Gluten Free Cough Medicine

If you have celiac disease, you probably know that gluten is in a ton of medicine.  When I had the flu last month, I went into the pharmacy at one of my local drugstores and asked the pharmacist if any of the cough medicine was gluten free.  She said no and I left feeling sick and disappointed.  Because while I hate taking cough medicine, I hate being sick for two weeks straight because I can't take cough medicine even worse.  After a week of misery, my boss emailed me about a new gluten-free cough medicine she discovered and told me I should try it.  So I found a store near me that carried it and bought some.  It did the trick and knocked my flu out most of the way the day before I was leaving to visit my parents.

Now one month later, I have a cold and I'm taking this medicine again.  And let me tell you, it tastes disgusting.  It's got that nasty menthol flavor mixed with honey, but does not taste like honey.  I visited the Dayquil site again and discovered that now they make cold and flu relief caplets that are gluten free, so when I run out of cough syrup, I will definitely be picking those up.  The way that I take the cough syrup is plug my nose, toss it back, and then eat an entire packet of fruit snacks that I have open and ready to eat and then I unplug my nose.  It tastes that bad, but it does its job.

It's probably obvious that I wasn't paid to write this, but just in case here's that sentence:  I bought this product with my own money and my opinion is my own.  I was not compensated in any way for this post.  I just think more people should know that there is gluten free cold and flu medicine available now, and you don't have to just suffer through it.

Aside from the medicine I have been drinking massive amounts of tea to soothe my sore throat and getting a ton of sleep (14 hours last night).

Adventurer's Checklist

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Adventures can be great fun and are a wonderful way to pass one's time, but you don't want to embark an adventure if you're not prepared.  Here's my checklist of what you need to have for an adventure:

a cool hat - your hat should declare that you are a serious adventurer; popular hat types include a fedora (with or without a big feather in the band), a wide brimmed hat, or a bowler hat, but are certainly not limited to those

good walking shoes - adventures are never as fun when your feet hurt because you wore the wrong shoes

comfortable clothing - your outfit should not get in the way of your adventure; for example, you might not want to wear a fancy dress if you're going on an adventure in a blackberry bush (although a blackberry bush is a strange place to go on an adventure in the first place)

a camera - you might see a lot of amazing things on your adventure and a camera will help you capture all of those sights and look at them again later

a big bag - like a backpack or messenger bag; this should be large enough to carry anything you might bring back from your adventure, as well as anything you're bringing along on your adventure

a first aid kit - hopefully you won't need this, but if you do you'll be glad you packed it; you could get stung by a bee or scratched by a stick or fall and skin your knee while adventuring

snacks - sometimes adventures take a while and you might get hungry

water - being dehydrated is never a good idea, but it is a doubly bad idea while adventuring

your imagination and curiosity - without these, an adventure is impossible; you should maintain a childlike sense of wonder at all times and thoroughly enjoy every sight, sound, and smell

What else would you bring on an adventure?  Have you been on any fun adventures lately?

Webcomics I'm Loving Lately

I discovered a pretty cool site about a month ago that is a feed reader for webcomics.  It's called comic-rocket and it's awesome because it allows you to know exactly where you are in all of the webcomics you're reading and also discover new webcomics you might like based on the ones you read currently.  (They aren't paying me to write about them.  I just really think they're cool and wanted to share.)

Here are my favorite four webcomics I'm reading right now, not including the ones I shared before.  And the links go to the first strip in each webcomic.

Pizza for Guys:

It's a webcomic about the webcomic it's about.  This is a webcomic with a stick man and a talking slice of pizza.  They argue a lot.  It's funnier than I'm making it sound.

Romantically Apocalyptic:

My favorite rockstar recommended this one to me and it did not disappoint.  It's super silly but there's incredible artwork.  And I'm a sucker for a post-apocalypic setting.

Seriously, check out this art!

The GaMERCaT:

An awesome nerdy webcomic about a cat who is a gamer.  Lots of video game humor and adorableness.

Invisible Bread:

A hilarious webcomic full of stick figures and snarky quips about life.  Plus there's a secret hidden panel in each comic!  I didn't even know about that until I was about 30 strips in, so I had to go back and read all of the previous bonus panels.

What are your favorite webcomics?  I would love some recommendations.

What I Did this Weekend

This weekend I went to G's and cooked a lot of yummy food.  Since being diagnosed with celiac disease, I have gotten a lot more confident in my cooking skills, since I have to cook a lot more or become a bunny rabbit and just eat fresh fruits and veggies.  I successfully (and by successfully, I mean G loved it too and said it was restaurant-worthy) cooked corn pasta and hot dogs with veggies, chicken wraps on corn tortillas (gluten-free but not as expensive as fancy gluten-free tortillas), and omelets with the leftover chicken, green peppers, onion, and mushrooms.

I watched two football games and three movies.  The University of Washington Huskies won and didn't get scored on once!  And the Seattle Seahawks won too.  I got a new Seahawks shirt from the men's section at the mall.  They had women's ones but none of them had the player's names or numbers on them.  I got a Russell Wilson shirt.  I wanted Marshawn Lynch, but they were all sold out except for size XL.  We watched the Seahawks game at Roosevelt Ale House, which is a truly amazing bar because it serves delicious gluten-free food.  So far I've had a delicious breakfast sandwich there, a good burger, and amazing and ginormous nachos.  All of the food I've tried there has been really good, but I don't think I would order the burger again.  For burgers, my go-to restaurant is Blue Moon Burgers.  They are good burgers period, not just good for being gluten-free.

We got some movies from Redbox: World War Z, Now You See Me, and Olympus Has Fallen.  Have you noticed how many movies have Morgan Freeman in them lately?!  I've seen three recently that had him: World War Z, Oblivion, and Olympus Has Fallen.  World War Z was pretty great, and not just because I love zombie movies.  I really enjoyed it and I especially liked the look of the zombies.  They didn't look like their flesh was rotting right after being bit.  They were also fast zombies, which I'm not a huge fan of.  I give it a 4 out of 5.  Now You See Me was really good.  It kept me guessing the whole time.  It had a really original story (as far as I know) and a good cast.  Plus Jesse Eisenberg was in it, but not as the goof-off guy who never grows up, which was refreshing from him.  I give it a 4 out of 5 as well.  Olympus Has Fallen was better than G or I thought it would be.  It was the one I thought I might not like, but it was actually okay.  It was very action-y with lots of shooting and politics, but the story was pretty good anyway.  I give it a 3 out of 5.

We also watched The Office and The League on Netflix, which are always favorites of mine.  All in all it was a good weekend.

And in other news, my boss told me today that she's looking for another person to help out at work, which is fantastic and will hopefully relieve a lot of my stress.

I Read Some Comic Books

So remember how I said I'd never read comic books, aside from Sonic the Hedgehog?  Well I can't say that anymore.  I bought all of these at my friendly (seriously super friendly) neighborhood comic book shop about a month ago.  Sidenote: I discovered this place after I was super stressed and starting to withdraw from socializing with humans IRL.  It pretty much saved me from becoming a hermit, but now I haven't been back for awhile and am kind of pretty much a hermit, because work is super stressful and that's my coping mechanism.  Anyway I asked for suggestions for comic books on Google+ and bought some of those and some of my own picks.  I bought all of these with my own money and my opinions are my own.

I bought: American Vampire, Astonishing X-Men, Uncanny X-Men, Star Wars Knight Errant: Escape, Hoax Hunters, and The Secret Service.

First things first, I want to know why they bold words seemingly at random in comics.  It drives me crazy!  Second thing, despite the randomly bolded words driving me crazy, I would be interested in reading more of Hoax Hunters.  There's some serious foreshadowing in this one and I must say that I'm intrigued.  Everything else, not so much.  I love the X-Men movies to death but the comic books weren't my cup of tea.  Maybe it's because I didn't get the first issues, since they weren't at the shop, but I think it's more like it just seemed repetitive to me.  They did make me laugh out loud, but I expected more from Joss Whedon.  I think I disliked The Secret Service the most.  I really don't even know why I chose that one.  It's about action and politics, which is a combination I only rarely enjoy.  American Vampire was kind of interesting, but not enough that I want to read more.  However I did buy issue number 34 so maybe if I had been following the story from the beginning, I would enjoy it more.  But the art in it was my favorite of the whole batch.  And I wanted to love Star Wars Knight Errant, but I just didn't, and I'm not even sure why.  Maybe it was all of the weird names that I couldn't get straight.  I don't know.

I am not saying that I'm completely opposed to comic books.  I just think I made some poor selections and one really great one.  And honestly it takes a lot to live up to Sonic the Hedgehog comics.  I'll definitely be trying out more comics and also reading more of the Hoax Hunters series.  I love that comic books are so inexpensive to try, compared to most things.

Watching, Playing, Reading #2

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 Watching:

Once Upon a Time (on Netflix):  I found out that season 2 is on there now and I've been marathoning it.  It's gotten strange this season, but as far as I can tell I like it.  Who else is super excited for the Alice in Wonderland spin-off series?!  It involves a mental asylum!  (I'm not sure if I've told you this but I love mental asylum settings and mental illness themes.)

Our Idiot Brother (on Netflix): This was a really great indie comedy movie with one of my favorite actresses (Zooey Deschanel).  G and I both thoroughly enjoyed it and I recommend it to people who like funny things.

State of Emergency (on Netflix):  This is the worst zombie movie I have ever seen and you better believe I have seen a lot of zombie movies.  The number of zombies can be counted on your fingers and there is never any actual danger.  Never watch this movie.  I am serious.  It's not even so bad it's good.  I love those kinds of zombie movies, but this one is just slow and boring and awful.

Playing:

new (used) video games! from Al's Music Video and Games in Seattle.  This is a cool place I haven't been into for awhile.  It's just a small store with walking spaces narrow enough that you can't go past people when you're going down the aisles, but it's worth it.  There are CDs, records, video games, consoles, movies, and even guitars for sale.  I bought Tak and the Power of Juju and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, both for PS2.  When we were leaving the store, I spotted The Legend of Zelda board game in a display case!  But alas, it was not for sale.  Not that I could have afforded it if it had been, but still.  I am very pleased with both of my video game purchases.  They will give me hours and hours of enjoyment for less than $10 each.  Not bad at all.  Tak and the Power of Juju is completely silly and ridiculous, yet sometimes difficult.  I find it so hard to swing on the ropes!  Prince of Persia: Sands of Time is amazing and sometimes frustrating.  I just got the dagger and then unlocked the hourglass thing, so I can go back in time when I mess up my wall running and jumping stuff.  Plus the graphics are incredible!

Reading:

still Watchers by Dean Koontz:  It's still really good and getting better with every page.  Right now the suspense is building and foreshadowing is occurring., so I think something very exciting will happen soon.

lots of comics

lots of webcomics

as always blogs

What have you been watching, playing, and reading lately?  Anything good?

Blog and Shop of the Month 8

This month I'm going to do something a little bit different.  I'm going to share a few of my favorite blogs and shops that I've discovered last month and then tell you which ones get the coveted free ad space.

Blogs:

Entrepeneur.com:  This is a pretty cool blog for small business owners, such as myself, to learn how to run their business better.  Some of the posts go way over my head, but there are a lot of really helpful ones too.

Design Your Own (lovely) Blog:  This one is all about how to make your blog pretty and unique and personalized.  There are a lot of great tutorials and free resources.

Love from Ginger:  This lady makes some cool stuff and shares a free stock photo every single Friday, which is something I can really get on board with, since a lot of my blog posts are photo-less but I haven't wanted to use a stock photo that looks like a stock photo, and I can't always photograph something for the post.

Lolaloop:  Life. Books. Geekery.  What more could you really want?  Humor.  It's got that too.

My Life as a Teacup:  I'll try not to gush but I completely in love with this blog and it is my Blog of the Month.  For starters, there's the design.  It's the prettiest blog design ever, in my opinion.  Kristin is all about books, nerdiness, being cozy, and wearing super cute outfits.  Plus she writes posts about awesome words, which I love so much!

Shops:

Cosmic American:  This shop has the most amazing dreamcatchers!  They also sell artwork and jewelry.

Nastalgame:  This shop sells the coolest acrylic jewelry based on stuff from video games like The Legend of Zelda, Pac Man, Starcraft, and Portal.  I bought a necklace from them and I love it.  I want so many more things from this shop.  Some of the jewelry, including the necklace that I bought, is even double sided!

Furrow and Feather:  My Shop of the Month, Furrow and Feather, sells shadowbox art.  The designs are made by cutting white vinyl and placing it on glass in a shadowbox frame, and they're quite lovely.

Trend Jumping in Indie Business

Unless your business is all about selling the latest trendy pieces, it's probably not in your best interest to jump on every trend that comes around.  It's fine to try them here and there if you are still trying to figure out what your brand is all about, but I think the most important thing when establishing a brand is to strive to create something lasting.  Add your own touch to every piece you create and don't worry about being like everyone else.  Because having your products stand out and be unique is way better than selling a version of what everyone else is.  That's how you create your niche.

It should be obvious that I am not saying that your business should never change.  Your business should definitely change as you do.  But too much change happening all of the time can drive customers away.

For example, I run a jewelry business.  My pieces are all very unique and in a range of styles.  They all reflect my personal taste.  I have never jumped on the statement necklace trend, the ombre trend, or the neon trend.  Despite the fact that those things were all the rage and couldn't stay on shelves, I stayed true to myself and I stayed true to my brand.  Why?  I guess it's because of my motivation for making jewelry.  I make jewelry because I love to be creative and make things that I am proud of.  If I was just in it for the money, I wouldn't mind jumping on trends.  Because let's be honest, I have made under 50 sales in the two years I've had my shop, and some people have made 50+ sales in their first month.  That's not a lot of money and it's definitely not enough for me to quit my day job.  But I make jewelry because I love it and I take pride in it.  I'm not really sure where I'm going with this.  I guess I'm just trying to say that if you're trying to make a quick buck, go ahead and jump on every single trend that comes your way, but if you make things with passion and pride, forge your own path and you'll create something that lasts.

What I did this Weekend

I went back home for four days to see my family.  It was fun.  We went to a car show (I saw a Delorean!), went to Multnomah Falls, had a picnic, and played Apples to Apples.  I also learned how to do an oil change, and changed the oil in G's car all by myself!  (Pictures coming soon.)  Plus I ate lots of delicious gluten-free food and had a great time seeing my family.  It had been too long; I hadn't seen them since February!

Now I've been employed making jewelry for a whole year.  You may remember that I was hired last year on Labor Day.  Things have changed a lot at work.  I am the only employee now and since I missed nearly two whole weeks of work when I had the flu, we are completely swamped with orders now!  It's a good problem to have.  Last year around Christmas (normally the busiest time of the year), we had so few orders that everyone got laid off except me.  I still do wish that my boss would hire another employee though, because I feel so bad when I'm sick because she's the only one making jewelry then.  I am trying not to feel so bad though because it was my boss' decision not to hire anyone else.