13 Fun Facts about the Common Cold

We've been experiencing the common cold around my house for a little while now.  It has to run its course, and the over-the-counter medicines we tried either didn't help or caused some side effects.  Living in a region where the February weather has bipolar disorder (78 one day, 57 the next, for an example), the common cold is... well, common!  It's just a fact of life!

1.  Over 200 viruses can cause cold symptoms such as sneezing, coughing, sore throat, and sinus congestion.  200!
2.  In the United States alone, there are over 1 billion cases of a cold each year.  BILLION!
3.  The most common virus (out of the 200) is also more common in the spring, summer, and early fall.
4.  Cold-causing germs can live for two days outside the human body.
5.  Coughing, sneezing, or even talking can release respiratory droplets into the air (you probably knew that).  The droplets can travel up to six feet.  That's a safe distance to be if you must be near someone who is sick.

6.  This also explains why we get colds more near the Gulf coast:  High humidity propels droplets more quickly than low humidity.
7.  Vitamin C has NOT been proven to help a cold in any way.
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8.The common cold received its name is the 1500's because the symptoms of the virus were similar to symptoms people would get when they were out in cold weather.
9.  In the United States, doctor visits for the common cold number 75-100 million per year.
10. Parents miss about 126 million days of work to take care of their children.
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11. Feed a cold and starve a fever, an old saying, is actually poor advice.
12. Studies on whether Zinc helps a cold have been inconclusive.
13. Scientists have been able to sequence the entire genome of the major rhinoviruses, so there may someday be a cold vaccine!

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F is for Forgetfulone!

Yes, I call myself Forgetfulone.  It's not that I'm really forgetful.  I have a good memory!  But I am the kind of person who walks into a room and forgets why she is there.  When my children were younger, I would walk into a room and say, "What am I looking for?"  Their answer was always a flippant, "I don't know.  I'm not your brain!"  Haha.  Funny.

I tend to forget little things, not necessarily unimportant things.  I can name all 140 students I teach.  I can recite our bell schedule.  I can tell you what meetings I have coming up in the next few days without looking at my calendar.  I can remember books, phone numbers, conversations, and so on. But, I can't remember the answer you gave for the question I just asked, and I will probably ask you to tell me again.

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I guess that's how my blog name came about.  Here's my first post from way back in December, 2005, if you want to take a look.  My forgetfulness is not a disorder, thankfully, although my aunt who died recently truly had dementia.  That is the type of forgetting I want to avoid.

So, I looked up some causes of forgetfulness and some tips for adapting to absentmindedness.  I hope you will find some of the information useful.

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Reconciling the Old and the New (Testaments)

Last year, I read the One Year Bible.  It is divided into manageable sections with reading from the Old Testament, the New Testament, Psalms, and Proverbs each day.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and looked forward each day to my Bible time.  In fact, it was such a boost to my spirit each day that I got another One Year Bible, this one in chronological order.  

The only thing I sometimes have trouble with is reconciling the God of the Old Testament to the God of the New Testament.  While His behavior appears inconsistent when only studied at a superficial level, when I began to dig deeper, the differences in behavior actually made perfect sense.

For example, one must consider the context in which each part of the Bible was written.  Come Reason Ministries says, "one point we note is that the commands of God are addressed on a national level. Here God is instructing Israel as a forming nation."  Many of the Old Testament admonishments were directed at the entire nation, not as individuals.  Conversely, Jesus's teachings about God and what God wants for the world are on a personal level rather than a national level.  Come Reason Ministries states that Jesus's admonitions "...are guidelines for how we can be more loving to our fellow human beings and they help instill a spirit of selflessness in our individual characters."

I really love the way Carl Olson, editor for Our Sunday Visitor, explains this need for reconciliation by reminding us that, "One essential problem here is quite simple: there are not two Gods — one of the Old Testament and one of the New Testament — but just one God...the Old and New Testaments are not in competition with one another, nor do they tell two different stories, but are intimately connected to each other, forming a long and continuous whole. And that whole — what we might call salvation history — is held together by God’s revelation of himself. "  Similar to the previous source, he also states, "readers must put forth some effort to comprehend just how different the ancient Middle Eastern cultures, morals and attitudes were from our 21st-century situations and perspectives."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               So, while I don't begin to understand everything about God and the Bible, I do understand more than I did previously.  I only included small samples from these sources, but reading them in their entirety opened my eyes and helped me understand a very complex concept.

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I'll Be Back Soon

I have been under the weather, but I will be back soon.  Promise!

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13 from the UK

My daughter is taking classes from her American university in England for the semester.  She lives in Oxford and gets to travel to London fairly often.  She will also visit Bath, England and many other places in the UK during her semester.  Here are 13 photos she has taken.

Yes, an Abraham Lincoln statue in England!

Whoops!  I have 14!

How many of these do you recognize?

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This and That

Linking up with Stacy and Ink Interrupted for Random Tuesday and Coffee Chat.

Just a few random thoughts...

I went to my aunt's funeral Wednesday.  It was a 7 1/2 hour drive up, and the same back.  I'm grateful my DH offered to drive.  I would have flown had I gone by myself.  I don't do so well driving anything over an hour and a half.  The road puts me to sleep.

It was great to see my cousins!  I wish they didn't live a state away.  I didn't get there in time for visitation, but I did get to socialize with my cousins that evening and the next day.  The service for my aunt was held graveside and the preacher did a nice job.  This is a photo of my aunt and dad when they were fairly young.

Something I realized is that when I talk about my dad to my children, I always forget that they were only 8, close to 9 years old, when he died, and they don't have the memories of him when they were babies and toddlers.  They remember some things, but they don't see him the same way I do.  I wish I could be The Giver in the book of the same niame who was able to impart memories to others.  It would create such a warm, comforting feeling, but then again, it would create sadness that he is no longer here.  My kids really missed out on getting to know him in their teenage and young adult peers. He was such a great Papaw and a wonderful man. Sometimes, I wonder, "What if?"  But it's useless thinking like that.  I just feel so bad that they never knew him as well as I did because his life was cut short way too soon.

~heavy sigh~

My husband and I spent a night in San Antonio this weekend for his birthday.  It was loads of fun!   We didn't do anything "new," meaning we have been there many times and done the same things, but it was still enjoyable. We stayed at a beautiful, modern hotel on the Riverwalk, Hotel Valencia. We went to the Menger Hotel, founded in 1859.  They are billed as the "...oldest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi."  George Washington, General Robert E. Lee, Ulyses S. Grant, and Dwight Eisenhower were all guests of the Menger Hotel.  The hotel also holds the unofficial title of "most haunted hotel in Texas."  I wouldn't go to the bathroom while we were there this time because last tie I did, I didn't feel like I was alone although there were no other women in there. We love the bar.  It's so unique!  Here is what it looked like in early days:

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And this is the bar area.  I like this photo because you can see the railing on the second floor balcony part of the bar.

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When we left the Menger, we walked over to the Alamo and walked around the grounds.  It is such a pretty, peaceful area, very unlike its original intention.

copyright 2016 DLA

We had dinner on the Riverwalk, yummy Tex Mex.  And we spent hours at the piano bar at Pat O'Brien's.  Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.  We checked out, had breakfast burritos for brunch, and headed home.  It was quite relaxing.

Time for Coffee Chat

What is ONE GOOD THING about today?
For me, it's my twins, especially when they're being silly!

She's in England for the semester, and he is here, and they are actually missing each other.  Witness this conversation between them today:

He's still taking care of her in his dreams!  It melted my heart.  That is DEFINITELY one good thing!

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