More snow on the ground this morning; it fell overnight. It’s still snowing. Maybe 2 – 3 inches? Alas, poor Don is going to have to shovel it as this crappy sinus/cold thing is hanging on for dear life. I thought I was getting better two days ago, but yesterday and today, this little bug has all but laughed in my face.
When I get a cold or sinus bug, it’s not pretty because I already suffer from allergies and sinus problems on a daily basis. On any given day there’s already a lot going on there, so when I come down with something, oh boy, it’s seemingly magnified by ten.
That’s where I am now. Feeling Crappy. (Sung to the tune of ‘Feelin’ Groovy.)
That’s my To Be Read pile of books. Some are to be reviewed, some are just for me. I need to read, in fact, have to read as I have a review coming up on Monday. But when you feel under the weather, it’s sometimes hard to concentrate, you know?
To top it all off, as we were sitting here on Wednesday evening, I started to see streaks, like a long line, flashing across my right eye. It wasn’t all the time, but they were there and they seemed ‘large.’ I sometimes have ocular migraines and thought it could be one of those, but ocular migraines go away pretty quickly and this didn’t. I started to worry that something dire was happening, so when I woke up yesterday morning and they were still there, Don called our health insurance provider and got a number for an ophthalmologist. I found myself sitting in the chair getting all sorts of tests, and all sorts of eye drops, including dilation. When Don saw my eyes, he said that I looked like Scout does when she goes on one of her nighttime obsessive, dementia-induced tears through the house. Turns out it’s a floater. I have lots of floaters, but none of them ever looked like this one, which is why I got frightened.
I’m relieved. But he wants me to come back in a month for some glaucoma testing. He’s suspicious about my left eye. Crap. (I’m using that word a lot in this post, aren’t I?)
Hear me now: I refuse to be suffering from glaucoma.
What a day. Just at the start of a new year of health insurance that carries a hefty deductible and I go through lots of medical tests. Goody.
I’m exhausted.
Someone was very glad to see us when we got home. She even jumped up, which isn’t so easy nowadays. See what I mean about well-worn floors? Dogs nails will do that to a wide plank pine floor.
Back to the ophthalmologist’s office. As I was sitting in a little waiting room, with drops in my eyes, the woman next to me told me that I had very pretty hair. I was flattered, of course, and thanked her, which got us talking about going gray, which she was in the process of doing. She had lovely long hair, past her shoulders, which she had been coloring for years. She had just started letting it grow gray and I could tell that it was going to be lovely and I told her so.
Then another woman came in and sat down in the waiting area who also had long silvery gray hair. All three of us had gray hair of the long, past-the-shoulders variety. We felt like we had just started a club! And, I must say, we seemed pretty gosh-darned hip, as well. (I hope that I don’t have to add that coloring your hair is neat, as well. It seems like every time I write about deciding to go gray, someone takes offense, as if I’m slamming the idea of coloring one’s hair. I’m not. But since I let my hair go gray, guess what? I’m probably going to write about it occasionally. But only occasionally.)
New post up on Just Let Me Finish This Page.
Happy Friday.
Hope you are feeling better today. Wasn’t it Bette Davis that said, “Old age isn’t for sissies.”? Was she ever right!
She did, Tana. But I refuse to use those two words!
I love the gray hair! I’ve been letting mine go for about ten years now, but it’s only gray in the front. Wish the back would hurry and catch up, like yours seems to have done.
Mine still has a lot of brown in it. Depending on the light, it can look more brownish or totally gray. An overhead light, whether the sun or artificial? Gray.
I thought for a moment the title read: Steaks, Bugs and Going Gray.. LOL yeah just a chuckle for your morning . I know that snow isn’t making you happy camper.
xo Liz
Whoa! You know I’m not going to be chatting about steaks! The snow is awfully pretty, but Don has a gig tonight, so we want him to be able to get out of here.
I am all gray but when I started getting gray I looked like a skunk—-literally. So I had my hairdresser put some color in the wide gray streak so that I looked like salt and pepper evenly over my whole head . Once I got all gray I stopped doing that. I like my gray and so does my husband.
My mom had one of those streaks when her hair first started getting gray. I sort of liked it! I’m not sure whether she did, though.
You have lovely hair. I favor gray hair and it IS like being in a club. I’ve had so many conversations with strangers about when they decided to let the gray show, and the age when this all happened, etc. I started turning gray in my thirties and colored my hair for a few years, but stopped a long time ago. My natural hair color was on the dull side, but my gray is really kind of snowy. Much more interesting.
I imagine if I started going gray in my thirties, I would have colored my hair, too. Your gray sounds lovely, love the word “snowy.”
Love not coloring my hair…for 7 years now. I started turning “white” at the age of 21. I’m 56 now and all my hair is white. I get more complements now that I ever did coloring my hair…not that it matters but it is so freeing!
Hope you are feeling better soon!
Hugs,
Debbie J
It is freeing! Mine is sort of a silver, but it’s been growing in naturally among the brown and reddish tones of my hair, so it’s been relatively easy to accept.
So sorry to hear all this about your eye acting up – hopefully it will not be glaucoma, but if it is they can do so much these days to counteract the problem if caught early. As for the bug – at least it will go away, meanwhile try to rest and treat it with good things to keep you warm and comfy through the snowy days.
I’m not starting out this new year in great shape either – looking at a surgery soon – more on that later. I’ve now decided growing old gracefully is often difficult no matter how positive one tries to remain – unexpected things creep up on us and all we can do is remain stalwart and fight the demons!
I do have my hair colored but would like to let the natural gray grow out – but such a difficult process which I haven’t the patience to address….yet!
Hugs – Mary
I think growing gray out is a real test of one’s patience! I would have a real hard time doing it, too. So sorry about the upcoming surgery, Mary. You are in my thoughts. And yes, I’m trying real hard, like you say, to grow old with grace, but some days? It ain’t so easy!
My husband had floaters in his eye for awhile, but they went away. They freaked him out, he kept saying ” did you see that light?” Now he has glaucoma in just one eye. With one daily eye drop of medicine, it is totally under control.
I too have below my shoulders gray hair. I love my gray hair, it is mulit- colors of gray. When you grow out your hair, you never know what you will get. Once grown out, it still changes. I say. … Give it a chance. It takes patiences and you learn a lot about yourself during the process.
One last thing….I live in Nevada City, Ca. Where you got married. We would take your snow in a second. We are still in the middle of a drought, no measurable rain since Christmas Eve. Very Sad and scary.
Goodness! Nevada City usually has snow this time of year! I’m so sorry. I love that little town – you are lucky to live there, Janet.
I love my longish gray/brown hair. Luckily I never colored it to begin with so there was no adjustment to be made. Just acceptance.
I went gray a few years ago and I love my hair. My hair is short and so easy to care for now. We have a 94 year old neighbor that has glaucoma. He’s used drops for over 20 years. The ophthalmologist told him that faithfully using the drops have kept his vision from getting worse. I have macular degeneration. If it stays the dry kind I should be okay for the most part. Hope your sinus/cold clears up quickly and you feel better soon.
Oh, our eyes can be troublesome! I’ve heard about the drops and, in fact, the lady I was sitting chatting to had been taking drops for her glaucoma for about 12 years. Positive thoughts being sent your way that your macular degeneration stays dry, Claudia.
Oh Claudia, I had some of those floater things and the ophthalmologist told me that it’s part of the aging process. (glad it wasn’t something else, but ‘aging’ is not my favorite word these days). I love you hair color. Mine got darker as I got older and I have a few strands of grey here and there. It’s genetic I think! I hope you start feeling better soon. These sinus things hang on way too long when I get them also!! I’ve been reading a lot lately, its a winter thing. Hugs to you.
Linda
It is not my favorite word, either, Linda! We should banish it and substitute something else.
I can’t decide whether it’s sinus or a cold. Most likely sinus. I just vacuumed, made the bed, and did the dishes and I’m exhausted.
Sorry to hear you have another cold or sinus issue. I have year-round allergies too, and am stuffed up a lot. I hear a neti pot really helps and I do have one. I’ve only tried it once. I keep forgetting about it. I need to dig it back out and give it a few tries to decide if it’s really for me. I’m also sorry to hear about your eyes. It’s always something, isn’t it? We have big deductibles at the beginning of the year too and with me going to the dr right after the first of the year when I was sick and now with going to the dentist this coming week for a crown (which I am dreading so badly…I have terrible dental phobia!), my deductible will be met in a heartbeat.
I hear good things about neti pots, too, but whenever I read the directions, I think…not for me!
I don’t know if it will help, Melanie, but I have severe dental phobia. I’ve been putting off some things that need to be done, partly because of the phobia and partly because my health insurance got screwed up for the second half of last year…that’s a story for another day! I have a lot of crowns and truly, getting one done isn’t bad at all, it just takes some time.
Ahhh Claudia, hope you are feeling better and can have a good weekend…with lots of reading. Funny about the hair – I was letting mine go grey (and it was long…close to my waist), then I had it cut really short (like Clare in House of Cards). Love the cut but didn’t like the grey. If it were all grey I would love it. So, not coloring all over, but I’ve added highlights. Happy again (except for paying for highlights and cuts more frequently). Good luck with your eyes. I’ve just started noticing floaters. Two years ago I had some laser surgery due to high pressure readings…not yet (thank god) glaucoma, but too close. Now my pressure is steady!! Eye problems, to me, are very frightening. Hope yours will be just fine. Happy weekend and speady recovery thoughts to you.
Oh gosh, lucky you! I love Clare’s hairstyle! My head is too big and my face too wide for that kind of haircut and I’ve always envied those who can pull it off. The highlights sound lovely, Vera! My pressure readings were fine. But the doctor said that you can have the beginnings of glaucoma with normal pressure readings. And you can have higher pressure readings without the onset of glaucoma. Go figure.
I’ve been letting myself go grey for years..I still see a lot of Brunette in it..My sister colors hers as does my step daughter..Can’t be bothered..I saw my Ophthalmologist recently.. twice.. The second time, my pressure was up a little..Glaucoma?? When I got home, I read the side effects of the steroid drops he had put me on during the first visit..First one=” increase in intraocular pressure”!!! We’ll see if it’s still up in a couple of weeks..Keep your fingers crossed as I will for you..
Fingers crossed that yours goes down, Missy.
Oh, Claudia! When someone tagged these “The Golden Years”….. they must have been about 28 years old and not have had the pleasure of such “enjoyment”. They should have called them “The Tarnished Years” as that is what appears to happen.
Hope you are feeling better and glad you can rest. Take care!!
The golden years…..gold what? Crowns? Gold ribbons?
Thanks, Chris!
Sure hope you’re feeling better, nothing worse than feeling horrible when it’s cold and dreary outside. I’m in the gray hair group, I let mine go over 2 years ago. It’s about 20% gray now so I think the transition will be easy, and sure is cheaper than having it colored every 4 weeks.
It sure is cheaper. I would much rather buy a book or something vintage than pay for hair coloring!
Yuck! I’m sorry your sinus stuff is hanging on. I’ve had those lightning flashes before too…but, fortunately they always went away fairly quickly, and were explained away as aging…a word that I find unpalatable. Seems these days, as soon as I get one health issue under control…another one springs up.
I like your hair…and if mine were that pretty, I would let mine go natural too. My mom has glorious white hair…it’s cut very short…and looks very hip…she’s 93. Mine isn’t that pretty, so I have mine highlighted periodically…it seems to do wonders for my soul! ;)
I hate that word, too. He said the same thing yesterday: It comes with age. A pox on him!
If highlighting does wonders for your soul….keep it up!
Oooh…I like that… “a pox on him”….great line! ;)
Very Shakespearean!
Yes of course! Thanks! ;)
Hi Claudia, Nurture, Nurture, Nurture, yourself is what I say!! Hope this weekend brings and end to the sinus/cold.
I went “sands of the beach” (a/k/a gray) years ago. I used to use L’Oreal’s Champagne Blonde until I noticed my roots weren’t growing in. Well, they were, but it was the color of L’Oreal’s, so I let it go. The other day I took a picture of myself laughing hysterically at something my daughter in Florida said, and she commented my hair looked “like a gorgeous silky mane”!! Who knew!! I’m all for the “club”!! My sister has decided to let hers go too.
Yay for the club! One of the women I spoke to yesterday had gorgeous, shiny gray hair. Really striking. And she had an olive complexion which made it even more striking.
Just to cheer you up — it’s better to start working on your deductible at the beginning of the year so when you reach it you can finally reap the “freebies” (ha!). We met ours in December — what good is that!! Hope you feel better soon.
Well, there IS that, Ann. We’re definitely starting on it at the first of the year. It’s a pain, isn’t it? Not to sound too whiny, but I remember when there wasn’t such a thing as a deductible.
As each day passes I do hope you are beginning to recover from your sinus infection. Are you on any medication for it?
I let my hairdresser help me decide when it was time to go gray. I had been looking forward to it and about seven years ago she said that I was more than 50% gray. She cut it short and then did a reverse frost to help me transition and it turned out great. I get compliments all the time on my hair. I keep it about shoulder length and find that to be a good versatile length for wearing up or down. For me, I prefer keeping it up off the back of my neck most of the time and have found several different ways to style it. I’ve been able to pretty much give up the salon except for a trim every now and then.
Just over-the-counter stuff, Sandra.
Good for you – sounds like a very sensible way to make that transition to gray! I look better with mine down, so that’s usually the way it is, except for when I go to bed. Then I put it in a pony tail. I get compliments rather frequently, especially from the woman who cuts my hair. So I figure I’m doing something right!
Oh Claudia, I sure hope you get better very soon. So many “nasties” out there right now. I have never colored my hair and it’s gone from a fairly light blonde when I was young, to a blonde/dishwater color in later years. For the last 10 or so I’ve developed streaks that look much like highlights. I actually have had ladies stop me in stores asking where I get my hair done because they want highlights like that. They seem flabbergasted when I tell them it’s natural. I only get my hair trimmed once or twice a year so I’m fairly low maintenance. :-)
Blessings,
Betsy
Same here. I’ve always had people stop me and ask me if they were highlights and who did them for me. I would just laugh and say “Mother Nature – they’re gray!”
I let my gray grow out when I retired and that was 12 years ago. There was only a few strands at the time. Now I have decided (well the girl that cuts my hair did) that a demi-color would add some brightness and bring out the shine in my hair. It’s still grayish but I like it enough to do it again in 6 months. There is no line of demarkation where the growing out is happening which I like very much!
Hope you are well soon!
Sounds lovely, Kelly! Good for you!
For any sinus problems, I use an old Chinese remedy my grandmother taught my mom, my mom taught me and I taught my daughters….ginger. Cut a piece of fresh ginger root about the size of your palm. Heat it on your stove burner (directly on the burner if you have a gas stovetop, on top of a piece of aluminum foil is your cooktop is electric) until it is charred on one side, then turn over with tongs and char the other side. Meanwhile, take a clean piece of sheeting, folded over twice, about 10″ square after folding. My mom always had tattered sheets or pillowcases in the rag box. When the ginger is good and hot and charred, use tongs and place on the sheeting. Fold over the sheeting to cover and use a meat tenderizer or hammer and pound the ginger until it’s flattened and the juices begin to ooze into the sheeting. Pick up carefully and press as hard as you can stand it (be careful, it will be very hot) on your forehead and temples. The hot ginger will draw out the mucus in your sinuses and make breathing easier. My daughters love having me “do ginger” at bedtime. The soothing warmth of the ginger would get them very drowsy when they were little ones and they could get to sleep without clogged sinuses.
Hope you’re in full force soon.
Thanks for the information on ginger and how to use it, Wendy!
I have long, way past my shoulders, graying hair. My natural color is a dark blonde light brown combo with about 50 percent gray that blends nicely. I get lots of compliments on it with my family jokingly calling me an old hippie, which I am, by the way. ;) My husband has long gray hair as well, which I love. I’m glad women have a choice to color their hair or not, and it’s no longer a big deal to not color the gray. I think we baby boomers have started this new trend… I remember my mother and grandmother thought not coloring gray hair was a tragedy! Lol
Claudia, I hope you feel better quickly. It’s taken me a full month to get over my sinus infection. I know how miserable it is!
Having a choice, without being judged, is always a good thing! I think you’re right – we baby boomers can take some credit for this particular choice – among many others.
Don is sometimes appalled at his gray hair, but I think it’s very sexy! I don’t know if he fully believes me on that one, but I’m right!
I had a scary thing like that happen with my eye about a year ago. It ended up not being anything too bad for which I was thankful! I started turning gray in my twenties and ended up regularly having my hair colored for years. A couple of years ago financial reasons led me to letting it go gray – I’ve had more compliments on my hair color, this “horrible” gray hair, than I can count. Go gray!! I hope you start feeling better soon.
Yay for gray! I bet someone else already coined that slogan! I’m happy with my gray hair. It’s a good thing.
I have a streak of white in the front of my hair, although it isn’t really obvious as my hair is blonde. My hair won’t take colour (perhaps in part due to my heart medication), but I actually like my skunk streak and try to play it up whenever we have to get poshed up for an evening out. That said, in my next life I’m coming back with my daughter’s hair and its long, thick spiral curls. We refer to her affectionately as “The Littlest Gish” as she looks like a throwback to a silent film star.
I’m sorry you’re still under the weather – that wretched sinus cold is making the rounds here at work this week. I find inhaling hot steam with a few drops of eucalyptus oil thrown in helps.
That and chocolate.
I love those white streaks, Barbara. And I would love Lillian Gish-esque curls as well!
I’ve got a flashing arc on the side of my left eye. Freaked me out w/Macular Degeneration in the family. But turns out to be a glob of floaters breaking away from the retina. Was supposed to be gone in a month, and while the floaters are smack-dab in the middle of my eye now, the arc of light is still there. Hmmmm.
I hate floaters. Depending on the light, they can drive you crazy. Or you don’t notice them at all. They are very annoying!
I came out of a darkened room into the sunlight and had a flash and then a
tulle effect over one eye. Since I was outdoors I thought it was cobwebs
or something similar. I am not one to go to the doctor on a whim but the next morning while cobwebs and floaters were still present I thought better of this and called the optometrist. Long story short, I was having laser surgery within a few hours to seal a hole in my retina. Oddly enough, I had just visited the optometrist for an annual visit the prior week and nothing unusual was found. I was fortunate. Will not ignore any strange symptoms in the future.
Very scary! So glad you called the doctor. That’s why I went in, too. I wanted to make sure it wasn’t anything threatening my sight.
Funny but I had a conversation about going gray with my hairdresser this morning. Someday I will stop coloring. I am waiting for it to get more silver ery like yours. Yours is beautiful!
Aw thanks, Kay. I bet yours is too.
So sorry you’re still sick Claudia. I woke up with a sore throat and yucky feeling sinuses this morning. I have worn my hair short for years and years but in the past year have let it grow to shoulder length. Never have colored it much and not in years so the gray is slowly growing in and looks like highlights. I really like it. I wear it in a pony tail most of the time and love not having to worry a lot with it. I’ve always been a person who could work longer and harder than most other women I know but that has slowly changed in the past few years and I sure fought it for a long time but have finally decided to embrace the change and instead of feeling bad about what I can’t do feel grateful for what I can do. I hope I can keep that attitude in the future.
Sorry you’re feeling poorly! We’re on opposite coasts but a lot of people here are suffering with allergies right now as well, including my husband who has actually been referred to an ear-nose-throat doctor. He, too, has a neverending sinus condition which pulls him down, affects his sleep, bothers his throat. He’s an adjunct instructor and couldn’t lecture all this past fall because his voice would just give out. He’s on daily medication from the ‘family’ doctor but, at present, his ears are giving him fits; stopped up. As you said, allergic reactions are hell in a person already suffering with a sinus issue. The primary-care doctor flushed his ears in the office this morning but it didn’t help much. What’s going on? It’s January, when pollens et al are dormant! What exactly is in the ozone?
I let my hair go gray a few years ago. Not that I like it very much, but the stuff I’d been using to color my hair for 15 years with got discontinued and I couldn’t find another product that worked as well. Plus, this was auburn tint, and with my graying-whiter hair, it was turning me pink. Then, I got so busy with daily caregiving for my elderly parents, I had no time for anything, and it was all I could do but get myself showered and out the door to be with them all day. I couldn’t even think about my personal grooming! But I do think about coloring my hair again a lot. I just don’t know what would look good now, and some dye on aging women looks so artificial and harsh. It seems like you have to have it professionally done when it gets more complicated like this, and I’m unwilling to spend the money at the hairstylist’s shop the way I did when I was younger and we had more income.
Claudia, my mom had glaucoma and I’ve inherited it. It hit me in my late 50s. I have to get checked every six months; at the beginning, they checked my ‘pressure’ every three months. Fortunately, I haven’t started any daily ‘drops’ yet. Mother lived to nearly age 90 and lived with glaucoma for years and years and years; the drops did the trick to keep things from getting worse. They never got worse, so take heart! However, she did have something unrelated happen, akin to a ‘stroke’ of the eye, which I believe was called retinal occlusion, and that never did repair. She was just brushing her teeth and saw all kinds of black things; I think she said like spiders. She and I both had floaters, but she knew these were no floaters but something else entirely. Mom, an avid reader, was still pushing thru and trying to read in her late 80s, even with these eye impairments. I also get those occular migraines and they last about 30 minutes; the first time it happened, maybe five years ago or so, I thought I was having a stroke and rushed to emergency care. The occulars have replaced, thankfully, the other migraines I’d get where I was laying on the bathroom floor throwing up, screaming for relief from head pain. Also, and this is the end of my drama for now, I have developed a cataract but that’s an ‘easy’ surgery (fixable) ‘way down the road yet.
Just say’in. I feel for you. It was great to be younger and never have all this ‘crap’ happen!
I can remember in my 20s feeling somewhat resentful as a paid employee that I had to contribute what I thought was an unfair amount of my paycheck to company-provided medical insurance…because my asthma seemed well in check and I was never really sick; I just never ‘used’ the insurance because I didn’t even see a doctor anymore. Or, if I did, I never got past the deductible so, to me, the insurance was worthless. Obviously now, although I dislike our HMO, I’m so, so, so grateful for health insurance. But, oh, to be that young girl who never had a sick day at work or needed to see a physician! I was just thinking, too, how our energy levels change. I used to get off work, go work out (exercise classes, dance classes, yoga, etc.), then come home and clean my house. Now, I poop out from about 3pm and schedule nothing ambitious for evenings. Frankly, I think aging sucks. I don’t think there’s anything graceful about it at all!
I think your gray hair is very pretty Claudia..that is the reason I have been considering no more coloring..I come from a family of redheads..I love red hair and it is kind of hard to give up the red but I am still thinking about it..Best of luck with your eyes..I have one tiny dark spot of a floater that has been there many many years..I do have my eyes checked often though as I have the affects of diabetes in them..
There is a lot to say about getting older. Aging. I often talk about the process and I notice that people are thankful when/if someone talks about a fact nobody can deny, nobody can get around.
It’s like talking about problems. Everybody is thankful to meet someone who does not have THE perfect life. Problems of any kind (mental illnes of a family member often), aging, grey hair, is a wonderful opportunity to bond, make friends. The secret is not to say “I know”, “I have the answer”, but for me, this works (best), it’s the way I like it. I too like my grey hair. I’m happy I stopped dying it some years ago. Who knows I might colour it one day. When the time is right. Have a nice Weekend. Regula
Feel better Claudia. And poor Scout having to go out in those temps. brrrr. Hopefully she does not linger in the cold.
From one gray head to another.
After coloring my hair for years, I decided, at the age of 60 to go grey. That was about 11 years ago and I haven’t looked back. I keep my hair short and have since I was about 10 years old.