Lazy Germophobe

It seems like I have more low-energy days than most people. I had one today. I had wicked brain fog until noon, and when it lifted, I still couldn’t muster the energy to do anything. I didn’t want to speak. I didn’t want to leave the house. I couldn’t think. My mind was blank. What IS this? I’m not depressed, but I do have anxiety—is this a symptom of anxiety? Is it peri-menopausal? Is it due to stress? Is my immune system fighting something off, so my body is conserving energy? Do we all have energy cycles, but mine have lower lows? Am I more sensitive to it? I am sensitive to a lot that goes on in my body. I googled “low-energy days” and got a ton of hits, so I guess I’m not alone, but I still feel like I have them with a greater frequency than is normal. At least this time I recognized that this was how my day was going, so I sat down on the recliner with a cozy blanket and read for much of the day. First I finished the book A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On ...

October. The ticks are back. April into June, and again in October–November, they are the absolute worst. The dogs pick them up on our walks. Once we get back to the yard, I try to remove and crush as many as possible. A lint roller helps, but unfortunately, the ticks like to hide out under the fur. I’ll see them later, crawling around on the dogs IN THE HOUSE. And that’s the real problem. The dogs are well protected. They take an oral pill to kill fleas and ticks, and unlike humans, they can have a Lyme vaccine. It is the rest of us I’m concerned about, because the ticks hitch a ride into the house on the dogs. Ticks that bite the dogs will die; ticks that drop onto the floor or transfer from dog to person are free to infect us all with nastiness. Sadie in particular is apparently irresistible to ticks. I once removed three dozen of them after a walk. My goal each and every year—so far, completely unsuccessful—is to find a nice bug repelling spray, safe to a...

I always internally scoffed at skin “serums” and the suckers who paid a premium for them. You can buy a face cream for $8, but call it a serum and it goes for $24—for a fraction of the amount. (And that’s the cheap drug store serum.) What a racket! Who would fall for this scam? Haha! Then I read about hyaluronic acid. Google it if you’re unfamiliar—there are too many articles to link. This sounded quite legitimate to me. This substance naturally found in the skin attracts and retains water, making it an excellent moisturizer. Like everything else in the body, we lose it as we age. But it’s OK, because you can buy a serum with hyaluronic acid in it! The reviews are amazing! So I did it. I bought Neutrogena Hydro Boost because it was only $20, I could get it at Rite Aid, and it’s “#1 dermatologist recommended.” It smells and feels wonderful. It’s lovely to use. The thing is, I still look 49. See, I made a strategic error: As previously noted, I do not possess ...