7-Quick Takes

Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary

1. The last two weeks of Lent have brought my a special something extra to suffer – my tinnitus has been RAGING!! Like, want to put-my-fingers-into-my-ears-and-pull-out-all-the-wiring type of crazy. In desperation last week I bought Ear Health Plus at Walgreens, because the pharmacist suggested that there were some studies suggesting that it was somewhat effective. Well I’ve been taking it for a week and a half at the maximum amount and NOTHING happened. They say you need to take it for six months to see results but I wonder if that’s just wishful thinking and a way for the manufacturer to rope a tinnitus sufferer into buying this stuff for that long. Any way, it’s been a little hard to take.

2.  So I did a little research on the causes of tinnitus and what it actually is and some ways that might actually treat it without costing an arm and a leg.  I found a very good video explaining tinnitus on Youtube.  Then I found AudioNotch.com and decided to give it a try for two months.  We shall see.  Since my tinnitus is over 9 kHz I have to use the white noise therapy – the music apparently won’t work for me.

3. Noah and Gabe are thoroughly enjoying our brief study of World War I.  The course on Homeschool Connections didn’t cover it in great depth, so today we watched two films from the public library about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.  I didn’t know that much about the Archduke’s demise, but it seems it could have been avoided – taking the same road you almost got bombed on doesn’t seem very prudent!  But I didn’t realize the Duke’s wife died too, or that she had insisted going on the trip with him because she was afraid something might happen.  I totally GET how she felt – I would much prefer that if Mr. Pete should get into a dangerous situation that I be with him!

4.  Believe it or not, the Mr. Pete and the kids and I actually talked about a combination of Downton Abbey and The Walking Dead, which we started referring to as, The Downton Dead!  We thought our short story would start with the Spanish Flu of 1918 somehow the virus would survive in a corpse, only to become reanimated during the radiation during the 1960s.  I think it has a nice sci-fi feel to it!

6.  This article, “16- Ways I  blew my marriage-” is a compelling read.  Although I will say that after 33 years of marriage, Mr. Pete and I don’t kiss a lot any more, but we make up for it with snuggling.  I wonder if that counts?   I laughed during the tip on not going to the bathroom in front of each other.  When Mr. Pete is in our bathroom, he is a captive audience.  I take full advantage of that!! Maybe that’s why we have lasted so long?

7.  I am so looking forward to spring break!!  We are on the schedule of the local school district so the kids should be off from Good Friday through the first week of Easter.  If only we can get some of our big goals met first!!!

Oh, and Happy Birthday this weekend to Mr. Pete and to Noah – my Lenten Birthday Boys!