Thursday

It was below freezing, yet again, when I woke up on Thursday morning.

I had more running around during lunch for work. I went to Best Buy and then Verizon. Since these are both in Westland, I grabbed a bite at the Newburgh Grille again (vegetable beef soup and another patty melt).

It was another long afternoon, with a lot of discomfort. I must have made that discomfort audible, as people kept asking me when I was going to the doctor. I explained why I didn’t go yet and mentioned I might try soaking in Epsom salts, a remedy Melissa highly recommended for sore legs a while back. Mike said that it really works and not only relaxes sore muscles but removes toxins from you body and exfoliates your skin! Think about it: relaxed muscles, less toxins and pretty skin? How could you beat that?

But, I hate taking baths. To me, you’re just lying in your own filth and that’s gross. Plus, I don’t quite fit in my normal sized tub (I wonder how Melissa does?)

Michelle also mentioned the benefits of Bio Freeze. I told her I had some of that (my sister-in-law Kathy gave me some a few years back).

Jake called just after I got home from work. We caught each other up and the big topic of discussion was that another long-time employee quit today. He will undoubtedly be replaced by yet another contractor. We are down to a precious few of us who have been here longer than a year!

After we hung up, instead of lying down with the heating pad, I addressed the issue of the bath tub. If you remember, when last we visited my bath tub, I had just sprayed it with oven cleaner in a desperate attempt to erase ancient soap scum. Then this whole pain in the side thing happened.

So, first I thoroughly rinsed it with hot water. Then I rubbed it with a sponge as instructed by the can (well, under normal circumstances, I would have, but instead of kneeling down and reaching out with a hand sponge, I used my old wall-washing trick: My mop). Then I rinsed it again.

Just in case any oven cleaner was left (I didn't think lying in oven cleaner water would be healthy or helpful), I sprayed it down with Scrubbing Bubbles. I let that sit for a few moments and mopped that off. Then I rinsed it all again.

I had to stop at that point and let my poor water heater catch up (I had been a bit aggressive in my rinsing, I guess). When it finally did, I filled the tub with the hottest water I thought I could stand and two cups of Epson Salts. I set the phone, a glass of water and my book outside the tub within reach and got in.

Lying down was easy. Once I got myself adjusted for maximum contact in the affected area, I got my book and started to read. I stayed there until the water had turned cool and I had begun to pucker.

Getting back upright was a bit more difficult. Thank God I’d put that grab bar in! I got out and then dried off. It was then I realized I was now covered with salt and extracted toxins! So, I went downstairs and took a rinse-off shower.

Then I lay down with the heating pad (finally). After about an hour, I did an inventory. While I was still hurting, I was moving around much more relaxed.

When I got back up, I applied that Bio Freeze. Back in bed, I left off the heating pad to let it dry and get to work. It was late, so I skipped dinner and watched the rest of the Irish Rovers on Public Television. I fell asleep before it ended and slept until after midnight. I turned the heating pad back on and went back to bed.