Do even remember trying to sleep as a kid?  Probably not because it was completely natural, as grows older, sleeping gets tricky.  I have a few tricks that can help:

1.  Understand that sleep comes in 90 minutes cycles, so when you stay up late and know you will get little sleep, try and time your sleep for 1 1/2 hrs, 3 hrs, 4 1/2, etc.  You will feel more rested if you sleep within this cycle.  Even 3 hours is enough, but 3 1/2, doesn’t work, 4 doesn’t work either.

2.  Eat a baked potato before you go to bed.  The potassium somehow calms the body enough to get a little sleep.  Oh, no butter,or anything else—just a plain baked potato.

3. Don’t drink anything after 6pm, or your body will keep reminding you to get up and go.

4.  Read in bed….let the whole house fall quiet, and just read—something very easy.

5.  If you just can’t sleep, get up out of bed and do something.  Your body knows what it is doing.  By the time you go back in about an hour and a half, you will fall asleep easily.

6.  Lavender, it’s a cliche, but it does help…if you soak in the tub with Lavender, even better.

7.  Always remember, your body is a machine.  It will sleep when it’s really tired, ask for food when it’s really hungry.  If you trust your body to take over, and not think about it—you will find the rest you seek.

I have a thing for cherries, and that’s a fact.  Maybe because my grandparents lived on a cherry farm near Flathead Lake in Montana and we ate them till we got sick every summer.   Maybe because my mom loved cherry pies? I even have a huge painting of a bowl full of cherries hanging in my house.

Bowl full of Cherries Oil Painting

I never noticed the pattern in myself until recently—even though I’ve been living with me all my life. Cherry cokes, cherry life savers, Cherry Garcia ice cream, and now this! A cherry candle, by Point a la Ligne, has made it’s way to CAREBOX™.  I suppose it was just a matter of time until I found it. But now that I have, I am thrilled to offer this sweet gift—more than just THE cutest candle….it’s the cherry on top!

The cherry on top means a lot of things.  It’s good news, a great day, the perfect sunset, a day off, a parking place in front of Macy’s during a sale, a sunset, a new friend, an A on an exam…whatever it is that just makes the day extra nice.

But I like that it’s a way to say, I love you…you are just…the cherry on top!

It’s now part of the Build a Box collection, and ships direct from us to you or, whoever…

http://www.carebox.com/index.php/gift-build-a-box-custom-care-package.html

There was a time when we had complete faith in our doctors, and did whatever they told us to do.  Right?

Both my parents were completely loyal to their doctors, they never checked around—never got second opinions, never doubted a word they said.  The truth is though, hospitals, doctors, nurses are all really busy, and very tired—they are human, not the super-humans my parents believed them to be.

House isn’t always around….so what do you do when you, or a loved one gets sick?  You need to become your own advocate and best friend, you need to run the show from your bed or bedside, as hard as that is to imagine.

And get this wonderful book by Martine Ehrenclou….it gives questions to ask, terms to know, and pages to take notes.  It’s like a super journal that guides you through the medical jungle.  I wish I had it when my parents got sick—it could have condensed the learning curve by a mile.  And it is an EASY guide to follow.  Highly recommended!