Philosophy 102

Summer, are you taking anything for sleep? I tried Sleep MD, and it seemed to work better than Kirkland PM. At least I wasn't sleepy the next day. Good luck.

Yeah, 50mg of Trazodone. It helps me fall asleep but for the last couple of weeks I've been waking up after 3 hours or so & unable to fall back asleep. Eventually I conk out, but it's late morning by then & I've spent 10-11 hours in bed trying to fall back asleep & my productivity is down to zero. So I'm always exhausted & the stress of getting little done brings on pre-dawn anxiety attacks ... and on it goes ...

Also took Ambien for years but that is a drug of the devil, pure & simple.

Everyone who knows me feels really sorry for their little Summerkid! Jack, who can fall asleep mid-sentence, says he thought insomnia was a self-induced indulgence until he ran into me ...

Not sure I would trade it for Rebecca's migraines, though.

Let us know if you try Acupuncture and if it works for you.

Have you monitored your blood sugar - some people are pretty sensitive to even the slightest drops and it wakes them up.

I had a hypoglycemic friend who had early-morning insomnia and she was able to help it some by making sure that she was giving her body some food to use before she went to sleep. I think that bought her a few more hours.

Summerkid, I think maybe you are being a little too hard on yourself. After all, you just made a giant move across the country, left Jack behind, and bought a house. I had the same problem when I moved to Portland from San Francisco 18 months ago. All the things you did are stressful and maybe you should give yourself a break and tell yourself that soon things will settle down in your head, and then your body will follow. Sometimes we just have to let everything catch up with our actions so just float.......

I have been thinking about negative thinking, but in a positive way. So we read food labels to alert us to things that are not good for our bodies, in my case gluten. If the list of ingredients is more than a few things that I recognize then I don't eat it. Now on to other thinking. I have been procrastinating about cutting the small patch of grass in my front garden for a week, and this morning I decided to get it done before the storm hits. At first I thought 'I have to go out in the cold and drizzle and why do I procrastinate so much etc' but then I caught myself and changed it to 'I have a chance to get fresh air and make my yard look better and then I can relax and enjoy the storm and sit by the fire and cook something good' and out the door I went. I have also been putting off making doctor appointments for January because I don't like being a patient, so now I am thinking about it as a chance to feel more secure that I am healthy and taking care of myself. Paying bills - same thing. Instead of it being a chore I think of it as putting a little order in my life. It's those everyday things that we all have to do that I want to be more positive about. Maybe we should replace the word 'chore' with 'opportunity'. There's that word that I detest - should. Should should should - I bet that word causes more anxiety that any other word. I should we should he should she should everyone should you should -

Laurie, taking a solo 20 mile walk would be pretty fearful for me! Those unusual big decisions I would think can use a little fear, and then when you have accomplished that which you feared, the victory is that much sweeter.

Judi, thanks for the encouragement! It does help to be praised for such a big leap of faith -- I was so tickled when my dad expressed wonderment at the accomplishment. He's usually kind of hard on his only daughter.

You also were able to give me some concrete examples of positive thinking -- I wasn't quite getting the whole "how to" part.

We are all so good for each other. You all help in way you'll never know.

Great examples of self empowerment, Judi.

I feel the same way. It's so much easier to do things because you WANT to have them done than because you HAVE to do them. It's a slight shift in perspective, but makes a massive shift in outlook.

Thank you portland.

Laurie, Wow, you are an inspiration!! Let us know how it goes. What kind of area will you be walking in? If it is this time of year, be sure you have plenty of dry socks.

Thank you MHF - I'm planning a walk along the borders of Sussex and Surrey - I'm starting at Edenbridge town station. These are paths I haven't taken before - somehow it felt like a bit of a fudge doing a walk that I had already done with the group. Fortunately, We have wonderful maps called Ordinance Survey Maps which mark all of the byways and long distance trails - the walk I'm doing is using the Vanguards Way, the Sussex Border Way, and several of the smaller byways. The named paths are actually quite easy to follow. They are well maintained, and fairly clear - its looking for the turn-offs and join ups of the byways that becomes tricky. There are some pretty good waymarkers like Hever Castle, Chiddingstone Castle, and a couple high points (weather permitting) where I can get my bearings and some small villages (with pubs where you can get a cuppa tea!) hopefully with a friendly face and helpful directions if needed. Dry socks are good, spares in rucksacks - but my beloved shoes get me through most terrain nice and dry, except when I go in over the tops! Now if they would only design a pair of shoes that doesn't require an opening in the top to put your foot in........

I'm doing a shorter practice walk today in an area I'm more familiar with, and than next Saturday - that will be me, out there with trepidation trying to refold the map in the wind - Now, did I remember to pack my glasses?

Laurie you are so ambitious! How long will the walk take? Make sure you take your cell phone!!!

Sounds awesome!

As my daughter said when she went to England with no set plans for 3 weeks--How bad can it be, they all speak english. Have a great walk. It sounds beautiful.

It is really raining hard here. Bucketfuls. Too much for the rain gutters. Dark sky. People all tucked cozy in their houses. Whenever it's like this I want to cook. I roasted a turkey and made gravy and sliced it all up and put it in the freezer for leftovers after Thanksgiving since I will be at my parents' house in Tahoe. Must have leftovers!!! Then I put the carcass in the slowcooker with celery, onion, & carrots to make soup. I know I am not alone when it comes to wanting to cook in cold stormy weather. What makes us want to do this? Is this is universal thing? I often think so many things can be explained by watching what goes on in a kitchen.

Laurie you do have lovely walking trails there. And to have castles as wayfinding! Maybe you should get a pair of gators that are made for ski boots and that would keep at least some of the water out. How many hours do you think it will take? are you overnighting somewhere?

For me, when the weather is like this, I want to eat pumpkin. I am making some pumpkin muffins, I use a lot of fresh ginger. I would be so good after some turkey soup....

We don't have rain yet, but very, very close. There was a single blast of thunder that nearly tossed us all out of bed this morning, it shook the house. Just one, but one was enough. The dogs got going, took awhile to get it all settled down. But a sunny day here...till now.

Weather like this makes me lazy, want to tuck up with a good book and enjoy a warm cozy house.

My best friends from college, Lisa & Larry, just left to return to Portland after a little sleepover. We spent yesterday horsing around in Lincoln City, then leisurely cooked a simple dinner & spent the evening reading on our respective couches around the fire.

Today they helped me move furniture & set up my surround sound system & drydock the bridge before the river really rises on this side of my island.

I love them so much -- they keep a room for me in Portland so I can visit "the city," and they in turn treasure the ability to "get away" from the stress of their jobs & obligations. Larry, especially, reads a lot, so he's always happen to scan my shelves for something new & interesting -- the house came with a full set of Harry Potter books so, at his behest, I read the first book last night & DID enjoy it. Halfway through book two today. I wouldn't say it's gripping in the way that, say, "Watership Down" or Tolkien's stiff is, but ... good enough.

Just went to the post office and got a glimpse of the Olympics. Snow covering the tops. Looks beautifu. We have periods of HARD rain, 1/2 inch hail and sunshine. And really high winds

Shoot, I missed the mid-day sunshine. I was at work all morning and afternoon trying to make order out of the filing I didn't file last Spring, and moving furniture around to make things flow more smoothly. I came home at 3:30. It was misty, but not raining, so before dark I put on a load of mulch and planted one thing from my large pot ghetto.

There was no sunshine here today! Many streets are flooded because the drains are full of leaves. Our street is ok because we have all cleared the piles of leaves at least one foot away from the curb and around the drains at the intersections so the water can flow freely.

Summer glad you had a nice time with your friends. How nice for all of you that you are close to them.

I babysat my daughter's dog today. She is 6 months old and very afraid of thunder. When the thunder started today she would not leave my side, and my dog was on my other side. They followed me everywhere until I finally just sat on the floor with them. Poor things! I heard a funny thing on NPR today - an animal expert said that people always ask him what dogs think about. He replies that they think about the same things we think about - sex, real estate, who's in charge, and what's for dinner. Love that.

Cooking and rain definately go together - pumpkin, cooking and rain definately definately go together in this household.

Walking answers: 3-3.5 miles per hour - 20 miles about 7 hours plus breaks for snacks, photos, and just plain looking around. Honestly, the distance is very doable, it is more of a mind set than brute strength. But kudos always welcome - thank you.

I did think about gators, but I do like having less clothes on me rather than more (I walk in knee britches with long silk socks - isn't that picturesque? Actually, no, I look like a gnome - but alas).

Laurie, your attire does indeed sound very picturesque. I would love to have the kind of public trails here that there are in Europe, the kind that meander from village to village, through woods and fields, and past castles. I need to get a map to look at where you will be going.

MHF - first, let me disabuse you of the outfit, I WISH it was picturesque - no one, not even the littlest bottomed of us on this thread, look good in knee britches - they are 100% odd, unflattering, and gnome like. The knees bulge at the front and crinkle up at the back. The bottom is big to start with and grows bigger and saggier as the weeks of forgetting to wash them pass. They get so slouchy I have to pull them up and cinch them in with a belt and I look as though I'm walking inside an upward facing tulip with a saggy bum. Comfy yes - odd definately. I look odd. I can tell from the others faces. But I do find them great for walking in.

To save me from further imaginative embarassment (which this group has in abundance) I will offer this very impressive map website - http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ If you put in a location in the box lower down on the right side of the map you can see where I am going. I'll start at Edenbridge Town Station (just try Edenbridge), Hever Castle, go through Chiddingstone. You can zoom the maps in and out to get a better idea of the area. They are really fun.

Laurie, odd outfits are the norm here in Portland. No prob.

Portland, I will be sure to pack my knee britches if ever I manage a visit. Excellent. I'll find a hat to go with them.

And dye your hair blue and get a few tats. Note, I have neither blue hair or tats, so I'm not really hip.

Laurie why would you self depricate in such a fashion to work hard walking in rain and snow over hill and dale. I suppose it keeps you from having cabin fever in the warm aspects of winter. Have fun and send us a before and after picture of the pants. LOL

But see, I like the gnome look. And with silk stockings, that's the high-fashion gnome look.

I am going to make my self a badge - PNW THINK GNOME WEAR IS FASHIONABLE.

excellent.

sofer, to late for a before picture - the trousers are well past before. In fact even washed they are well past before.

We're known world-wide for our creative layering and for the concept of shorts, wool socks and sandals in the wintertime . . .

NONONONONON!!! Shorts, wool socks, and sandals is ENGLISH SUMMER TIME!!

Laurie, It would be cheaper for you to come to PNW than for all of us to come to England. So I think you should consider it. There are plenty of DGers here who would figth over having you stay with them. We need to meet you in person after that last post. We have a commercial on TV here that is about shorts, rain, socks and sandals. LOL ^_^

There's a website just for those commercials. (They're for an insurance company) They don't air down here, (I get Oregon TV) but they're available online here:

http://www.werealotlikeyou.com/

Speaking of fashion lows......when I was going to college I got around mostly by bicycle and would tuck my pants into my socks for several reasons. One, so the pant cuffs would not get stuck in the moving bike chain. Two, so the cold air would not freeze my legs in the winter. Here in the PNW, nobody would bat an eye over this when I walked into a grocery store. But one year I studied in Spain for a semester and on a cold evening walking home I unthinkingly tucked my pants ends into my socks to be more comfortable. I was the object of great hilarity due to this fashion miscue.

I didn't see the socks and sandals guy.

If you're on the website, click on "View the complete list" (left side, below the window with the outlilnes) and the profile is the second from the bottom in the center column.
To see the actual ad, click on "View the ads" and it's the last one listed under "Television", middle of the list on the left side.

This message was edited Nov 9, 2009 6:08 PM

When I was in college I had a pair of madras plaid peddle-pushers. They were the envy of all the girls in the dorm. I remember they had no pockets and a zipper in the back so they fit like a glove. My boyfriend loved them, but back then I was skinny as a stick.

One of the best things about Oregon is that people dress for comfort and weather. In San Francisco very high heels were the big thing. I have several pairs in my closet that will never again see the light of day.

Photo is of my daughter and her soon-to-be-husband.

another - aren't they cute?

I think I am in love with Pemco. Is an insurance company just reason to relocate? Hmmmm.

And portland, what wonderful photos of your kids (okay, one is a kid to be), hope those make up the wedding invitation.

WW, thank you for the invitation - so nice to know that freakish sockness is a unifying element and will get me a room throughtout the PNW. Wow.

do you have a favourite sock brand? Confession - I do. I just love Falke for when I am looking nice - my husband gave me 4 pair for christmas last year, and also the most stunning set of baroque pearls - guess where my focus was. OhhhhhhhFalkeeeeee. For the rest of the week, it is SmartWool for me - first and foremost, PhD adrenalin micro's, but I am also a soft touch for a pair of light trekkers with the raspberry pink tops ( I like the tops slouched, not pulled up). And Smartwool macro's over Landsend silk liners will keep my feet toastie through the entire frosty day. SOCKS! Love em.