Fox Valley Massage Therapy

I see so many clients with the condition tinnitus on their health forms. Here’s one possible reason why you might think you have it and how it may be a vitamin deficiency…

Fascia: The hidden connective tissue network.

Fascia surrounds muscles, supports organs, and connects structures throughout your body. Its collagen-rich layers allow tissues to glide against one another while helping transmit mechanical forces during movement.

Fascia also contains sensory nerve endings that detect mechanical changes, contributing to your body's awareness of movement and position.
It isn't just wrapping.
It's an interconnected sensory network that helps your body move.

I love this post! Good advice for us all to reflect on for this weekend! What simple things in life keep you happy? For me, it is exactly this post…I really am finding wisdom is these later years…🤗

Now that’s something worth thinking about.

When you're off work, are you actually off?

One team of researchers in Germany explored how people recover from work stress. They found that psychological detachment, genuinely switching off from work during your time away, is one of the strongest predictors of whether you'll feel recovered or still drained by Monday.

In a study of emergency service workers, people who couldn't psychologically detach over the weekend reported higher reported burnout and lower wellbeing when the new week started. Which makes sense. If your mind never leaves work, your body never gets the signal that the stress has paused.

Next time you have a day off, it might be worth asking: am I actually here? Or is part of me still sitting at my desk?

The tapping against your windows on warm October afternoons? That's me and several hundred of my closest friends, and we need to talk about our winter plans.

I'm the brown marmorated stink bug. I hitchhiked here from Asia in the 1990s (Pennsylvania got me first), and I've since spread across most of the country. In summer, I'm a genuine agricultural pest — I damage fruit and crops. But right now, in fall, my agenda is different:

I'M LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO SLEEP.

→ Shortening days trigger my search for overwintering shelter. In nature: rock crevices and dead trees. In your neighborhood: the sunny south and west walls of your HOUSE.
→ We follow each other's aggregation scent, which is why you get dozens, then hundreds
→ Here's the reassurance: once inside, we DON'T breed, DON'T eat, DON'T lay eggs, DON'T damage anything. We enter a dormant state (diapause) in your wall voids and attic until spring. We're terrible houseguests only in the sense that we didn't ask.
→ The warm-day problem: winter sun wakes some of us up confused, and we blunder into your living room, buzzing like tiny drunk helicopters toward lamps

Your battle plan (in order of effectiveness):

✅ SEAL THE FORTRESS — NOW, before the big push: caulk gaps around window frames, utility pipes, siding, chimneys; repair screens; sweep under doors; screen attic vents. This is 90% of the war.
✅ THE VACUUM is your weapon indoors — with a twist: use a shop vac or a stocking inside the hose (empty immediately outside), or we'll perfume your vacuum for weeks
✅ THE SOAPY WATER TRAP: knock us into a dish of soapy water — we drop straight down when startled. Weirdly satisfying. In dark rooms, a desk lamp over a soapy pan catches dozens overnight.
❌ DON'T SQUISH — you know why. The smell (cilantro's evil twin) can also attract more of us.
❌ DON'T SPRAY pesticides indoors — useless against wall-void sleepers, and dead bugs in walls attract carpet beetles, a genuinely worse problem

And take heart: a tiny parasitic wasp (the samurai wasp) that hunts our eggs has arrived in the U.S., and native predators are learning to eat us. The invasion's peak may be behind us.

Until then: caulk, vacuum, soapy water.

And whatever you do — no squishing.

Share this with everyone whose windows are tapping. 🛡️

Happy 250th Birthday America!

And to all, Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

By Dawn's Early Light. This morning in Chicago on Independence Day, America 250.

Let’s all practice this wisdom together! 😀