Ellie@Home by Nicole Kapise-Perkins

   Sooo...the ear infection and tonsillitis and sinus infection and...and...and...well, they won, and my amazingly awesome boss gave me today off to recuperate. Last night after work I had a craving for double dumpling soup, and decided that I would spend my day reading Anna Karenina while drinking pots of jasmine tea. (Yes, that's POTS)    Soup ingredients? check    Jasmine tea? check    Anna Karenina? Anna? Hellooooo? Is Anna here? Nerp. The library's copy was so battered (it wasn't me, I swear) that it has been discarded. No Anna ? What am I supposed to do with myself now?? (This as I'm standing in a library full of books...) What to my wondering eye should appear, but a shiny brand-new copy of The Complete Sherlock Holmes . Published by Walking Lion Press in 2011, it contains, in chronological order: A Study in Scarlet (1887); The Sign of Four (1890); The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1892); The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1894); The...

...because there really are no words to describe how weird my children are.

We all need our sleep, and plenty of it. As I mentioned before, everyone in my house is sick (with the exception of the goldfish) and part of why the adults aren't getting any better is because we aren't sleeping properly. He and I keep getting up to tend to sick children, and we are sick ourselves. See the pattern? If you're short on sleep because of the holly-day rush, or any other stressful factors, read more from Elise Moreau: Practically everyone knows what it feels like to be kept up at night by their own thoughts. Whether you’re analyzing the events of the past day or worrying about what’s to come tomorrow, the inability to calm and control your racing mind so that you can actually get some shuteye can be enough to feel nearly torturous. Ensuring a good night’s sleep, even when your daily life is busy and frantic, starts well before you turn in for the night. A few critical things to keep in mind include: Staying regular with your sleep time (and wake-up...

My household LOVES these lovely little gems of goodness, and I'm on a massive health spree lately because we're fighting the flu, ear infections, sinus infections, tonsillitis, and bronchitis in this house. (And sadly,it seems we're losing.) Mandarin oranges have become one of the most popular pleasures of the festive season; we pile the beautiful orange gleaming fruit into large bowls and stuff them into children’s stockings. Did you know that mandarin oranges, satsumas, tangerines and clementines are all different varieties in the mandarin family? They are all smaller than oranges with a looser skin, making them easier to peel. Below are 3 tasty and simple recipes for your pleasure.  First, let’s learn how good they are for us. 5 Health Benefits Of Mandarin Oranges 1. Reduces Risk of Liver Cancer The National Institute of Fruit Tree Science studied a Japanese population who ate a high number of mandarin oranges. In another study, a team at Kyoto Prefe...

Pain is a part of life as much as we would like to avoid it. A headache, a sprained ankle or aching joints are unwelcome occurrences in the lives of most people. But what happens when pain becomes a daily experience and starts to affect our quality of life? According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) , pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. An estimated 25 percent of Americans have suffered from pain that lasts longer than 24 hours. It’s the most common reason Americans access the health care system. Chronic pain , defined by the NIH as any pain lasting more than 12 weeks, is a leading cause of disability in the United States. It’s also a major contributor to health care costs in the United States. Because pain is a subjective experience, there is no “one size fits all” solution to dealing with it. Pain—whether acute or chronic—comes in many forms and is big business for drug companies. Unfortunately, many anti-pain prescrip...