The Islands from Chuckanut Drive
While doing home work I was feeling nostalgic. I miss spring, ambling down Chuckanut drive, and much more. This is the longest part of the year, just before the world comes back to life. So! To make myself feel better and to share something pretty, I found a picture to share.
missy
Let’s take a step outside my current life and the set of acupuncture stories I’ve been telling.
Per a recent request I’ve decided to put together some “directions” for how to take control of your health, specifically if you have a health issue. Rick and I have been doing this for so long it’s all instinct now. I forget that we started somewhere and that it can be very overwhelming to figure out where to start.
Also, because this can be so overwhelming I’m breaking it into parts. Read one at a time. Let yourself learn how to do them. Pat yourself on the back and then move onto the next one. While I recommend you start here in Part 1, you don’t necessarily have to follow this series consecutively, though depending on when you join this series you might not have a ton to choose from, especially since this is the first one. Anywhooo…
One last thing, a disclaimer: I am not a doctor, but an educated regular person whom loves to experiment. Consult your doctor over changes. Do research and above all, question everything. Take joy in the process!
So here it goes.
You have a health problem, say a digestive issue. You take meds or perhaps not. Either way you aren’t feeling well, perhaps it’s affected your personal or professional life. It’s horrible and frustrating. It seems like there should be something that you can do to help yourself. As lots of people know, pills aren’t the only answer and in many cases they can’t do everything. Often your doctor will tell you that everyone is different and that some things will bother you and not another person. They will hopefully tell you to experiment to see what makes you feel worse. And hopefully they will support you in your decision to stop eating certain things if they seem to hurt you.
What’s next? What in the world do you do? Where do you start? It’s overwhelming considering all the different things you can do or not do at home. It’s okay. Just understand and accept that often it’s a long process and that as you go along you’ll learn new things and sometimes you have to reformulate your “safe” list, or your “allowed” list.
1. Learn what’s in your food! – Bread isn’t just flour and yeast. Lunch meat isn’t just salt and turkey or chicken. Yogurt isn’t just cultured milk and fruit.
2. Start reading labels and googling things you don’t recognize or have a good understanding of – Google or another search engine should become your friend. If you don’t know what xanthan gum is look it up! If you have no idea what “natural flavors” could be look it up! Of course, check here for anything as well, though I might not have an answer or description for it yet.
3. Cut out preservatives, artificial things and over processed sugars! – Your body doesn’t know what to do with lots of things so give it a break and take out the stuff that isn’t obviously “food” like veggies, fruit, and proteins. Getting rid of high-fructose corn syrup is a good place to start. Cutting that one out will actually cut a bunch of other questionable or confusing things out as well.
That’s it for part 1! I think three new things is enough for now. There is so much to them that you shouldn’t feel like you’ve reach the end of the information superhighway for sometime (if ever, I’m always learning new things and I’ve been doing this for close to three years!).
Update from Part 1.
An entire life of nightmares and poor sleep quality left me feeling 90 years old in my early 20′s. If you think that perhaps I don’t know what it feels like to be 90, I’d argue that I used to work in a nursing home with people as old as 103. 90 looks how I felt.
I fell asleep driving when I didn’t even feel tired. I could fall asleep with my head on my desk and *gasp* even started to nod off during a massage. As a teenager I fell asleep in the middle of a chiropractic adjustment. My chiropractor wasn’t a serious bone cruncher but falling asleep during the pops and manipulations isn’t something that is expected.
At about 24 years old I set up a trade with a lovely acupuncturist whom I absolutely adore and miss horribly. She, and our trades, are two of the wonderful things I left behind in Snohomish County.
Anyway, during our first appointment, she said that it is a reasonable goal to get me to the point where I might not have nightmares every night, where it might possible for me to sleep peacefully and wake up rested. Perhaps it might even be possible to limit the amount of nightmares to one or two monthly!
I nearly cried, I couldn’t imagine such a life. It wasn’t even entirely believable. However, I was willing to try just about anything. Having nothing to lose helps.
So I went into my first appointment with that goal in mind, lessening the occurrence of nightmares each night and each week.
As a side note, this wasn’t my first experience with acupuncture. I had traded with another acupuncturist for a month or two to help with some lower back problems, namely my sacrum was being “slippery”, meaning not staying where I wanted it to and causing considerable pain. Between the acupuncture and craniosacral (and chiropractic and massage outside of her office) that I received during that trade my lower back healed fairly quickly and I stayed fairly stable. So basically I wasn’t an acupuncture newbie.
Anyway, back to my sleep story.
The first couple of weeks for the most part I just left her house very relaxed and often took a fab nap at home after treatment. Then after about a month I noticed a change. I had fewer than say 3 nightmares a night. Often I didn’t have nightmares every night. I was sleeping well and felt less like death when my alarm went off in the morning.
Honestly, that first month if I had stopped progressing I would have been happy. But I did progress, a lot!
Two months into trading I felt like a completely different person. Three months in and I was going strong. I even had thoughts about being able to have kids some day, if we wanted to of course. When I was so tired that summer of 2008, it was a worry I had, not having enough energy to deal with a crying baby, waking every few hours and never sleeping completely soundly again. It didn’t seem possible.
Unfortunately, my progression slowed a little in one part. I learned that stress severely affects my sleeping habits. When Rick was laid off a day before Thanksgiving in 2008 I maintained and even had a few more nightmares. However, as the days went by I did feel like I was gaining ground energy wise. Even if I didn’t sleep wonderfully every night, I had more good nights and less bad nights and thus had more overall energy. Thank goodness, otherwise I’m not sure how I would have done when we were figuring out how to leave our apartment because we couldn’t afford it on my shrinking income. (Thanks Wall Street and Mortgage Butt-heads for causing that crap.) I continued on my weekly acupuncture regime and did manage to get through. That hour appointment became my haven from the world, everything slipped away for just a little while.
Our little weekly trade continued for several more months, until the spring of 2009, when I took a second job and my schedule no longer allowed for it. For the most part I was nightmare-free. Once or twice I would have one and who could blame me, life was turned upside down. Overall though, after several months of treatment I had more energy than I had in high school. This was just what was needed as well. We decided to move to Bellingham, I was working two jobs while Rick got healthier and looked for a job himself. There was some worry that my nightmares might come back with full force, but worry rarely actually helps so we just trucked along, moved and restarted our lives.
Stay tuned for Part 3!
So, to all 5 of you whom read this on occasion and whom might be a little confused as to where in the world you ended up, I’ll explain. I’m very particular, once I get an idea into my head it’s hard to get it out. A few months ago when I was directing someone to my site for kombucha directions, I had a funny feeling in my tummy when telling them how to spell it. “Hippy with a “y”, not “ie” that belongs to someone else.” Hmmm. Then it happened again within a few weeks, same weird feeling. The “y” was starting to mock me, “That’s not how you spell it. Nahnahnah boo boo.” That “y” was a bitch. She just didn’t understand. Ignoring her worked a little bit for a while.
Then as I was growing in my hippie ways, I became more locally focused, more devoted to my favorite town in the world – Bellingham. I belong here. It fits like a glove. The farmer’s market is divine. We have two co-ops, a natural food store, Trader Joe’s, a flea market, at least two vegan restaurants that are almost completely gluten free, and lots of locally focused businesses that are super awesome. Did I mention that we have at least four bookstores?
The mountain rests just behind us, the ocean and her sea gulls sit just below us. It’s a beautiful place that just hugs you. Bellingham hugs you. I want to grow old here, return here from road trips and other travels, to buy a house and have a HUGE garden, go to the library, the Board Walk. It’s mine and I’m only sharing a little bit.
Sorry, sounding a little possessive. I love this town. She’s been good to me in the last year and half.
Also, while not all the posts have been published, many of them have become more locally focused. I don’t want to think too generally, I want to think within Bellingham. There was an idea to start another blog focusing entirely on my favorite town. However, I didn’t want to leave “The Modern” behind. She’s my baby, my bit of fun that I can have whenever I want.
Within the last week, while avoiding homework, Rick and I had a chat about this site’s name and “url” – that little “www.somethingornothing.com” thingy. We learned who owned what, and finally I decided to take the plunge. Bellinghamhippie.com was available and it could be all mine, a sweet new home where this hippie could share the stuff she learns. Yeah, it felt good.
Another thing that has been brewing is a thought about trying to get this site to pay for itself. The adsense, those pesky little ads on the side, help, but I’m not sure I want them there forever. This site is outgrowing them, evolving into something else, more pure, more grown up.
With that said, I’m planning on putting up a donate button, not asking for money, but as a digital “tip jar”. I compile a lot of information and if it’s useful you can toss the pot some digital cash. If you want. No pressure, I’m just going to put it there and see what happens. Nothing comes for free, and while we can still afford this site, we are much more mindful of where our money goes. This economy and being self employed as taught us that nothing is stable, nothing if forever, so be prepared. Meaning, we are paying off debt and looking for ways to stop occasional monetary leaks from our life. (Too cheesy? Oh well.)
I’m also going to put up an Amazon book list. Bookworm that I am, I read a lot, some health related, some environment related, lots of fiction, and much more. No reason I can’t put a book list up. The way those things work is if you click through my list and buy something I get a small fee for referring people. It’s fairly common, perhaps you’ve done it before. I’m telling you about it though, this place is not for sneaking stuff from people, it’s for directions on roasting chicken, hair experiments, and honest recommendations. If it bothers you that I put something like an Amazon book list… well, okay? I don’t know why anyone would be bothered but I’m sure it’s possible.
So basically, bear with me as I move stuff around, make it lot prettier (this could take a little time), tell me if something is broken. Thanks!
Newly termed,
Bellingham Hippie
Beginning
I have a story, one that Rick has been urging me to tell in more detail. The story of my sleep, or rather of my dreams and nightmares that interrupted my life for… well, my whole life.
Hi, I’m Missy, I’m chronically sleep deprived. Or I was(though if you spent 24+ years dealing with sleep deprivation I’m not sure you can actually catch up). Nice to meet you. I’m doing much better now. In fact I feel better than I have in years, though I still have a long way to go.
For as long as I can remember I’ve had dreams, mostly nightmares. Often those kinds of nightmares that wake you up with a fast beating heart, crying, gasping, or whatever. I’ve heard them called night terrors. But I’ve seen worse versions of night terrors in others, those whom could hold terrifying conversations with you. I’ve only done that a few times as far as I know.
As I child I’d would crawl into bed with my parents because there was safety between them. When I was in middle and high school I would force myself to stay up for awhile because otherwise I would fall right back into the dream. I never wanted to know how these dreams ended because they started off so horribly and only got worse.
Middle
Through high school they got worse. I got more tired, though I was still functional. I routinely had a month of two of terrible nightmares each night. I waited tensely in bed for those times to end. They always did, it was only a matter of time until semi-normal sleep would return. Then in my senior year, probably one of the most challenging year so far in my life, I had nightmares, sometimes several a night, every night for about a year. At the end of that year I was exhausted and slept probably 10 or 12 hours a night.
From there I went through the early part of my “adult” life. Moved out, got a nanny job, partied, read lots of books that I wanted to read. Yes I still had nightmares, but I was used to them. I used coffee as my stabilizer. It could give me a kick good enough to get me through most of the day. The strange sleeping rotation started up again; bad month and a good one, another couple of bad ones, then three good weeks. This continued for years, until I was in my mid twenties. When I was 23 or 24 and I was starting to fall asleep driving when I didn’t feel “tired”. There was a rule between Rick and I. If I felt even a little tired I wouldn’t drive because all it took was a split second and my head would bob.
Second Middle
When I was 24 there were several months where I never felt rested. I no longer drank coffee or tea because it had no effect. My day consisted of dragging ass out of bed, doing a couple of massages, either driving home and napping there or napping at my office for an hour or so until my last few massages. I would finish my work day barely able to focus, hoping for a chatty last client, and drive home trying not to fall asleep. I worked three miles from our apartment. While I was waiting on dinner I would nap, or sometimes I would just crawl into bed for a couple of hours, wake up around 8pm make something to eat – eat and go right back to bed. On the weekends I would sleep in, wake up around 10am, nap at 1pm, wake up at 2 or 3pm, hang out for awhile and go to sleep at 10pm.
I didn’t know what to do, I felt like I was 98 years old. I could try a doctor, but the one time I had brought it up to my doc when I was about 17 or 18 he looked at me like I wanted drugs. I didn’t. I wanted to sleep without nightmares and not feel tired.
One day, while I was trying really hard to stay awake for my early morning business meeting, the acupuncturist whom often filled in when members were gone, spoke about how acupuncture could help people whom didn’t sleep well. She said that it could help those with problems falling asleep, staying asleep, non-restful sleep and dreams. Oh my gosh! Seriously, I had to ask her about it. If I could trade with her I would totally try it out. Acupuncture (and craniosacral) had helped a lot when my sacrum was going rogue on me a few months earlier. Thus started my first step toward becoming a “real” person again. Thankfully she was super excited about trading for massages!
Ending? Check for part 2 soon!
I’ve been busy, finished the quarter, had Thanksgiving completely gluten-free and organic, froze when the temperature dropped to 17 degrees, organized and reorganized, and cleaned and cleaned, and made lots of messes, got good grades and started treating myself to sleeping in a bit. We even had a white Thanksgiving, which as far as I can remember is a first. Check out our little ice queen braving the toe-freezing inches of snow!
Snow Kitty-Isis in the snow
So it was frozen for about a week. I can home from Everett to beautiful snow and drivers whom didn’t seem to understand that slowing down does not affect one’s manliness. And as usually happens I forgot something – outside – in the snow – for about two days. My cacti and my jade plant, the big one. This is what is left of it. Kinda sad really.
Sad jade plant
Our view has changed but it’s still pretty!
Winter view
Changed from yellow glowing leaves. Our little slice of Bellingham is beautiful. *Sighs*
Leaves
Lovely.
It’s close to midnight. I’ve studied most of the day, the other part of the day I was in Bow for my mom’s weekly massage, playing fetch with Hamlet, thinking about homework and making mashed potatoes from a recipe (don’t mock me, it’s from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef, and it was amazing!). I may have even done the dishes twice! Now I’m very tired, and tomorrow will be just as busy, except I’ll be working out of my office and going to acupuncture instead of Bow – and studying of course.
I miss posting, so this one is for me more than you.
Before school started in September I went to the Farmer’s Market just to walk around. I saw gorgeous yarn and didn’t see some of my favorite venders (sometimes they are only there for part of the season, or take the day off). I did see however, one of my new favorites, Bellewood Acres. They have amazing Honey Crisp Apples and apple cider. Oh it’s to-die-for, in fact I have some in the fridge right now. Might have to have some before I go to bed.
I just wanted to share a picture of their market sign because I miss them, haven’t had time to go to the orchard. I also miss seeing girls in colorful skirts without feeling like they must be too cold.
Bellewood Acres - Bellingham Farmer's Market
I’ve been away too long. But I have a good excuse, I’m a student, studiously avoiding the internet and all her distractions, except those related to my classes. I wanted you to know that I haven’t forgotten, I’m just busy and getting the hang of classes again. I started school behind, I worked two weekends in a row. Bad idea. I know now that weekends shouldn’t have much in them other than chill time and study time. Lesson learned. I think I might actually be catching up on my assignments, so I’m hoping to get back to my posting and picture taking. I did tell you that I was working on a photo blog right? If not, you know I am now. I’m going to put my and Rick’s best there.
Aside from school I’m still a yarn fiend. I just finished crocheting a giant bag for my yarn. Now my kitties and sweet puppy can’t unravel everything over night! I’ll have to remember to take a picture of it so I can show off some more. I have requests from friends to make more. I have just have to finish my homework and buy food for my animals first, oh yeah, and work. I always forget about work.
You’ll probably be hearing the occasional thing about school. Today was my first day. First day of online classes. Meaning, I stood in line for close to two hours to get all the stuff I needed to do school from home. Three separate lines. I didn’t get into the wrong one either. Just three long lines. I’m happy it’s done.
I was reminded, as I walked passed students, faculty, and parents, that I’m a student. I don’t feel like one. I feel like an intruder, or like a blogger, just looking in for a story. Or for a picture because there’s something about yellow orange leaves anywhere. College campuses often have lots of leaves to spare.
I stood behind a girl who wanted to be part of student government, behind a boy who looked 17, and another who looked and sounded 19. It reminded me that kids in college are so unsettled. They are out to meet lots of people, experience their fellow students and classes. They are out to have fun and do some learning along the way.
It’s a guess, probably accurate, that not one of them is planning or saving for a house. Like me. I’m old. I like it. I’m in-between-old, not really old, but beyond the crazy partying of college aged kids. I’m in the house saving age group. A house so I can have a huge compost pile, and another dog, and a green house. I want to putter around and be an old person, baking gluten free cookies, hands stained with dirt from planting potatoes, in my own backyard. I want to plant an apple tree. I want to put down roots. 20 year old Missy would be horrified….
Even though I plan on going to school for journalism and would love some day to have a PhD in something(perhaps holistic nutritional application through journalism – yeah I made that up, it’s what I do), I am a huge advocate of teaching yourself. Following what interests you might have and figuring out how to become the very best you can at it. If you want.
I’ve been reading The Organic Sister for awhile and she is an advocate for unschooling – adademically, body, and whole life. You don’t need a classroom to learn. In fact, a classroom might not give you anything useful for how you want to live your life. For further well written explanations of unschooling, whole life and more, check out these posts: Whole Life Unschooling: It’s For More Than Just Kids,I Am Not Broken, Body Compassion,The Uproar Over Unschooling. There is so much more, you’ll just have to scroll through her lovely site. If you don’t fall in love with her amazing photos I’ll be surprised.
It’s had me thinking, a lot. And you know, I only share a small amount of what I’m actually thinking about. Weekly, I mentally run through what is a burning passion of mine, burning enough that I have to get it out. This is important enough to post about. Teach yourself! What are you interested in? What is even just mildly amusing? What have you thought was the niftiest thing for a long time? You don’t have to wait to delve into the interest. You don’t have to take a class, there is a lot you can do thanks to the internet, friends, the library, and second hand shops.
A couple of my interests that I finally decided I could step forth and tackle: knitting and herbalism.
Knitting
Harvest Yarn Knitting Project
A friend of mine taught me the basics of knitting a few months ago. I’ve made a small handful of things since then, a hat for a friend, two hats for me. I should really branch out and make something else. When we were on our vacation this summer we ran across an awesome yarn shop, Cr.eations – A yarn shop, where I bought some double pointed needles, yarn on sale, patterns and yarn for one pattern in particular. I just have to take that step and decode the pattern. It’s also important to me that I continue to practice my basic stitches so when it’s time to start that sweater it looks gorgeously uniform. So the current project is another hat, which I may or may not keep, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet. The amazing thing is that I followed a pattern and it didn’t look like the picture. I figured out why it was wrong! It was because I’m knitting my hat on round needles and I don’t turn around to do the next row. Knitting in the round involves going around and around for a long time. No switching needed. Only problem is that some patterns seem to be made for knitting something with sides. No worries though! I figured it out and made the needed changes to fix it. Now it looks like the pattern! The amazing thing is I didn’t have to take a class! Logic and a little bit of math(multiplication and division) were the only things I really needed to use. I am a friend and internet taught knitter!
Herbalism
Herbalism Books
Learning about herbalism has been on my mind for at least a year, which for me is a long time. Last year I found a class I want to take when I have money and time. Cedar Mountain Herb School offers internships for all seasons. But as my post about debt should have lead you to believe, I don’t have a lot of money, and this year I have no extra time for another class. So instead of feeling sorry for myself over something I can’t change, I decided to check the required reading for that class out of the library. I’m only just through the introduction of Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West. But that’s okay, I’m excited. They are both reference books and when I feel I can justify spending money on them, they will be joining my library. Also, I’ll be checking in on Good Natured Earthling’s(she runs Cedar Mountain Herb School) Facebook page for suggestions, and random useful information.
See! No classroom needed. I’m not actually sure that the herbalism school has a typical classroom. Because of the nature of herbalism there is a lot of outside stuff, learning the whole process from harvesting to preserving in different forms and using them.
My life now reminds me a lot of what I had wanted to do when I was in school. If you don’t already know, I was home-schooled all through grade and middle school. I was enrolled in a “real” private school, but it was only slightly different from homeschooling. In the end I got my diploma after four years of doing what I actually wanted.
When in high-school, I had wanted soooo badly to pursue what I was interested in, drawing, writing, photography, books of all kinds. I wanted to be free of the boring requirements set by the school and the state. Meaning, less math and US history (note: there is nothing wrong with those subjects. I’m not greatly talented at math and I hated the fact that I had to take US history at least three different times. But if I remember correctly, that’s what the state required. *shakes fist*). Now the math I use is stuff to help me get done the fun things I want to do, knitting, crocheting, cooking, and taxes(bleh). Learning doesn’t have to happen in a classroom, at a public school that has old school books and over-worked teachers. It doesn’t have to be organized by an expert or come with a certification(unless it’s required by the state, i.e. massage therapy, but that makes sense). It’s just as legitimate to teach yourself to do something as it is to have a paid teacher instruct you. In fact, it can be a point of pride, of achievement if you answer a question with, “I taught myself”. It’s not shameful or embarrassing to teach yourself or to have a parent or friend teach you. Unfortunately, there are still people out there that still believe the best time of your life is spent in a boring classroom between the ages of 5 and 18. Prove them wrong, teach yourself, your children, your friends, your neighbors, or even the nay-sayers something fun and useful that you actually want to learn.
