Ahhhhh... Men in kilts at Ren Fest for the Highland Fling weekend. Bagpipes too. Love it!

My son showed up at my bedside just before 630 this morning and puked on me. I LOVE starting my day that way.

Ahhhhh... Friday night dinner @ Zio's with the family. Have a great weekend everyone!

A little late but....

Here is the alternative to the flu shots that we do in our house. Every year I've gotten the flu shot I've gotten sick. I don't do them any more and I don't have my kids get them. Instead, we try to eat well (including green smoothies), get plenty of rest, cover coughs and wash hands.

Here is my alternative to flu shots that I've learned from several different sources. So far it seems to work to deflect or lessen the virus' symptoms in our house.

I use two homeopathic medicines: oscillococcinum--available at most any drug/grocery store as well as health food stores in a white, yellow and orange box-- and influenzinum--available at most health food stores in a small blue vial. Both medications are made in France by Boiron. Homeopathic medicines are safe, have no side effects nor any drug interactions.

The oscillococcinum comes in pre-dosed vials. The instructions on the box are for flu-like symptoms so follow those if you have the flu. For a preventative, take one dose once a week during flu season. I also take a dose when I feel run down.

The influenzinum also has dosing instructions for flu-like symptoms. For a preventative, take 10 pellets once a week for 3 weeks, skip a week and take 10 pellets on the 5th week. For example, if you take your first dose on Sunday, take the next dose the following Sunday and another dose the Sunday after that. Skip the 4th Sunday and take another dose (10 pellets) on the 5th Sunday. You may then choose to stop and save the remaining pellets for symptoms should they develop. Or you may choose to take two more weekly doses (6th and 7th Sundays) until the vial is empty.

Health food stores that sell the blue vials also have many meds for many issues including cough, congestion, body aches, insect bites, insomnia..... They work well but are often short acting so you may need to take them more frequently than other over-the-counter meds. Since there is no drug interaction, you may take them with over-the-counter meds or in combination with other homeopathic meds. I give them to my kids too--full dose unless the instructions say otherwise.

Hope this info helps even if it is late into the flu season. There is plenty of info on homeopathic meds out there. Some of it talks about how there is no proof that it works. Countries like Germany, France and India use it as often as pharmaceutical meds and Germany is doing the most research on it that I know of. I like that there are no side effects from them. I trust them so much more than over-the-counter meds. They have been used a lot longer. Granted, herbs and homeopathic medicines don't always work as quickly or as drastically as pharmaceutical meds. The idea behind them is to strengthen your body to fight by itself. Most pharmaceutical meds mask symptoms and prolong illness in my humble opinion. Not to mention cause dangerous side effects. Where herbal and homeopathic meds gently coax the body into balance and health.

However, if you are weak or have a poor immune system then you should go for the pharmaceutical meds as they will save your life when your body is too weak to help itself. I don't think that pure scientific Western medicine is horrible. I just think it leaves out the tried and true. They need to incorporate/accept different healing methods. As with most everything in life, there is not one right answer. It is some combination of answers that may change the next time the same question is asked. We shouldn't get stuck in a rut thinking one is better than the other.

Pics

M as Princess Rose (character from some Barbie dancing movie) for Halloween

Halloween
O as the Evil Emperor for Halloween. Funny that the bat on the door looks like part of his costume!

O on his Cub Scout Den's push cart

M on an antique fire truck

The Blue Angels perform
Blue Angels
Mom and Dad get to go into the Apollo Mission Control room. All of those tourists behind them in the viewing room are from Space Center Houston.

Quick Recap

Once I returned from Vegas I hit the ground running as midterm time was fast approaching. So far so good, I have 3 of the 4 midterms down. One yet to go next week. I'm wondering if I shouldn't ask the girls to change next year's Vegas trip to Nov--around Veteran's day-- when I know I'll be done with midterms. But then again, if I take a trip between midterms and finals, will there be anything to motivate me to study for finals in time?! Hmmmm..... Something to ponder.

Mom and dad came down for their first Ballunar Fest the weekend of Oct. 23rd. We had a blast! The weather was amazing and we got to do all sorts of things. Besides enjoying the balloon activities, they got to see O play baseball and they got to visit the Historic Apollo Mission Control room at JSC. It was a busy weekend full of activities and good times.

I've been so focused on midterms and just getting through each day trying to always optimize my time that Halloween nearly passed me by. With all of the studying I've been doing, all of the poor food choices I've been making and with all of the crud going around, I've felt run down. Not really coming down with any symptoms per se, but just needing to sleep more and take it easy. Halloween day the fatigue seemed to hit me like a ton of bricks. I worked from 8-3 then came home to grab a nap before we went out trick-or-treating. I slept until after 6. C had taken off to go to the store to get some candy since I hadn't done that yet. I woke up so disoriented and so out of it so it was hard to get the kids ready in their costumes. Some how we managed to get out the door shortly after 6:30, met up with several different friends from the neighborhood and enjoyed the evening walking around in the gorgeous weather.

The extra hour of sleep that night was wonderful. Sunday was a full day with studying, O's last b-ball game and picnic. Plus Wings Over Houston airshow nearby meant lots of traffic, noise and crowds in the area. I had made plans awhile back to go see Mary Poppins at the Hobby Center with some friends so C was left with the chaos. I love that he doesn't complain when I leave him with all of that! What a guy!

Anyway, Mary Poppins was fabulous. The evening was great. I only wish I could have spent it with my hubby too. I managed to get through the midterm on Monday. Needed to sleep a lot on Tuesday and had to deal with a sick M Tuesday evening.

It began with vomiting. She had eaten some candy that turned out to be gum and I thought that it just upset her stomach. Weds morning she vomited a 3rd time so she stayed home from preschool and went with me to my hair appointment. As we sat there (her in my lap) waiting for my color to do its thing, I noticed that she had a fever. It just seemed to get higher as time went by but I had no way to measure it. I decided to see if I could get her in to the school clinic since my teacher who specializes in pediatrics was supervisor that day. I got her an appointment so we quick got the color washed out of my hair and took off for the clinic.

She was afraid she would get needles and I assured her that they could do other things without needles. Dr. Z and K, the intern, were so good with her. They took her temp which felt much lower to me by then and it was 100.5. Dr. Z checked her throat and listened to her lungs then chose 8 herbs for her to take deciding that she has the flu. K did some pediatric Tui Na to help lower her temperature and keep her from vomiting more. No needles or pharmaceutical drugs involved and 24 hours later she is her old self. She and I both slept a lot yesterday. I skipped class last night and along with O, we three were dead asleep on the couch by 8:45. I woke up a little over an hour later long enough to get everyone into bed and I was out again. C had chaos going on at work so he missed all of the drama for Tues and Weds evenings.

M is doing great. It took a bit to get her to eat something and take her herbs (tea decoction that I mixed with grape juice) but she has much more energy now and has been playing some. She even managed a good bm which had not happened for a few days so I think that will help her a lot. Now we are going to nap some more before O comes home. Then I have to hope I can make it through 4 hours of herb class tonight! Luckily the teacher is the same one that treated M yesterday. If I can't make it through the entire class he will understand.

That's what we have been doing for the past few weeks. We have many options of things to do over the next several weekends. This weekend I'll be studying as much as I can but the two after that are fair game. We have free tickets to the circus that a neighbor gave us and I would also like to get up to the Ren Fest. Or, maybe we'll just sleep! Thanksgiving week takes us to Rocheser for family fun with the Ms and also C's 20th high school reunion. Isn't he old?!!!

That is about it here. Take care all! Hugs and kisses all around.

I lost the text numbers for facebook, twitter and blogger in my phone. They are back in there now and saved this time. This text is a test for each...