Oh, heeeey summer, nice of you to drop by after dumping snow all over the month of May and generally slinking in like a dirty dog, dripping wet from endless afternoon rainstorms and keeping the sump pump gainfully and eternal employed.
(Starting to rain as I type. Bangs head on keyboard.)
It’s fine though, it’s fine. I mean, fire season will be milder for it, and that’s a thing we worry about in Colorado, so damp silver lining.
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In theory, summer is awesome. Pool time, day camp (anyone done Totus Tuus? Worth the 45 minute drive each way?) popsicles, bonfires. In reality, there is a lot of unstructured begging for additional meals and a lot of laundry. I’ve actually been quietly purging their wardrobes down to basic 5 t-shirts per kid and a big stack of shorts and hiding everything else up high in the closet as it comes out of the wash. I’m aiming for a 40% reduction in size by the end of the week, which I figure will cut my 12 or so weekly loads down to seven. Am I good at math? We’ll find out
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I’m considering a fridge lock for Luke the stout, because if I had a dollar for every time I’ve found him upside down in a container of deli meat or a pint of blueberries, I’d have enough to buy one. I’ve never had a toddler who eats like him, and at 32 pounds and 21 months old, I’m not sure “toddler” is an appropriate term any longer.
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About 3 months ago I started taking LDN, or low dose naltrexone, as a kind of “I give up but am not quite ready to go back to an SSRI” for getting my anxiety under control and to hopefully make a dent in the crazy, cyclical insomnia I’ve been struggling with for the past year or so and wow. Just wow. This little drug, only 3 measly milligrams, has been a total game changer for me. It has a fascinating rap sheet of results for everything from nudging auto immune disease into remission (endometriosis, celiac, Hashimoto’s, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.) to reducing anxiety levels in people with PTSD or general anxiety disorders, and it even helps with insomnia. I can’t speak to the auto immune piece confidently since I’ve made a ton of concurrent dietary adjustments over the past year and a half, but I do feel amazing and I’m sleeping in long, uninterrupted chunks at night with no wakings and no problem falling asleep, which is huge. I started at 1.5 mg and stayed there for about a month before going up to 3. I feel so good here that I’m probably not going to progress up to 4.5, which was the initial dose my doctor targeted.
You guys, if you’re struggling with anything like PMDD, cycle-related depression or anxiety or any of those autoimmune diseases, totally look into this. A lot of NaPro (Creighton model) doctors are prescribing this for everything from low fertility to the aforementioned conditions, and have been for about the last 10 years. Best of all? No serious side effects. Zero. And it’s cheap as dirt. There are a few weeks of intense dreams and some ironic insomnia when you first start taking it, but other than that, there’s nothing documented. And it supports immune function since it encourages dopamine production. That’s the working theory behind why it has an impact on all those autoimmune diseases. Worth a little time on this website, at any rate. (Painfully obvious disclaimer: I’m not a medical professional, so please consult with someone who is.)
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Is this a safe place to admit that I’m still not drinking coffee? Gulp. Also about 3 months and going strong, so about the same time I started the LDN. Guys, I was desperate. I was having such terrible anxiety, especially post peak leading up to the start of a new cycle, and I could.not.sleep. I tried everything short of Ambien (I have an avowed fear of hardcore pharmaceuticals since my most recent birth and a bad Percocet trip) and so finally, finally, I had to pull the espresso plug in a desperate Hail Mary.
Well, now I’m coffee abstinent except for the occasional weekend cappuccino, and I feel fine. (Lowers voice) Maybe better than I ever felt on my regular 2 cups a day…
At first I was drinking decaf espresso in the morning to honor my beloved ritual, but after a while the lack of caffeine caused me to actually lose interest. It’s so weird. I doubt I’ve gone 2 consecutive days without coffee in my entire adult life, but here I am. And perhaps in need of a little rebranding? Yikes. Give me all the kombucha and sparkling water instead.
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I posted this on Facebook and I’m sure it was an act of social media arson, but I urge you to take a listen no matter what your feelings on Harry Potter. And I figured if I can write about yoga and still maintain 90% of my friends list, we can probably talk about anything. Up next: circumcision, vaccines, and breastfeeding! (jkjk)
As an avowed former superfan, I’ve seen both sides of the argument. (And if you think you are a bigger fan than I was, ask yourself if you ever stood in line at Barnes and Noble at midnight on a Thursday wearing a construction paper wizard hat made by your very own 22 year old self. I’ll just let that one sink in.) Minute 58 is where the HP conversation picks up.
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We made an offer on a house, 5k over asking! They took an offer $30k higher than that. We made another offer! They had a full cash buyer. We made another offer! The house had mold problems. We made another offer! Oops, the foundation is cracked and moving…
Such is the summer we are having. We’re currently a few hours from an acceptance deadline on yet another house, this one most beautiful and perfectly located but in need of some major cosmetic TLC, but I’m not holding my breath. I wonder if I’d have shingles again right now, where it not for the LDN? 😉
Pray for us. Please beg St. Joseph for his prayers for us. We’re averaging more than a dozen showings a week with all the kids in tow, and it’s grueling. We’re so grateful to have a beautiful home to live in while we hunt, but we’re so tired, and I would really, really love to not be here still when the school year starts.
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In need of a new couples show to watch now that M Sec is done for the season. We like period dramas (well, Dave likes me so…But Downton Abbey was a real house favorite) and we like action-y stuff…kind of. Political dramas, yes, but minus the porn and super graphic violence. So far every show I’ve tried on for size recently has missed the mark on some level or another. Tell me what’s out there that doesn’t suck! Amazon, Netflix, or one of the streaming cable networks.
Hope you have a nice cold margarita waiting to welcome you into the weekend. Stop by Kelly’s and say hi.
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