Limes and Turtles......

I don't know about you, but life has been a little "over the top" here lately.  During the last few weeks my emotions have been comparable to a roller coaster ride at Six Flags!! Up, down, around, turn, repeat!  I thought I'd been handling it pretty well, until yesterday. Everything hit me like a boxer throwing his knockout punch. No one likes feeling down and out. I am not an exception to this. In the (recent) past, I would have eaten an entire chocolate cake and a half gallon of equally chocolaty ice cream. Instead (trying to break the emotional eating habit)  I reached for my Young Living Essential Oils. I didn't have my entire collection at my disposal, but fortunately I'd packed  few good ones. What am I saying, they are ALL good! 

The first oil I grabbed out of my "magic bag" was Stress Away. 

Stress Away is an Essential Oil Blend (made up of multiple single oils) that, well, helps with stress. 
This blend is made up of Lavender, Cedarwood, Lime, Vanilla, Copaiba and Ocotea.
Lavender is, as most people know, a very calming and soothing oil. It is often used when someone is looking for some help at bedtime.
Cedarwood is high in sesquiterpenes, which are calming and soothing to the nervous system.
Lime is an inspiring and uplifting essential oil.
Vanilla is another soothing and calming scent.
With it's warm, sweet aroma, Copaiba adds something special to this blend.
Ocotea is high in levels of alpha humulene, a compound that helps aid the body’s natural response to irritation and discomfort

Add all those essential oils powerhouses together and you have a warm, sweet, tropical aroma that will have your negative emotions and thoughts simply melting away.

The next oil I applied was Valor II



Valor II is also a  blend of many essential oils, including;  Northern Lights Black Spruce and Idaho Blue Spruce essential oils, along with Ylang Ylang, Frankincense, Vetiver, Cistus, Bergamot, Cassia,  and German Chamomile, among a few others.
This is a very uplifting, inspiring and empowering blend. It is difficult to explain how essential oils can have such a positive affect on your emotions. It truly is something you need to experience for yourself!

While these oils did not magically "make all my cares go away" they did make this emotional roller coaster I was on go from what felt like a runaway train to that of a slowly meandering turtle. Oils are a tool to help you support your body's natural healing process.
I'm simply here to share my essential oil journey with you.

*disclaimer - I am not a doctor. The information found here is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent disease. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA.

Lets be real........

There are SOOOO many things about these AMAZING essential oils that I want to share with you!! But, I have to be careful. I have to share each story compliantly. We can not diagnose, treat, or cure. If we do that, we are being non-compliant and can get into real trouble!!! I don't want anyone in trouble. But I want to share. So, bear with me on this crazy rollercoaster ride and I'll share as much and as often as I can, compliantly, of course!

Today I'd like to chat about one of the ways you can easily remove some chemicals and toxins from your home.

Back in the day (I'm talking PRE September, 2016) I loved to burn candles and use wax warmers to make my house smell yummy! I mean, who doesn't love all those scents? Pumpkin Spice, Apple Cinnamon, Lavender, Vanilla,  and the list goes on and on. What I didn't realize was, every time I burnt a candle or melted that wax, I was releasing harmful, toxin chemicals into the air. Say what?? YES, it is very true!!!

The holiday season is upon us y'all. It is here. Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those 3 holidays are probably some of the biggest candle/wax warming holidays that there are! All those yummy smells filling your house with goodness. Who can resist?? Well, what if I told you that you could make your house smell JUST as amazing WITHOUT releasing harmful things into your home? What if I told you MOST of the options I can show you are CHEAPER as well? Would you switch??

For those that don't believe me, let me link a little info about chemicals and toxins in fragrances, like those used in candles and wax and even perfumes (but that is another post for a different day). You can read about it for yourself here, here and here. Still skeptic? Do your own research, see what you find!

Below you will find some options for diffuser blends similar to those found at all those stores you love to shop at, as well as a cost comparison. You'll be surprised at how much cheaper these safe, non toxic options are for you and your family!

Similar to Yankee Candle Cinnamon Stick

Recipe - Cinnamon Stick
• 2 Drops of Stress Away
• 3 Drops of Clove
• 4 Drops of Cinnamon Bark

Diffusing costs for 4 hours = $1.29
Burning cost for 4 hours = $2.24

Similar to Scentys Cozy Fireside

COZY FIRESIDE Diffuser Blend
• 4 drops Pine
• 3 drops Idaho Blue Spruce
• 1 drops Ginger
• 2 drops Cinnamon
• 3 drops Cedarwood

Cost of diffusing for 4 hours: $1.22
Cost of burning the candle for 4 hours: $5.00

Similar to Yankee Candle Balsam & Cedar

BALSAM & CEDAR Diffuser Recipe:
• 1 drop Cedarwood
• 2 drops Citrus Fresh
• 2 drops Pine
• 2 drops Stress Away

Cost of diffusing for 4 hours: $0.59
Cost of burning the candle for 4 hours: $1.54

See my friends, safe and healthy options for your family don't have to break the bank!!

Want other tips on money saving swaps you can make for healthier, toxin and chemical free choices? Feel free to contact me!

If you're ready to start your journey to a chemical and toxin free lifestyle, you can do so here

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Lemon! Who knew?

Hey y'all!! Thought I'd type out this informative little post really quick before I head off to our make and take event tonight. What is a make and take? It is a fun little event we host monthly that allows people to try oils! Sounds fun, right? It really is! Tonight we are doing a Halloween theme, and our containers for the items to be taken home in are tooooo cute!!! I'll come back and post a picture
later. Anyway, on to the reason for my blog post today.......

            So, for this particular event I was in charge of one of the containers. Frankenstine! I picked up the perfect green paint, already had my repurposed Starbucks jars cleaned and ready to roll, and I was good to go! Laid out some cardboard on the outside table to keep it from turning green, and away I went. Sprayed those suckers down in about 5 mins and went back in the house. I planned on leaving them out to dry for at least 2 hours. The can of spray paint said 2-4 hours until they were dry to the touch. I popped my head out the back door after about 30 minutes had gone by, just to check on the jars. It was a bit windy outside but I didn't think it was windy enough to knock the jars over. Well y'all, it wasn't the wind I should have been worried about, it was my husband's chickens!!! Yes, my husband has a small herd of chickens, about 25ish hens and 4 roosters. Those stupid buggers had gotten up on the table and knocked all my jars over! TWO were on the ground, and the rest managed to stay on the table. I ran down the steps yelling at them and waving my hands to scare them off. Ugh, I seriously dislike chickens, and this little escapade didn't help me in the chicken love department. The two jars on the ground had sticks, dirt, grass and feathers all over them. The other 5 that remained on the table had a spot or two where the paint had been rubbed off, but were fine otherwise. So, two at a time I carry the jars inside and set them upside down on our small freezer. As you can imagine, wet paint plus a trip inside equals paint all over my finger tips. Even though I was as careful as possible in my chicken induced rage, I still managed to go paint on my hands.

            So, this led to another problem. How to get the paint off my fingers. I knew water wouldn't work. This was outdoor type paint, Rustoleum, I think. I could hear my husband's voice in my head saying there are cans in the back yard with gas and diesel in them, that'll take the paint off! Gross! I don't want to put that stuff on me! I don't want to smell like gas or diesel either! Then, I had a lightbulb moment! I remembered that, a while back, I used Lemon oil to get some gunk off one of my apples. I wondered if it would work on the Frankenstein green paint that was now dried onto my fingertips? Well, I knew that if I didn't work, no harm would be done. So, I reached for my bottle of Lemon oil and dropped a drop on one of the paint spots and rubbed. Y'all, it worked like a charm! One drop on each spot, run it around, and wipe with a paper towel. That simple! No harsh, harmful chemicals on my hands to remove it, and my hands smelled great! That is a win, win!

            Want to learn more about oils? Click the oily tab at the top of this page, or email me at yankecwgrl@hotmail.com

This & That!

            A little bit of this, and a little bit of that! I've been up to many oily things lately.....but none that I've been using enough to devote an entire blog post to. So, I'm going to give you a little preview of  a few of the things I'm working on.

            About 3 weeks ago one of my puppies (ok, he's almost 6, but to me he is still a puppy!) got a horrid infection. On his NOSE! Yes, his NOSE of all places.  Poor fella. His nose got dry and cracked and it bled. Poor boy. I felt so bad. So, off to the vet we went. Two different types of medicines and two weeks later, the infection is cleared up. His poor little nose, however, isn't back to normal. So, I started giving him coconut oil in his food while he was sick. It didn't really help. I then tried putting some on his nose. That worked a little bit, until it dried up, but then once the oil soaked in it was back to dry. I reached out to an "oily" friend of mine, and her reply was simple. Add Lavender oil to the coconut oil. Seemed easy enough, since I had Lavender oil on hand already! So, for the past 5 days I've been adding Lavender oil to the coconut oil. I'm happy to report that his nose is getting much softer and much more like that cold, wet nose I've grown to love!

            I have very sensitive skin. I'm allergic to all sorts of Laundry soaps and lotions and sun screens and any other thing you can think of that most people are ok putting on their bodies. My skin gets red and gets bumps on it. So, to take care of one of the issues, I've started using coconut oil with some essential oil added in for a nice aroma, in place of lotions.  :)  The coconut oil by it self moisturizes my skin and doesn't make it red and bumpy. Adding any essential oil has also not bothered my skin, and makes my skin smell wonderful! I actually applied some coconut oil and essential oil not too long after I used a "regular" lotion, and it took the redness and bumps away not too long after I put it on.

            So, in my "quest" to rid my house (and life, in general) from as many chemicals as possible, I'm changing how a do a lot of things.  I believe the is a correlation between the chemicals in our lives and some of the sicknesses and diseases that are harming us. I've already cleaned out all the nasty, chemical ridden cleaners from under my kitchen sink and have replaced them with one, all natural cleaning product. Thieves Household Cleaner. See my post about that here. Along those lines, I'm changing my laundry soap, and dryer sheets. I ordered some wool dryer balls. You use them instead of chemical and fragrance laden dryer sheets. To give them a pleasant aroma, simply add a few drops of essential oil to each one and you are good to go. They are reusable, and supposedly last quite a while. I'm waiting until I replace my current laundry soap to try them out. This should happen soon, just a few more loads worth of detergent in that jug I think.  Once I've used both the new laundry detergent and the wool dryer balls for a little while I will be making an entire post about my opinion of both products.

            So, those are just a few of the "oily" things I've been up to lately! Questions? Feel free to email me directly!  Ready to start your own oily journey? Sign up here! Our team is full of positive, helpful fellow oilers who are ready to guide you each step of the way!