Happy 2026! Thoughts and dry eye

Happy 2026! I hope that your year has started off well.

Where I am, we had a record snowstorm on Sunday. Toronto Pearson International Airport got 46 cm of snow. Those closest to Lake Ontario got 60 cm, including my old neighbourhood of the Beaches.

I live in the suburbs. I got a lot of snow. I don't think it was 60 cm. It was a lot.

Last year wasn't the best. I ended up with a stomach ulcer, which required some medication, yogurt, probiotics, and Gravol. The medication made me gag, which explains the Gravol. Since then, I do feel like I gag more when I see something that triggers that feeling.

Weird.

I keep on saying that I have a lot to say. I truly do. I have a lot to post about my mom's recovery from her broken arm and my difficult relationship with my dad.

I will start off with December and work my way backwards in 2025.

I get my eyes examined every two years in December. Earlier in the year, I noticed that my eyes were getting dry wearing contacts. My eyes felt gritty and I'd often take my contact lenses out.

For most of 2025, I wore my glasses instead. My eyeballs felt better. I'd be putting in eye drops whenever I needed them.

My eye doctor said that my eyes were in great shape and that my prescription hadn't changed. She did notice that the pores were clogged under my eyelids by natural oils. It explains my dry eye.

She recommended putting warm compresses over my eyelids to melt the oils. I did that by heating up a mask in the microwave. It felt great over my eyelids, but the heat would die down after ten minutes.

I bought a plug-in eye mask instead for more consistent heat. I use it every day over my eyelids for twenty minutes. It's me time. I like how relaxing the heat is.

I feel that this eye mask procedure has helped. I wore contacts lenses for the first time in months last week. I had them on for three hours. They were comfortable. I didn't feel any grit. 

I haven't tried wearing them to work. Baby steps. I'll probably wear them this Saturday when I run errands for a few hours and see how I feel.

I still use eye drops. I lubricate my eyeballs twice a day. It has been easy. I have eye drops in the washroom. I remember applying them after washing my face in the morning.

Just before bed, I apply eye drops before I fall asleep.

Time to use my eye mask. I'll try writing another post before January is over. I need to ease into writing more regularly again.

Nose bleeds

My first nose bleed occurred when I was in grade two. I was standing in line for something with my class. There were two guys in front of me. They were fighting. A fist landed on my nose and blood came out of my right nostril.

My teacher and I headed to the washroom. She got my nose bleed under control. I pinched the top part of my nose and we cleaned myself up.

My next nose bleed occurred last December. I was in the Twin Cities. I managed to get it controlled after 45 minutes. It was trying to get something cold on my head and pinch the top part of my nose. It was tricky, but I got it done.

On my most recent trip, I had a nose bleed three times. I realized that it was way too dry in my room and where I was. I got a portable humidifier that I had on my nightstand and in my car. It helped me out a lot.

The third nose bleed out of the series was scary. I don't recall how long it took me to control it, but I didn't have anything close that did the job to cool my forehead. It felt like an eternity.

I now always travel with a humidifier. I have my home humidifier every night before I go to bed. I need it when I return to Minnesota for sure.

Sleepy

My weekend is going well, except that I was up till 4 am yesterday. I got up at around 9 am and lounged.

I am sleepy. I'm only up because I'm drying my hair, so I thought that I'd quickly say hi before I crash.

Wet screen protector

Last Friday, I had lunch with three colleagues, including one of my students. Several months ago, she liked my phone so much that she decided to upgrade to the same model. She is equally as enamoured over this phone as I am.

We sat next to each other at the restaurant. She admitted that it made her happy seeing my phone, as it reminds her of my phone.

She taught me something new. She went with a wet phone screen. It basically means that you apply the film by spraying a special solution. It makes applying it to the phone easier.

I have had a glass screen protector on it for a bit. The problem is that my phone is slightly curved, which means that the glass protector does not completely stay flush on the screen.

I noticed that my glass screen protector had a small crack in the left corner. I went online and bought a two-pack of film that you apply wet. It sounds like a sexual innuendo, but it's not!

I just applied it on my phone. Wow! I love how clean it sticks. I'm supposed to let it dry overnight to set. A day later, I am to use the phone case that came with the wet protectors. After five days, I can use my own case. Cool!

Dentist, dry mouth, and Internet connection problems... fun!

On Tuesday, I had a dentist appointment at 9 am. I had pointed out to my team that I would be away for roughly 1.5 hours and then would continue working from home.

I typically have a one-on-one meeting with my manager every other Tuesday at 10:30 am. He sent me an e-mail, asking if he needed to reschedule. I said no, which should have been implied that I would make it home in time.

My regular teeth-cleaning and exam appointment has been fairly uneventful for a few years now. Sure, I have had three different hygienists (not my fault), but my teeth not having any issues have been the constant.

Sure enough, my appointment was over just after 10 am. I drove to Starbucks to get an iced black tea, and then drove home. I was home well before 10:30 am.

I have dry mouth. I am not sure whether I have mentioned it in my blog, but I have had it for over a decade. Going to the dentist makes the condition worse for a bit, as you have your mouth open for most of the appointment and the suction tool that is used doesn't make things better! It's the usual thirty-minute wait after you have your fluoride rinse where you can drink anything.

By the time I got my drink, I could consume it. Yay!

Anyway, I got home and noticed that my connections to various servers on my laptop had died. I also didn't have wifi on my phone. Sure enough, my modem-router needed to be rebooted. I knew that I would be down when 10:30 am hit.

I have our corporate messaging app on my phone. I dialled into my meeting that way, so I was on time.

My manager is constantly late. Today, I hoped that he truly was late. Someone was on my side. He was late by fifteen minutes.

I rebooted my laptop. My wifi was up and running. All was well. I dialled in through my laptop, which was essential for me to share information on my screen with him.

My manager finally got to the office and dialled in. He asked again whether we should reschedule. I said no. We could do our meeting in thirty minutes.

The last one-on-one meeting was horrific. He was in a foul mood. Today, he was much better. He said that there should be more employees like me. I took that compliment, as it is rare for him to dish it out. I hope that he stays nice for a while.

Dopey on cough syrup

This week, my guy started off with a light cough. It progressed into a dry, hacking one.

On Thursday, he called me from his car.

"Hey, sweetie. I left work early and am going to a walk-in clinic. I'll see how long it takes for me to see a doctor and then we can meet for dinner somewhere,"
"Okay," I said, at my desk taking the call.

Roughly twenty minutes later, he called me to say that he was done seeing the doctor and got a prescription for cough medicine. Wow, that was fast! We met at the Afghani restaurant again, but for dinner.

My order was better in that I didn't get dairy dressing on my salad. However, my guy didn't get any, either. I also got rice even though I never ordered it.

We sat down and started eating. My guy was dopey.

"It's rush hour right now. It's Rush Limbaugh hour... haha," he said.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Sure, I'm doing the Rush Lambada," he said, moving his arms around as if he were dancing.

My guy doesn't dance unless he is high on something. He's a sweet, cheerful dopey guy when he is.

"How much over-the-counter cough medicine did you have today?" I asked him.
"I have this much left of the bottle," he said, showing me less than an inch with his fingers.
"Wow, that's a ton," I noted.
"Yes. I needed to suppress my cough. I ended up chugging it down," he admitted.

Luckily, we were at the restaurant for two hours and he had cut off his cough syrup-chugging for two hours before we met. It was wearing off by the time we left.

"You'll be okay?" I asked him.
"Yes, I'm doing much better now," he said, squeezing my hand.

We both learned that you can indeed get high on cough syrup. I recommend that you don't!

Eating my way through Friday and getting soaked in a downpour

I ate my way through Friday. Needless to say, I am pretty full right now!

At work, we have a special lunch at the beginning of each month. Those who have birthdays during that month get lunch paid for by the company. I end up expensing these lunches, although I have trained another writer to help me out.

We went to an East Indian restaurant. The food was good. However, it was strange that we all had to dip into a small, communal salad. It was definitely a different experience.

What I didn't like was that the server showed me an itemized list of what we had ordered on her iPad mini, which was the list of items that I would ultimately expense. However, when she printed out this itemized list, a gratuity was added. I noticed this after I had paid for our meals and included a tip. I ended up double-tipping. Ugh! So much for disclosing this detail...

After work, I decided to take part in a local ribfest. I haven't been for several years. It has changed venues. I got a ribs and chicken combo, with cornbread and baked beans as sides.

Unfortunately, I got caught in a downpour of rain. It was to the point where I had to take shelter in a restaurant. My entire front-facing self was soaked in rain. The backside of me was completely dry!

So, I waited in the lobby of this restaurant (I don't know what the name is, but I must thank the place for housing me and others) for forty minutes. I was going to eat my dinner at home. However, all this waiting made me hungry. It was a first for me to eat food that was not offered in the restaurant in said restaurant's lobby.

The food was delicious. When I noticed that the rain was easing and the sun was starting to break out, I headed out to my car. I was parked a couple of huge blocks away. I had to walk through a flooded part of the parking lot. Oh, joy!

There is never a dull moment in my life, especially when it comes to eating yummy food.

X is for Xylimelts

This post is by far the most challenging to write about. It is tough enough to find a word that begins with x that is not scientific. Sure, I could have chosen xylophone. I played one for kicks in elementary school and loved it.

Naturally, since my blog primarily describes my spanking experiences and thoughts, you would think that I would go with x-rated. I just don't feel like it.

Instead, I am in search of Xylimelts. In a roundabout way, this post is about oral health and how I have managed to give blowjobs while suffering from dry mouth. How is that for a blog post!

Years ago, there were anomalies with my blood test results. I ended up being diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome. Despite most people getting such a diagnosis well into their forties, I got mine a decade earlier, in my early thirties. My case is considered mild. My doctor says that many people lead normal lives, with mild side effects.

The only major side effect that I experience is dry mouth. I compensate by drinking plenty of water, sucking on sugar-free candy, and using products such as Biotene that help produce saliva.

The funny thing is that whenever I give my guy a blowjob, I have no issues with saliva production. At first, I thought that the oral flavoured gel was helping me out. However, when I do not have oral gel with me, my saliva production is fine. My guy has never complained that my mouth wasn't lubricated enough.

I recently visited my dentist. The first time was for my routine cleaning. I went back there last week to have a cavity redone. Sure enough, my mouth was dry after both appointments.

My dental hygienist is wonderful. She always keeps me in mind. She recommended trying Xylimelts. You basically stick one of these tablets on your gums at the back of your mouth and it dissolves over time while helping to produce saliva.

She said that I could get it from most major drug stores. I have tried Shoppers Drug Mart, Rexall, Target, and Walmart, and have not found it. I am not sure whether this product or something similar is available in the States, but I will be there soon to do some retail research. It looks like I can order them online, which I am grateful for.

I am looking forward to giving this product a shot and see how things go.