January: Amish Lancaster Trip (Day Two: Thursday)

Woke up at 4:00 am to Alice coming upstairs and licking my face out of a deep sleep. Yucky. 

I decided to get up and use the bathroom right quick. It was nearly 10 hours since my last pain pill & with all the activity the day before I was feeling every ounce of it. I slept like a log otherwise, so that contributed to my pain. Oh the stiffness. But my pain medicine & Gabapentin was downstairs in my purse that I forgot. 

So, I went downstairs. I felt like I spent two hours as a novice at a gym. I hurt in places that never existed. So I took my morning meds & a pain pill. Generally, I have found spending all day in bed makes it worse. For one thing, my joints need movement & my muscle needs stretched. I'd LOVE to try an epidural in my SI joint where the rheumatoid damage is worse & where the spinal stenosis is bad. But with the nightmare that our healthcare has become we are eating expired food from food pantries half the time just to pay $800 a month for 2 people for a $6000 deductible plan. Never in my life have I seen it this bad. 

Anyways! Sorry about that. So I got up at 4:30 and helped entertain Alice with the laser light as David fed the horses & got ready for work.  

After he was gone I filled a bucket with Mr. Clean Lemon & a rag & cleared off the table & counter from breakfast. Then I got my wet Mr. Clean washcloth & wiped the table, countertops, cabinets, gas appliances, & bathroom surfaces down. Thought about sweeping the floor, but chose not to. Washed some clothes. I will dry those out later. 

So, I did my part in keeping mildly active & useful all in one. The strong medicines make me very drowsy, so now I'm cuddled under a sheet, a baby blue blanket, and a cute multi-colored quilt. 

I do have permission to stay in bed and rest after a physically & emotionally traumatic day (half-sarcasm) at Atlanta & Philadelphia's airports. (Why is my plane always at the end of the terminals?) Not to mention 30th Street Train Station in Philadelphia. And people. They make me want to cry. Standing in line after line with so many people ahead of me. 

But on a lighter note, I feel wonderful after talking to my 11-year-old last night. He sounded so happy. Ah. Music to my ears. And the snow. Something about the air when it snows. Almost feels... Cleaner? I don't know. 

Ok, I'm going to nap a little. The pain pills have overruled my eyelids. 

Be On The Lookout!!!

I have something very exciting coming up. Actualy, a few very exciting things. First, I am going to be visiting my Lancaster County, PA once again the end of this month. My stomach has butterflies already, it's going to be a tough month to contain the excitement! Ticket is already purchased and my Amish home is waiting for me. And Alice is going to get fixed this month before she goes into heat again. Last time was when I was there in September. And they say it's every 6 months for dogs. So we have to beat her to it!!! LOL

Next, I am getting back into a hobby that I totally enjoyed when I was in college. Back then it was candle making. This time I am going to completely be committed to melts. You know, the highly fragranced wax that you put in a warmer and it makes your whole house smell good? I made them years ago as well, but people weren't as familiar with them at the time. Now it seems Good Housekeeping and Glade has a melts line on the shelves. So people are starting to get it.

I believe I have found a good company that I want to work with pretty exclusively. I had to research the wax I wanted to use and then compare prices and shipping. The company that came out ahead on price and customer satisfaction just happened to be close by here! So even better. No shipping costs. Just a quick drive over to pick up my order.

I've decided to start with 10 scents. I think that's reasonable. Since it's winter I chose some spicy scents, some all year clean scents, spa scents, and a masculine scent. Depending on whether I can sell these and make money for another set I think I'll add a "Spring Line" that will have light floral scents for people to enjoy as it begins to warm up outside :-) I'm also a sucker for simple scents. Like orange. Just something refreshing about that. And lemon. You gotta have lemon in the kitchen. And clean cotton in the bathroom. Of course. Yes. Yes.

My only debate right now is do I do 6-piece clamshells? Or do I do a 1 oz cup with a lid? So all you have to do is plop the hardened wax in the warmer. No mess.