Plug it in

;I am going to make this Febreeze Product review short and sweet. I was recently sent two plug in varieties of air fresheners, one by Glade, and the other by the Febreeze company. I have made it quite well established that I have zero smell capabilities to things like this, so I let my daughters do the testing. The Febreeze products is new, called Noticeable, as you can see in the image. It has dual scents that are compatible. And according to my tester, Megan smells GREAT! We had it plugged in her bathroom.

The other plug in we used as a comparison was a Glade plug in Lasting Impressions version. It too had a nice smell according to my tester, but it only had one scent. Either product, if one chooses to use plug in air fresheners are nice, but the added benefit of the Febreeze odor eliminator and the dual scent option may be preferable to some. I was thankful that I didn't have any adverse allergic reaction to the scents, as that sometimes happens.

On this product comparison I will, give the Febreeze product a slight advantage over the Glade because of the dual scent option. My tester thought both worked quite well, but the dual scent made the Febreeze a winner in her opinion.

Amazon has given me a nifty new option to actually show images and links to any products I mention here in my little blog. I am giving you links to both the Glad and the Febreeze products I tested so you can find for yourself which you prefer.

Wrinkling my brain

 There is a myth that when you learn, you add wrinkles to your brain. If that is true, then hopefully by the time I finish college in a few years, my brain will resemble an over-dried prune, minus the moisture issue.

As a result, of all the homework I have had this summer, yes I took 12 hours, 9 of them online, my brain is going through a wrinkling process, or turning into a big ball of mush. Summer semesters are shorter then regular ones, resulting in a speedier working through the course work. Accounting has been a whole lot of fun to this gal with only passable math kills. My glass top desk must have a surface of some tensile strength as it has endured the frequent bashings  it has received from my head as I struggle to grasp a concept. Thankfully, unless I completely blow the final, I should pass the class with a low B...I hope.

The other three courses have been surprisingly complementary. I am taking Philosophy with focus on ethics, a Sociology and a World Religion class. I have found it quite interesting how one class focus has elements of another class's focus contained within it. I should do pretty well in all of those classes, as I find them enjoyable and readily understandable. Plus I am benefiting for broadening my understanding and appreciation
 of the wonderful diversity that is humanity.

Unfortunately the school + work +Sylvie needs to sleep sometimes equation leaves me less time for other pursuits, like a social life, or writing for just the fun of it. This blog is somewhat neglected and I am putting of a product review until I can concentrate fully on it. It is all I can do to get all the reading needed plus assignments, plus work, plus a weekly column, plus other mundane tasks to consider writing for creative purposes. I miss that already.

Thankfully this semester will end in a few weeks, and I get a break until the Fall Semester starts. Luckily for me one of my classes that semester will be degree focused, as I wade through more of the pre-reqs needed to graduate. People ask what I am going to do when I get out of school. I honestly don't know what a Creative and Professional Writing Degree will offer me, but I am looking forward to finding out.

These past few months have been highly transitional, and looking back it has all been for the right reasons. One of my future goals is to one day write about the reasons why I find myself where I am today. With a good writing skills foundation, hopefully it will be something that people would want to read, and  laugh at all my funny anecdotes not my frequent grammar errors.

In the mean time I will continue to etch wrinkles into my brain.

Just a bit of trash

I'm sure that most of you have a large trashcan in your home, probably near or in your kitchen that the majority of your household trash goes into. Even if you recycle as I do, it is common to have at least a bag or two that needs to be picked up or hauled of in the direction of the landfill. Because it is required, and it saves on cleaning out the can every time we empty it, we put a plastic liner bag into our kitchen trash bags. It does make removal into the big container outside much easier and neater, well it's supposed to at least.

As I am on a greatly reduced income following my separation and pending divorce, I am trying to cut corners on my finances wherever possible. Thankfully this isn't a new concept as several times during my marriage finances were dire and we had to make do without quite a bit. I cut my thrifty teeth during those lean years, and it is mostly serving me well now. One of the things I learned is that name brand doesn't always mean a huge jump in the quality rating of a product. For example store brand frozen peas are pretty much like the famous brands one finds in the freezer section of any grocery. Both contain frozen peas, and I just can't really tell the difference. However there are some things that saving a few pennies on just isn't worth the supposed savings.

The last time I bought trash bags, I opted for a grocery store brand. I prefer the type that has the tie handles built in, because I really hate those little twist ties. I also opted for a variety that was supposedly like the ForceFlex stretch variety that Glad produces. In all honesty I wasn't all that impressed by the strength of that brand, as it was still easy to punch a hole in them, especially if it got a bit weighty, but I did like the concept. I also got the kind that had a heavier .mil weight having learned that that weight usually equates strength and durability. In this case I was wrong.

This bargain brand, although similar to what I'd used before, did not perform as I would have liked. When I  would lift the bag out of the can to take it outside, the ties would pull partially through the plastic holding it all together, making big tears between the straps and the bag itself. That made trash removal fun. If there was any weight at all to the contents of the contained trash, then I could expect a hole somewhere in that bag before I got it out. Even though I only have to empty the can once or twice a week, it was an annoying task, because invariably the bag would fail somewhere between the inside can and the outside.

Yet thrifty little me suffered through the entire large box of those annoying, poor quality trash bags. I bought them and I was going to use every last one.

As soon as I had used the last bargain trash bag, I went to the store and bought a Hefty brand. It's called The Gripper, as it has those tying strips that you can seal and carry a full bag with. This one is also unscented, as I can't tell the difference and with my allergies, I just don't need all that perfume around me. So far, not one tear, not one hole, not one leak anywhere. I have to fill these bags up just a bit faster as my garbage disposal died of antiquity last week and now my coffee grounds and egg shells are added as well as stuff not destined to the recycle bins in my shed.

I will not be going back to bargain or store brand trash can liners. I sacrificed quality just to save .30 cents or so, it really wasn't worth that savings that doesn't even get a little box of Peppermint Altoids, my favorite mints. Sometimes you do have to pay a bit more for quality. Yes bargain brands do work, but in this case the name brand works much better, and that to me is valuable.

A time in Repose

Today marks the end of the first real vacation in a very long time, and my first adult vacation that I didn't have children underfoot. It is also my first time off of work of any length since my separation. That little fact is made even more important to me, because the last scheduled time off from work, a long weekend, was the day I made the painful decision to end my marriage.

This has been the most restful nine days I have enjoyed since I was a child, and my parents would load the six of us to Florida for the summer. There we'd eat our grandparents out of house and home, swim in the pool, ride bikes or the pony, and take day excursions to local places like Silver Glen Springs or Ormand Beach. I remember those times quite fondly, well except for a nasty fall off the pony, and one particularly bad sunburn. Vacation time, at least for us was relaxation supreme.

Amazingly for the most part that is what my vacation has been. I had a few things on my to do list, and I did have school work to keep up on, as my vacation didn't negate the fact that I am taking four classes this summer, but I made sure that slowing down for a spell was highest on my priorities. I took to small excursions, one to Charlotte. I made a quick trip there and back to pick up a new bookcase for my office from Ikea. It now sits, put together and looks great in the space I made for it. On the weekend I went to Tennessee to visit family and to see my youngest brother's band play.

Sunday after church, my sister and brother in law took my grandmother and I on an impromptu tour around town. We did a bit of visiting and we made a quick passing by of where we all grew up. Our old house looks just a little tired after all these years, but the neighborhood still looked amazingly like it used to. Sure there are a lot of new owners, and changes like trees gone or different fencing shows the passage of time, still even after all this time, I can almost imagine my still living there. Even though I moved away 23 years ago, I still dream of living in our old house.

While I was home this week, I got to really appreciate rest, and the necessity of it. I am usually burning my energy candle on both ends. Not this week. This week, I read, I played, I sat around and did nothing. I took a nap, completed two small "around the house projects", caught some rays, got ahead on homework, avoided the laundry, and avoided the make-up, hair dryer and work related clothes. It was amazing how much I needed this time.

I've had other vacations where I was more tired when I returned then when I left. Yes it was a different recreational type of time spent, we'd take short trips, or spend the time working on a big household project, however I didn't manage to alleviate my stress levels. I think mostly it was because I never got to be left alone, just me, no one else to look after, spend time with, or entertain, unless I wanted to. I didn't get to step back and just rest a bit without having to look after something or someone. This time was different, the only person on the agenda was me, and it was glorious. I didn't play complete, uncommunicative hermit, although it was a bit tempting at times, but I appreciated a stepping back a bit from society and responsibility. Oh how I needed it.

I think everyone needs a bit of time away, literal time away from work, family, duty. Even if we pretty much stay home, and in comfy clothes, that your children would be horrified to learn that we went to the mailbox in, that time is so important, and we don't do it near enough. We should. Therefore I plan on making such a time in repose much more common in my life. I suspect that a rested, less stressed Sylvie is much more fun to be around.

feline tastes

My favorite breakfast is grits mixed in with crumbled sausage and bacon. It is easy to prepare, not taxing my meager cooking skills and very satisfying, at least to me. I have cooking it in the microwave down to a near science, except when I add a bit too much water and the durn thing boils over in less then two and a half minutes.

Every time I fix this culinary delight, my cat Chernobyll sits and stares at the bowl. If I happen to get up and walk away for a moment, I will catch her creeping her nose closer and closer to the contents, whiskers quivering in anticipation. She does know quite well what will happen when I am finished with my breakfast; she gets to lick the bowl. She does this with nearly every breakfast I consume, that isn't hand held. She is also rather fond of pancake syrup, but I don't have pancakes that often

. The odd thing is, she and Lunatic the other feline vying for my constant attention tend to avoid plain meat,. They will eat pulled pork, minus the bbq sauce, but avoid cooked or raw chicken, turkey and beef. I've given them bits for a treat, or a small bowl of broth and they snub it. Of course they snub all forms of bargain brand cat food as well, preferring to starve to death rather then eat it. I once had a cat that would literally stand on his back feet so that he could beg for cucumber peels.

 The only real exception aversion to meat sources in un-kibbled states is canned tuna. They would gladly sell my soul for canned tuna. Give them a freshly emptied can with small bits of tuna and they will happily push the can around with their tongues long after every trace of tuna flavor is gone.

Ok breakfast is done, Nobyll has licked my bowl clean to her satisfaction. Time to go put it in the dishwasher.

Confederate Memorial Day, a personal viewpoint.

Today in South Carolina is Confederate Memorial Day. It is a day set aside in seven states, all of them Southern ones that are designed to honor fallen Confederate soldiers. I can't help but shake my head in wonder that a war in which well over 600,00 people perished, for a reason which essentially boiled down to government control, economics and ownership of human beings, is being remembered in such a way by only the states who found themselves the instigators and the ultimate losers of that war.

Slavery had always been mostly a southern matter as most northerners had given up on slavery by the Revolutionary war. One can remember indentured servants, which occurred prior to the Revolutionary war. These were people who went under contract for a set period of time, usually seven years, after which they were granted freedom from their indentured contract. That contract offered passage, food, clothing and shelter in exchange for work for the contract holder. Many Europeans chose this route as a passage to America and a chance at a new and better life.

 The folks who came to the US from Africa had no such option. They were forced to leave their homes, and were never given a time frame where they could have a chance to start life on their own. In both cases however life was very hard for the indentured servant or the slave. Their lives were not their own. They could be sold to new masters, could be punished, often violently so. Women had it especially hard. They had little rights because of gender, and were in danger of sexual violence of which they had little or no protection.

The practice of indentured servant hood gradually evolved into the practice of apprenticeship as the population grew. The need for trade skills grew in demand, and more families wanted their children to have an education. Apprenticeship was a method where people would go under contract to earn a trade and get at least some education.

Reading the history of the decades leading up to the tragedy called the civil war, one can quickly surmise that there was certainly a difference between the way the southern states ran their economy and the way the north did.

The attempt to end slavery in the US had begun with the abolitionist movement of the 1820's. The expansion period were several states and territories were added to the United States became a sticking point as Southern States wanted new states and territories to allow slavery. Missouri and Kansas were key hot points in that debate. In Kansas fighting broke out over the matter that lasted for three years as a result of something called The Missouri Compromise, which was enacted in an attempt to give states the ability to have popular sovereignty.

The political fragmentation of the Whig party which led to the birth of the Republican party was another factor as the parties split pretty much along geographical lines. The presidential election of 1860 was a key element to the secession of first South Carolina followed by Mississippi, Texas, Lousianna, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. Lincoln's inaugeration was May 4. The following month the war began and Virginia, North Carolina Arkansas and Tennessee joined the Southern end of what proved to be the opening rounds of the Civil War.

What is sad is that up to 75% of Southerners were not slave owners. Those that did own them were the more affluents citizens of the region. As slaves were an expensive commodity.  It was for their so called property rights that this conflict was largely for. 

It makes me shake my head in wonder at the pride that people still perpetuate over this tragedy. It is almost like a badge of honor, and I do wonder if many people really know the history of the conflict or of the decades leading up to. The South saw the collapse of their economy, the destruction of a great deal of property and the loss of lives of hundreds of thousands of individuals so that 25 to 30% of their population could own human beings. the power vacuum following the war invited unscrupulous people to delay a sound recovery, and the newly freed slaves found themselves displaced, without resources and often right back into a near slave existence. It took a long time to recover, and what is even sadder is that the anger, prejudice and hatred brought on by the Civil war has been handed down from generation to generation. We need to set that mindset of animosity aside for good here in the South.

 I think we need to remember our history here in the South, but I cannot romanticize it. The history of the South is rich, and glorious, but it has a lot of darkness in it as well. All human history has that. We should remember the people who fought and died in the Civil War. They are an important element in American history and their lives mattered to their families and friends. Did they have to have their lives cut short like that? Absolutely not. As happens so often in human history, a few with money and power has the capacity to make decisions that can have dreadful and tragic results for those with no power and little money. I hope that we can learn from the tragic lessons of that war so that our nation never has to endure something like that again.

Hello nebulizer

As I am writing this I have a machine hooked up. It is plugged into a wall socket at one end, and I have a mouthpiece at the other end. That mouthpiece is currently helping me inhale Alburterol into my lungs. Yes I have a nebulizer, or my own personal and completely legal bong. I hate the nebulizer, but I hate wheezing and asthma attacks worse. I have a high gag reflex so leaving a mouthpiece at my lips is a bad reflex just looking for an excuse to happen. I am not really all that fond of the  initial side effects of Albuterol either. The side effects are gittery, somewhat grumpy feelings and the desire to eat a bag of potato chips, followed by a strong desire for a nap. However the intended effects are usually worth the temporary discomfort.

For the past two weeks, this asthma sufferer has been well aware of the state of her lungs. I just am still not all that great at managing my symptoms. Mostly because my rescue inhaler is expensive, and I try to use it when I only when am having an active attack. I've had several of those in that time frame, plus a whole lot of wheezing going on. So I called my doctor's office. The nurse suggested daily doses of the Proventil from my rescue inhaler and at least one breathing treatment via legal bong. I will do that for the next couple of days to see if things clear up. I know the alternative is a trip to the doc, and a likely shot of a steriod designed to reduce lung inflammation. Shots are "fun".

So why have my asthma symptoms escalated? I've not sure. One reason may be the record pollen year we are having this spring. Another could be the fact that my work has me in contact with chemicals and aerosols for extended periods. A third is likely the air quality in my adopted city. Spartanburg scores an F for high ozone days and a C for particle content in our local air. i doubt I am the only person in this area feeling like I have. I hope that some steps are made to help improve the air quality here for my sake and for every other asthma sufferer. Plain old pollution may be playing a part. I just don't know, and just want it to go away.

I am quite thankful that I've been spared my usual cases of bronchitis or the springtime sinus infection this year. It may be that the allergy shots I've been on for the past two years are helping, at least with the allergies. the asthma is a different story. It's getting worse. It also preventing me from doing things like mow my lawn. Anyone want to do it for me this week?

So what's a wheezy gal to do? Well be a bit more assertive about my medications for one. Another is to try to pin down my episode triggers, hard to do when one doesn't have a sense of smell, but I suspect my work environment holds the key. I am worse there then anywhere else. The last is to take the steps necessary for a career change. That means a return to school, and time will tell if a new career path opens up before graduation several...years...away.

Ok, I am done with my breathing treatment now where are those potato chips?