Looking for Kidney Warmers...

My shopping consultant who just showed me how to "do Winners" also introduced me to kidney warmers. A kidney warmer is a finely knitted tube that covers your kidneys and keeps your core body warm. My shopping consultant's mother got her kidney warmer in Germany. I'm wondering if anyone knows where I can get one in Ottawa. I know, I know, all you knitters are going to say "Just make one yourself!" But I want one that actually fits under my clothes.

I did find two models online. The first one is a high-end Made in Germany model that costs a fortune but offers the following health benefits: "expands and strengthens your aura", "protects from EMR (electromagnetic and wireless radiation)", "strengthens your subtle energy bodies", "activates your self-healing forces", and "supports general well-being and concentration". I need all of these things.

Then, I found a cheaper American version of the kidney warmer here. As you can see, the health benefits aren't nearly as sexy: "post-operative"..."reassuring"? Blech.

Silver lining

I've had a rain cloud over my head for about a week now, and am trying to do all the usual stuff to make myself feel better: meditate, exercise, walk, eat well, make crafts, read inspirational stuff, get acupunture, etc.. I may need to add "get drugs", "see a shrink", "go to a nunnery for a couple of days", and "get a plane ticket out of winter" to this list, but we'll see.
Anyway, I did have a few rain cloud lifting chuckles when I read a couple of items from CBC health news today. One story was about sperm in Saskatoon. The headline was Don't Spurn the Sperm. Nice one! If anyone is looking for sperm, there is plenty out there just going to waste.
The other story that made me laugh was this one about how it is all those healthy people out there who just won't die that are the real drains on the system. So stop blaming the smokers, or the obese people, or the obese smokers!

Solid Advice from Manny Blue

The magnificent, Manny Blue, one of the Holograms in the paradigm-shifting band, Astronaut Love Triangle, has given me some solid advice about how to be more productive -- without the use of coffee beans. Here are her recommendations:

Getting some exercise before starting to work
Working in natural light. I've learned to get all my ideas down in the daytime while sitting in natural light (luckily I have a window at work)
Writing my outline and ideas down on paper by hand - adding diagrams, notes, etc. Later I use my handwritten notes to guide me and keep me on track as I type out the report, etc.
No coffee (tea's OK) and no junk food - it just makes my attention issues worse
Fresh fruit on hand - a variety is important to me
Water... lots of it
Rewards! I write 10 sentences and I get to... (insert whatever works for you)
Walking around and speaking my ideas out loud... quickly sitting down and writing them down or typing them (I don't do this one at work)
Headphones with music. It blocks out the world and I can tap my foot to the beat. If my foot is busy with the tune, I don't get as distracted. Maybe the part of my brain that gets distracted needs to be doing something (this one really works for me)
Writing whatever comes to me (no second guessing), then setting the work aside for an hour or so... then going back to it to edit
Printing my work and editing from print (an editor told me this trick - he never edits from electronic copies... always the print)

I follow some of these guidelines already, except for the staying healthy part -- paying attention to what I eat, exercise, etc... This is what I am working on now. Manny, thanks for the inspiration!