Susiej

When the acupuncture needle goes into the sore spot in the back of your neck, and it quivers like Jello briefly, and you feel as if a bolt of lightning just flashed through you, it means, according to my acupuncturist, two things.

1. I was in a great deal of pain.
2. He hit the right spot.

And, just for the record, by the way, the needles do not hurt. Acupuncture actually feels relaxing, and almost euphoric. The needles are not pointed and sharp. They go in easily [Read more →]

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Filed under: Life, health by SusieJ - 5 Comments →

Men, when you’re standing at the back door with the car running, trying to get a jump on the traffic, and she’s still in the house doing “whatever” it is she is doing. This is what she’s doing. Grab a number and go help her. And ladies, here’s a checklist to help keep you sane while he’s rushing you to get on the road. If you don’t want to come home to a smelly house – you’ll need to plan ahead a little bit.

1. Go through your pile of library books and return them. While you’re there, check out some new books for you (and kids) to read. Don’t forget audio books for long car rides. Don’t forget to return DVDs to Blockbuster.
2. Set up your e-mail account to an “out ” message.
3. Hold Mail and newspapers. Pay bills that will be due while gone.
4. Arrange lights or radio to turn on periodically with a timer.
5. Lock your freezer. (Upright models) and put the key on top of the freezer so someone can find it.
6. Make arrangements for a neighbor or friend to have a key to your house or apartment – or at least know where one is. Give them a number where you can be reached.
7. THE NEXT ONES ARE LAST MINUTE: LAST ONE OUT THE DOOR — Pour some baking soda into each of the toilets and the sink drains – no one wants to smell stagnant water.
8. Water plants
9. Unplug toaster, mixer, computer, TV and other appliances.
10. Turn down heat (not off! Or your pipes will freeze!), and or turn up air conditioning.
11. Take out all garbage
12. Make sure there are no wet clothes in washer or dryer – or wet rags in the sink or bathroom. Hang to dry.
13. Shut off the water — and make sure the dishwasher is not full of dirty dishes.

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Did I miss a class or something? I have no idea what to do with my boys all day. I know bored is good. In fact, my parenting guru says that whenever her boys would say, “I’m bored”, she would calmly answer, “I wonder what you’ll think of to do.” And there are plenty of books, The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids, to show us how important free time is to children today.

However, it’s a big house, and they’re falling into an easy routine of TV and video games — which isn’t really allowed, and requires constant monitoring on my behalf. Falling into the habit of TV and video games cuts off the opportunities that boredom brings, and prevents the gifts outlined in Power of Play. So, when that doesn’t work, one in particular, works to [Read more →]

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Because I refuse to post pictures of the bruises on my neck on the internet, I will show you what my pain feels like. My smallest son does a good job of conveying my sensory feelings right now.

I didn’t write about this when it started two weeks ago, because I thought it would be over by now. It’s not, and in fact, I now have bruises on my neck and shoulder as a result of this pain in the neck. Yeah, you should see me explaining this one.

All year, I’ve had severe neck aches come and go. Nothing like Biofreeze to get the kinks out. (They have roll-on now — it’s awesome for those hard-to-reach-shoulder blades.) But two weeks ago, when I was busy working on my computer on my blog code for 5 hours, [Read more →]

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He woke before the rest of us.

He made his own breakfast without asking help from any of us. [Read more →]

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