Music is cheaper than drugs and safer than romance

Music is healthy
So, we are all trying to save a little money, stay a little sane, and stay healthy. Right? This article tells how the sound of our favorite song retunes our bodies to feeling good.
Measurable
These are not theories of a music lover. Scientists can measure the "feel-good" feelings. (keeping this rated PG)

My opinion
For many years I have listened to songs of the 50s and 60s and noticed that there is an extra bounce to my step, a little zing in the brain, and heightened awareness of my body and my surroundings. Yes, it felt like 16 again. Right now, oldies are songs from the 80s, so I must be ancient.

It may not be possible, but it is almost like I can feel the level of hormones in my body rise. Silly? Maybe not.

Songs remind me of certain times of pleasure. Copacabana reminds me of 1978-79 and riding in the car. My three children and I sang to the tops of our voices. The radio was loud. Good memories. Puff the Magic Dragon from 1963 brings back memories of my son singing it in 1972 when he was four and my daughter was two. Oh, we all sang it, but his voice was sweet.

You can guess the strength I drew from I Will Survive right after my divorce. Music Box Dancer was a song to which my two-year-old (third child) performed an impromptu ballet in an arboretum in Florida. I can still see her in her pink satin shorts and jacket worn over a little tank top, unselfconsciously twirling and doing many a plie and port de bras, counting in French if you wished. (Satin was good in 1977...lol.

The Wayward Wind  was a song I heard many a night in the summer, a summer like all of my childhood summers--lacking air conditioning. The Blue Danube or any waltz transports me to a peacefulness that is indescribable.

Most music moves me to feelings that can be described as a peaceful ecstasy. Is that dopamine I feel? (okay, no rap)  Scientists "say a best-loved aria or guitar riff can trigger the same chemical reaction in us as good food, money or sex." It sounds as if music could be a cheap and safe cure-all. Well, maybe I should listen to music instead of eating. Okay, I have good food, so one out of three ain't bad. Right?

Even when songs do not remind me of a specific setting or people, music evokes feelings of pleasure. Music is one great pleasure in my life. Alas, I cannot sing or play an instrument. So sad. However, I do love a good musical in any form--live theater, movies, amateurs or professional performers.

Diarrhea
When the little dancer was almost two, she saw a commercial for Kaopectate or Pepto-Bismol. A little doll with a billowy skirt was moving across the black background on the TV screen, while a tinkly, music box tune played. The hidden man said in soothing tones, "Diarrhea, blah, blah, diarrhea." My daughter sat rapt, and then turned and said in her little baby voice that could articulate the words perfectly, "I want diarrhea."

We laughed at the ludicrous idea that anyone wanted diarrhea. She raised her voice, "I do want diarrhea." We howled and I tried to comfort her because everyone laughed. She wailed, "I waaaant diiiiarheeea!" It was the kind of things that had us all howling. I tried, I really tried, I cried, hid my face from her so she would not see my tears rolling down my face.

This went on for months as she saw the commercial. She never failed to express her desire in the same three words, "I want diarrhea." Our response was always the same but tempered. At other times she just wanted me to get diarrhea for her. No amount of explaining worked. Yes, the children explained it graphically to her. She did not flinch. I explained it to her in terms someone so young could understand...like, "running down your leg." The visual and music kept her desire strong until finally the commercial ran its course and was no more.

The cure
Could it be that we could save money, lose stress, and attain a "peace with zing" that we crave by listening to more music? Maybe we assail our senses with new purchases just to feel something pleasurable? Of course, we do. That is what marketing tries to do, "manipulate hedonic states" (pleasure) to us through purchasing. Music helps marketing. Maybe we can listen to music to help us avoid purchasing.

My goal
I will listen to more pleasurable music. Rod Stewart, here I come. If I can lose weight, spend even less, I will have accomplished two goals. Since I have never done recreational drugs, I have no goals there. Romance department? What? Where? LOL I will put on music tomorrow and work or play to sounds that make me happier inside and out.

Your turn
Do you think that you could possibly curb spending, lose weight, or reach another goal by listening to music? Maybe it would have to be purposeful listening, not just listening to whatever someone else leaves on the radio or whichever CD is ready to go. Do you think putting on music from your youth or a happy period would help you become peaceful enough to curb your appetites? Maybe it is a certain genre you need from just any period of your life. If you like country and no one in the house listens to country, maybe you need a good country fix. How about it? What do you think? Even if you are like me and cannot sing, sing anyway if no one else is around. Let's get our pleasure from music. Can we save money along with our sanity with music?

People Tell Me I Am Eccentric

"You are so eccentric!"
This always puzzles me. Me? Eccentric? How so? Help me here. Usually, I just laugh it off. Sometimes, I ponder aloud a few moments, trying to determine what caused the statement. I am usually no closer to finding meaning than I am of finding gold nuggets in my chickens' poop. Really, I have never looked there, so how do I know what I will find?

Eccentric meaning
I "swagged" eccentric and found this group of meanings.  I especially don't like the #1 "See Synonyms at strange." I am not so sure I want to be strange. At least I don't wince too much when I am pronounced "eccentric." Usually, I am just amazed.

Of course, #2 under verb and #3a or #3b or #2 under n have nothing to do with people.
v
1. Departing from a recognized, conventional, or established norm or pattern. See Synonyms at strange.

2. Deviating from a circular form or path, as in an elliptical orbit.
3.
a. Not situated at or in the geometric center.
b. Having the axis located elsewhere than at the geometric center.
n.
1. One that deviates markedly from an established norm, especially a person of odd or unconventional behavior.
2. Physics A disk or wheel having its axis of revolution displaced from its center so that it is capable of imparting reciprocating motion.

Me?
1. One that deviates markedly from an established norm, especially a person of odd or unconventional behavior.

No one told me I must behave in a conventional manner all the time. Whose norm? The norm that says to buy tp? The norm that says to buy all my clothing.

Not odd
And, I am sure I am not odd. My clothes match. I wear shoes when not at home. I speak English perfectly, I am told. But, that is not true, just closer than most. So, I am certain I am not odd in appearance or speech. I don't talk to myself. I bathe everyday.

Conventional manner
may be the sticking point here. No, I don't wear a bra unless on the job. I keep chickens. Many of my jobs aka making money are at home and creations of my own. Many of my ideas are not shared by people in this area, county, or town.

I am a feminist (yet committed heterosexual). I color my hair when other feminists say, "Let it go gray." At one point I made all my clothing, including bras and panties. I love to wear sandals in winter. (As I get older, my feet get colder, so this is not the point as it was in earlier years.) Aha, I don't read romance novels! That gets me strange looks. I don't watch soaps! I am sounding more eccentric all the time.

So, I am a tree-hugger, but not a dirty hippie. Oh, no, back in the 60s my politics were not revealed in hair or clothing.  As a tree-hugger I don't like destroying trees or any part of nature. (Okay, kill a bear and eat it. Just don't kill it for the trophy head.) Yes, I don't ever buy paper products for my home--yes, I use cloth and wash it instead of tp.

Oh, I finished college--bad thing...or jealousy. Some women in this small town smiled maliciously as they asked me "what on earth are you going to do with all those degrees?" THAT makes me eccentric here with many people.

Do I sound eccentric yet? Conventional manner in whose eyes? In the small town I live in, some traits are eccentric. Those same traits are acceptable in a large university town, but other traits are what gain me the eccentric label. I live between two worlds with different conventions.

Goodness gracious! I hang clothes on the line. I sleep in my swing some afternoons when I cannot stay awake out in the yard...lol. I have been known to take a walk at 2 am. I also do my walking for exercise in sandals.

I forgot: I eat food from dumpsters. I forage on public property. I glean when allowed. That all screams: eccentric!

Some days, I muse aloud to others about wanting to raise enough chickens for my own meat. Okay, I must be eccentric. I rhapsodize about eggs from hens who have never had a vaccine or antibiotic, never eaten chicken feed, never been totally cooped up. You know, I must be eccentric to eschew vaccinations and antibiotics for my hens!

Yes, I do talk to my hens and plants. I . AM . DOOMED. But, in all fairness, the hens usually start the conversation. Plants never start conversations and never respond verbally. But, they are listening.

Okay, eccentric can be good. Right?

 Your turn
How eccentric am I? LOL Has anyone ever pronounced you were eccentric? What did you do to elicit this response from someone?

Reusing heat: Crematorium heats swimming pool plan

Great idea
This is great. In England a city council is discussing using crematorium heat to warm their swimming pool.  Read the information in the link. I think it is a great, green move. I woul not think it was creepy to swim in a pool heated because someone is cremated.

Your turn
Would this bother you?

Baking Bread

"Baking bread" conjures up images of a hearth or oven heated to receive the pillow of dough that will be transformed into a very basic, life-sustaining food, reminiscent of something from our foremother's experiences. Hands very gently knead and turn the dough that will rise is a wooden bread bowl. This is such a primitive, humbling feeling of connection with my past.

No
I baked this in a bread machine. It is not very loaf-like. More like a cube of bread, I would say. Really, it was a cube. It is a cube. Just look at it.  Honest.
Soft
"Loaf" sounds so pillow-like, pillowy if you wish. Say it aloud. "L" is a very soft consonant, starting the pillow of bread. "Loaf" Say it again. Feel the puff or air that you make at the end. Isn't that soft?

Hard
Feel/hear that "K" sound made by the "c" in cube. The "K" sound is hard as is the limiting "B." I think there is a glottal stop in "cube." If I had finished the linguistics degree, maybe I would know.

loaf, cube, loaf, cube
Which sounds more comforting? Loaf, of course. The aural manifestation of my bread comforts me.

But
I made a cube--not a comfort. Aren't words wonderful?

For a friend in California
Back to the bread machine--many of us are determined not to buy new. Secondhand bread machines are plentiful. So, I went to the thrift store in search of a bread machine to send to California. Sure enough, there was a bread machine, looking fine and only $3. I brought it home and discovered that the little paddle was missing. I called the manufacturer who sent me a new one. Tonight, I baked bread.

Bread in a box
Yes, I used a bread mix in a box. I had one on the shelf dated 2005. I could have sworn that I had baked since then. Obviously not. The yeast was still good and it is delicious to eat. I just used a medium crust, something I won't do again.

Butter and jam
Unbeknownst to me, I bought a used bread maker that makes jam. Once before, I bought a used bread maker that made butter.

Demand
I bought four or five bread machines at one time, paying an average of $2 apiece at one sale. I sold them for a bit more after trying each one--$10-$12. All worked. Right now, I have a bread maker, new in the box, only opened to show me at a yard sale. I paid a monstrous sum of $4 for that one. For awhile I have been not in the bread making mode. Maybe I will start again.

Your turn
Do you ever buy used bread makers? Do you ever make bread in a bread machine? Pushing on dough to knead it hurts my hands because of the angle and continuous pushing and turning. Besides, it is soooo boring. But, I'll bet there are some of you who knead, turn, and bake bread the old-fashioned way. Right?

OH! NO! Bad News

Bad news
Regular incandescent light bulbs will be phased out by 2014. Manufacturers will no longer make the most common sizes.

Problems
To me, this poses serious physical health and mental health risks. There is a huge potential for a developing black market.

Reports
People discuss the problems fluorescent lights cause in their everyday lives and their health--headaches, dizziness, eyestrain, irritability, aggressiveness. No, I have not yet found links to support their or my health issues.

Changes in apparent hues
Since I have sewn for many years, I believe I am a credible witness to the difficulties of fluorescent lighting. It is impossible to know what any fabric or thread combination will be in outdoor or incandescent lighting. Fluorescent lighting changes colors of fabrics. When I am fabric shopping, I must take the bolt outdoors to determine exactly which shade I am purchasing. If this is impossible, I seek a fixture, usually a lamp on display to sell, in order to place my intended purchase under it.

Needlework
Surely, people who knit or crochet have this problem as well.

Paint--true color
I have become adept at shopping for paint. Even stores like Lowe's have a unit in which to place the paint sample. The unit has three sections--outdoor light, incandescent lighting, and fluorescent. If the source of light does not matter, why would paint manufacturers recognize the results of painting in different conditions as different?

Eyestrain
My ability to read, learn, behave, or excel was never an issue for me. However, experience through students and my one office with others showed me there were many people who needlessly are exposed to conditions that are unfavorable to learning. Eyestrain was my main symptom. Of course, I became irritable when I discovered I could not control lighting to my benefit.

My office
When I had my own office, I never turned on the fluorescent lights unless I had a student in the office.  I used lamps brought from home. Low, but adequate, lighting is all anyone needs. I will move under a bright incandescent light if I thread a needle or read small print. Never did I perform either of these tasks in my office.

Perceived calm
Recently, when I was in a classroom for an advanced science unit (certification is in English), I left the fluorescent lights off after lunch. I commented to the students after lunch that we would leave the lights off unless they needed the light to read. When they asked why, I told them of the health benefits and how calm the abundant natural light was to most people. After coming in with the same students for a few days in the month, the students would ask to have the lights off because "it's so peaceful without the fluorescent lights." Some of the students tried it at home and verified the same results. Okay, maybe I colored their perception. Or, maybe not.

I cannot find the study, but maybe you can. Some students cannot learn at school, but at night under incandescent lights at the kitchen table, learn all they were supposed to learn at school. Classroom lighting made the difference.

Disruptive behavior in school
Students who will not mind, are just disruptive, or have learning disabilities are all affected by the lighting. This is a sensitivity to the light. If students spend seven hours in an environment that causes them emotional problems, are we further damaging their future by forcing their parents to use a light source that is harmful.

Using eHow is not really primary evidence. But, like many behavioral problems and health problems, anecdotal evidence leads to research.  Primary evidence exists, I am just not finding it. Conditions like fibromyalgia were not legitimized for many years. So it goes.

I told all this to a friend who said her physician brother-in-law tested this concept in his waiting room. For a period of time (days) he used only incandescent lamps in the waiting room and then switched to fluorescent. His office and nursing staff reported that patients exposed to incandescent lighting had fewer complaints about their wait time and fewer irritable expressions about their health.

So far, all I have told you is anecdotal.
So, here is another personal experiences.,
When I worked in an office with three other women, using the federal grant money and a donated office, we worked under a very low ceiling with 3'x6' fluorescent light panels. One was right over my head and to the back of me. Working with my desk lamp with an incandescent bulb worked well for me. The other two disagreed. So,  because the program director thought I was just complaining, I went to an opthamalogist who agreed that it was the fluorescent lighting. He was very kind but explained that no one would agree to removing the overhead fixture or allowing us to use lamps only. "No one understands," was the best I got, plus a prescription for a screen for my computer to cut down on glare. Glare was not the problem.

When I taught GED, a teacher whose child was in my class introduced me to the Irlen Method. Fortunately, eyestrain, fatigue, and headaches were my only symptoms. Read the list of symptoms and see if anyone you know exhibits these behaviors or health problems. When I mentioned the colored overlays to my students who had problems reading, they assured me the overlays work. They could read with comprehension and lack of any problems.

Light Sensitivity (from Irlen) symptoms

•Bothered by glare, fluorescent lights, bright lights, sunlight and sometimes lights at night
•Some individuals experience physical symptoms and feel tired, sleepy, dizzy, anxious, or irritable. Others experience headaches, mood changes, restlessness or have difficulty staying focused, especially with bright or fluorescent lights.

My plan
I want to be certified in the Irlen Method and get a PhD in reading. That may not happen. But, I believe reading is the single most important skill anyone can learn. Of course, reading with comprehension is the goal. I believe that much of the difficulty most students encounter in school has to do with the lighting. Lighting, combined with a host of other individuals leaves us with a nation of children identified, labeled, and not receiving proper instruction. This is not to blame the educational system. But, I do believe better results could be obtained with different, therefore, better classroom lighting.  Only the lack of money thwarts my plan.

Teachers
Teachers either dismiss the fluorescent lighting problems or whole-heartedly agree. You may write me off as a nut with a theory that is not falsifiable (cannot be proved through scientific methods). I am not. but, if changing the lighting could cause a child with any kind of learning disability or other label to function better in a classroom, would you believe?

Stockpiling
This is going to be a challenge in terms of space and money. This old lady now has things to do.

Your turn
What is your take or experience on the effects of fluorescent lighting?  Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts?

Visit a Better Giveaway than Mine

If you want to visit a great blog and enter a better giveaway than mine, click  DON'T READ THIS; IT'S BORING. Please say I sent you, remind her of my blog, and enter Sluggy's blog. Go, go, go, hurry.

Valentine Giveaway--Valentine Cards

Cards
In addition to the floating heart candle and bear heads, I have added Valentine Cards for children. Even if you don't have children, you can give these to someone who might just need to cut back on expenses. Or, you can give them away to children. If I were giving a gift to someone, I would not be averse to including one of these cards.

Bear  heads, too
That picture of the bear head looks menacing, not cute...lol. But to see one of the dozen bear heads in the prize and the rules, check out the first post for the giveaway.


Assortment--you choose

Starting from top left clockwise to right:

Princess--25
Tweety Bird cards--21
X-MEN--9
Princess (small)--27
Puppies and Kittens (forgot to photograph them) 32

Choose what you need and will not throw away. If you want to give them to children other than your own, that's okay. If you do not have children of your own, feel free to enter the giveaway, and give them away again. I hope my count is right on all of these. Some were given to my granddaughter to hand out at school. The count on some looks strange, but some are gone!

The two small Valentines are lenticular: X-Men and Princess. The picture changes when the card is moved. I learned a new word. Had I ever heard "lenticular" and forgotten it? Beats me.

Your turn
Do you remember the joy in childhood of handing out and receiving cards? I do. It was a joyous day. But then, I am a celebrating type of girl! Don't forget to enter if you are a follower and get two entries. If you are not a follower, join and enter. I promise I will have better prizes one day!