Favorite Things when I'm Sick

I'm still sick.  One entire month later.  I haven't cooked dinner or done any sort of house cleaning for a month.  I've turned to multiple people to watch Eliza to let me sleep or rest or go to the doctor.  I've taken drugs, tried natural remedies and spent a lot of time online trying to figure out what to do next. And at today's doctor visit it was decided that I have allergies. These are the worst allergies I've ever had, but I'm willing to give the inhaler, nasal spray and OTC allergy medicine a try if it can give me some rest from the cough, sore throat and runny nose that's been accompanying me for a month. And here's hoping that Shawn, Eliza, and I can all get some sleep tonight, because we were ALL kept awake last night by my cough.

Here are the things I can't live without when I'm sick (besides my Mom who we all want when we are sick, and she has certainly saved the day MULTIPLE times this time around!)

1. Halls Vitamin C Drops  I don't like cough drops, I can't stand them.  I think it's the menthol in them, but even when I have my worst cough I can't keep a cough drop in my mouth for more than a few minutes.  Then one day I discovered Halls Vitamin C Drops.  It's got 100% of your Vitamin C for the day, which you are supposed to take when you are sick anyway, and this is a much more attractive way to take Vitamin C than taking a pill with a glass of water.  Plus, it does a great job of shushing my cough or soothing my sore throat.  When I'm sick the first thing I do is make sure I have a package of these on my night stand.

2. Hot Orange Juice My Dad wasn't the parent who would take time off to take care of his sick kids when I was little, so it wasn't until I was a teenager and he was semi-retired that he shared this sore throat secret with me, a nice tall glass of hot orange juice.  I balked when he told me, orange juice on a sore throat?  It sounds like lemon juice on a paper cut, but I'm telling you this actually works!  And not only does the heat make it easy to swallow, the entire thing soothes your throat for hours.  I think I'll go pour myself a nice tall glass of hot OJ right now.

3. Puffs Plus Lotion with Vicks When Shawn and I were dating he got sick and I brought him a little get well package of Halls Vitamin C drops, a bottle of orange juice (with instructions to heat it) and a box of Puffs Plus Lotion with Vicks tissues.  A week later I was at his house, the OJ was still sitting unopened in the fridge, the Vitamin C Drops had been put away, also unopened, and the Puffs were sitting out where just anybody could use them! I told him, you can't just leave the Puffs out!  Those things are GOLD for a sick nose, you have to protect them, put them away for next time, don't just waste them or let them get used up!  These tissues are truly MAGIC when you are sick, the lotion part soothing the nose, and the Vicks part easing the congestion.  Sadly, Shawn and I have been searching for months for these beautiful tissues, but they don't seem to be sold in our area. But according to the website they still exist!  So, if you have some in your area, hoard them!  You don't know when you'll need them!  (Oh, and if you could send me a box, my nose and I would really appreciate it!)

4. Netti Pot My lovely former roommate was kind enough to share her grandmother with me.  Grandma Durham was full of wisdom and funny stories.  She was generous and charming and if nothing else Laura always came home with an amusing Grandma Durham anecdote. One day Grandma Durham found out Laura had been feeling under the weather and sent her home with a Netti Pot.  We all declared it was crazy, gross and we would never, ever use a netti pot.  We were all wrong.  I'm not sure exactly what led to me actually using this contraption, but I'm telling you, it works.  It helps with my seasonal allergies and with my colds.  It's still working this time around, but this cold + allergy misery seems to be besting even the netti pot.

5. Mom Blanket Of course the best thing when I am sick, the thing that can never be matched is my Mom.  But, while my Mom has been incredible the past month, sadly, she still has to go home after a few hours of her magic, and sadly, I can't live on her couch anymore.  So, the next best thing to my Mom is a blanket she made for me when I was 8.  It's worn and needs to be mended, but my "Mom Blanket" has led me through many sicknesses, be it a broken heart or jaw surgery or your average cold.  Wrapping up in my red, white and blue comforter is almost as good as being wrapped in her arms.  It has the magic ability to keep you not too hot and not too cold, it's perfect in both weight and softness.  I may have had it for 20+ years, but I predict it will be around for another 20 years.

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Because I love a good flashmob, and in honor of my sweet Dad's 75th birthday (which was yesterday) please enjoy these two awesome videos. (Mom, you'll have to click through to watch them.)

Favorite Beauty Products - Makeup edition

Whether I'm pregnant or not, these are my top three beauty products.  I try to stick to a pretty simple makeup routine because if I make it complicated I'm less likely to do it, but I know I feel so much better if I just put something on, even if it's just mascara.  First up, Smashbox Camera Ready BB Cream. This is a pretty new product for me, but I loved it from my first application, and it hasn't disappointed yet!  My OB wants me to wear something with at least SPF 30 on my face (apparently pregnant skin burns more easily) and since my motto is the simpler the better I wanted some sort of multitasking tinted moisturizer, and this is what the kind people at Sephora helped me find.  I tried on a few different kinds, and this has the best shade for my face, plus some of the others don't go up to an SPF 30.  It's heavy enough to provide coverage and make me feel like my skin is flawless, but light enough I don't ever feel like I've got a makeup on, just a nice moisturizer.  Plus it's a major multitasker, moisturizing and protecting and a bunch of other things that are mostly mumbo jumbo to me. 

 My second favorite product is clear mascara.  I always use Maybeline's Great Lash because it's easy to find in the drug store, and it does it's job, which is not on my eye lashes.  No, my friends, I use this product on my eyebrows.  Now, maybe I'm the only one, but I have seriously unruly eyebrows.  They hairs tend to go every which way, so I used to spend time with a nice eyebrow brush trying to get them to all go the same way.  Then, an hour later they'd be all skiwampus again.  (Is skiwampus one of those made up words?) So, then I would take hairspray and spray my eyebrow brush, and it worked in keeping my eybrows in place, but they would be crusty from the hairspray.  So, finally I heard about clear mascara, and I've never looked back.  My eyelashes stay in place all day and I feel more put together.  This is one of my most basic products, I'll use just this and regular mascara on my easiest days.

And finally, NARS eyeshadow base.  Did you know that eyeshadow base even existed?  I didn't for a long, LONG time.  I would get so tired of my eyeshadow either coming off halfway through the day, or just creeping into my creases so it looks like I drew lines on my eyelids.  And I thought, hey, they should make something that takes care of that problem, like an eyeshadow base.  So, I went to Sephora to look for an eyeshadow base, but in my typical Sephora fashion I got so distracted by all the pretty! new! products that I forgot about the eyeshadow base.  Until I got to the checkout line where they were giving it away as their sample!  It was fate!  I took it, I loved it and went back probably the next day to buy the full sized version.  Or maybe I ordered it online because these were the days before we had our very own Sephora in Utah.  You know what?  I wear eyeshadow a lot more now that I have this base.  It works perfectly, it's easy to wash off, but doesn't let my eyeshadow disappear or smudge or smear all day long.  Love it. 

What about you?  What are your live without beauty products?  I'm still looking for the perfect mascara.  One that's not too goopy, but I don't have to put on several coats, but also comes off easily when I wash my face at night.  Suggestions?

The Best Cookie Ever

A letter to my favorite cookie company, Selmas.

Dear Selmas,

I love and adore your cookies.  I make trips to Disney parks just to eat your cookies.  OK, that might be an exaggeration since I don't live near a Disney park, but finding a Chocolate Chip Supreme cookie is one of the first things I do when I get there.  I've gotten other people as addicted to your cookies as I am.  I was browsing your website today and discovered that you also sell your cookies in Las Vegas Casinos, and it just so happens that I'm headed to Vegas next week!  Imagine my delight at thinking I can have a Selmas cookie without having to go to a theme park!  Can you tell me what casinos you are in so I can have my dream fulfilled?  (Also, are you by chance in any coffee shops or stores in the Salt Lake City area?)

Thanks!

A Devoted Fan,

Annie

Yes, friends that is how much I love Selmas Cookies.  I first became acquainted with Selmas when I worked in Walt Disney World.  I scoured all four theme parks and several of the hotels and could tell you every store they were sold in.  I did make special trips when I worked for Disney for these cookies, and whenever I came home I brought at least one to every family member.  When I moved back to Salt Lake I was so obsessed with these cookies that my bosses at my new job bought me a box of a dozen for my birthday.  It probably took me six months to get through the box because one cookies can seriously be three or four servings, they are just that good.  Needless to say, every time I go to a Disney Theme Park I DO make it a priority to get a Selmas cookie. They're harder to find now, they're not in every park, and they are also sold under the Disney brand, but make not mistake, it's a Selmas cookie.  It's been to long since I was in Walt Disney World, but in Disneyland you can only find them on Main Street in the Confectioners Shop.  They're sold individually packaged, and they truly are the BEST COOKIE EVER.  So, wish me luck on my quest in Las Vegas to find my favorite cookies.  And maybe wish Shawn some patience in case we have to visit more than one casino to find them.