A bit of organization...

It is stinking hot outside.  The feels-like temperate is 97!  Needless to say, the air-conditioner has been running quite a bit today.  I am so thankful I have a newish air-conditioner even if I had to put it in myself!

My head still hurts, that same dull, constant pain.  However, I am inordinately thankful and pleased that I have yet to have another migraine.  I feel ever more confident to think that I have broken the chronic migraine cycle again.  This time, in addition to the OTC meds, shoulder and neck heating pad, and relaxation exercises, I used the headache essential oil that I received when I bought that fragrant lotion I tracked down from a free airline first-class travel kit given to me by my mother.

The headache remedy is peppermint and lavender.  It struck me, recently, that when I use it, the peppermint makes my skin tingle.  I believe the physical sensation is rather helpful because it gives you something else to focus on outside the pain in your head.  I have been using it every night and every morning for quite a while now.

I also have been using my special play list, with recent additions by an artist duo from Canada that I learned about from watching  Canadian television shows.  I now have eight songs by Dala.  One of the most enjoyable ... the most brightening ... is "Best Day":





I really like their harmonies and some of the subjects of their songs.  I like them so much that I have looked to see what is the closest concert in Canada from me!  Yes, I fantasize about driving to see them.






This is the first song of theirs I heard, whilst watching "Continuum."  Their music is also on "Flashpoint."






I wish I had the words to explain why I like this song........


In addition to the play list and the essential oil, I also have been using the two Illume candles that I received Christmas before last and forgot about them.  I wrote about the Balsam and Cedar one that just sends me to such a happy place, reminding me of what I wish I could remember about summer vacation in Colorado.  I cannot remember a single moment of them, but the candle's fragrance gives me the feeling that I am back on the trail to Fern Falls or hiking up to Bear Lake.

The other candle, which I finally started burning last week in a bit of desperation is Gardenia.  Oh, my!  The candle fills the entire first floor with the heavy scent of gardenia, lasting hours and hours after I blow it out.  Gardenia is the scent of my childhood.  Now, in many ways that might not bring good memories, but to me it is the scent of the South, the place that makes most sense to me and where I fit in—as much as a wallflower outlier could—the most.

It is still strange to me that scents can have such an effect on me....

For a while now, I have not been all that assiduous about putting things back in their proper place in my two of my cooking ingredients cabinets.  The corner cabinet is where all the baking and "strange" cooking supplies are, such as the garlic chili sauce.  Also in there are Amos' micro bones, pasta, and my blood sugar monitor and glucose tablets.  The problem in that cabinet is that I have added new supplies without really contemplating where they should go logically.  The other cabinet's problem mainly was haste and poor placement on my part. Of course, I do actually have—I am reluctant to admit—about eight box mixes of dessert of one kind or another.  I see something tasty in the store, buy it, and then wait for a special time to make it.  Then, when I am shopping again, I have forgotten that I already have a tasty option or two at home.  SIGH.

I ventured out into the sweltering heat and fetched the step-stool from the garage.  [I would like to have a thin, light one in the house because I think that would be safer for me than standing on tip-toe atop the ancient milking stool.]  And then I proceeded to pull most things from the cabinets and organize them.  Not only was the organization a moment of bliss for me, I am pleased that when I look inside both cabinets, on all eight shelves, I now have visual rest once more.  And I have neatly arrange display of tasty treats to help me remember not to buy anymore and to ... eventually ... cook them.

A bit of organization does a body good.

All that standing was exhausting.
I have been just ... sitting ... for a few hours now.
Twining Amos' curls about my finger tips.