Working on the exterior of the cottage art studio.

Building Cool Stuff, Making a Cottage Art Studio

With a week of sunny days in front of us, I decided it would be best to work on the outside of the art studio. We had a few days of rain and now with a break in the weather I realize I had better take advantage of the dry.

I could have chosen to have new windows but I had collected these old charmers over the past two years and I just love them. They may not be as energy efficient but I can create a barrier if I need to, from the weather, with clear bubble wrap or plastic.

Much of the siding I have used was given to us through Freecycle. I have begun buying new siding now though.

Ceiling almost finished!

About Michele, Building Cool Stuff, Making a Cottage Art Studio

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Look how bright the double room is now with the sheet rock up and ready to finish trimming out and painting. John and Ryan and I spent the last two days working as much as possible to get the ceiling in place. There was a lot of prep work to be done: finishing the insulation, spraying some foam insulation into cracks and crevices all over the place, and making sure there were no screws or nails or dried foam in the way of the sheet rock being raised into place. I only missed one little screw which created a little bubble when I hung that piece of ceiling. I had to cut into the bubble and will patch it later.

This time we rented a sheet rock raising tool to help us lift the large heavy Gypsum boards into place. I appreciated having the tool around for lifting the boards, fitting, and cutting them. It rented for $39 a day at Home Depot. We ended up using it for a day and a half.

I was able to work for three hours at a time and then I would have to take a break and have a snack or meal. I’m pretty happy about how much energy I had today. I was dripping with sweat and I felt so dirty when work was through but I feel blissful and tired after my shower, having accomplished so much.

Finally finishing my cottage art studio ceiling.

About Michele, Art : Drawing; Painting; Fiber; Etc., Building Cool Stuff, Making a Cottage Art Studio

The first piece of sheet rock is in place!

The insulation you see between the rafters is a stiff foam insulation about 4 inches thick. This came from a greyhound bus station. It was given to my sister Cheryl and I after she found it online. I think she requested insulation through Freecycle. This insulation was bound for the dump but we were able to collect and use it instead.

I am very excited to be working on the designated art studio area in the cottage finally. Once this art studio area is finished I can move all my art supplies out of my very cramped living room studio and into the cottage studio.

Moving my art studio will allow me to open my home back up for family gatherings and more comfortable entertaining of friends. .

I am looking forward to decorating my house for the holidays this year 🙂

Valerian Root: Pain Relief and Sleep Aid?

Physical Health

I think I stumbled onto something to help with the pain in may lower jaw from the Trigeminal Neuralgia.  I was watching a series on youtube about herbal medicine yesterday, and one of the episodes was on energy and sleep.  They suggested Valerian for sleep.  Take a little and add a little as you attempt to go to sleep.  I used a tincture by the manufactures “Simple Truth” which has alcohol as the preservative.  I had already taken my pain medicine but was still too uncomfortable to go to sleep so I took some valerian.  Waited 10 min.  Then some more.  Waited.  Then some more.  After taking about 4 droppers of the tincture I felt so relaxed I went to sleep.

The show said that Valerian only works for about 4 hours, and I woke up in the middle of the night.  The show suggested taking it again to get back to sleep.  After taking my pain meds again, I took about three droppers of the tincture and went back to sleep.

I woke this morning with less pain in my lower back tooth than I had felt in a few days.  That lower, back, right tooth has been giving me the worst pain lately, and I have had it checked by the dentist already.  I wondered if the Valerian Root tincture in my mouth helped relieve some of the pain.  I tried it this morning and it seems to help.  At the very least the Valerian relieves some of the tension in my jaw muscles and relaxes them.  And the back, lower, right tooth doesn’t have as sharp a pain when my top teeth touch it.

This is simply some results from my experiment today.  I would be interested in hearing from anyone else who has tried Valerian Root for pain relief.

 

Trigeminal Neuralgia and Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia

About Michele, Emotional Health, Physical Health

Guess what I have.  How did you know?  Maybe the title gave it away!

Trigeminal Neuralgia is a big fancy word for nerve pain on the side of your face.  This pain can include teeth, sinuses, ear, jaw, eye, and head.  The main nerve feeding one side of your face, running through your temple area, is called the Trigeminal nerve, which branches into an upper, middle, and lower nerve.  Neuralgia is a word used to say “pain”.

Glossopharyngeal Neuralgia is the term used to describe pain on one side of the throat and the back of the tongue.

I’m writing about this because recently this has been a problem for me.

I have been to the dentist three times to check different teeth (the pain migrates), and to the doctor twice to try to rule out sinus infection and ear infection.  It was none of those. I will be scheduling something with the neurologist soon.  I also went to a lyme literate nurse practitioner to look into chronic Lyme disease.  I have that too, and I think that is contributing to my nerve pain.  I have also discovered that stress or unhappy thoughts trigger the pain!

I am on a rotation of painkillers constantly to keep the pain under control.  I go from Acetaminophen to Naproxen sodium to Ibuprofen.  Plus, I must rest frequently to avoid triggering the pain, and also avoid any unpleasant thoughts or tasks.  Not easy to live this way because there are typically things necessary in life that are not pleasant to deal with.

I am learning a new protocol for coping with the limitations and giving myself permission to rest and let go of any unnecessary stress.  Now that I understand what this is, my heart goes out to other sufferers.  I am exploring options, but some are not very attractive, such as cutting the nerve so the side of the face is numb.  Can you imagine always smiling like you are shot full of the dentist’s numbing agents!  Yikes!  One time the medicine at the dentist got up to my eye somehow, and I couldn’t shut it without help.  We taped it shut until the numbness wore off!

If anyone has something to share about this awful condition, please feel free to comment and share experiences or advise.  Thank you!

New pasture for the horses.

About Michele, My Horses, On The Farm, Paradise

The neighbor behind us used to have sheep in this pasture. Unfortunately the sheep were killed by coyotes and the pasture has been farrow for a few years. I finally got a hold of our neighbor and he said I could use the pasture for our horses.

I built a little gate and let them out into the long grass. They wandered around a while looking bewildered but now they are grazing up close to our back fence. I guess they don’t want to get too far away from home.

I can’t say I blame them. I love being here myself.