Adventures With My Neti (or Netti?)

To preface this post, I have been in allergy hell for the past few days. I LOVE spring. I love summer even more. And spring in New England is so intense I think because it's a short season...things just became green this past week, and April is almost over! Needless to say, that's been a hard adjustment to make up here in Yankee-ville. The South definitely has this whole spring thing down better (as well as just about everything else).

Anyway, I'd been taking my normal allergy medicine regimen when all of this kicked in so I added some pseudophedrine on top of that to try and help get me over the hump. So then I switched to benadryl. And ibuprofen. I'm still coughing (not as much though) and still sniffling, but with the help of tissues with aloe in them to keep me from looking like rudolph and some allergy meds, I may be seeing a tiny speck of light in the distance. Or maybe not. I don't want to jinx myself.

I'd been hearing about neti pots for a while, and a post on Facebook from a friend reminded me about them. I told her I wasn't going to get one, as it looked like something Dwight Schrute would use and I wasn't ready to go that road. But then I saw one on sale for 8.99 and figured what the hell. I'd give it a shot. Hence the picture at the beginning of the blog.

Needless to say, it's kind of weird. See below:

You basically pour water mixed with a saline solution into one nostril and it goes into the snus cavities, flushes them out, and drains out of the other nostril. I think I'm getting a little more used to it, but it's still kind of weird. It does leave you with a nice refreshing feeling afterwards, though. And it's all natural, which is nice. It says you can use it for kids over 4, but I'm not sure a. how this could fit up a four year old's nose (it barely fits up mine) and b. how they would know not to breathe out of their nose and only their mouth. If you don't do that, the solution drains down the back of your throat, which is pretty gross.

The whole process is kind of wet and gross, but no worse than a saline nasal spray.

That's what has been occupying my time. Trying to beat allergies. That and wedding planning. And finding a job. And finishing the semester. But the neti pot seemed the most interesting...weird, huh?

Sorry if that grossed you out Mom. Didn't mean to.

Oh and I finished two books this week (fun books, not school books). A Lion Among Men, which was OK but a little too pyschological for me, and World Without End, which took me months to get through after I started it at Christmas because I just didn't have time. It was good...very much like Pillars of the Earth, though. Now I've moved on to Blue Highways. It's a travel narrative/journal but it's pretty interesting. I've started compiling a list of books to read during the next year when I can read whatever the hell I want. It's going to be great! This blog may turn into a book journal of sorts...I think I'm more likely to do it if it's electronic rather than handwritten. So keep your eyes open. It may even start this summer! Woohoo!