Salty Zebra

Warning: I get a little outside of my standard writing style in this post. As my husband says, I am usually "flowery" and subtle in the way I present things. Today I'm being brutally real.     I've mentioned lots of times on this blog the fact that I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS), but I thought that today I would share a little of what that means to me. It's hard to know how to communicate this to people who don't share my experience. For example:  I am never not in pain. Do I take pain meds? Yes. I take a great deal of pain meds. But no, they don't take my pain away. What they do is (sometimes) take my pain down to a level where I am able to function. My daily functioning pain level is more than many people will experience in a year. Is it easier for me to deal with pain because I am so used to it? No. No, it is not. In fact, the ongoing, constant, chronic pain builds on top of itself over and over and makes it MORE difficult to deal with. I just do...

Hey there! I'm an Amazon Associate, which means I earn a commission when you click one of these links and buy something. This does not change your cost at all.  One of the things that often puts people off cruises is the fear of getting sick. You hear reports of Norovirus on cruise ships all the time. Who wants to pay a bunch of money and go through all the trouble of travel just to spend a week in your room with a stomach bug? Let me alleviate some of those fears right now! According to this article, the CDC reports that only 0.02% of cruise passengers end up with Norovirus. Those odds are pretty good! In fact, they are much better than if you stayed on land.   Over the last 10 years, cruise ships have declined significantly in their number of outbreaks. In 2006, 4,507 cases were reported, but in 2019 they only had 1,201 cases. Cruise ships are subject to incredibly stringent cleanliness standards with regular inspections. If you sit in a public place, like the Observati...

  Hey there! I'm an Amazon Associate, which means I earn a commission when you click one of these links and buy something. This does not change your cost at all.  Yes, you heard me right. Anti. Monkey. Butt. Powder. I'm committed to bringing you information no matter how awkward or uncomfortable it may be. This is my honest review, I hope it blesses someone out there!  On a recent trip to a warmer climate, I began to experience some... uncomfortable chaffing between my thighs while wearing a dress. This doesn't happen at home typically because it's not warm enough for me to sweat! But I've been learning of late as well that heat + humidity makes my skin fragile. I'm more likely to have skin tears or blistering from normal, basic things. For example, I wear flip-flops as much of the year as possible at home with no issues whatsoever. If I wear them in a warm, humid climate I end up with multiple blisters almost immediately. I even got a blister on the bottom of m...