I am generally pretty averse to taking drugs – prescription or over the counter. I know there are those who have conditions requiring drugs for health, mental stability or quality of life, but I’m not one of them.

And I’m known to suffer (though not necessarily in silence) through headaches, backaches, toothaches, sinus congestion, etc. until they are completely unbearable before taking anything, other than essential oils/teas/herbal remedies.

But I have to say I have a testimony of Mucinex. I am so grateful that it is now an over the counter medication, not requiring a prescription. And Sudafed.

Every time I go to Salt Lake I get a sinus thing. This trip it headed straight to my chest (I don’t think I fully ever recovered from my December thing). I spent the entire time there coughing up phlegm (yuck) and sounding like a frog when I talked.

Now that I’m back in the northwest, my head is starting to clear up. Actually got a full night’s sleep last night. Maybe one more day of Mucinex and I’ll be good.

Do you have any drugs you’re partial to…. over the counter or otherwise? Any you avoid like the plague?

Sorry for that unpleasantness. I promise my next post will contain Kauai pictures.

I know you were expecting Halloween pics – and they are coming. But today is Clean Out Your Fridge Day (really!) and I just couldn’t pass up posting about it.

According to the folks at Practically Edible, this weird idea for a holiday was started in 1995 by the Whirlpool company.

Here is the evidence of my participation.

Although I have only been home about 1 week during the past month, and my fridge has not been fully stocked since I returned, I was still able to find and clear out some icky stuff.

• A lone egg in a carton with an expiration date in August
• A tub of grated Parmesan cheese that expired in 2008 (hidden behind the one that is still considered fresh).
• A moldy lemon in a baggie.
• A pint of LONG overdue buttermilk, which I had intended to use for moss cultivation and never got around to it.
• A nearly empty container of poppy seed dressing I had made a couple of months ago which was showing signs of life.

So a bit of nastiness, but all in all not too bad. I’ve seen (and had) worse.  At least all my veggies were still fresh.

So go clean out your fridge – or at least open the door and inspect it.  Then come tell us about the most disgusting thing you find.

We’re waiting!

This is the view outside my current home – a hotel room at Extended Stay Deluxe.

The reason I’m living in a hotel room is because my bathroom looks like this:

Since it’s my only bathroom, and both the toilet and sink are torn out, my insurance company has put me up in a hotel room since Sunday night. I’m not loving it.

Learned today they’ve located one leak, but have one more condo (top floor) to check and make sure there are no other sources. I’ll be here another week at least….

On the bright side, it will be great to have a mold and moisture free bathroom that smells fresh instead of mildewy. And I’m taking this opportunity to have tile and a new vanity installed when they put it all back together.

All I can say is thank heaven for home owners insurance! Have you ever had to use your HO insurance?

Today I made a most unpleasant discovery. When I opened my cupboard to select my morning tea, I was greeting by about 50 tiny fruit flies. This is a total shock, as I don’t keep any fresh fruit or veggies in the cupboard.

I hate fruit flies.

After a little detective work, I discovered that a little plastic single serve bowl of Dole sliced pineapple had torn open and the flies had made a lovely home. They must have just started hatching last night while I slept. Evil, bad fruit flies.

I’ve been chasing them around the house, sucking them up into my vacuum all day!

Of course this isn’t nearly as bad as the infestation in my home many years ago when a forgotten bag of potatoes had rotted in the basement………… yuck!