I’m just telling you so you’ll understand
This is me, sincerely
Doin’ the best that I can

This song, also not previously part of my music library.

But so happy I found it. It’s speaking to me today.

Are you suffering from allergies?

Do you live in Austin? Then the answer is probably yes.

I lay down last night to rest my weary head and immediately felt all this pressure in my ears. “Can adults get ear infections?” I wondered.

This morning, when I woke up unable to breathe out of one nostril and with a sore throat, I realized–allergies. My head is full of snot because I live in Austin and the damn trees are blooming in mid-February because we apparently are just skipping winter this year. It hasn’t even gotten below freezing once, I think.

So I take my Zyrtec and my Nasacort everyday and I am still dying. I am thinking of my friend right now who prefers to avoid medications, and I’m wondering if she’s up and moving, or just hiding in her room with a face mask and duct tape around all the windows.

Because this is brutal. Not only does it make my face hurt, and make my eyes itch, and make my throat scratch. It makes me so fucking tired. Like, someone bring me a plate of pancakes in bed because I ain’t doing shit today.

But oh no. The kiddo would never allow that. So up I am.

And I remember this:

Which looks really goofy, but it’s AMAZING. Like a neti pot, but way easier. And whoa boy does it clean out your sinuses. I won’t go into details, but there’s a reason my head felt ten pounds lighter after using this. Which made me think of this disgusting MTV ad.

So if you are suffering from allergies, I highly recommend you go to your local grocery store or pharmacy, go to the nasal distress isle, and pick one of these bad boys up (the sinus rinse, not the gross guy in the commercial). And while you’re there, get some

DISTILLED WATER.

Don’t use tap water because you don’t want amoeba or whatever up in your brain. Which leaves you with either buying distilled water, or boiling tap water to kill everything in it. But then you have to let that cool down. Because you don’t want to burn the inside of your nose. Ouch.

So once you have distilled/boiled water, you heat it up in a clean cup in the microwave for like, 20 seconds. Then pour it in the plastic bottle, add the package of salt that comes with it, and you’re set.

Lean over your sink and start squirting away. Well, really, you just squeeze for a second, then you’ll know your sinus is full because the water is coming back out. Stop. Blow the water out. Repeat.

I know, it’s gross. But do it in private, don’t blog about it, and then enjoy your day without all the snot.

You can do it at night before bed (I have no idea if it’s ok to do it twice a day, but it’s just salt water). Then you can have an easier time breathing while you sleep.

Get your nasal rinse on, people!

And shout-out to my new doctor, Dr. Kolte, at Flora Medical Clinic for introducing me to this product!