The Vent and Rant Thread

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

And your cats don't mess with it?

No, not like you'd think. When Mr. Zep, the PITA one, decides I need to get up (usually around 2:00am), he'll lick my face or whatever, but the sleep mask remains.

If anybody is interested, this is the one I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072MQ5HTY/ . I've tried a bunch, from the super-soft silk ones to the firmer and this one is like Goldilock's Porridge--just right. :-)

Hitch

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Hitch

If anybody is interested, this is the one I use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072MQ5HTY/ . I've tried a bunch, from the super-soft silk ones to the firmer and this one is like Goldilock's Porridge--just right. :-)

Hmmm... Not in stock on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com says available for $8.65 US plus $8.66 US shipping to Canada.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm... Not in stock on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com says available for $8.65 US plus $8.66 US shipping to Canada.

It's always great when shipping is more than the item itself.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I guess a spot of plinking is out of the question, eh?

Hitch

Can't see the light fixtures on the ceiling from my bedroom unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Hitch

I've been using sleep masks for 13 years now and I swear by them. It can take some doing to come up with the right one for your face, how you sleep, etc. but they are amazing.

Hitch

I've been thinking of getting a sleep mask for a long time now, but every time I go look for one I get a bit overwhelmed with choice. I need to find one that isn't too warm, my head get warm/hot easily and that's uncomfortable at night.

Of course, since I wrote this they've switched off the lights. When they leave them on again I'll go by. Up until last winter they switched the upstairs lights off every day. When they started to leave them on in winter I went by and told them, they weren't bothering me then because in winter I have my curtains closed at night. Only now, when I try to get some fresh air into my room at night it's become a problem.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Hmmm... Not in stock on Amazon.ca, Amazon.com says available for $8.65 US plus $8.66 US shipping to Canada.

Yowch. Perhaps you can find the brand locally? I mean...for me, honestly, it would be worth that much. Using it is part of my nighttime ritual now, and there's something about forcing my eyes closed, under the mask that helps me fall asleep. (As a lifetime insomniac, that matters!). I've bought 4 extras for the inevitable discontinuance. I had the Sleep Mask Graveyard living at my armoire (where unacceptable Sleep Masks go to die...) and I really would prefer not to do that again.

That mask is lightweight, molded shape (which I didn't think I would like, but I really do!), doesn't make my head sweat, and it's fairly comfortable, accommodates my nose, etc. I should add, for anyone with longer hair, it has VELCRO, like 99% of sleep masks today, so if you sleep with your hair down, I'd recommend embracing a sleep bun. Which is another thing I picked up, after we moved here and I had no choice but to use a mask. I actually now wish I'd encountered Sleep buns 30 years ago; for managing hair, styling, etc. they're a godsend.

So, so much for nighttime sleep rituals with Hitch, LOL.

Hitch

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I've been thinking of getting a sleep mask for a long time now, but every time I go look for one I get a bit overwhelmed with choice. I need to find one that isn't too warm, my head get warm/hot easily and that's uncomfortable at night.

If you're concerned about them being too hot, I'll repeat my recommendation for a silk one. They're light, and less warm than some others.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

That mask is lightweight, molded shape (which I didn't think I would like, but I really do!), doesn't make my head sweat, and it's fairly comfortable, accommodates my nose, etc. I should add, for anyone with longer hair, it has VELCRO, like 99% of sleep masks today, so if you sleep with your hair down, I'd recommend embracing a sleep bun. Which is another thing I picked up, after we moved here and I had no choice but to use a mask. I actually now wish I'd encountered Sleep buns 30 years ago; for managing hair, styling, etc. they're a godsend.

So, so much for nighttime sleep rituals with Hitch, LOL.

Hitch

I had never heard of sleep buns. I might try it some time. I've taken to loosely braiding my hair at night to keep it out of the way. My last haircut was almost two years ago. I had one planned when the pandemic hit. Now that I'm fully vaccinated I'm looking forward to getting it cut in autumn (I get a sweaty head easily and like to be able to put my up when it's warm/hot)

Originally Posted by CRussel

If you're concerned about them being too hot, I'll repeat my recommendation for a silk one. They're light, and less warm than some others.

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll have to take some time to see what's available over here, but I now have more of an idea what I need to look out for.

Current rant: I got my second Moderna vaccine on Wednesday. And now a big area of my arm is red, warm and at times itchy or prickling. My eczema cream works for the redness and bruised feeling. But I have yet to find something that works for more than an hour or so against the itchiness/prickling sensation. I just put on some zinc cream (sold for diaper rashes, but occasionally works for eczema, too), hopefully it'll work.

[ApK]

My wife and daughter and I all use SleepPhones to listen to audio while we sleep, and my wife and daughter usually set it over their eyes as a sleep mask as well. I think it would drive me crazy that way.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

I had never heard of sleep buns. I might try it some time. I've taken to loosely braiding my hair at night to keep it out of the way. My last haircut was almost two years ago. I had one planned when the pandemic hit. Now that I'm fully vaccinated I'm looking forward to getting it cut in autumn (I get a sweaty head easily and like to be able to put my up when it's warm/hot)

Sleep buns rule. I wish I'd discovered them 30 years ago, seriously. I have had horribly unruly hair--straight as a stick, but thick as hell, by which I mean many hairs per square inch of my noggin. The hair itself, the shaft, is thin and straight/straight/straight. So for years, I had to invest a lot of time in styling the mop. (Before anyone asks, if I leave it straight, I look like an escapee from American Gothic, so no, leaving it wasn't an option.) Sleep buns preserve the styling work you've done, so that you don't have to mess with it each day.

My gray then decided to torture me more and it's curly. Yup, it is. So now I have both--stick straight hair and curly hair, on the same bloody head. Sleep bunnage has saved my sanity. It keeps the unruly curly in place and it keeps the unruly straight stuff waved. AND it keeps it off my neck (someday, when you experience the joy of "The change," trust me, you'll love that part).

Thanks for the recommendations, I'll have to take some time to see what's available over here, but I now have more of an idea what I need to look out for.

Saved my ass there, too. Our 'new' house has these high, wee windows in the bedroom, near the high ceilings. I don't know what moron thought those were a good idea, but we get daylight the moment the sun rises. I've never been a good sleeper, no matter what, so that hadda go. (At one point in time, I wrote a short story about my hunt for Blackout Drapes...)

Current rant: I got my second Moderna vaccine on Wednesday. And now a big area of my arm is red, warm and at times itchy or prickling. My eczema cream works for the redness and bruised feeling. But I have yet to find something that works for more than an hour or so against the itchiness/prickling sensation. I just put on some zinc cream (sold for diaper rashes, but occasionally works for eczema, too), hopefully it'll work.

I assume you tried all of the old faithfuls like Calamine right? I know that this will sound nuts, but is it like sunburn? Like Solarcaine or the like would work?

Hitch

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I assume you tried all of the old faithfuls like Calamine right? I know that this will sound nuts, but is it like sunburn? Like Solarcaine or the like would work?

Hitch

I tried Calamine. It usually works great for sunburns, heat rashes and sun allergy flare ups. Doesn't do anything for this. Solarcaine isn't available here, I don't think anything with Lidocaine is available OTC here.

But the diaper rash cream worked. It didn't work quickly, but at least it itchiness and prickling didn't wake me up during the night and it was less red in the morning. According to Google it's most likely Covid/vaccine arm. I also got it a week after my first shot. It's recommended to use steroid cream. Which isn't available OTC either, but I got it for my eczema. Now I put on the eczema cream twice a day and when that has absorbed I put on the zinc cream.

[Thasaidon]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I have had horribly unruly hair--straight as a stick, but thick as hell, by which I mean many hairs per square inch of my noggin. ?

Hitch

You mean like Edna Mode in the Incredibles?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Thasaidon

You mean like Edna Mode in the Incredibles?

Mine doesn't look that good. It sounds wonderful--women always say "ooooh, I wish I had all that hair!," but that's because they haven't had the experience of showering at night sticking your hair up in a clip atop the head and it's STILL WET 20 hours later. Or, as a kid, speaking of wet, going in for your school pics with scraggly-looking half-assed hair because your mom was surprised to find out that when she took your hair out of the rollers, in the morning, it wasn't dry and curly, but still wet. Or getting headaches, because the braid on the back of your noggin is so heavy.

Sleep buns, no matter what--thick hair, thin hair, lots or little--are a girl's best friend. :-)

Hitch

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

According to Google it's most likely Covid/vaccine arm.

Our government vaccine info page mentions this, too. It says that research data indicates 1/1000 people experience "itching at injection site" - so I'm going to make sure I get my shots in my non-dominant arm. Thanks for the diaper cream tip, I'll remember that if I have this problem.

[ownedbycats]

I get my second dose soon, and I am fully expecting it to put me out of commission for a while.

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

Our government vaccine info page mentions this, too. It says that research data indicates 1/1000 people experience "itching at injection site" - so I'm going to make sure I get my shots in my non-dominant arm. Thanks for the diaper cream tip, I'll remember that if I have this problem.

With the first dose it took a week before the Covid arm developed. Wasn't itchy, just red and it felt bruised and slightly sunburned. This time it developed two days after the shot. But each day it's less red, the first time it took two weeks to go away.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I get my second dose soon, and I am fully expecting it to put me out of commission for a while.

I had Moderna. The first time it was just my arm. The second dose was different. I got my shot on Wednesday. On Thursday I wasn't well, in the early afternoon I got really dizzy and spend most of the afternoon in bed. On Friday I felt much better, just a weird headache and I was really tired.

But IMHO it's worth it.