HJ Waxing Moon

This cold is really throwing me for a loop. I keep feeling better then worse again. My mom asked me today what I'm doing for it, and I told her I'm throwing everything I've got at it. "Like what?" she asked. I'm not sure I understand why she asked with such incredulity, but I started listing things: Antibiotics (since I ended up with a sinus and lower respiratory infection, awesome) Sudafed Mucinex Robitussin Codeine cough syrup at night Vitamin C cough drops Tylonel (for fever & both the headache and muscle aches from fever & coughing) FloVent (steroids for asthma) FloNase (steroids for allergies) Zyrtec (because it's allergy season anyway) Albuterol (yay asthma!) And besides the pharmaceuticals, of course I'm doing home remedy things too: Tea Pineapple (supposed to be a cough suppressant) Coconut water Soup, broth, whatever warm liquids with nutrients I can stand Honey (though I had to toss my jar of lemon ginger hone...

A lot of my life is spent with sore muscles. Pain relievers only help so much, and depending on the pill & the person they can rip your digestive tract to shreds. It was Jillee's Pain Cream recipe that started this. I decided to go ahead and make my own version, to see how it works. Of course, I did a little research myself, and I wanted this cream to do a few different things. One thing I saw was about having some essential oils that cover the smell of the eucalyptus, so it's not so overpowering. Well, I'm here to tell you, that's hogwash--covering the scent also decreases the efficacy a bit. However, if the ones you add to it have purpose, it might be worth a little dilution. Without further ado, my pain lotion recipe. Ingredients: 1 three-ounce travel bottle of your preferred lotion. I use a coconut-oil-based lotion.  10 drops peppermint EO 10 drops eucalyptus EO 10 drops lavender EO 5 drops clary sage EO 3-5 drops cinnamon EO 5 drops rosemary EO ...

I would number this, but I've been struggling with Dandruff for as long as I can remember and could not possibly tell you what attempt number this is to get rid of it or to find a routine that keeps it manageable. The internet seems to think there are two kinds of scalp maladies: dry skin and dandruff. The internet also seems to think that you can't get fluffy clouds of tiny white specks if you have dandruff (characterized by thick or large chunks of white or yellow gunk) but to that I say Bah Humbug. Because I clearly get both, and there is no way this is "just dry skin." You can Google dandruff if you really want more science. I'm not reinventing the wheel here, and you're going to get a much better education on the topic if you do. What I'm worried about is the fact that my dandruff has gotten so bad over the last two to three years. So bad that I'm scratching incessantly some days. So bad that it's in my ears, and I will obsessively pick un...

Alright after the flea post I did promise a post about getting rid of head lice without risking pesticide poisoning. Let me first explain why this is so important to me. [Click through at the "Read More" because I cut it for the bug-squick.]

Once upon a time, I didn't have a cat. [Cut for the bug squick, click through for more:]

This is going to get a bit gross. Don't eat while reading this, and feel free to skip it. It's just scalp stuff though so it isn't TOO gross. I've had psoriasis & eczema since I was a kid. High school was horrid, because being a swimmer, the chlorine really irritated my skin. Frankly I didn't know anything else and I liked swimming enough that it didn't bother me too much, I just went through a lot of lotion. After high school, I still have kept the habit of having a bottle of lotion next to the bed for my hands and feet, and my worst spots are my upper arms. And my scalp. Oh, my scalp. My scalp has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. No amount of dandruff shampoo has ever helped. Quite the opposite, it's always made my scalp worse. Since HS I've known that showering more than every 2-3 days irritates my skin horribly, but I can keep the patches on my arms down to splotchy-hive-looking things (not too scaly and gross) if ...