Finding my Feng Sui

I've never been a very good sleeper and I've been tired for thirty some years. At the brink of exhaustion, "Not Steve" suggested that I research making a Feng Sui bedroom. I've heard of Feng Sui and sort of understood what it is was but ignorant as to the what's, hows and whys so I shot him one of my glares. But as soon as I had a free minute, I googled "Feng Sui Bedrooms."

After 0.32 seconds, my search results were in front of me and I clicked on the first one, Feng Sui Bedroom Tips-How to Feng Shui Your Bedroom. I scanned down the seven rules listed and said to myself, "Okay, I can do this. It's worth a try."

As I read the finer print, things got more difficult. "Avoid sloped ceilings, have nothing hanging over bed, avoid "pointing arrows", remove all clutter......" Yikes, I have all those things. My Feng Sui is sunk!"

In a mini panic attack, I turned off the ceiling fan/overhead lighting fixture that hangs on my sloped ceiling and over my bed (thinking that I could trick my Feng Sui by making it less obvious) and turned on a table lamp. The energy immediately felt better. I cleared off my dresser and night stand and moved the piles of clothing into the other bedroom. Ahhhhh-even better energy. I closed all doors and opened the window to get fresh oxygen. Wow, this Feng Sui stuff is easy-good energy is really flowing now.

As I scanned my bedroom with my new Feng Sui eyes (as if I were now an expert), I was pleased with my results until I saw my "western bagua" with the floor stacked with magazines and the bookcases crammed and overflowing with knitting books, thirteen years worth of unfinished projects, miscellaneous skeins of yarn, unmatched knitting needles...and you get the picture-and it isn't pretty! All of the good energy was instantly zapped by my "western bagua"!

Light bulb moment-the biggest problem with my life is Clutter!
It is not the ceiling fan over my bed or the sloped ceiling-I have clutter everywhere-and not just in my Western Bagua! All of this clutter is disrupting my good energy!

I said to myself, "Junko, Free yourself from physical, mental and emotional clutter!"

As a go from shelf to shelf, drawer to drawer, room by room, I am clearing out the clutter and as a result I'm finding the mates to the unmatched knitting needles, the lost stitch markers, the forgotten projects that were started with good intentions, books and patterns that I thought I had lost. I'm also finding that by replacing the lost items and by starting new projects because I lost "the flow" (aka Feng Sui) of the previous project, I am creating even more physical, mental and emotional clutter. Clutter has a snowball effect.

I may be missing the hows, whys and whats of Feng Sui, but this Feng Sui thing has really motivated me. Now, if I could only learn the correct pronunciation maybe I'll sleep better.

Neti Pot

I'm sick! I came down with "the crud" on Sunday night after flying with my sick friend and fellow flight attendant Nancy. The Crud is that horrible hot and cold, achy, stuffy nose, puffy eyes, weak as a kitten, don't know if its a cold, flu or sinus infection, maybe I was hit by a truck feeling. You don't know if you're hungry, tired, cranky or all of the above, but you do know that you can't get comfortable and you can't function.

Desperate times call for desperate measures! Most people will go to the doctor or medicate with OTC drugs, I bring out the Neti Pot! If your not familiar with the Neti Pot, brace yourself-it's not for everyone. Sheryl knows its not for her-she gave me hers after giving it a few tries-so now I have a spare.

The Neti Pot is a complete sinus cleansing system. The ads read, "It naturally cleanses, refreshes, and protects the nasal passages, one of our body's first lines of defense against illness. Recommended today by doctors and pharmacists worldwide, the Neti Pot^TM has been used for thousands of years in Ayurvedic medicine to alleviate sinus and allergy problems. The Himalayan Institute introduced the Neti Pot^TM over 35 years ago."

The translation of all of that is "You stick the spout of a little blue plastic teapot up one nostril and "Neti tea" and nastiness dribbles out the other nostril and into your sink." For those of you who want to see how it really works, you can YouTube it. But, I think you can imagine just how NOT pretty it is.

The good news is that I really like the Neti Pot. It does clear up the nasal passage and leaves you feeling unplugged and fresher. Sarah Haney's friend, Brittany, introduced me to the Neti Pot. I want to be like Brittany so I tried it. After the first rinse, I was hooked! I actually had a mild addiction to the Neti Pot for a week or two. Since I know my addictive tendencies towards the Neti, I don't Neti regularly as they recommend, I only Neti when I'm sick.

I took advantage of a real day off yesterday-no shop, no Comair, no phone calls and no knitting (too sick to even knit)! I stayed in pajamas most of the day, Neti-ed, showered and put on clean pajamas. Today, I was semi-functioning thanks to the Neti Pot and Steve and Belinda for bringing me "A Feed a Cold Buffet" from Frisches. I went to the shop and quarantined myself in the office. Janet took one look at me and said, "WHoa!" I didn't think I looked THAT bad. After a few hours, I came back home to my pajamas and Neti Pot. I know I'm on the mends because I started knitting yet another new project- a faux ribbed baby sweater from the "Sweetess Book" in our new yarn called Crofter DK. The self patterning yarn looks and feels great and I don't want to put it down-but I did for the sake of the blog and the Neti Pot!

P.S. The Neti Pot is available is Walgren's and Wal-Mart in the Cold/Flu/Allergy Section.