Feel the burn...or not??

            I'm sure y'all can tell from the title of my blog that I live in Texas. I don't know how many of you reading this are living in or are from Texas......but Homecoming is a BIG DEAL here! I mean, huge! The Homecoming game is THE highlight of the football season. Well, unless you make it to State! Our local homecoming game was this past Friday. I was working, from what I understand the kids played hard, but couldn't bring home the win. There is always next year!

            So, with the annual Homecoming game comes......another Texas tradition.....drum roll please................. the Homecoming Mum! What? What is a homecoming mum you ask? A homecoming mum is a gigantic display of school spirit with a burst of individuality mixed in that is worn to school on the Friday of the homecoming football game. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the mum pays serious homage to this slogan. The bigger, the better! They range in size from Mini Mums for the elementary and middle school kids all the way to triple (or larger) mums for the high school girls. Don't worry, the boys are not left out. There are garters for them to wear, mostly on their upper arms. These don't get nearly as large and showy as the mums the girls wear, but they are still a sight to behold.  See some examples below!  The large triple was worn around the neck, and the singles were pinned to the shirts of those wearing them.

Large Triple for a High School Sr.

Same mum as above, just shown with lights on. Yes, lights!

Regular single hippie themed mum

Large single in school colors with some turquoise thrown in

 

 

 



            So, the construction process for these babies includes a great deal of two things. Staples and hot glue. It is the hot glue that leads me to the topic of this post, feel the burn! I was working on a super mini garter for a 1 1/2 year old boy to wear in support of his favorite football player when the inevitable happened. Tiny craft object, my big fingers and hot glue do not make for a winning combination. I had placed some glue on the cardboard backer that holds the flower in place. There is a small hole in the middle that the stem of the flower sticks through before it is trimmed. Right through said hole into my fingers fell a huge, smoldering hot glob of glue. Said glue fell right above my wedding ring. Just as quickly as it fell I brushed it off with one of my other fingers because I didn't want it damaging my ring. Probably not my smartest move, because that poor, helpless finger became the casualty of the evening.  Even though I wiped the glue off on my pants as soon as I could, a good size bright white blister had already formed where the glue had landed.  Instant blister!

            Talk about burn! That stuff hurts!! If you've never had the 'pleasure' of being injured by a hot glue gun, I suggest you NEVER try the experience. It is not pleasant. Don't say I didn't warn you! Being fair skinned and red-headed I am no stranger to blisters. Every summer for longer than I can remember I would spend a few days nursing at least one major sunburn that blistered my shoulders and upper back. You do NOT put cold anything on blisters. It just makes them worse. No, I had something else in my arsenal that I was pretty sure would help in a big way. Turns out, I was right.

            Enter Lavender and Frankincense!  I raced to my Young Living Premium Starter Kit and grabbed the two bottles that would lead to relief from the horrible burning on my finger. I twisted the caps off and applied one drop of each. The relief, it was almost instant! It was amazing!!! I quickly finished up the mini garter I'd been working on and cleaned up. It was very late and I needed to hit the sack since I had to be up early the next morning for an appointment. Before bed I applied another drop of each essential oil to the blister, which kept the pain at bay long enough that I could fall asleep. I woke up in the morning to find the blister still there, but the pain was gone. A few days after that, the blister it self was gone.

            I have to say, I never ever thought that these oils would be so useful! It seems like every week I'm finding yet another use for them.  Want to find out what oils can do for you? Interested in a more natural, holistic approach to some of the curve balls life throws at you! Feel free to contact me, I'd love to talk you about what oils can do you and your family!

Life sucks when you can’t breathe!

              Yes, it does. Add in the fact that I have a very tiny nose, and that makes it even worse! A few weeks back my husband and I had to make a trip to Florida. I don’t know what happened to the air while we were gone, because the first morning back in Texas I woke up and couldn’t breathe through my nose. I had so much pressure under my eyes and in my nose, it felt like someone had my sinuses in a vice!  I spent two days trying nasal sprays, decongestants and the like. Nothing helped. I couldn’t get any relief! Then I remember that a good friend of mine had given me some gifts for Christmas, and I was pretty sure one of them was for respiratory support. At this point, I was willing to try anything. I mean, I had tried everything else I had available, why not try this?  I found the bag of Christmas goodies, and low and behold I was right! So, I got out the roller ball, rolled a little over what I later found out is the Maxillary Sinus area (about ½ a pinkie length under your eyes, right across from each side of your nose) and went to bed.

                I figured that worst that would happen is that, well, nothing would happen. If nothing else, I would at least smell good while I slept. Within 10 minutes, I felt a little bit of the pressure dissipate. I could even begin to smell hints of the wonderful fragrance of the oil mixture on my face. Within 20 minutes I could almost breathe like a normal human being, the pressure was almost gone. Now, I’m not saying that everyone will experience results that quickly, I’m just sharing my experience with you.  I again applied the mixture when I got up, and again when I went to bed for the next two nights. It really, really helped.  Not only did it help, the solution wasn’t a pharmaceutical one, it was an all-natural one. How wonderful is that? Would you like to find out more? Check out my website or contact me directly. I look forward to helping you with a more natural lifestyle!

Just one of the AMAZING oils in the sinus roller ball!!

Toxins, be gone!

  Toxins? Yes, toxins!

               Toxins are everywhere, and we don’t even realize it. Most people don’t realize how bad they are for you. We use them because we’ve seen other people use them, without knowing what we are using. I’m NOT going to get into the chemical makeup of every cleaning product out there. That would be BORING and take a long time. What I am going to do is give you a link so that you can look into them for yourself, if you are so inclined. THEN I am going to tell you what I’m using instead of all of those products we grew up with. Go to www.ewg.org/guides/cleaners and type in whatever cleaner you’d like to look up in the search bar near the top of the page. I just went and typed in Windex. Everyone knows that Windex is used to clean…….windows! I’ve used it forever!  I grew up watching my Mom and Grandmother use it. Two of the components of that product score an F on the EWG’s scale of A-F, an F!!! Two other components score D’s, 4 score C’s, 2 score B’s and 2 score A’s. This gives the product an overall score of a D. D, on a scale of A-F isn’t very good is it? Nope!!  What if I could tell you there is a product out there that is formulated with 100% plant and mineral based ingredients, is biodegradable and complies with EPA standards?

                Enter Thieves Concentrated Household Cleaner!!! Now, believe me, I was very skeptical at first. Especially since it is not only good for you, but much cheaper than regular cleaners when you break down what it costs you to make 1 bottle. I believe a 14.4 oz bottle of the concentrate will make about 30 bottles (based on a 30 oz squirt bottle) of  all-purpose cleaner. That is like $1.59 cents per bottle of cleaner. Now, if you buy the larger container, I think it makes each 30 oz bottle like $.88 cents!  I know that none of the products I was using before Thieves Household Cleaner were that affordable! 

                But does it work? That is what you are all asking, right?? YES, it works!! I wouldn’t be telling you about it if it hadn’t tried it! I was blown away by how well it worked. I mixed up the all-purpose cleaner, which is 1 cap full of concentrate and about 30 ounces of water when I cleaned my house this past Monday. All my counters and the stove got Thieves Household Cleaner. My house smelled great, and the counters were clean. No nasty, filmy residue was left behind. My counters were clean. They just felt clean! There were a couple of spots where things have obviously been spilled, and didn’t get cleaned up. I literally let the cleaner sit for 5-10 seconds, and with minimal elbow grease everything was gone.

                I also used Thieves Household Cleaner on my floors. Those who know me know I have dogs. A few dogs. Ok, A LOT of dogs, sheesh! I used to hate cleaning my floors with regular floor cleaner and then having my dogs walk all over it, getting all those toxins on their feet and skin. And lets not even think about one of the licking the floor right away! Gross!!! So, I mixed up the floor cleaner, and went to work. I have two different surfaces in my house, laminate and linoleum. The Thieves cleaner did wonders on both! I walked across both surfaces after they had dried, and just like the counter tops, they felt clean! No residue or sticky filmy feeling. They felt clean, and looked clean. My linoleum is the cleanest it has been in months! I wish I had before and after pictures for you guys. But trust me, it was clean. Not only did the floors get clean, the house smelled great! No chemical hospital smell. I don’t know about you, but I hate it when my house smells like that. I know, some of us associate that with clean. I used to be the same way. Now I associate that with toxins and Thieves with clean!

                I will admit, I was very skeptical about this product when I was told about it. So skeptical that I bought the smallest bottle I could, even though the bigger bottle was a MUCH better deal. I didn’t see the point in spending the higher amount for the bigger bottle, even though it was a better deal, if the stuff didn’t end up cleaning my house the way I wanted it to. I NOW wish I’d bought the bigger bottle!! Interested in trying it out for yourself? Check out my website or contact me  and I can tell you how to get some!

               

                The next adventure for my Thieves Household Cleaner? Laundry soap. Yep, you read that right, laundry soap! I don’t know about you guys, but I have super sensitive skin and finding a laundry soap that doesn’t irritate it is difficult. I have a recipe for laundry soap, and as soon as my current soap is gone I am going to try it out. I already have all the ingredients, and my bucket! Stay tuned to find out how it works!!!

Back from a Blogging Hiatus!

               Y'all, I've been gone a LONG time! Too long!!  Truth is, I didn't have much to blog about. Life was just a chugging along like usual here. Well, until recently. I just HAD to come back and tell you allllll about it!!!

               We’ve all had friends who have jumped into those “pyramid companies” (as so many people refer to them) that try to sell us things. I am not an exception to this statement. I’ve had many friends who’ve done Tupperware, Mary Kay, AdvoCare, Beach Body, and the list goes on.  I love supporting my friends, and have consequently had many “parties” over the years to help them out.  While I have tried MANY different products, and have enjoyed most of them, I’ve never found anything that I just felt like it was life changing enough for me to get into. Until now.

 

                Let me start off by saying, I am NOT in this to make money. I will be using these products for life. I’d love to expose you to the benefits of using them also. If I earn some free products or a few bucks here and there, awesome. If not, that is awesome too! The fantastic thing is that you will have that same opportunity.

               

                So, what is the wonderful product that I have found and enjoy using so much I want to share it with you? Essential Oils! Young Living Essential Oils, to be precise.  If I were to tell you about ALL the products and ALL the benefits in one post, I would be typing for hours and you’d be reading for the same. So, here is what I am going to do. I am going to post individually about a few of the products I have used and how they have helped me. From there, you can decide if you’d like to try them or not. If not, you don’t have to read another post about them. If you do, please contact me and I can give you the information you need to either add a few items you’d like to try to my monthly order, or to get signed up with a membership yourself!!  Stay tuned to my blog over the next few days to learn a little bit about a few different products I've tried and how they are making a difference around my household every day!

 

                If you care to read a little bit more about this wonderful company, check out their Seed to Seal Promise. Young Living sets the standard when it comes to essential oils, and this website explains why this is true.