In which I do gross things and show you

Thanksgiving was lovely this year! LOVELY! We had a wonderful visit with my mom, my sister Ash, and my sister's boyfriend Mike in Denver. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives to spend the holidays with!

 

Did you know that Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City? Now GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER because it means that Denver is at a very high altitude. Over 1600 meters I would presume, but I'm too lazy to Google it right now so lets just make an Ass out of U and Me, shall we? Whenever I visit Colorado I experience the lovely side-effects of the dry air and high altitude: Dry, bloody boogers to be exact. YUM, I know. John had a little cold when we arrived for our visit and I was sick with it by the first morning we woke up. By the time Sydney and I arrived home I was feeling better, but a day later I woke up with a bloody nose and a horrid headache. Which in my world means that I have a sinus infection. BOO.

As of late I've been on a bit of a quest to be more healthy and uh, homeopathic? I've been trying to cut back on artificial sweeteners/flavors (this is really hard by the way, especially when you're addicted to using Splenda in your coffee and eating peanut butter M&Ms), drink more water, and trying really hard to remember to take my vitamins every day. It's not as easy as it looks! Anyways, we've had an unused neti pot kit sitting in our bathroom cabinet for nearly a year. I found it on the shelf at Target one day when John was having a particularly nasty bout with allergies combined with a head cold (I also purchased our humidifier that day … LOVE our humidifier. Also as a side note, our pediatrician told us once that the best weapon you have against congestion and sinus problems is moisture. So drink a lot of water, put a humidifier in your room, etc). When I brought it home he totally scoffed at it. I am not even kidding people the thought of purposely putting water up his nose REVOLTED him. I intended to return it but soon after he was being rushed into emergency surgery for his ruptured appendix, and well yeah, months went by and NOTHING got done around here after that.

So the other morning I noticed that old neti pot in the back of the cabinet and took it out for a closer look. Every once in a while I hear someone singing the praises of the neti pot and wonder if it really works. We live near a major airport and are exposed to our fair (or UNfair) share of pollution, we have A LOT of allergies in this family, and when we get sick we take way, WAY too much DayQuil to get through it. Since I've been feeling particularly craptastic this week and didn't really have the time to get to the doctor, I decided to give it a try before I tried to schedule an appointment with our beloved Dr. M (an appointment to which I'd have to drag a toddler, say it with me: OY).

In a nutshell? I FREAKING LOVE MY NETI POT! And you're welcome for the photo of me using it.

I read the instructions, filled it up with some leftover (cold) kettle water from last night's tea and the included cleansing packet, stood over the sink, breathed through my mouth, and washed what seemed to be a LIFETIME'S worth of crud out of my sinus cavities. It was easy! And DUDE, the stuff in the sink absolutely blew my mind. SO GROSS. And then? For the rest of the day I felt SO MUCH BETTER. And the next morning? I woke up still congested, but had no bloody nose or headache. Which means I'm on the road to recovery. Without antibiotics. Without copious amounts of DayQuil. WOO!

And so? The neti pot gets a big thumbs up from me. What are your favorite home remedies?