quick fix-its

It's one of those days when I can't sleep because of things weighing me down -- thoughts, feelings, apprehensions... paranoia, even. At the same time, I'm so physically exhausted from long days amd anxieties, my immune system's complaining and my body really yearns for sleep.

I'm in a state that's somewhere between what old Filipino folk call, 'nauupos na kandila', which would be a melting candle in English, and a dam that's about to burst. I really should just go to sleep and get it over with but I find that my chaotic thoughts are battling with my tired body. Hmm.  What to do, what to do?

Here are 5 quick and safe solutions that just might work:

1. Have a cup of sleepytime tea instead of the the usual coffee before bed. I love Celestial Seasonings' and Yogi's Bedtime Tea.
2. Take an anti-histamine already, for goodness' sake! A couple of shots of saline solution up each of my nostrils and probably some badger winter wonder balm or a whiff of Echostore's Spa in a bottle would help, too.
3. Take my vitamins. See, all that worrying and stressing makes me forget sometimes. For all I know, with a vitamin every day, I'd feel less defeated.
4. Sign out of all those social networking sites, and just get up from my chair and into bed. Oftentimes, getting stuck in front of my computer's what keeps me from precious sleep.

I know whatever deeper thoughts or prevailing challenges that have been keeping me awake these past few days could still be there tomorrow, but let me handle them on a better day, one I hope to get with enough sleep, clearer sinuses, a refreshed body.

In case I still have some tension, a headache and these blasted allergic rhinitis symptoms when I wake up after, say, the third try, I'll try a no-fail cry a bucket of tears movie. And, of course, there's 

      5.  Prayer, the #1 no-fail fix-it healing balm.

I really should try to put it in the top of my list, instead of at the bottom, for an 'in-case-nothing-works' situation. Maybe then, I won't need to find myself in a state that will motivate me to come up with a list like this.

my sniffle remedies

Driving home after our New Year's Eve celebration at my parents' was like going through some horror movie scene. Near-zero visibility. The way the street lights shone through the dense smog was really eerie. I hope this is the peak of the season's allergy triggers, because I'm getting tired of my allergies.

Itchy, teary eyes, congested sinuses, incessant sneezing, sniffing, headaches. I've had them since childhood, you'd think I'd be used to them by now. I first realized it wasn't normal when a classmate in Grade School once asked why my cousin and I had a cold every morning. Those pesky allergies... we react to what -- morning? To absolutely anything from dust to perfume, fresh paint, varnish, something about rain about to fall, mold, and the 'ber months. Many times they lead to an actual head cold, fever, and cough.

I used to take good old antihistamines but decided I don't want to live an anti-histamined life, so I've learned to rely on these top 5:

channeling Dear Abby

"...I can't control nobody but me. So if you care, let them work it out..."

Comforting words in this Sergio Mendes song. I wish I could just let things and people be...

Is it meddling? Is it trying to run their lives? Is it attempting to delay if not completely change the course of the inevitable? People come to you and share a dilemma, a run-in or argument with someone, something that's been bugging them -- what do you do?