Oh my aching back! Taking full care of the frail elderly for a decade, is taking a toll on my body.

This site contains affiliate links. I make a small commission on purchases made through my links. How to help your back pain. I work as an caregiver in assisted living. It provides "enhanced care", for the elderly. What I mean by this is, roughly a third of our 70 residents are either totally dependant on us, or need a lot of help to stand or be transferred. We use hoyer lifts and sit to stands. We take care of residents that have had strokes that paralyze on side of their body, M.S., Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, or they are elderly and frail. We assist or completely transfer them to bed, bathroom, and shower. Change them in bed. Don't get me wrong. I love my job. I am just trying to explain what I do for a living. I'm not complaining or anything. I have been a caregiver for a decade. It is my calling. Caring for those who cannot care for themselves, brightening up someone's day, being there for someone during their darkest time, holding someone's hand while they take their last breath, because their family isn't present. Keeping them nourished, preventing falls. Making their last days count, and improving their lives. I used to be an activity director. The bond I make with them, I feel like they are my second family. I will never quit, regardless of back pain. Improper body mechanics. This is one reason why my back hurts. That and you are lifting a human being and they move when you're doing a transfer. Seriously though, when lifting anything, save your back! Lift like you are doing a squat in the gym. Make sure you keep your back straight. Keep your legs shoulder width apart or whatever you feel is best. Use proper body mechanics, especially if you have a physically demanding job! Or just in general, because you only have one back. I also buss the dining room, as in lift heavy trays. My back is killing me today. I go home with back pain, soreness and fatigued. I get burning sensations in my arms and so on. So, what do I do to keep going? For example, my back hurt so bad today, I had to lay in massage chair today before work. My caregiver friends come over and use my massage chair. I'm happy to help. Stretching, yoga and pilates! Do stretches such as, laying on the floor on your back and stretch out your arms and legs. Put your foot on your knee, take your knee to the floor, and your opposite hand, and upper body to the opposite side. Stand up and reach above your head. Put your hands on your hips and stretch your back backwards, and to the side. Also, go to the gym and use weight machines to get your back stronger. If you have heart problems or in general consult your doctor about exercises and so on. I rarely have time for the gym. I'm a working Mom. I feel like I have no time. Exercising and eating healthy helps, but I don't want to sound hypocritical because working five days a week, and being blessed with two daughters, I just can't find time. I get massages every chance I get. Deep tissue massage. It helps so much. It's such a stress and anxiety reliever. I feel human again, after getting a massage. I invested in a massage chair. Best investment I've made. I didn't care how much or if I had the money or not. I also use tiger balm and Mary Jane slave from the dispensary. I am worried about how much pain I will have when I am older. I see first hand how much pain the older population is in pain. Hopefully, I can stay in shape as I age, but easier said than done. My parents tell me that it is heart healthy to have a physically demanding job vs sitting all day. My Mom read an article about how having a sit down job is as bad as smoking. I wonder how true that is. We all gotta do what we gotta do to make money. My job is wearing me out. Maybe I can find a sit down job, and work on day a week as a caregiver. Thanks for reading. If you have back pain or any type of pain, I sympathize. I feel what you are going through.

How I opened an Etsy shop and was successful.

Etsy is a platform to buy and sell handmade, vintage, digital art and much more. If you are good with graphic art, crafts or love Vintage, I encourage you to join the Etsy community. Etsy members are very supportive about giving shop critique (constructive criticism) and help promote your shop. It is a great idea for a side hustle, and even a full time job. You can make and sell anything from jewelry, crochet, knitted items, paper-craft, felt art, sewing, card making, hair bows, paintings, digital art, such as Christmas cards, resell vintage, and much more but these are just the ideas off of the top of my head. Here is my long story, then I'll get to the how to get started with Etsy and be successful. Scroll down if you just want to know some tips for Etsy and don't want to hear my rambling. 😂😂😂😆😆😆 I was a stay at home Mom of two precious little one's, my husband was in the hospital with a leg infection and I was dependant on him for bills. He was out of work for a month. Well, us being inexperienced in life and not having savings, I was so worried. I freaked out. Live and learn. I guess we learn the hard way. Everything turned out fine, even better than we could imagine and he hasn't returned to the hospital since then. Seriously, we are doing awesome and I am happy with where we are at today. My cousin told me about Etsy. She encouraged and motivated me. She was very supportive and I probably would of never been an Etsyer if it wasn't for her. I didn't even know how to crochet, but I decided that is what I was going to do. First, I asked my Mom to show me how to crochet and my husband did to. He is a jack of all trades, and he is just incredibly intelligent. I was practicing and practicing making crochet chains in the hospital room, sitting next to my husband. Then I would watch YouTube videos online and crochet along, and that is one way I learned. Next I would try beanie hat patterns. My neighbor also encouraged me and bought items from me. I was ready to follow patterns that were free online that I found on and make beanie hats. I was having fun, and my kids were set for winter as well. I loved making beanie's with a flower on the side. Then I saw patterns on Pinterest, for animal beanie's and character beanie's like Hello Kitty, which was my best seller, Marvin the Martian, Minnie Mouse, and animal hats. I also started making and selling hair bows, crochet fingerless gloves, scarves, dish cloths, baby blankets, and diaper covers. Which is awesome because I love babies. I even sold digital art and I was not good at it. I had Adobe Photoshop, so why not? I was having fun making money then.... We got garnished for the hospital bill. Live and learn. We were still young, inexperienced and haven't been out of our parents houses long enough, I guess. We made our choices and learned from them. That's one thing about making mistakes, you learn from them. I keep it real and try to be authentic. That's why I'm telling my whole story, no details left out. One purpose of this blog is it to teach from my experiences. I had to go back to work to keep a roof over my kids head and food over their stomachs. I needed money now and fast. My job is physically, and emotionally draining. But you've got to do what you gotta do. I'm a caregiver in assisted living. I'm still there until this day. I've been there almost 7 years. I didn't have time to Etsy anymore and I was exhausted but I can't wait to go back and sell crochet. So finally let's get to the point of the blog. How can I start on Etsy and be successful? First decided what you are going to make and sell obviously. Join Etsy. Fill out your about me section, what you love to make and sell. Be enthusiastic, creative and drive people towards you. Fill out your shop policies, shipping information, and return policies. My return policy was that if they simply return the item I would give them a full refund. I didn't want any bad reviews and I didn't get any! Also, for shipping, you can buy your own weight scale and print shipping labels at home or just visit the post office, wait in a long line and have them do all the work. When you send items to your customers, I recommend sending it with pretty tissue paper, make it look pretty. Get business cards, custom address label with your shop name. You can also send them a free gift with the item they purchased. Wow your customers and keep them coming back. It is an investment but it's worth it. You can also ship world wide. That is the beauty of working for yourself and having your own business, you get make the decisions. I mean you still need to have superb customer service, and all for good reviews and to keep them coming back. Also, at the same time, do not be taken advance of and have your boundaries. Be assertive, but kind. You can also choose to do custom orders. Customers can ask you to make something specifically. Like hey I really want a Marvin the Martian beanie. I would do custom orders, why not? More sales. Next photography. When you take a picture of the items that you want to sell, make sure the picture is clear, crisp, and looking good, so that it has appeal and customers want to buy it. Be creative, put something pretty behind it, or a white paper to bring your item out. For example I put a teddy bear on the baby blanket that I made. You can use apps or programs to edit your photo. You can download canva or picmonkey or use Adobe Photoshop or even Instagram. Next description and adding tags. Tags bring in people who are on Etsy to buy, that are not on Etsy selling but they are from "the outside world" of the world wide web. When describing your item, be very descriptive and make it sound appealing. Most stuff on Etsy already is. One example instead of saying pink say mauve. Add tags, very important so that people can find you. For example, I am selling a crocheted baby hat with a flower on it. I am going to add the tags: crochet, flower, floral, beanie, hat, baby, baby shower, and gift. Then I would personally in the description say keep baby warm with this adorable handmade beanie, especially made for your little one, but that is just me and I do what I want in this regard because I am working for myself, no boss, except the customers. Then again it's better to say handmade crocheted sea blue beanie hat for baby. Acrylic yarn, and so on. Look around on Etsy and look at shops that are doing well. Which brings me to my next point, the Etsy community. Etsy is a very supportive community. Get involved in teams. You can post your items on team's and people will favor them and it will bring you exposure. You also need to be supportive and help your teammates out and favor their items. It's a what goes around comes around idea. I did a lot of favoring items for exposure, and I mean a lot, and to just make Etsy friends in general. You get to see all the pretty stuff people make on Etsy it is fun. You also get to make treasuries. Treasuries are like a product showcase. You put twelve people's product into a treasury and you pick a theme, like lovely lavender. My favorite color. Then they will do the same for you. You can also participate in BNR's which you reserve your spot by buying from someone and they will buy from you possibly. I think it stands for buy now reserve. I don't know but that's what I thought. I participated in these. Last but not least social media is very important! You need more exposure equals more sales. Pinterest, on Pinterest you may get invited to join group boards which creates more exposure. Twitter, there are people on Etsy who will retweet your product. You can make yourself a business Facebook page. You can have a blog. There is also Tumblr it. Once again social media is awesome for exposure. Look around Pinterest on tips on how to make Etsy sales. Making that first Etsy sale can be difficult but it will happen. Do not give up. I got impatient, but I will never forget how excited I was when I made that sale. You can also take online Etsy classes hI never took a class. I'm telling you the Etsy community is supportive and I like to do things my way but I'm sure I would of benefited. So there you have it that is how I started on Etsy and made 65 sales. I hope I have helped someone and I am excited for you to open your Etsy shop. This is my link to my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MichelleRoseBoutique

This Cook Book is AWESOME! buy it!

Better Homes and Gardens 15th edition. There are so many great recipes, your family will love. I try to eat really healthy. These recipes aren't always healthy, so I omit what's not healthy, and add what is. For example, if it calls for cream of broccoli, I can get organic, and low sodium, substitute the butter. Anything you don't think you should eat.

It has a casserole page. I love casseroles. They're delicious, and my family tears them up. Easy to make. These recipes are so neat, because they give you a ton of options for your taste, and come out great. They give you 5 options, and you pick.

Day 9: weaning off Paxil.

The beginning of the day was easy, breezy. I thought, this is easy. Then the evening came. I realized, life is hard without an antidepressant. My life is more difficult than I thought. Paxil was sugar coating, and covering up a lot for me so I didn't deal with anything. But this evening it hit me, being married is difficult. I had no idea my life was this crazy. lol that is what I thought today. Now, I calmed down and realized nothing in this life is guaranteed anyway. Shouldn't hold on to it so tight.

Oh the irony.

This is St. Patrick's Day. This is my 6 year old daughter Alissa. She's at the hospital on St. Patrick's Day. Her shirt says charming and lucky. I couldn't help but sit in the ER looking at her shirt thinking, "Girl, you are not so lucky today". Oh the irony. We spent all Saturday, mostly having fun outside. We love to be outside when it's nice out. Anyway, I was running the dog on the 45 inch leash, I told Alissa not to grab the leash. She did, and at a very strong force, the dog pulled her into the pavement. She couldn't move her wrist. So, fast forward, we're at the ER, and after waiting a while, she doesn't act like it hurts so bad. She does exaggerate. It's her personality. She has a wonderful personality BTW. The Doctor comes in, and she can't act out her part in acting like she's hurt bad. She exaggerates the ow, says ow when the Dr. isn't touching her, the dr. says I don't know about that. Long story short, x-rays come back negative, nothing broken. We go home, and she said she's just joking. I thought to myself, I could be uptight and agitated, but this is a learning opportunity for her. I taught her not to exaggerate when your hurt so we know at what degree to treat you. It just doesn't help. I showed her the story of the boy who cried wolf. I explained there are people in the ER a lot worse off than you, like the boy who fell on his head off of the playground equipment, that was rushed in the ER, and his parents were ignorant enough to not be so concerned, relaxed, and on the phone talking about their "plans for tonight". The 65 year old man with the low heart beat with congestive heart failure. So, I explained that to her, because Mommy used to be a Nurses aid, and take care of people. I taught her to save her acting for her play time, and not the er or when you're hurt. I taught her to care for the sick. I didn't scold her, make her feel bad, beat her, punish her. No, it's an slo Significant learning opportunity. I disciplined her, taught her. After all the definition of discipline is to teach.

This is Miss Turtle. The kids named her "Tiny" or "Cinderella" which ever. I have her more water in the tank, and now she is happy. Then I added too much. I worried she'd suffocate. I emptied it out. I fed her strawberry, and lettuce. I'm attached to her so I want her to have a long happy life. I change her water every week, and try to feed her healthy. She a red eared turtle. She's neat, I'm glad my daughter wanted a turtle, and I'm glad we got her.

Married to an ex cook.

You learn how to cook, so I am going to share recopies, and what I learned. I would cook, and he would say "needs more salt, this needs to cook more, add this, do this, do that. At first I took it as an insult, and then I realized it really helped. Jesse was a cook for 20 years.

Fried Rice recipe.

Add Onions add some basil, saute for a few mins, add garlic carrots, and more basil, saute until done, push carrots to the side, scramble some eggs, I put pepper and salt in the eggs, then after eggs are done cooking, add cold cooked rice, and add soy sauce. Enjoy!

Honesty, the best policy, when you have your own business. Yeah!?

The guy that sold me his car out of his lot said "It was so cheap because it had a broken head gasket". He said this a month later, after we told him he has two choices: Repair it. Pay for all of the repair. Repair it correctly. We'll come in, and watch your mechanic. Option #2-Full refund. Option #3 Get sued, we filed a complaint with Federal Trade Commission. He broke a few laws. We had a free consultation with a lawyer. Well, he didn't tell us upfront, and that is illegal. I printed the law up, and showed him. So, he had to fix it for free. So not only did we get a low mileage, almost new car, he had to fix it for free. He is reaping his dishonesty. He lost money. That is what he get's for being dishonest. I have to report him, so he doesn't do this to someone else. Well, he will, but I'd like to try to prevent it. Do my part. He lost out on his money, all because of dishonesty. I wonder if he'll learn????

My daughter is so funny....

My six year old wouldn't share her candy. She said "Mommy, you can't have my candy, you're getting too fat!" I thought it was so funny.

Weaning off Paxil. Day 8:

I had a little wave of panic for 30 secs. when I was working out. At least I am not numb from Paxil, and can learn to deal with it. I was crabby, irritable yesterday, but happy at the same time. Weaning off this med. makes you have mood swings. You'll be sad, then you'll think of something, and start laughing. Weird. I'll be leveled out soon.

Weeds, weeds, weeds,

Gotta pull them. THey're a pain, but it's worth it, when you eat the veggies, and fruits you grow in your yard. I'm going to put 5 pieces of sod. Going to be pretty.

Mommy got a big ol' butt. Weight loss blog.

This is me today, weight in 170 :( last year, I was 140. what happened? :(

chunky. don't like it. I did an hour of Tony Horton's p96x Ploy-metrics. This work out kicks your butt. This is a workout that will make you look good in your jeans. You feel the difference the next day.

Drink this drink, if you muscles feel sore, and weak during a work out. It helps.

This work out is great if your pear shaped, bottom heavy like I am.... My goal weight 125. Yep! I like to eat, let's see if I can get there. I think I have a mesmo/endo morph body type. I hope Mesmo muscular because it's easier to lose weight.

Gas prices.

They said on the news, gas prices are going to go up to $5.00 a gallon this summer. That better not be true. We struggle enough as it is financially being a single income, stay at home Mom. I guess I'll start going to the food bank. Good thing about summer is, you can go to community gardens. I'll go to community gardens, work, and get free veggies. I will walk as much as I can, beacuse I think if the government is going to charge this much, they don't deserve my money. That is so over priced. I could take the bus. Anyway $5.00 a gallon. I remember when I was in high school, it was $1.95 a gallon.

Weaning off Paxil day 7 I think.

I felt depressed, and sad this morning. Then I got over it. I thought to myself "If I was taking Paxil, I would be numb, and not feel these feelings, I would be numb. I wouldn't even deal with these feelings. People could walk all over me, or I can be fake with people, and just be numb." Then I thought when you have anxiety, you're having a fight or flight reaction. This is a signal to the brain something is wrong. When anxiety happens, I need to listen to my body, and find out why I am reacting like this.

This is hard. It helps get rid of baby belly fat though. It's an ab work out, that kicks you in the butt. it is HARD! This is the song that comes in my head when I do this work out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIvx7zjFSQg

I bought a lemon, and learned so much about cars :-X

Take a look at these cars. Which one would you buy? Which one is the most reliable? I've owned all three, and I love my Nissan 1991 Stanza xe. It is most reliable, always there for me. I've had transportation since I was 17. I take good care of her, I change the oil synthetic, every 10 thousand miles. She gets a tune up about every 30, spark plugs cap and router. Flush the transmission fluid. Change timing belt, and water pump every 60 or so.... She's lasting, and she is always reliable. I can take her on the high way, she accelerates. Get's me where I need to go. I loved the Toyota Avalon XLS. I thought it was just a beautiful car. It got hit by a semi, and the insurance totaled it :( It was a v6, accelerated so fast. It need it's alignment done, that's all. It was a 1998 with 180,000 miles. We put a new timing belt. The interior was beautiful, it had a sun roof. I almost cried when the tow truck came to total it. We just got a new PT CRUISER from Chrysler. Now, with this car, I really got a schooled on cars. I know so much about cars now 0_o it's just how I learned was a hard, difficult, agonizing lesson. It's a 2006, with 55,000 miles on it. It overheated 3 days after buying it. The person that sold it to us, sold us an unreliable car, that over heated. Jesse, my husband, knew it would. He goggled these cars, before he bought it, and read about over heating issues. When he bought it he asked the guy, "Is this car going to over heat on me". he said no. He was full of it. Before Jesse test drove it, the person that sold it to us said "Don't drive it to far". Oh my gosh, I didn't know this. Jesse should of just left. He knew, he is intelligent enough, he was being impulsive. He was hypnotized with how new the car was, and how low the millage was. It was cheap. He said since we are friends with his friends, he'll give us two grand off, a discount. That was b.s., since you're dumb enough to buy this car from me, a PT Cruiser 2006 with 55 miles on it, and at such a low price 4,700, I'm making money off of you. So, Jesse wanted to fix this problem. At least he is trying. We went about it wrong, and spent our savings that we need. Now, we're late on the mortgage. That should be a different blog. Anyway, They guy told us to put in a new thermostat, bla, bla, bla. Then a new gasket. Yeah right. You don't sell a car messed up like that. So, we put in a new thermostat, water pump, timing belt, new fan, and fan relays. We also replaced the radiator fluid 100 freakin' times. We have a nice mechanic friend! He does it, and a good job too, for a very reasonable price. Still over heating. We took it to Chrysler, to have it diagnosed. They rip you off. Don't go to a dealer, unless you make over 100 grand a year. They just say needs new cooling fan module. They'll tell us more, and fix it for $800 to start. Haha not falling for that. That's not even what's wrong with it. So now, we have the guy that sold us the car. After going through this hell, we call him up, tell him everything we have done, he said he'll fix it, it needs a new gasket, or a new head. But we pay half. Jesse says we don't have the money. I tell him, oh no, this guy needs to be served lol, he lacks character. He is ripping you the hell off. You need to tell him, be assertive. He's ripping you, and your family off, and you're letting him. He calls him up, and tells him off. Now, he admits he sold us a car with a cracked head. Fine, you fix the damn thing yourself, because we have rights, what you did was illegal you dishonest prick, and you're not gonna get away with it on my watch, bitch haha. Now he is fixing it. I told him you're not gonna just patch it up, I wanna watch your mechanic do it, and you are going to pay the bill. I want this car like new. I know my rights, and I will get an attorney and sue your ass. When I went to see him, he looked ashamed. Well, good! maybe he will learn, and develop better character for his business. Or maybe, he'll make a bad decision, and I will have an opportunity to reveal some light on "his business", to the public, Who knows? not now. So, now moral of the story is is this. If something like this happens to you Google that Sh*t, look the laws up. This is wrong. Be preventative, know your stuff, and use intuition when you buy a car, don't get in this position in the first place. Don't get into a car fast, don't be compulsive, take your time. If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true. So, if this happens to you this is what you can do.... File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/autos/aut03.shtm when you submit a complaint, you get an email with a confirmation code, and a phone number, call them! Print this up, and show the person that sold you the car. Federal Trade Commission "Protects American's Consumers". It's illegal to sell a car, and not go over the history, enclose what's wrong with it, etc. So, here is a video on how to file a complaint: http://www.ftc.gov/multimedia/video/scam-watch/file-a-complaint.shtm GOOD LUCK! Details about the law that they are breaking: http://www.lemonjustice.com/lemon-law/CO_lemon_law_used.php Unfair and Deceptive Acts and Practices (UDAP) laws. Broke this law too. Finally, get an attorney, they have free consultation. Use them, it's worth it. You get money in the end, because you'll win! Print all this up and take it to the a hole that sold you the car! Just because they're dishonest, doesn't mean you have to be! Look, you broke the law concerning this car you sold me. This is the action I'm taking. Be upfront. Honesty is the best policy. I'm being honest with my intentions. Just because you tried to screw me doesn't mean you can get away with it. If you can learn from this, good, don't let them get away with this.... I love my Nissan. It might be old, but it is so reliable. It gets up and goes. I can take my kids to the Zoo, or down town, we go every week, with that car. I'm never car-less. I think I should sell the PT cruiser and buy a old Jap car for 200 dollars, give it a tune up, replace the timing belt, and water pump, maybe the axial? sp? and cb joint. Then, use a small business, or mechanic friend. Watch me save thousands over the years, and have reliable cars. My friends, and other people make fun of me for having such an old car and laugh. I have a reliable, speedy, smooth running and driving car. Guess what? I laugh at you, the joke is on you. ahahahaha. My friend told me old cars are made better. Actually, a few friends told me that. I wonder if they're right....?

"Spring Cleaning".

I get the saying now. Before I didn't. I was thinking who wants to clean when it is so nice outside? This saying is ridiculous, and annoying. Now I want to get rid of all my junk in my house. Spring is a time to start over, so I want to get my house organized better. OK, now I understand this saying. I'll donate it all my junk. The house will look much better, and my closets won't be full of junk. I can just leave it outside, and in this neighborhood, if you don't want something, someone will come along, and take it within an hour. It's nice. Got junk? don't want it? Put it outside. They'll take it! :) Awesome. I can always donate to the ARC. I guess we have that saying because we like to "store up" for the Winter and hibernate. Then when Spring comes, we wake up, start fresh, and want to rid of what we don't need.

My book list:

This is a cute book about marriage:


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This is a book about being thankful:

I'm doing a Beth Moore study on James. It's about how James, didn't believe, then after the resurrection he did:

REVIEW TO COME!

Day 6: Weaning off Paxil:

Feel much better. Paxil may have been causing me to feel depressed. I woke up, carless. Instead of feeling depressed or hopeless about it, I am fine with it. I would get an empty feeling. I think it was messing with my biochemistry. Glad I'm weaning. I wake up feeling great!