Dear Nyquil,

You had me at my goodni–, because I never got to the end of that word before succumbing to the lovely coma you provided. You know that I don’t typically go for tall, dark shotglasses of liquid dreams. In most cases, I go down fighting just even to take tylenol for a headache. But you Nyquil, you wormed your foggy-head-inducing way into my heart.

But I…

…I met someone. He was introduced to me by Frugally Sustainable. Don’t blame her, she didn’t know I was seeing you. I was fully aware of what I was doing, but couldn’t stop it. You know that I’m breast feeding and understood that we would be apart for awhile. That was gracious of you, yes.

I just didn’t expect… this. I think it’s love.

If it’s not too painful, a few other people are reading this over your shoulder and kinda want to know how this other syrup and I met.

Try to avert your eyes, Nyquil.

Click here to read about our first date in a nutshell and the recipe. It was kinda awkward because I didn’t say much. In fact, I said nothing at all…. because we met over the internet, which is no big deal except he had no clue I was hunting him down in person.

Eventually, I did find him and laid out all the ingredients on the counter. Then smiled that the bottles bought for me last Christmas from my in-laws were finally getting used. And they’re almost exactly like Frugally Sustainable’s bottles. Who’s trying their darndest to imitate Frugally? This girl. It’s embarrassing.

Picture me with Ruth’s scary “I’m gonna stalk you” grin when she stared down her new friend. I have no idea where she gets that weird social ineptness. I mean, I only hounded my future college roommate and super good friend, K, for months before agreeing to be my roommate. So what if she swears that whenever she got new eyeglasses, I showed up the next day with similar ones. And it’s not that big of a deal that we both married guys of the same name, and those guys have fathers with the same name.

Pure coincidence.

It’s not like I researched his family line on ancestry.com before settling on a husband to make sure mine was in sync. I mean, everyone knows that his family came from Prussia on the 1886 transatlantic ship to America. Right?

Back to my current victim author. She has an entire section dedicated to making your own medicine. And since I’m new to this world of herbs, I thought we would get up close and personal with them as they are introduced.

Meet Licorice Root. Licorice Root, meet… well, meet whomever’s the current person I’ve bribed to read my blog.

From http://www.herbwisdom.com, here are just some of the benefits of Licorice Root:

• has a similarly soothing and healing action, reducing irritation and inflammation and has an expectorant effect, useful in irritating coughs, asthma and chest infections
• appears to enhance immunity by boosting levels of interferon, a key immune system chemical that fights off attacking viruses
• has an aspirin-like action and is helpful in relieving fevers and soothing pain such as headaches. Its anti-allergenic effect is very useful for hay fever, allergic rhinitis, conjunctivitis and bronchial asthma

Next up: Echinacea Root.

Ech-uh-NAY-sha.

Guess who called up the local health food store and asked for Ech-ee-nuh-SAY-uh? You’re right. Me, again. No one knew what I was talking about so I naturally just kept repeating it the same way over and over again. Pretty sure they weren’t annoyed.

From http://www.herbwisdom.com, here are just some of the benefits of Echinacea Root:

• stimulates the overall activity of the cells responsible for fighting all kinds of infection. Unlike antibiotics, which directly attack bacteria, echinacea makes our own immune cells more efficient at attacking bacteria, viruses and abnormal cells, including cancer cells
• increases the number and activity of immune system cells including anti-tumor cells, promotes T-cell activation, stimulates new tissue growth for wound healing and reduces inflammation in arthritis and inflammatory skin conditions

…and Ginger Root:

•  a remedy for travel sickness, nausea and indigestion and is used for wind, colic, irritable bowel, loss of appetite, chills, cold, flu, poor circulation, menstrual cramps, dyspepsia (bloating, heartburn, flatulence), indigestion and gastrointestinal problems such as gas and stomach cramps
• a powerful anti-inflammatory herb and there has been much recent interest in its use for joint problems
• arthritis, fevers, headaches, toothaches, coughs, bronchitis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, to ease tendonitis, lower cholesterol and blood-pressure and aid in preventing internal blood clots

After steeping and then filtering out the herbs once, I decided to do it again for the last few bits and pieces.

Ruth played with her friends, while I poured in the syrup.

I interrupted the play date and asked her to model the finished product. She was suspicious.

And had a right to be. I used her because I felt guilty throwing an arm around my new man. Nyquil, I hate to admit this, but I already forgot you were reading. Now that I’ve remembered that you are, maybe I shouldn’t mention that this concoction helped my sore throat at night like you did but it also tasted much better.

I’m sorry it had to end this way. Keep reading my blog, please.

Carolyn

Ruthie got sick of me talking about my breakup and asked me to read her a book.  So we did, and I purposely read the cupcake page about 20 times. She understands at 4 months that that’s the perfect cure after a long relationship ends.

I do feel the need to mention that while nursing you still want to watch your intake. I did a tablespoon every 3-4 hours. There are also some herbs that you shouldn’t take at all while nursing. Just a heads up and do your research.