Hi everyone, Christina here popping in for my weekly edition.
As a lot of you have already read, I went in search of a new winter parka which lead to us meeting an incredible sales professional at the Sleep Number mattress store. I am convinced that after nearly falling asleep on their $10,000 mattress that I will own one of those…some day. Between his back pain and my arthritis, that has got to be the best mattress, ever! Okay, enough sales talk… onto my winter parka.
Thanks to the well-wishers on my luck of finding a new jacket. Michigan is a crazy weather winter wonderland and you need all sorts of jackets for different weather. I found my new fashion savvy Carhartt Shoreline jacket and it is every bit as dreamy as I could have hoped, and covers my butt- no drafts here!
I swear Sleep Number and Carhartt are not paying me.
5 years ago on Christmas I was diagnosed with Malaria while in Mozambique. Ever since then and after a slew of other illnesses, somewhere along the way I developed social anxiety. I could go anywhere and everywhere alone and not feel anxious. I was super independent pre-2012. I still am, but not in the same way. Doing all that shopping for a mattress and a new jacket requires going places in-person and I absolutely hate that. I love Amazon prime, I love those stores where you can buy things and they bring it to the car, and I love take-out. Being able to go alone to actually purchase my jacket was a small victory.
We also purchased one of those Himalayan salt lamps based on people’s accounts of it helping them feel more relaxed. I know there are a lot of nay-sayers out there but hey, that many people saying it helps them is worth the try. Although, if I’m honest, when I was in Nepal I never did see anyone with a salt lamp in their home so it could just be a first world thing, more research is necessary.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, I’m making Paula Dean’s crock-pot mac and cheese (omg!!!!!!) and Travis is looking forward to his pigs in a blanket. Of course, the huskies will get some turkey scraps, they are very spoiled!
See everyone next week!
-Christina
Travis and the Brain 
Praise the Lord for helping you, too, Christina, on your anxieties, on getting out there, and for finding your jacket! It looks good and warm! 🙂 God loves you! Happy Thanksgiving to you and Travis!
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Hi Gail, thanks for the reply! I am afraid I ate too much mac and cheese today and now recovering on the sofa 😉 Hope you had a super holiday 🙂
-Christina
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Thank you, Christina! I had plenty of banana pudding and deviled egg halves. 😉 Praying yours was blessed too!
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Well done Christina. It is funny how life turns out, Here you are going off to Nepal, but the shopping centre is a challenge. I’m with you. Shopping centres are not my fave place either, but I do love travelling.
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Hi there, thanks for the reply! Unknown stores and situations seem to be the biggest triggers. That and possibly seeing someone I really don’t want to “fake chit chat” with. Traveling is so systematic to me, go to airport, sit in seat, fly, get bag, go lol. Ugh shopping centers, so much stuff to look at, then trying stuff on, oh my I could go on and on. Thanks for following 🙂
-Christina
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Love your blogs!
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Thank you so much!
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Mozambique! That’s awesome! Where all have you traveled?
We got a sleep number bed 12 years ago. It still works. I LOVE being able to adjust it when my sciatica acts up (sleep # between 65 and 70) or when I want to feel like I’m floating on a cloud (# between 35 and 30). I used to grump because I changed my number but it helps that you can change your number! You don’t have to buy an all new bed.
The worst thing though…when you stay in a hotel or visit someone…nobody else’s bed measures up and you can’t wait to get back home to your comfy bed.
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In Africa I have traveled to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and a little bit of Malawi. Travis went to Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan and recovered from Malaria in Kenya. Most of my travels outside of that are Europe and Nepal but Travis has been all over SE Asia and Central America.
At the sleep number store we were both around 45, SOOO AMAZING!!!!! Its quite a big purchase so for now we are using a 3 inch memory foam topper (more on that in a new post to come), I think the Sleep Number will probably be a dream come true once we do actually get it… I can’t imagine our huskies leaving the bed either 😉
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