty much finished.  But you might want to give your nails a little boost to keep them healthy while the damaged parts are growing out.   You could do that by applying cuticle oil over the ENTIRE nail and the cuticle and leaving it for at least five minutes. Then you will definitely want to apply lotion to your hands. The acetone really dries them out.  

• After you've applied the lotion, gently wipe the nail with alcohol to cleanse it and then apply a nail strengthener according to directions.  I like Nail Envy, it seems to work pretty well for me.  I would probably reapply the Nail Envy, daily without removing whats already on there.   You could also use it as a base coat for your polish.

• If your nails are really soft, it would probably be a good idea to cut them down to the tips of your fingers so as to minimize any day to day damage.

The future of my nails:

I am on a mission now to have healthier, stronger nails.  Here's the plan for my dry, brittle nails:

• Keep nails short. Long nails are more likely to split or break.
• Use moisturizer. Apply moisturizer to my fingernails and cuticles several times throughout the day and before bed. Possibly wearing cotton gloves while I sleep, to help seal in the moisture.
• Apply nail polish. A thin coat of clear nail polish can help keep moisture in my fingernails.
• Limit use of nail polish remover. Don't use nail polish remover more than once a week. When I do need to use nail polish remover, choose the acetone-free variety.
• Ask doctor about biotin supplements. Changing my diet or taking daily multivitamins isn't likely to strengthen my nails. However, some research suggests that the nutritional supplement biotin might help strengthen weak or brittle fingernails.
• Drink lots of water.  Since my nails are dry and brittle, it might indicate a lack of moisture, so drinking plenty of water should help.

I hope this helps any of you out there considering removing your own acrylic nails.  Learn from my mistakes!  I will keep you posted on the progress of healing my unhealthy nails.

Those Dirty Words

It's time to get serious about those two dirty words.  You know the ones that start with "D" and "F".  No!  Not those!  These two words: ....Diet and Fitness.

Those of you who truly know me, know just how much I hate to exercise.  I always say that my idea of exercise is walking back and forth to the refrigerator, or I might mix it up a little with a jaunt around the grocery store.  In my previous post I talked about my sweets addiction.  I admit it, I am a sweetsaholic.  Isn't that the first step, admitting it?

But knowing all of this, and given the fact that with age comes a slower metabolism, means that I have to seriously consider changing a lot of things about how I live.  I really need to be more selective with what goes into my body plus, like it or not, I am going to have to become more active.

First, though, lets take a look at some vintage weight loss advertisements because I heard this rumor that every 100 laughs is worth 10 minutes of exercise and I would much rather laugh my way thin.

Now here's a diet plan I could follow.  Eat some ice cream before every meal.  Love that idea!

At least they are promoting some sort of exercise in this one but lets not forget how important it is to increase the allure of ones bust.

Yay!  Soap to wash away my fat, used just like ordinary soap.

How about those laxatives, take before you go to bed and wake up purified.

Let's fill our lungs with smoke and nicotine to get that fat off.

Oh, and my favorite, swallow some tape worms and let them do the work for you.  Your fat will be banished.

All fun aside, it is time for me to get off my ever growing tushy and get healthy.  I'm going to do it, but believe me, I'm sure not going to enjoy it.