spring

Dealing with allergies.

| cheriarmour

I live in a city where allergies are really prevalent.  We’ve got Loblolly Pines, we’ve got oaks, we’ve got all this green stuff that just makes your life really mis in the spring.  And there’s not a whole lot you can do about it…

via wakemedvoices.orgOr is there?!  ::plays mysterious music::

So, I’m no doctor, but I’ve been dealing with allergies for long enough that I’ve found ways to effectively deal with the issue.

1.  Just because you’re outside all the time (especially my walkers/runners), doesn’t mean you have to shut yourself inside.  But after you come it, make a beeline (GET IT?! Bees?! Pollen!) for the shower, and rinse any of that stuff off of yourself.

2.  Wear contacts?  Change them OFTEN.  I wear those dailies, and I (admittedly) do not always change them as often as I should.  But this is the season for you (and me!) to be taking those contacts out at the recommended intervals.  If you are a glasses wearer, it’s a good time to flush your eyes (and the glass) with a drop.  I’ve used both OTC, and something my eye doctor prescribed to me.

3.  It’s time to get your neti pot out.  I know it seems disgusting, but it feels great for a few reasons.

  • For one, you kind of rinse the physical dust, dirt, and pollen from your sinuses.
  • For two, I feel like it helps reduce some of the inflammation in your sinuses.
  • And for three, it feels AMAZING on a sore throat if you can get the angle right and get some of the warm water to come through the throat.

via DealSeekingMom.com

4.  Figure out an allergy medication that works for you.  For me, it’s Zyrtec.  Which is expensive, but it doesn’t make me drowsy, and it handles my itchy eyeballs, sore throat, sinus swelling, and general foggy feeling.  Start taking those meds EARLY.  BEFORE you notice everything blooming.

5.  It’s warm.  It’s tempting to drive around with the windows open and leave all the windows in the house open.  But if you’re suffering, it’s time to seal those suckers shut until the stuff stops blooming.

Those are my tippies for a more comfortable spring experience.

How do you combat allergies?

The literal worst April Fools Day prank.

| cheriarmour

So my first job when I was 16ish or 17  was at an Atlanta Bread Company.  If you don’t know what that is, think Panera Bread-type-situations, with a different color scheme.

I started working there close to the 1st of April, and on my first night there, the manager let me take home whatever I wanted from the bakery, since we tossed it every night anyhow unless a group came through for donations.

A few days after I started, I got a call from my sisters on my flip phone…

Cell phone flipAnd Kimmy, the younger of the two started talking.

“Hey! Someone from your job called.  They said you were fired.  Something about you taking something???”

At this point I started freaking out, because I was under the serious impression that at the tender age of 16 or so, that I had be unceremoniously fired, and not only that, they had called my house and relayed the message to my sisters to let me know.

“Oh my god.  OH MY GOD!”

My mother heard all of this going on, and was starting to freak out herself, thinking that someone at the home had been murdered, according to my reaction, when my sister said it.

“April Fools!”

Not. Funny.