Upside to the Down Economy/ On Swimming and Scalps

Here's an update about two recent posts: Swimming and Dry Scalp and what the monkey means.

I have swum every day since I posted, including the day when Hurricane Irene was pouring down on Miami. That day I jumped in and swam one lap, just to stick with the program but other days, I have been swimming about 20 minutes a day. I plan on increasing that to 30 minutes next week. What do I hope to gain from swimming? Toned arms, bigger shoulders, stronger legs and a skinnier core. So far, so good and I figure that by the time it gets too chilly to be swimming, it will be a perfect time to start running again. A word about the monkey in the swimming post photo and what it means (although I guess it only makes sense to me). When I first learned to swim, I took lessons from a nice lady at my grandparent's pool. I can remember laying face down on a towel, on the hot concrete by the pool after my lesson and feeling completely happy and relaxed. When I ventured inside the house to the Florida Room to get a drink, I remember this monkey at my Pop Pop's bar. I was only 2 or 3, but the monkey stuck in my memory (maybe because it was wearing golf clothes and had a drink in it's hand) and it just reminds me of my childhood, swimming and happy times. This monkey is my Rosebud.

As far as my dry scalp goes, I am delighted to report that my scalp is much better. I attribute this to switching shampoos (if only I had known it was so easy I would have done it long ago!) and following other advise I found. I also mashed up an avocado, massaged it into my scalp, let it marinate for 10 minutes and rinsed with apple cider vinegar. Zeke said "No wonder when I was near you I felt like eating guacamole!" In addition, I read that Vitamin D was good for this condition, so in addition to ingesting it, I opened one up and squeezed it around the scalp area near my face. I also have some dry patches near my eyes and in my eyebrow (I know, yuck!) and had been trying to moisturize it with Oil of Olay with no improvement. The Vitamin D worked brilliantly! I also discovered, when I took a shower, I was doing everything wrong. Besides using cheap shampoo, I was washing my hair in super hot water and scratching my scalp with my fingernails, instead of warm water and gentle strokes with my fingertips.

So, my healthy scalp and I are swimming and doing well- hoping to squeeze out these last waning days of summer. Jump in, the water's fine!