I've decided to change up the way I've
been doing the blog a bit, to avoid boredom. Oh, you may not be
bored; if you aren't then I feel much better, something I'm doing
must be entertaining. However, I am getting bored with it. I mean,
all I'm doing is describing my day, hour by hour to you. How can you
stand that?!!! LOL Don't get me wrong, I love my life. I love living
it. I love having it to live. But I've already lived through whatever
I'm posting about so its kinda redundant to me. Remember I told you I
get bored easily and have issues with carrying things through to
completion, but as far as I am concerned my family will be using
essential oils the rest of our natural lives, so that is a bit much
for me to blog about day in and day out without going certified
crazy! Notice, I specified certified?
That is probably one of the only reasons people read about my life
(other than wanting to know more about using essential oils) is
because there is something about reading the screw-ups of someone
crazier than you that makes one feel at least a teensy bit normal.
Haha
One of
the reasons for the change up is that I've got a few other projects
going on. I always do, I'm notorious for reading several books at a
time, doing several projects at a time, and always having a few
figurative irons in the fire. One particular project I will also be
blogging about soon, so as to not spend hours per day doing nothing
but blogging, I will post about our lives using essential oils
probably once a week to highlight, well, the highlights. That will
free me up to post about some upcycling I've been doing with things
from my closet, my sewing stash and the thrift store. My body is
shaped a lot differently now than it was, so clothes don't exactly
fit correctly, so I've been changing up some things I already have
and getting some new-to-me things to alter. I can't wait to post
about them! Just to give a hint, I turned a dress with a too-tight
bodice into a skirt for me and a tube top for Mercy. I'm also redoing a few things in our kitchen, which takes time, and may end up being a few more blog posts.
So
since its been far too long since I've posted I'll try to give you a
quick run down of some of the things we've done.
I made
some mouthwash. I guess I should say I made two mouthwashes. The
first one was just warm water with sea salt and a drop of Thieves
essential oil in a glass bottle with a lid. The second was based on
one I saw in a book called Aromatherapy, a lifetime guide to healing
with essential oils by Valerie Gennari Cooksley.
It had one cup of
strong chamomile tea, brewed. Take a teaspoon of honey and add two
drops of Peppermint essential oil (remember to only use oils you can
ingest, like Young Living oils, message me at
spiceyourspace@yahoo.com
to order any at my price), one drop of Tea Tree oil and 2 drops of
Lavender essential oil to the honey. Then add the honey mixture to
the chamomile tea. Adding the essential oils to the honey first
causes the honey to act as a carrier and allow the essential oils to
mix with the liquid of the tea. Otherwise they will just float. Store
this mixture in an airtight bottle out of sunlight and shake well
before each use.
You could also add Fennel essential oil and Geranium
essential oil, but I didn't have either of those two, so I couldn't
use them. You can't drink or eat for twenty minutes after
using this mouthwash according
to the book.I should have added a drop of Thieves into this mixture,
but didn't think about it at the time. I will on the next round
though, because the Thieves has really helped with the tooth pain I'd
been having. I was even able to eat a honey bun (I know! It's
processed food, but it was so good!) without doubling over in pain,
tears streaming down my face. It didn't hurt at all, matter of fact.
Another
thing I've done is get an organic tooth soap from a company I'm a fan
of here in our local area. The owner is a fellow homeschooler and my
son just adores her candles (especially the quirky robot shaped one
he slept with for an entire year); alas she has moved to Georgia, but
she has an internet site, Cheeky Maiden Soaps. This tooth soap is
made with clove essential oil, which helps numb mouth pain, and also
has coconut oil in it. I love it, because it foams up when you use it
and its not overly abrasive. This with the mouthwash is really good,
although not the bestest tastin' stuff around according to Tim and
John. My mother-in-law bought the mint version and really likes the
taste of it.
John
has had several scrapes lately. He is a boy afterall! Although I wish he was as indestructive as the rubber he seems to think he is. We've been
using the same Lavender essential oil diluted with olive oil that we
use on the kids at night to help them sleep, to apply to John's
scrapes and they've looked a lot better and takes the sting out of
it, which prevents the cry fest that sometimes accompanies said
scrapes.
Mercy
has had a few more stomachaches, hiccups, and gas pains that the
Peppermint essential oil diluted in olive oil has helped with. She
has also had a struggle with concentrating on her schoolwork here
lately. I'm sure its because we are so near the end of the school
year, but we certainly don't want her to bring down her good average
with a few bad grades. She has been using Peppermint and Frankincense
essential oils behind her ears and across her toes to help her focus
and concentrate. Even this afternoon, I saw a significant difference
after she had applied it. I just wish I had thought of it earlier in
the day!!!
I have
also been using Frankincense on my surgical scar from where I had my
mastectomy last August. Frankincense isn't cheap, but I got a 5ml
bottle of it in the starter kit I bought. Normally I wouldn't use
something so “expensive” on a scar (I've got plenty of others to
prove this point) however, this particular scar I need to stretch as
far as it will go when I have reconstruction, so to me it is a safe
and sound application of it. Frankincense is supposed to fade scars
significantly and many women have raved about how it decreases under
eye circles and puffiness. I haven't tried that yet, but I may.
Between
the bath scrub I posted about before and the Frankincense, my scar is
flat, without ridges and smooth. I do hope this helps when I have my
next surgery. Hopefully the doctor won't tell me my skin is too soft
and smooth! Lol
Several
days ago I took around the yard and pulled a few weeds. Then two days
ago I went out to my square foot garden (I have two boxes) to weed
them for the vegetable plants I unintentionally bought (I got eight
plants for less than eight bucks!). Something that I came into
contact with caused a stinging, burning rash on my inner forearms.
Yes, I wore gloves. But that didn't protect me and my uncovered arms.
I also got some in my eyes and nose because my eyes started itching
horribly and I was sneezing, sneezing, sneezing. Then the inside of
my nose started itching like ants were crawling all inside it and
stinging and biting as they went in circles. I was miserable! I
washed off, but the damage was done. I have no idea what the weed
was, but I know it was not stinging nettle. This weed's habit was
like baby's breath, but with thicker, bright green stalks that stuck
to you like glue. It also had yellow flowers instead of white.
I
applied Lavender to my arms and immediately the stinging and burning
stopped. If I hadn't of been so uncomfortable it might have been kind
of neat. The other two things I didn't really know what to do about
because it can be dangerous to use essential oils too close to the
eyes or mucus membranes according to all of the warnings I see over
and over. I took Lavender internally with Peppermint and Lemon in a
capsule and applied Lavender behind my ears and on the inside of my
cheek. I also applied Purification to my neck and Thieves on my
chest. I was determined to beat this stuff, but the next morning I
was still rubbing my eyes violently and sneezing. My nose was even
worse. The inside felt singed and quite like my tongue felt during
chemo last year; burnt. I continued using the Lavender topically and
internally. My energy was gone, too. Like all of the sneezes were
ripping my energy right out of me. I slept and slept like before I
started all of these oils, but my body was tired of it all. I finally
ended up taking some tylenol sinus to help all the oils get a hold
and eradicate whatever that weed was. From what I read, the first
time your body comes into contact with something it sees as a virus
it develops a reaction to fight it, producing histamine. The next
time you come into contact with it, your body will most likely
respond with more symptoms. Hence my second reaction, apparently.
Most people just call it hay fever, hives, or rhinitis. I called it
misery.
I
discovered something in this Aromatherapy book, though. It was a
nasal soother. One part warmed toasted sesame oil, one drop of Tea
Tree oil, and two parts pure vitamin E oil. Mix together and swab
inside the nostrils with a q-tip. Some of these things are like being
a kid seeing the circus for the first time. You think it couldn't
possibly work, but somehow it does, and it is amazing and incredible
and leaves stars in your eyes. I might not have had stars in my eyes,
but I was certainly amazed at how instantly, instantly
people, my nose was fine. I do
have to admit the smell of toasted sesame oil inside of my nose was
weird, really weird and the smell came back each time I subsequently
had to blow my nose (another weird) but I was okay with that if the
pain and torment was gone. This is one treatment I plan to use again
if ever necessary.
The
eye thing I never really figured out what to do about, but use a cold
compress and use my prescription eye drops. Maybe I'll come across
something in the future, but I most certainly am going to try to keep
away from the un-named weed!
I even
got a book from the library about gluten free living. I don't think
we're really ready for that step yet, but little by little we are
kind of heading that direction with the diabetic diet. I really like
a lot of the recipes for diabetics, even though I am not one. Grandma
is, and so we all are pretty much on board for that train, except
maybe more sweets than she is supposed to eat. I love just about all
kinds of food, especially indian, chinese, japanese, and other asian
foods, which is among some of the healthiest given the amount of
vegetables and fresh foods. Tim is having to grit is teeth and smile
through this, cause there isn't so much meat and starch as there once
was and he doesn't like too many vegetables. But I do win some, like
chickpeas. Everybody in the house likes chickpeas. Score!!!! May God
grant me patience in searching for more healthy things my family will
eat!
