Grandma's Secret...

Psst... Want to know a secret? If you can keep it to yourself I'll share. Lean in a little closer - can you hear me now? Okay, it's Vick's Vapo Rub. On your feet. Let me explain. You see I have this cough that started because we were trying to save money on our power bill. I have crazy bad allergies and we haven't dared to open the windows because the evil nasty hayfever bugs will get into the house. I'm basically allergic to anything that grows in the ground, floats in the air or has any type of fur growing on it. That means that the horses that live behind our house, the flowers growing in my yard and the cottonwood trees that are the cause for pretty white clouds of fluff in the air make my nose tingle, my eyes water and my head ache. Jeff and I decided that we could deal with a couple of runny noses if we could save some cash on our power bill every month so we have been opening the windows in the morning until we absolutely can't stand either the heat of the day or the inconvenience of running out of toilet paper because we've used it all wiping our noses. I woke up the other morning to the smell of horses (they don't smell very good) and a scratchy throat. I thought that it would go away as the day progressed but it didn't. I now have a crazy cough that isn't fair to have in the middle of the summer and haven't slept in two days. I called my mom today, because she knows pretty much everything (thanks mom) and asked her what I could do to help calm the cough so I can sleep. She said that her mom has a chronic cough and was told by a friend to rub Vicks on the bottom of her feet when she goes to bed and it would help. She still puts the vapo rub on her feet at night when she needs it so I'm assuming it works. Jeff, ever the penny pincher, asked if I went to the store just to get my witch's brew - no, no, no we've had some sitting in the cupboard just biding it's time. I've taken some NyQuil, though, just in case and now I'm off to lather my feet with the sweet smell of Vapo Rub and will update you tomorrow on my little experiment.