Learning to Love the Fool in Me

Ok. I'll admit it. I am a horrible blogger. Despite the fact that I adore my blog and all the fantastic things it has brought into my life, I just haven't been making it a priority. I guess I felt like it had served its purpose. It helped me re-connect with the best parts of myself, the parts that I'd pushed aside for years. And I have been so busy enjoying life that I just didn't have time to sit down and write. 

But lately I've been feeling a bit...off. Not myself. Sort of lost. Nothing major, just not as full of joy and excitement for life as I was a few months ago. I've slipped back into my old habits; overthinking, stressing, doubting myself. I feel like I'm treading water in a really big lake when I should be fighting against the current to make it to the shore. I've gotten too comfortable with my life and haven't been pushing myself to try new things. 





And so, I've decided that it's time to resurrect The Valancy Stirling Project, in all its challenging glory. A new list of things to do, a new list of struggles to overcome. I'm still working out exactly what it is I want to include, but I have a few ideas that I'm pretty excited to share. 

But before we begin a new list, I am proud to say that I (without remembering that most of these things were on the list in the first place) completed quite a few of the items on last year's list. Yay me!




3. Get in Better Shape: I joined a wellness group, started running and eating better, and as a result I am excited to report that I have lost 22 pounds and 26 3/4 inches since February.

4. Be a Kick-Ass Maid of Honour: It was the most beautiful, relaxed, joyous wedding that I have ever been to, and my speech and slide show went over very well. I'd say I succeeded.  

6. Cook Meals at Home as Much as Possible: Prepping on Sundays has become one of my favourite times of the week and I have discovered some amazingly healthy and delicious new recipes in the process.

7. Start an RRSP: I did this! Like a real grown up, I made an appointment at the bank and set it up. If I retired today I could buy myself a whole order of groceries with what I've saved so far! Good thing I have 35-40 years to go...

8. Expand My Product Line and Build Up Stock: Check! I set up a mobile Blue Box Creations system that is always in my trunk. Now I can just restock items periodically.

9. Build Up My Savings: I finished paying off my student loan in August and am now putting that money in the Tax Free Savings account I opened while I was setting up my RRSP. 

11. Stop Being Late All the Time: Oh so much progress!! I'm still occasionally a few minutes late, but it's so much better than it was. 

There were only 11 things on last year's list so it looks like I did pretty well. Now to create this year's list. Once I know what it'll include, you'll know. I've discovered that I'm still changing. And I think I need to get to know who I'm becoming. 

Oh Hey, Year Two. I Forgot About You!

I felt it was time that I updated you all, dear readers on what I DID manage to accomplish in The Valancy Stirling Project Year Two. I had intended to make nice big posts on each item, but obviously that was a big fail. So instead, I will do one big post and give a summary of each completed item. 

Here's a link to the original post about Year Two:  The Valancy Stirling Project Year Two

1. See One of My Bucket List Musical Acts in Concert: I was a child of the 80's, and as such I did a lot of my maturing during the 90's. One of the biggest bands of the 90's was The Goo Goo Dolls. I fell in love with them the minute I heard their song 'Iris'. For those of you who've never heard it (and therefore have probably been living in a cave for the last couple of decades), 'Iris' is an amazing song about love that seems unattainable.

Iris- The Goo Goo Dolls

Now, for those of you who have known me for a while, you will know that there was a period of time when I thought it was my lot in life to be the human embodiment of this song. My teenage years were a successive string of unfulfilled crushes and disappointments. This song was my mantra. I can't tell you the hours I spent listening to this song, usually crying. But over the years, I have gained more confidence in myself and, after a few moderately successful relationships, am now patiently waiting for the love of my life. He'll come around eventually...right???

Anyway, I discovered that I loved many more of their songs, and have always wanted to see them perform live. And then I heard that Matchbox 20 (who I also love) was coming to Moncton WITH THE GOO GOO DOLLS, so I rounded up some friends and we headed off. 

On August 28th, 2013, 15 years after I first discovered this song, I finally heard it performed live. Yes, the guys are a few years older, but they still know how to play, and it was just as amazing as I'd always hoped it would be. I sat there with my eyes closed, remembering that 15 year old girl who loved this song and of course, I cried again. But it was different this time. It wasn't the hopeless cry of someone who felt unlovable, but the thankful cry of someone who had made it to the other side and knew what possibilities lay ahead. Life goal fulfilled.

2. Make My Own Ketchup: This one was pretty cool, and easier than I'd always thought it would be. I even used (mostly) tomatoes that I grew in my own garden. If I did it again (which I probably will), I would use the food mill like the recipe suggested. I didn't have one, so I used a combination of a potato ricer my mom had kicking around and a sieve. Which made a huge mess and was slightly frustrating, but DID manage to eliminate the skins and most of the seeds from the tomatoes. It was kind of a stinky process, but the end result was actually really good! It was thinner than store-bought ketchup, so in the future I'd either let it simmer longer or thicken it a bit. I gave most of it away as gifts, because I realized that I don't actually eat ketchup very often... 

3. Meet one of the 12 Doctors: Although there are now 13. Technically. If you're a fan you'll understand, if not, there's no point trying to explain. ANYWHO, after my earth shattering decision in Year One to watch all episodes of Classic 'Doctor Who', I then completed the set and watched all the new Who. And then I went to Halcon. HALCON!! For those of you not as well versed in all things fandom related (read; geeky) as I, Halcon is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy/General Geekdom convention held every fall in Halifax. I could go on and on (and on and on and on) about Halcon, especially since I have now attended 2 years in a row and THIS year I met Mark Sheppard who has been in nearly every geeky show I love (Doctor Who, Firefly, Supernatural, X-Files and countless more). But I digress. 

Above you will see a picture of me with Peter Davison, Fifth Doctor and genuinely nice human being (also, father-in-law to David Tennant aka Tenth Doctor, and father to Georgia Moffet, aka the Doctor's daughter in the episode "The Doctor's Daughter", aka Mrs. David Tennant. Confused yet? Welcome to the fandom. It's all very wibbly wobbly). Kindly disregard the RIDICULOUS look on my face. I was in shock. I believe I stammered out something along the lines of "I love your work" in between goofy grins, shaking and blushing. Consequently, in the days leading up to meeting Mark Sheppard (who is known to tease and cajole people who come to see him), I had a real, unshakable fear that I was going to get up there and blurt out "I love turtles!!' or pass out. But I didn't. I played it much more coolly and even exchanged a few pleasantries with him. AND he called me 'sweetheart'. Here's photographic proof that I looked less like a tool than last year. My hair is better too. 

4. Sell Some Handmade Items: I definitely succeeded with this one. It started out small with co-workers ordering crocheted hats, and then I went to a couple of craft sales. I've since expanded my product line, gotten some fancy schmancy business cards and created a Facebook page for my items. I earned enough from selling my items last year and this year to do almost all my Christmas shopping. I do get a bit overwhelmed at times, and I have to gain some better time management skills, but all in all it's something I really enjoy doing and what better way to make some extra pocket money?

7. Complete My Reading Challenge for 2013: Well, I failed this one. I even changed my goal to 45, and still failed. In all fairness, I shouldn't say I failed. I read 42 books, which is a lot more than most people read, I suppose. I always plan to read 50 books, but the last few years I've had to alter that a bit. In my defense, at the end of the 2013 challenge I went without power for 6 days, and when it came back on all I wanted to do was soak up all the technology I'd missed in those 6 days. In July of 2014 we had a hurricane knock a tree down onto our house, disconnecting our power for another 9 days. Given that and other things keeping me busy I ended up shortening my list to 15, which I managed to complete. So far this year I'm 5 books behind, but it's early days and I'm confident I can catch up.

9. See a Movie in IMAX: I did this during Halcon 2013. My friends and I went to see "Thor 2". We almost didn't make it, since our GPS took us on some weird tour of the industrial underbelly of Halifax. We could SEE the theatre up on the hill, but couldn't figure out how to get there. I, of course, was driving. And swearing, as is my general habit when things don't go my way while driving. Eventually I just drove toward the theatre, turning when I had to. We were there plenty early, because the Halifax theatre didn't have assigned seating like ours does in Saint John, so we had to wait in line FOREVER to get good seats. Lame. And to think, there was a time when I hated the idea of assigned seating. How young and foolish I once was...

My thoughts on IMAX? Not impressed. Not this IMAX anyway. I was expecting this full, robust experience, with the wrap around screen and high tech glasses. What I got instead was a hard seat, only marginally bigger screen, average 3D effects and the single most uncomfortable pair of glasses I have ever worn in my life INCLUDING the crazy face-covering shades I had to wear after my laser eye surgery. I won't be rushing back.

11. Continue to Nurture My Doctor Who Obsession: Ummm, yeah. I succeeded. The theme song was my ringtone for months. I have figurines all over my living room. I've seen every episode EVER, many of the new ones twice. I saw the 50th Anniversary Special AND the Season 8 premiere in theatre. I engage in lively and well informed debates on what qualifies someone to be a true companion (Captain Jack, River Song and Mickey = NO. You'll never change my mind!!), and get almost giddy when I find someone else who has seen the Classic episodes and can therefore understand what I'm talking about when I say "Ugggg, ADRIC!" or, "I wish they'd bring back The Rani!", or "Jamie was the best companion because he trekked all over time and space in a kilt!!". Yes. I'd say I nurtured it...









15. Cook Meals at Home as Much as Possible: I did really well at this in 2013. 2014 not so much. Especially at the end. Cooking for one is hard, and you can only freeze so many things. I'm now better at judging how much a recipe makes and how much I will legitimately eat. I've also started sharing some with my parents, which saves them some time and money too. I'm getting a lot better at this once again, in my efforts to get in better shape, which is one of the goals for Year Three. I started a fitness challenge about 4 weeks ago and so far I'm down 8 pounds, and several inches (I'm guessing about the inches. We aren't taking those til halfway through). 


And so there we are. All that I DID manage to do in Year Two, and a bit of a glimpse into Year Three. It feels good to be back!

Confessions of a Reformed Speed-Demon

We all have those little habits that we wish we didn't have. I actually have many. Like my cuticle mangling. And my procrastination. And the fact that I'm always late. But perhaps the one that I'm starting to hate the most is my speeding. Because it's costing me a lot of money.

I started driving late in life. I've only had my licence for 4 years. In all honesty, I think the final push for me to get it was to prove to my ex (during the SECOND time we'd broken up) that I could do it, in an effort to get him back. I guess it worked. Please hold your comments, since we all know how that turned out. Anyway, I'd put it off for years (there's that procrastination again), mostly because I couldn't afford driver's ed, or a car, and quite frankly, I was scared shitless to get behind the wheel of a 3 tonne death machine. But I did it none the less and have since discovered that I frigging love to drive. Seriously. I love to drive. But sadly, the bi-product of someone who loves to drive and is perpetually late is a person who drives WAY too fast.

I come by it honestly. My father dives fast, much to the frustration of my mother. He drives fast, unless I want him to. And then he drives like a damn old lady. But that is neither here nor there. My mother doesn't drive, and since I got my licence in my late 20's, my father had to drive me around for a very long time. Ergo, he was my main driving role model. So I drive fast. I should probably have taken it as a sign though, that even my DAD comments on my lead foot. I am proud to say, however, that I pay a lot more attention than he does. He tends to take in the scenery when he drives. I pay closer attention to the road. 

Now, when I'm NOT running late (which, admittedly isn't very often), I usually only go a bit over the speed limit. Unfortunately, that's never when I get caught. And yes, I have gotten caught more than once. Twice, to be precise. Twice in the four years I've had my licence. I've been fortunate enough to have kindly police officers who have given me a lower ticket than I should have gotten, but still, I work hard for my money and hate giving it away as penance for my stupidity. And so it was, after my second speeding ticket, that I decided to stop rushing through life. And my plan is to extend it beyond just my driving.

Little Lisa came into the world 18 days past her due date. And as my mom says, I've been late ever since. So really, it's not my fault. But I am the one who has to deal with the consequences. I hate that I'm always late, and although a little part of me is convinced that there are some mysterious forces in the universe that conspire against me to make me late, I am deciding to make a change in my behaviour. I'm tired of making people wait for me. I'm tired of being the last one to arrive. And I'm tired of being the one everyone expects to be late. It makes me feel bad. It makes me feel disrespectful to the people I love the most. It makes me look unprofessional. And it makes me feel like I'm always in a rush. No one wants to rush their life away.

And so, I'm adding a new item to my list. It'll be one of the most difficult things I've ever put on there. I am going to stop being late all the time. I want my punctuality to be the rule, not the exception. And as a result of this, I am hoping I no longer feel the need to speed. If I take more time to get things done, maybe I'll enjoy them, and my life more.

Hello Blog Post, My Old Friend

Oh hey there! I didn't see you come in. Have a seat. How have you been? We haven't seen you in a while.

Because I am just awful at blogging.

Not really. I'm just not able to dedicate my attention to all the things I want to do. Last year when I should have been blogging I was crocheting and crafting my bloody FINGERS off because I started a Facebook page to sell stuff. And I did pretty well. I've bought about 90% of my Christmas presents for the last 2 years  with proceeds from the page. I also majorly failed my reading challenge for 2014, reading only 15 of the 50 books I had HOPED to read, AND I pretty much stopped preparing meals at home, causing me to gain some weight and lose more money than I would have liked. I guess I had a bit of an off year all around. 

There were some successes though. I got a new car. I went on multiple dates. I was promoted at work. My sister got engaged and asked me to be her Maid of Honour. I laughed a lot and strengthened many friendships. And I feel like I became a lot better at not letting disappointment and frustration turn me into a negative person.







Typically I like to start my lists of goals on my birthday, but that's six months away and I feel like it's time to jump start myself now. So I'll make a shorter list that I can complete in the next six months, and then on my 32nd (ugggg) birthday I'll make a new big list. Some of the list items will be new. Some of the list items will be brought back from my abysmal 2nd year list. I shit the bed on that one big time. And I'm going to go back and write posts for the items I WAS able to complete from year 2. Lots of fun posts should come out of that!

And so here is my list for the next six months. Wish me luck!

1. Make at Least 3 More Pieces of Clothing: This was on year two's list. And I still want to do it! There are 2 pieces in particular I am looking forward to making.

2. Make My Own Ice Cream: Because I love ice cream and it sounds fun.

3. Get in Better Shape: Because sometimes the stairs leave me winded. Not. Cool.

4. Be a Kick-Ass Maid of Honour: I guess my sister will be the ultimate judge of this one. 

5. Go Skating: Hopefully I won't break my ass in the process. 

6. Cook Meals at Home as Much as Possible: That's just common sense.

7. Start an RRSP: Because I need to retire some day and don't want to end up living in a tent eating cat food.

8. Expand My Product Line and Build Up Stock: I planned to do this during my off season last year. But...I suck.

9. Build Up My Savings: Even with wedding expenses, I know I can do this!

10. Cook and Eat a Turducken: Because it sounds friggin' bad-ass.

11. Stop Being Late All the Time: Self explanatory.

And so there it is. I've really missed my list and blogging about it. It's not so much that I need the LIST, it's just that I find it so motivating and it helps remind me to always keep growing and challenging myself to do new and different things. I can't wait to see how it goes!

The Kevin McAllister of Blogs...

I started this post several months ago and never finished it. I suck. But it was pretty funny, so I'll just post what I had (please excuse the references to winter) and continue on from there;

I'm a bad blog mommy. As I sat here tonight, watching 'The Voice' and messaging with a friend on Facebook, I had a scary moment which closely resembled Catherine O'Hara's reaction on the plane to Paris in 'Home Alone'. 

 
"Blog!!!" my shocked mind screamed. Yes, I screamed in my mind. I can't scream out loud. I'd scare my mom. She always comes running to see if I'm OK when I'm cheering for something I'm watching. She's a worrier.

ANYWHO, my poor, poor blog. I love it so much, but I have been so horribly neglectful. It's been a long, lazy winter and I need some motivation to get up off the damn couch. One great way to do that and to make myself accountable is to get back to writing this blog!!







In my defense, while I was sitting on my couch all damn winter, I DID work on fulfilling a list item. I've been making a lot of crafts and have started a Facebook page to sell all my goodies. I've done pretty well, and even sold enough at Christmas to pay for almost all of my gifts. But now it's summer and I have STILL been neglecting this poor thing. I went back and read some of my previous posts and I was so proud of myself. I really enjoyed reading them, and I always enjoy writing them. So I promise to be better.

I feel like at this point we need a bit of an update and recap of last year's list, which was, for the most part, a bust. I am confident in having finished about 6 of the 16 items on last year's list, but I obviously haven't written them up. Blog fail. But I will!

Things in my life have been a bit crazy over the last few months. I got in my first car accident, helped several friends through some very challenging times, had more car trouble and ended up having to buy a new car, was thrown into a tailspin at work, and had a tree fall on my house in a hurricane, which knocked the power out for 9 days. Yes. You heard correctly. I was without power again. Combine with that the fact that 29 and I broke up in March and I have rejoined the dating scene and you begin to get a picture of the chaos that is my life at the moment. Good things have come from it as well, however. 29 and I are still friends, I have become a lot closer to my friends and in June my baby sister got engaged. I'm going to be Maid of Honour :-)

I promise more posts will come soon. I feel like I'm living in a sitcom lately, with all the bizarre and crazy things that have been happening to me. I'm sure you'll get a laugh out of them. Stay tuned. And yell at me if I don't keep up with my posts.

Adventures in Home Remedies

This doesn't really fit in anywhere on the list, but I feel I should share it, if only to give people a good laugh. I will warn you, however, due to graphic and disgusting content, reader discretion is advised. Here is my journey into the land of home remedies.

Immediately following the power outage disaster I started to get those horrible little symptoms that let you know you're getting a cold. I woke up on my first day back to work feeling sluggish and congested, with a pretty nasty cough. Off I trudged to work, however. As the day progressed I felt worse and worse, so I was very happy to get home and relax. And then the power went out again. Fortunately this time it wasn't out for very long, but I didn't want to go to bed until it was back. When I finally got to bed at about 1am, breathing was a real challenge. Between 1 and 5:30 I basically just dozed. Twice I woke up because I'd stopped breathing. So when my alarm went off at 6:50 I called in sick and went back to sleep. 

Now, I'm not a delicate flower at the best of times. I'm messy and often very disorganized. I'm always in a rush because I'm usually running late. And when I'm sick I'm even worse. All I want to do is cuddle up on the couch with my blankie and do nothing. I don't clean up anything until I feel better. There will be piles of kleenex everywhere. There will be dirty dishes on every flat surface. If I cook anything the dirty utensils will remain on the counter and it's rare that anything makes it to the garbage can. I could apologize, but to who? I live alone. Thankfully.

I've never been one to go to the doctor every time I'm sick. I basically only go to the doctor if I have something serious that I can't shake. I'm also not a huge fan of using medication when I'm sick. I find it only temporarily relieves the symptoms and seems to make my cold last longer. So that leaves either doing nothing, or going with a more natural approach. I'm not a big fan of just letting things run their course, so I decided to spend my day testing some home remedies. Some worked, some didn't. Some I'd recommend, others were just plain gross. I warn you, it's about to get real. Real disgusting.

Home Remedy #1- Vaporub and socks to bed

Raynaud's Syndrome. Yay.

This one grossed my mom out. Not because I had to slather vaporub on my feet, but because I had to wear socks to bed. She's weird like that. I wear socks to bed most nights from October to May because I have Raynaud's Syndrome, which causes the tips of my fingers and toes to go numb and turn white if I get cold, even slightly cold. I usually kick the socks off in the night, but if my feet are cold when I go to bed, I don't sleep. So there, Mom.


For this remedy you are supposed to slather vaporub on the bottoms of your feet, put on some socks and go to sleep. They say that different areas of your feet correlate with different areas of your body and I think the point of this remedy is for the vaporub to affect the sinus area. So I decided to give it a shot.

I didn't personally have any vaporub, but my parents did. It's my dad's go-to when he's sick, and anytime he hears me say I'm not feeling well he tells me to rub on the vaporub. So, like a good daughter/person desperate to feel better, I slapped a pile of vaporub on my feet, and for good measure also rubbed my chest, sinuses and under my nose.







Verdict: Not really sure. I was still pretty congested and phlegmy, but when I skipped a night I DID feel more congested the next day. I'd do it again.

Home Remedy #2- Turmeric and pepper milk

This one was a bit of a gamble. I found it online and the instructions admitted that it was a bit difficult to stomach, but I figured it was worth a shot. 

Now, look at this picture. It doesn't look dangerous. It looks kind of fun. Yellow milk? That's crazy! And it was a pretty simple recipe. One cup of milk, warmed as hot as you could stand, to which you add 1 teaspoon of turmeric, 2 teaspoons of black pepper and honey to taste. Turmeric showed up frequently in home remedies and is supposed to be a wonder food. Honey is too, in its raw, unpasteurized form. Sadly, it's hard to get that in the small town in which I live, so I had to go with the regular kind. I didn't think about the measurements too closely, which I should have, in retrospect. This remedy is supposed to help with itchy throat and cough, but I don't think I actually ingested enough for it to work.



First of all, the creamy looking picture on the right does not show the ominous black pepper that floated aimlessly through the glass. The fact that there was twice as much black pepper as turmeric should have been a warning to me, but I wasn't thinking clearly. All those cold germs in my head clearly affected my judgement. So, I mixed it all up and took a drink. And it wasn't too bad. Until the pepper jumped up and roundhouse kicked me in the face. Ten minutes later I took a second drink. PEPPERED!! And then my stomach started to feel weird. Ten minutes later I took my third and last drink, as my stomach took a huge lurch.

Verdict: No. Never. Horrible. Do. Not. Try. EVER.

Home Remedy #3- Hot water with lemon and honey

This one was pretty straight forward. Once again, honey is beneficial for colds, and so are lemons (probably at least partly because of the vitamin C). There is a debate as to whether hot beverages in general are good for colds, but nothing really makes you feel better than a nice, hot drink when you're feeling icky. All I did for this was juice a lemon (about 2 tablespoons seems to be the best amount), put it in a mug, fill the mug with boiling water and then add honey until it tasted sweet enough for my liking. It was delicious. Like Neocitran without the medicine taste.

Verdict: I like to think it helped. It warmed me up and helped my throat. I'll definitely keep drinking this one, even when I'm not sick.

Home Remedy #4- Steam

Here is where is gets gross. Almost embarrassingly so. If you're squeamish, don't read this paragraph. So, steam. Boil a kettle, pour the water in a bowl (you can add a few things if you want), put a towel over your head and lean over the bowl. I added some apple cider vinegar and honey to mine. This method is designed to loosen up...well, snot, if I'm being honest. So, leaning over a bowl of steaming water when you have a runny nose leads to...dripping snot into the bowl. After a few minutes of this I just decided to go for it. I breathed in the steam and blew out. Yup, I blew my nose into a bowl. It looked disgusting, but I felt MUCH better after I did. My nose was so sore from kleenex that this was such a nice change. I was able to breathe through both nostrils for the first time in days. But this isn't the worst part of the story.

As previously mentioned, I am a slob when I'm sick. So instead of taking the bowl to the bathroom and dumping it I put a cover on it and sat it on the coffee table.  But not until I'd poured the remnants of the turmeric pepper milk into it. I like to condense my mess at least. By this time the pepper and turmeric had settled into a glob of sludge on the bottom of the mug. And when you pour milk into hot water it curdles. So there was that. Soon enough, my mother came down to check on me. And when she saw the covered bowl on the table she picked it up to see what it was. And I shrieked at her. Repeatedly, until she put it down. She asked what it was and when I told her she asked me why. My answer, sick, cranky and PMSing, was "Because". Fortunately, she left it at that and accepted my apology for yelling like a fishwife at her. 

Verdict: This worked really well. I will definitely do it again. But I will clean up immediately. Sorry, Mom. 

Home Remedy #5- Chicken Noodle Soup

Technically, it was turkey soup. Because what else do you use when you've cooked 2 turkeys in one week? So frozen turkey it was. So, the soup. Chicken soup is the general go-to when people are feeling sick. And while watching an episode of Dr. Oz (which I never do because I disagree with a lot of his advice), I found out that there actually IS some validity to the claims of the benefits of chicken soup. Here are the recommendations the show made to make your chicken soup better, followed by what I found out about the truth of the claims.



1. Use dark meat- Most people avoid it because it has a high fat content and more calories, but dark meat actually has more nutritional value than white meat, and 2/3 of the fat in dark meat is unsaturated fat. That's the good fat and it helps you stay fuller longer. Dark meat is also higher in B vitamins, zinc, iron and selenium (and antioxidant), as well as myoglobin, which sends oxygen to your muscles when you're exercising. Not that that is horribly useful when you're laying on the couch moaning, but hey, it can't hurt, right? Here's a link to some more useful info on dark meat.

Dark meat vs white meat

2. Oregano- Oregano has Omega-3s, antioxidants, vitamin K and is a natural antibacterial agent. So apparently it kicks that little cold germ's butt.

3. Drinking broth from the bowl- I guess this goes along with the hot beverages thing. Apparently, hot beverages and soup increase the nasal mucus velocity, which basically means it makes your nose run faster. Yummy. Maybe that's why my steam bowl was so effective...

And so I made a quick soup. Same recipe I usually use, except I cheated and used some chicken broth from Epicure instead of making my own. Lots of turkey, mostly dark meat, celery, carrots, potatoes, noodles and a LOT of oregano. It was yummy, and was pretty much the only thing I ate for 4 days. 

Verdict: Not sure. I think it worked. I didn't stay sick for as long as I usually do. And the soup tasted good, so I'd definitely make it again.

Home Remedy #6- Sleep

Not to state the obvious, but sleep is very important. Your body heals itself while you sleep. Sleep is one of my favourite things and I love a good nap from time to time. A quick, half hour cat nap that is. Not the 2 hour coma from which you awake to confusion over where you are, who you are and what century it is. This was highly touted as a good way to combat illness, so obviously I did as I was told. I am convinced that this helped. I am fortunate enough to be the only one I have to take care of. I have no kids, so I know this isn't as doable for everyone as it was for me, but I really believe that it helped.

Verdict: This absolutely worked. Probably better than any of the other things.

So there we have it. Using these home remedies I was able to kick a pretty nasty cold in about 4 days (for the most part). A week later a still have a bit of a cough and some minor congestion, but it's manageable. I did also take 2 ibuprofen before bed on 2 of the 4 nights because I had splitting headaches. I will definitely continue to use most of these remedies on future colds. I hope I didn't disgust you all too much, and hopefully you'll find something that works for you.

2013 Goes Out Like a Lion...and 2014 Comes in Like a Bitch

To say that the last few weeks have been draining would be best described as a horrible understatement. I had such good intentions, but, as usual, life had other plans for me.

I am fortunate enough to have a job that gives me time off at Christmas. This year, I was looking forward to a blissful 12 days off. In keeping with my list items, I was planning to Take Time to Actually Enjoy Christmas and Sell Some Handmade Items. I've started a little side business on Facebook called Blue Box Creations, and thanks to the fabulous girls I work with I was able to do almost all of my Christmas shopping with proceeds from selling my items. In order to fill all my requests, however, I needed to spend the week leading up to and the first 3 days of my vacation crafting my little butt off. Not that I minded girls, I appreciate the orders! More on that later. 

Then, having finally finished all my orders (with a bit of help from my mom) and gotten ALL my shopping done, I looked upon December 23rd as the day I could relax and really focus on the joy of the holidays. And then the power went out. In the entire town and large parts of the surrounding areas. And it stayed off until 2:25 am on December 28th. And all my plans went swiftly down the drain. In a later post I will describe how my Christmas in the dark ended up very differently from what I expected.

The point of this post is to explain how I'm feeling as I embark on the journey that will be 2014. I'm automatically a bit nervous every time an even numbered year pops up on the calendar. Maybe it's psychological, but I do NOT have a good track record in even numbered years. In 2000 my grandmother died. In 2002 I ended a close friendship I'd had all through high school. 2004 seems to have been fairly uneventful. 2006 my ex broke up with me for the first time. 2008 I ended friendships with TWO best friends; one of 10 years and one of 24. 2010 was a doozy. My cousin died in April, my 15 year old cat died in June, my uncle died in July and my ex broke up with me in August. For the second time. 2012 was the year that began this whole Valancy Stirling journey, the year that my ex broke up with me for the third and final time. So yeah, I hate even numbered years. But I'm trying to think about how those years helped me grow and to be positive about the year to come.

So I am nervous as the year begins. And the lack of rest and relaxation over my "vacation" has left me feeling exhausted at the thought of going back to work tomorrow. And I've gained just enough weight that my clothes aren't comfortable. And my face is rebelling with huge breakouts AND dry patches. And I have a cold. And I've been eating crap so my stomach hurts. And I'm basically just miserable. But I'm determined to snap out of it. Soon. I promise.