Treat your feet!

One of the many good things about being unemployed for an un-Godly length of time is that you find time to clean your apartment. I don’t just mean sweeping up, washing the dishes and vacuuming. I mean moving the furniture, taking the books down and dusting them, going through all your stuff and seeing what kind of crap you’ve been accumulating over the past year (where the hell did that bike come from, anyway?) and decide what to toss and what to keep.

Last night I was digging through one of the many wicker baskets I have on my bathroom shelves. Since I don’t have anything in the way of closet space for toiletries, I tend to just throw everything into one of the baskets until I need it later. The baskets are kind of large, and sometimes I forget what’s actually IN them, which leads to multiple purchases of the same items, like toothbrushes, or deodorant, etc. Book Stud can also attest to my complete lack of control when it comes to wonderful smelly soaps (like this and this and this). And I have perpetually cracked and dry feet, so I tend to buy a lot of different kinds of creams and ointments for my feet, in a vain effort to try to get them to resemble female feet.

Anyway, I found a tube of foot cream that I didn’t actually recall buying. It smelled good, though, which was probably why I picked it up. Well, what the hell, I thought, let’s try it. So I grabbed a good book, crawled into bed and gave my feet a good rubdown. And, HOLY SHIT, I love this stuff! Called "Smoove" and made by a group called PanhandleGirl, it’s entirely vegan and made of wonderful things like olive oil and tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil and comfrey. It smells great, it feels fabulous and my cat Stinkyboy decided it was so good that he tried to eat it off my hands. Seriously, this is some good stuff for your feet, gals! Anyway, I think I bought mine at Babeland, but you can get it online from the folks who make it. I say, go forth and pamper thy feet!

Stinky beat Lunesta today

But I did get seven (SEVEN) hours of uninterrupted sleep last night. Stinky was particularly persistent in his efforts to get me out of bed today, however, and finally resorted to jumping on my head to get me up to feed him. I am going back to bed for two more hours. Just two. All I have to do is put on NPR for ten minutes and I’ll be out like a light. NPR is the best soporific in the world.

Anyway, a week of actual sleep like this might just do the job.

Diet tips from the writers of “Holy Blood, Holy Grail”

"Many experts claim that Brussels  sprouts are great for
people trying to lower their cholesterol.  The FDA lists them as an excellent source of fiber and vitamin C, both recommended for reducing cholesterol levels.  Their status as beneficial seems conclusive.  Or does it?  A Google search of Brussels
reveals that there is a city in Belgium with the same name.  Further
investigation reveals that Belgium was once ruled by a monarch named Leopold. 
Could ‘Leopold’ have been more than a family name? Could it, in fact, have been
a code or signal?  Breaking the name down, we discover that LEO is latin for
LION, and POLD is Swahili for ‘automated dialing’ (more on that in section 26);
Lions are symbols of strength in the animal kingdom, as are eagles, and in fact
the Eagles recorded a song titled ‘Your Lyin’ [Lion?] Eyes.’  At this point, the
coincidences become too bold to ignore. One of the Eagles was Glenn Frey, whose
last name was pronounced ‘fry;’ And fried food is EXACTLY what people with high
cholesterol are supposed to avoid!

So are Brussels sprouts low in cholesterol?  Or is the telling absence of any
proof to the contrary part of a much greater plot?  Did the Eagles, together
with King Leopold of Belgium, seek to convince people watching their saturated fats that Brussels sprouts were
perfectly safe, keeping the truth for
themselves and their closest associates (the Illuminati, Lee Harvey Oswald, the
Osmonds)?"
–excerpted from Holy Food, Holy Grain (copyright 1982) by M. Baigent, R. Leigh, H. Lincoln (No relation to A. Lincoln–or is he?)

We is tired.

We is tired. Dog-tired. Or perhaps cat-tired would be more appropriate, as they seem to sleep all day long. My problem, you see, is that I can’t. Sleep, that is. At least not much. It’s been going on about eight months that I’ve had this wicked insomnia problem. With the, er, dodgy brain chemistry problems I have, insomnia isn’t unusual. Eight months worth of insomnia, however, is a big problem, and we is tired. I don’t get sleepy until about 4:00 in the morning lately. I fall asleep round about 5:30 A.M. I get up around 7:30, exhausted and groggy. I try to stay awake then, but I spend the next four hours or so in a complete fog of bodily fatigue, confusion and mental exhaustion. At some point I end up falling asleep again, during the daytime, which is inconvenient, and not restful. I have tried taking Benadryl which helps me get drowsy, but it makes me sleep too long, and I wake up not rested and feeling sort of hungover. Folks try to give me advice: work out more, meditate, stop the caffeine, etc… I’ve tried them all, and it’s not working. Working out is harder and harder because I just have no energy at all. Meditation doesn’t work. I’ve stopped coffee off and on, but it doesn’t seem to do anything other than give me a headache.

Has anyone out there hadd any experience with some of the sleep aids that are out now? My doc has offered to give me a small supply to try but I am very wary of anything that might cause physical dependency. Comments and suggestions are welcome.