Month: November 2020

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A TASTE OF HONEY HELPS YOU SLEEP

Doctors have coined a new phrase called Covid-Somnia.  Many folks aren’t sleeping as well as they did before the pandemic.  They have a hard  time falling  to sleep, and they’re waking up more in the middle of the night.  Worries keep them awake.  Will I get the virus?  When will the lockdown end? What will I do when the money runs out?  And now,  election 2020  has added to the  anxiety.  Was the election stolen?  Will my vote mean anything in the future?  Consequently, there’s an increased demand for sleeping pills, but they really don’t help long term. You might try some alternative remedies.  As an example, it’s been found that a taste of honey helps you sleep.

According to doctors, Here’s how honey helps you sleep:

1. It provides  fuel for your brain throughout the night by restocking your liver’s glycogen. Low levels of glycogen tell your brain that you need to eat . This “hunger” can cause you to wake up in the middle of the night and sleep less soundly.

2.  Honey helps your brain release melatonin, the hormone that your body uses to restore itself during sleep. This happens through a series of transformations in your brain: honey’s sugars spike your insulin levels, releasing tryptophan, which becomes serotonin, which becomes melatonin.

A tasste of honey helps you sleep because it has serotonin
A taste of honey helps you sleep. It feeds your brain with relaxing serotonin.

Yes, honey increases the brain’s natural sedative,  serotonin– a hormone that stabilizes our mood, feelings of well being, and happiness.  Honey is inexpensive, compared to sleeping pills.  It’s not habit forming, and it doesn’t lead to a typical “drug hangover,” that leaves you feeling sluggish. However , honey has calories—about 20 per teaspoon.  So you don’t want to go overboard.

Honey has been a game changer for me. I started by by taking  one teaspoon of honey in my afternoon tea.  Then , right before bedtime,   another teaspoon. After a couple of nights, I realized I was sleeping later in the morning than usual.  And if I did wake  in the middle of the night, I could easily get back to sleep.

Honey can also help you sleep if you have a cough.   The Mayo Clinic says it works just as well as a cough suppressant.

Why not try a taste of honey?  It may help you sleep.

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OBITS REVEAL A DYING CULTURE

Most people don’t enjoy reading newspaper obituaries, unless it happens to be someone they know.  However, I’ve always found them fascinating  if they contain interesting details about someone’s time on this earth.    My contemporaries are beginning to leave this world at an alarming rate,  and their obituaries reveal a dying culture.

First, it’s important to realize that  obituaries are bought and paid for by the survivors. Newspapers used to publish them for free, but no more.  You can pay anywhere from $200 to $1000, depending on how many lines of copy.  And if the obit is in an extra day, it provides even more revenue for struggling newspapers who are hard up for advertising dollars.

An  obituary of a certain class of  women  of my generation provides a startling glimpse into the marriage customs of the elite during the fifties and sixties.  After the usual bio as to her parentage, we often find that she attended a well known college where she met and married, “the love of her life.”  She belonged to a sorority, which meant she was attractive, and came from a “good family.”  Having landed a college man who could support her, she may have taught school for a year or so before settling down as a homebody and raising her children.  No career for her.  She was a member of  faith based women’s clubs and other feminine circles.  Her highest achievements may have included serving as president of the PTA.  She belonged to a country club, where she played golf, tennis and bridge. If the husband did well enough , they might have spent summers at their Michigan cottage  or winters in their Florida home.

The most salient feature of these obits is the age at which the woman married…a median of 21.  Many of my college friends married after their freshman or sophomore year, before they were even 20! Which brings us back to that “love of her life,” issue.  I guess they didn’t have a chance to find out if  they could  have fallen in love with someone else.

Obits Reveal Dying Culture
In 1960, the average bride was 20. Now, Obits Reveal a Dying Culture, with the average bride almost 30..

But in the late sixties and early seventies, all that began to change.  The pill, and the subsequent women’s movement, gave women and men the freedom to live together without benefit of matrimony.  Before 1970, few couples would have lived together outside of marriage. But by the late 1990’s at least 50 to 60% of people did.

By the year 2018, only 29% of Americans age 18-34 were married, compared to 59% in 1968,  Men and women aren’t in a big rush to get married.  The average age of marriage has gone from 21 in 1950 to almost 30 in 2020.

The obituary of a millennial woman will probably read more like her male counterparts.  Her life will not be defined by the person whom she married.    She probably won’t have met “the love of her life” in college.  While she might enjoy tennis , golf,  or bridge, she didn’t have the time to pursue them as an important  component of her social life.    She may have had a career as an accountant, doctor, lawyer, or marketing manager. She probably didn’t marry until she was close to 30, and she might have had more than one husband.

Women are no longer living in the shadow of their  husbands. Obituaries of elderly women reveal a dying culture.

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HOME ALONE FOR THANKSGIVING

Did you know that one third of us live alone?  I mean, totally by yourself.  No partner, child, parent, or friend.  Many singles have been seeing other people during this pandemic, on a very limited basis.  And they may visit with those select few on Thanksgiving Day.  But many seniors will be Home Alone on Thanksgiving.  That includes my husband and me.

It’s not the first time for either of us to be away from family on Thanksgiving.  My husband is a Korean War Vet, and understood that being home for the Holidays wasn’t going to happen while he was in service..  When I graduated college and had my first job in Chicago, employers weren’t very forgiving.  We were expected to work the day before and after Thanksgiving Thursday.  My room mates were in the same boat and we made the best of it.  We cooked a turkey and invited friends over.  It felt rather  sad, but sort of fun to escape all the family melodrama. Fortunately, my sister and her brood lived near  my parents, so I didn’t have to feel guilty about not making it home.

Home Alone On Thanksgiving. One third of the population lives alone.
Home Alone on Thanksgiving. Seniors make the best of being away from family during the pandemic.

But that was all a long time ago.  We were young and resilient.  It’s a different story when you’re over eighty.   The holidays have always been a time of joy;  seeing children and grandchildren and sitting down to dinner together.  Now, along came Covid-19.  Back in March, we didn’t dream we would be isolated in the fall.  But it’s gotten worse instead of better. We won’t even be with my husband’s children, who live right here in town.

We thought about getting some carry-out food.  And our sons offered to bring us plates of dinner.  But for some reason or other, I decided I wanted our house to smell of turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.  That will make me feel like I’m not missing out on absolutely everything.

And then, we’ll count our blessings:  Being together in our own home.  All the technology  like television , computers, and smart phones that keep us connected.  Library books.  Music.  Indoor plants and flowers.  Knowing that our grandchildren and children are healthy.  The gratitude list goes on and on.  Yes, we’ll be home alone on Thanksgiving.  But we have a lot to be thankful for.

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IS STOCKPILING SELFISH OR SMART?

Hoarding is definitely a bad word nowadays.  It conjures up images of deranged people living amongst piles of things they’ve accumulated for years, unable to part with a even single rubber band.  But there’s another type of hoarder who is now in the spotlight.  It’s the person who has a closet full of toilet paper, or a trunk full of bottled picante sauce.  Yes, I’ve witnessed this type of hoarding during this pandemic.  But there’s a euphemism for the term, “hoarding,”  and its called stockpiling.  You might even think of it as saving, or stocking up for the uncertainty ahead.  Is stockpiling selfish or smart?

Stockpiling is generally frowned upon by the media.  We’re told that it’s a selfish act, depriving others of access to much needed goods.  But to my mind, it’s kind of a natural act of self preservation.  Everyone has their own wants and needs.  For my husband, it’s canned soup.  Being a diabetic, he is careful to avoid high carbohydrate foods.  Most soup is nutritious without being high in calories.  Beside that, it warms the tummy on cold wintry days.  It’s also one of the first things that started disappearing from the grocery store shelves in March..

And so, starting last spring, we would buy a few extra cans of his favorite soups whenever we shopped.  No, we didn’t walk out with a cartful of soup, but we did buy more than we could use in a week.  Consequently, we have two pantry shelves full of canned soup.  It’s at least a  month’s supply. I don’t see this as a stupid expense or a selfish act.  The money isn’t wasted.  Canned foods are good for years. And we really didn’t deprive anyone else of a can of soup in the long run. And at our age, there could be weeks when the weather is so bad we can’t leave the house.  Or one of us could get sick.

Is stockpiling selfish or smart. Stockpiling canned goods is a good idea when facing uncertainty
Is stockpiling selfish or smart? Everyone stockpiled canned goods in the olden days.

When I was a child, everyone stockpiled food .  Women canned.  We had a basement full of canned peaches, pears, tomatoes and green beans.  My husband lived on a farm, and they even canned the meat which they had raised.  Was that selfish or stupid?  No, it was called planning for the long winter months ahead.

This is a time of uncertainty.  A change in government, a new president of the United States.  A Covid-19 epidemic predicted to spiral out of control. Many economists are predicting a worldwide stagflation.  So Is stockpiling stupid, selfish,  or smart?  I’ll vote for smart.

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BREAKING UP WITH MY FITBIT

Were you ever in a good relationship that finally ran its course? That’s what happened between my Fitbit and me. Getting my first Fitbit was quite a thrill.   It made me feel young and hip.  I was proud to wear it out in public, and unashamed that it wasn’t exactly ornamental.   I noticed a lot of other people wearing them, too–not just when exercising, but at theaters and restaurants.  Who would want to be without a Fitbit?

 
It was supposed to help me lose weight.  The idea being that if I would just take more steps,  the extra pounds would simply melt away.  Didn’t happen, because I wasn’t exercising any more than I did when I set my goal for, say, 15 minutes of this or that exercise,  or maybe half hour of walking.  Another problem was that if Fitbit told me I’d walked an extra mile or so, I thought I could have an extra doughnut.  But I learned that 75% of weight loss comes from reduced calories, with exercise only accounting for 25%.  A little extra exercise didn’t justify eating more.
Breaking up with my fitbit was the best decision I've made for a long time.
Breaking up with my Fitbit. At first, I thought it would help me lose weight. But mostly, it made me lose sleep.

 

One good thing:  Fitbit told me how many miles I had walked from point A to point B,  but once I had that information, I didn’t really need the wristband to tell me what I already knew.  And then, a friend pointed out that if all I wanted to know was mileage, I could slip my smart phone in my back pocket and it would tell me the same thing.
 

After about a year, things started going south when I realized Fitbit was ruining my sleep.  It would tell me how many times I was up during the night, and how many times I tossed and turned . The first time I saw those numbers, I was rattled.  Up 5 times? Restless 16 times?    I could only remember getting up once. My goodness, what’s wrong.  No wonder I feel so tired.  I would go to bed at night, fearing the worst.  The more I worried about getting up at night,  the more the numbers increased.  If my Fitbit reported I only got five hours of sleep, I felt more exhausted just seeing that number.

 And then, one day, my Fitbit wore out.  And I decided not to buy a new one. Breaking up with my Fitbit was such a relief.– not having to worry about those numbers anymore.  There are still times, when I wake up and can’t go back to sleep.  Sometimes that takes its toll, and other times I feel just fine.  Mostly, the way I can tell if I got a good night’s rest is the way I feel in the morning.   I don’t want Fitbit telling me I should be tired.
 
So  goodbye, Fitbit. We had a good run, but I don’t need you anymore.

 

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HURRY IF YOU LOVE AMARYLLIS

Has anyone ever sent you an Amaryllis plant for Christmas? If they did, you may have gotten hooked. There’s something miraculous about watching the leaves shooting up, inch by inch. After four to six weeks, a fresh bud emerges, and finally, after a few days, bursts into a glorious trumpet-shaped flower. The white, red or pink blossoms lift your spirits and help you through gloomy winter days. If you order the plants online, they’re fairly expensive. But during November and December, you can buy them for under $10 at grocery and home improvement stores. Hurry if you love magical amaryllis. Because by January they’re gone.

Amaryllis plants are sold as kits, complete with pot, bulb and soil. Once watered, they bloom within 6 to 8 weeks. They make wonderful gifts that the recipient can enjoy for weeks, and think of you.

Why would you want several? Because they give you hope on dreary days as you watch them grow, inch by inch. I have scads of the bulbs by now, and I plant them in stages , so that I always have one or two coming up all through the winter, and into early spring. It’s also fun to plant two or three in one pot, which makes a beautiful show when they finally flower.

HURRY IF YOU LOVE AMARYLLIS. rIGHT NOW THEY'RE INEXPENSIVE
Hurry if you love amaryllis. Right now, they’re very inexpensive.

Now, here’s the best part. Once the plant has bloomed, it will flower again next year if you store it correctly.  If you think that sounds like too much work, it really isn’t. Here’s what you do:

Snip off the flower after it blooms. After that, the leaves will keep growing in that same pot,  When it gets warm you can  move the plant outside for a few months. In early fall, cut off the leaves and remove the bulb from the pot, roots and all. Then,  wrap the bulbs in newspaper, put them in a brown paper bag, and leave them in a cool dark spot until the following winter. This is called the dormant period, and it’s important. I usually label them as to color and size, so I can plant more than one of the same type in one pot.

Around the middle of November, I start  by  planting the bulbs in fresh potting soil. You might want to trim the roots. Just plant them heads up, and when you want the process to begin and unfold, soak them with water and give them some bright sunlight during the day. Water lightly once a week. Then watch the magic begin.

Amaryllis started appearing in stores last week. Hurry if you love Amaryllis. These bargains won’t be around for long.

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BLESSING BOX FULL OF BEANS

Blessing boxes are springing up all over the country, and are certainly a blessing for the homeless and other impoverished Americans.  When you see men and women trying on clothing in the street next to a box, you know that there are many people who lack the basics.  We have several boxes in our city, but I just saw my first one up close, in the local mall.  However, its contents were disappointing, because that Blessing Box was full of beans.

The last time I walked in the mall was late March, before the pandemic began to spiral out of control. But since then,  they’ve lost a major retailer. The hallways are practically deserted, especially at the far end, next to the depressingly empty store.   Therefore, it seems like a relatively safe place to walk on the cold windy days ahead.   All the walkers you see are wearing masks, and they keep their distance.  Many are elderly.  Anyway, sometime over the summer or fall, they’ve added a Blessing Box.

The problem could be that few people are aware that the mall has a box.  But for those who do, they seem to think that black beans, especially, would be a good filler.  Now, I’m all for black beans.  They’re a great source of protein.  They’re especially appealing to vegans and Hispanics.  But if 80% of the offerings are either red beans or black beans,   it seems rather bleak. I’m envisioning some hungry little kids staring at a bowl of black beans.   Most ordinary Hoosier’s aren’t too fond of them.

Blessing box full of beans doesn't offer much. Try adding some canned meat.
Try to add some variety. Don’t just leave a blessing box full of beans.

There are many items that are good for food banks. Today, I ‘m going to stock up on some canned meat, tuna,  and peanut butter. Maybe some evaporated milk.   I’ll bring in a small bag, and add to the collections a few cans at a time.  Maybe that will inspire others to do the same.   If an un needy person takes the good stuff, that’s their moral issue,  not mine.

Blessing boxes were started a few years ago, in the low country.  While they’re a great idea, it’s sad to think there are so many people who rely on them for food and clothing.  But let’s  leave some good stuff in the boxes, not assume that needy people.  have no taste for anything but beans.