Hi ya! Belated b-day wishes to Amy! Nice to see you again. I've been 'offline' here because I have been consumed working on products and writing my website (learning on the fly) to launch an on-line business. I've registered for a vendor permit etc etc etc - trying to balance my 'work' time between producing products and doing administrative work. WOW! Love the internet for learning about writing web pages - in the process I have found a 'new box of crayons' and I have SUBMITTED FOR COLLEGE - keeping my fingers crossed. I want to learn about web design. My husband has told me repeatedly over the last few years he honestly believed I would be good at this since I found doing network support extremely difficult. Taking care of servers was mind boggling to me and I never made it past first level of computer support (one level up from help desk). Cannot keep up with the software updates (microsoft releases new operating systems like candy). Keeping on top of everything is financially demanding - your talking about $500 learning on your own and taking an exam per 'book' on the new systems. Since I was not 'getting it' like Dave (it's his box of crayons. I swear he just has to hold a book and write the microsoft certification and he's done). I am a creative person and I've learned so much about writing web pages on my own from the internet tutorials - to a point where I can't sleep because I want to learn more - I talked to Dave and decided college would be a good investment. We are lucking - it's one bus ride and only a 10 minute ride from our house. So I'm waiting to hear back from the college. I think my Mom would be pleased that I am using some of my inheritance as an investment towards future employment. And my online business is for my 'mental' health venting my creative side. I've used some of Mom's gift in this area too. So I've not been posting much but I am with everyone in spirit. It's still a challenge because I'm so excited about everything. So part time school on weekends to start if I can get accepted - I plan to enrol full time for next fall semester and do the 2 year program full time. Dave has secured a contract for the next 18 months and told me to get back to school. I feel so blessed right now...2009 is MY YEAR. Thank you God for helping me find the right path and having all of my friends. Please forgive me if I only post every other day - I am here in spirit - holding your hand and needing your help to stay focused too! Lots of love to everyone - I have to get back to working in my 'studiio' - cleared corner of our rec room.... I love all of you so much! Happy 2009! Peggy

Man did I ever start something with the Indonesian Peanut Butter Chicken. :) Too funny! Here is my recipe in case anyone wants to try it: INDONESIAN CHICKEN SATE WITH PEANUT SAUCE 2 whole chicken breasts (I usually triple the recipe) 1 clove garlic, crushed 1/2 tsp curry powder 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp chili powder 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsps soy sauce 4 tbsp chicken bouillon broth Mix everything but the chicken breasts in a bowl. Use this as a marinade over the chicken. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Remove the chicken from the marinade (reservind the marinade). Bake in oven 350F (I use clay pieces to cook my chicken on - really good results). If on clay, no need to turn. PEANUT SAUCE (If you triple the recipe for the chicken/marinade, then triple the peanut sauce. 2 tbsp vegetable oil 2 shallots (I don't use this) 1 tbsp brown sugar 1/3 cup smooth or crunchy peanut butter 2/3 cup water 3 tbsp whipping cream (I use 2% milk) Pour the reserved marinade in a pan, add the peanut sauce ingredients and thicken. Serve marinade over chicken and rice. I like to saute some nuts. It's good to put sauted peppers on top. It's delicious. Tell me if you try it. ---------------------------- Jess, that was a good website. Carol

Thank you, Jess and Khalid for your comforting words. I went to the PA (physician assistant) on Jan 20. He checked my ears and found the right ear badly blocked, same with the left ear. When the cold virus attacks the body, it inflames the Eustachian tube. Some info. from Mayo clinic: "With plugged ears, your eustachian tubes — which run between the middle of your ears and the back of your nose — become obstructed. You may experience a feeling of fullness or pressure in your ears. You may also have ear pain, dizziness and muffled hearing. As swelling from the cold subsides, the obstruction usually resolves." My experience is very much like what the below doc. went through: http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/healthyliving/SpecialFocus/Pages/a-common-cold-can-cause-vertigo.aspx " Dr Young, 33, started an otherwise ordinary day with a mild sore throat and a runny nose – like he was coming down with a cold. However, by the third evening, he started to feel light-headed and awoke the following morning with severe vertigo. He felt as if the room was spinning around him. “For the first two days after the vertigo set in, I couldn’t eat, drink, turn my head or even move my eyes from side to side without vomiting or feeling the room spin around me,” he said. It turns out that Dr Young had labyrinthitis, a condition where the labyrinth (the inner ear) is inflamed and not functioning normally. Dr Young, an infectious disease specialist from Britain who works at a local hospital, self-medicated with vestibular suppressants and anti-emetics. These are prescription drugs to suppress dizziness and nausea. “But they had little effect." he said. “The acute vertigo usually lasts from a few days to two weeks. As it resolves, the patient experiences slight imbalance or unsteadiness while walking. This rehabilitation phase may last for one or two months. The hearing function may or may not fully recover. The recovery period is fastest during the first month but the patient may still recover up to six months after the onset of the disease,” said Dr Tan. Labyrinthitis is often spontaneous and idiopathic but can occur after a cold, flu or upper respiratory tract infection (URTI). “These infections don’t usually affect the inner ear. More often, in URTIs, the middle ear is affected when bacteria and nasal secretions pass through the eustachian tubes to the middle ear causing fluid accumulation. A bad middle ear infection can lead to the spread of infection to the brain, or in rare cases, labyrinthitis as well,” said Dr Tan. **** From Straw, the P.A. who examined my ears recommended an MRI of the brain (magnetic resonance imaging scan) to show the inflammation. The cost? $1,000. I said, "NO way, I'm going to rinse my ears with hydrogen peroxide". I went home, fill a glass-dropper with hydrogen peroxide, rinsed my left ear. That cleared out completely. The right ear which bled, I had to rinse it 3 times with hydroxide peroxide ... and my vertigo went away !! I was able to stretch my head backward in all directions. Hydrogen peroxide kills all three: bacteria, fungi, and virus.

Got a really bad reaction to flu-shot taken on Dec. 19 .. started being dizzy & throw up & fever on Dec. 29. The few strains of virus in flu-shot inflamed my middle ear. Neighbor & nurse-daughter also complained about tingling of ears after flu-shot. Regarding the flu that I got from that blasted flu-shot: I went to the PA yesterday and he found my ears are VERY blocked. No one, including my 3 medical doctor siblings ever link vertigo to blocked Eustachian tubes. I learned that from the searching in Houzz, which a woman solved her vertigo problem by flushing her ear with hydrogen peroxide. I re-post what I posted in Health Forum today: "Bonide is the most popular vertigo medication, but there's side-effects. Best to treat the problem: blocked tubes which mess up equilibrium. I never have vertigo before, until I got my flu-shot from Sam's club Dec. 19 ... My right ear bled, then I got vertigo for one month. The right ear is the hardest to free from blockage: 3 flush with hydrogen peroxide to clean out the blood, and 3 flush of vinegar/alcohol to remove earwax. I used a glass dropper, filled with hydrogen peroxide and flush both ears. One ear popped, vertigo is completely gone on that side. The other ear is still jammed up, so I used 1/2 alcohol and 1/2 vinegar (alcohol to evaporates quickly and vinegar to dissolve solidified ear-wax, or dried blood). My husband has lots of wax build-up in his ears .. it got so bad that he got sick from it: lost his appetite, feeling tired & lethargic. He went to the doc. and the doc. flushed out the wax. After that my husband could hear better & regain his appetite & no more tiredness !! You can tell when your ears are blocked (WebMD): , Swelling from a cold, allergies, or a sinus infection can keep the eustachian tubes from opening. This leads to pressure changes. Fluid may collect in the middle ear. The pressure and fluid can cause pain. Ears that hurt and feel full, or feel watery. Ringing or popping noises in your ears. Hearing problems. Feeling dizzy. " WebMD has a fantastic exercise to clear-out the Eustachian tubes, I tried it, and it WORKED: " You may be able to open the blocked tubes with a simple exercise. Close your mouth, hold your nose, and gently blow as if you are blowing your nose. Yawning and chewing gum also may help. You may hear or feel a "pop" when the tubes open to make the pressure equal between the inside and outside of your ears."