Simple Home Remedies

Today, Simple Organic has posted "5 Simple Home Remedies That Really Work". A few involve essential oils, which you know I love. The fifth remedy is one I had never heard of--using onions to battle a cold, including making a cough syrup with onions and honey! I am willing to give this one a try, though I'm not sure how it will go down with the rest of my family...

First Aid Bag... Sew What?!!

My brother-in-law is going on a cross-country adventure in a couple of weeks--he will be visiting every state before he crosses back in to California (we may never see him again!... at the very least, it will be quite a while if he follows through with his grand plan). When I saw this past week's Sew What Challenge, I knew immediately that I needed to make a bag for him to take on his journey. If I were going on a journey like this, alone, in my car, you can bet I would have a first aid kit of oils with me.

So, I made him a First Aid bag, with a piece of elastic inside to snugly hold a few essential oils:
Peppermint for tummy troubles...
Purification for insect bites and battles...
Panaway for muscle relief after driving for hours...
Lavender for just about everything else.

Winner of the Essential Oil Giveaway

Melissa said,
Loved your website! I would love to start to use essential oils around my house. I have heard they are so good for you and have been looking for a play to buy them. I make my own laundry detergent and have been looking for an oil to put in so I would pick lavender for me. Thanks for a fun contest!
Melissa, I want to know how your laundry detergent turns out with lavender because YOU WON! Watch for my email so you can reply with your mailing address.

This giveaway sure was a lot of fun to host, and I hope to do another in the nearish future. I am actually pondering an idea for a shirt swap.... so, stay tuned for that. In the meantime, I want to address some of the wonderful comments and questions that were left on my giveaway post. These are, of course, my personal opinions and suggestions based solely on my use of Young Living brand essential oils. If you would like any further follow-up, please comment on this post or send me an email.

My two cents:
Thieves is a great oil blend. Clove is one of my favorite smells, too! The immune support is fantastic. It is the oil that I diffuse most often, particularly in the winter months. I also spray it on the door handles, water faucets, etc. in my classroom for extra protection!

Lemon, orange, and other citrus oils are so energizing and wonderful to smell. The first time I smelled lemon, I was surprised, because I was expecting a smell similar to lemon juice. Citrus oils are pressed from the rinds of the fruit (not distilled) which is an entirely different smell--more similar to that zesty scent you get when you peel the fruit. Because the oil is from the rind, you could use the antiseptic properties to your advantage by pouring directly on a wound (I have done this on my child with lemon oil) and it would not sting. Again, this is based only on my experience with Young Living oils! I would NOT recommend doing this with any other brand of oil. Oils that you can buy in a store are often cut with stuff that you would not want to put on your skin (alcohols, other oils that are not listed on the label, etc.) as they could irritate it. This was the first thing that came to mind when a commenter mentioned getting a burning rash from lemon oil... Yikes! You do want to be careful with sun exposure after putting any brand of citrus oil (and certain others) on your skin, as they can cause photo sensitivity for a day or more after application.

Eucalyptus has been in the rotation at my home quite frequently lately, as we are all suffering from allergy induced stuffy noses! A drop on the pillow at night allows for easier breathing and more restful sleep. A drop in a warm bath with a closed door will help to "unstuff" a nose, too!

I hope this additional information is helpful to you. Again, I am more than happy to share my experiences with you if you are looking for more specifics on certain oils. Just ask! Or, visit my web site and look around.

And, if Mama Lusco and Melissa want to share their homemade laundry detergent recipes... I would love to give them a try! Have a great day everyone.

Silence is Golden

Anastasia's tonsil surgery is scheduled for next Friday.

She has had a cough since Sunday. Hmm.... I've been thinking all week:  Please go away, cough. I don't think we can have the surgery if you stick around. We are all very tired from Ana waking up every night from this tonsil thing and want to just get this surgery over with. Please go away, cough!

I came home right before bed time tonight (I will save you from the details of the public school drama that kept me in my classroom so late, but it had to do with suspensions, possible expulsion, punching, fake weapons that look real, preparing the room for Open House... Good, fun stuff.) to the sounds of teeth-brushing through a stuffy nose. Anastasia said she was feeling sick because of "all the junk" in her throat--she has a lot of drainage and, now, a stuffy nose. After she went to bed, she coughed, and coughed, and coughed... I thought, oh, dear. This is going to be a long night, and the cough that is supposed to be going away sounds worse! I'm amazed she was actually sleeping through the continuous coughing.

Not sure exactly what I should/could do to try and comfort her (not to mention, allow myself some quiet so I can sleep), I grabbed my bottle of RC (an essential oil blend that includes three species of eucalyptus, pine, marjoram, lavender, peppermint, and other theraputic grade essential oils) and sprinkled just two drops next to her pillow, just below her nose.

The coughing stopped. Her nose is clear enough that I am not hearing her breath while sitting in the room across the hall. She hasn't coughed in the two hours since I dripped the R.C... Ah, the quiet time I've been waiting all day for. Wahoo!

Speaking of essential oils... Check out my giveaway for a bottle of lavender or peppermint!

Wishing all of you a quiet night. Take good care.

My very own giveaway: Essential Oil (CLOSED)

It's about time I hosted my own giveaway. Seems like the 100th post is usually when people jump onto the giveaway bandwagon, so I've been gearing up for this moment.

Here's what I am offering: a 5ml bottle of lavender or peppermint Young Living brand essential oil.

 

Lavender is my "go to" oil for most things. It is one of my favorite smells--very relaxing, which is why I often put a drop on my pillowcase before bed. My little one will ask for this oil (or Tea Tree--Nature's Neosporin!) whenever she gets a cut or bruise.

Peppermint is another oil that I keep in my purse. You never know when you might have a tummy ache and need a quick drop of peppermint on your tongue! Just smelling the oil has helped me get through many headaches.

Tell your friends to come on over and check it out. All you need to do is leave a comment. If after looking around here for a while you decide you'd like to follow me on the journey... cool, please do. But, it's not required to enter the giveaway contest.

What is required is that you go to my essential oil web site and take a look around. In your comment, tell me what oil (or other product) appeals to you. If you don't mind sharing the "why", I would love to hear that, too. Also, which oil would you like if you win--lavender or peppermint?

If you live outside the USA and know that an essential oil bottle will make it through customs to you, you may enter as well! I will use some random method of choosing names, depending upon the number of entrants. Good luck to you.... Contest closes Sunday at midnight. Come on back next Monday (May 10th), noonish, to see if you've won. Let the games begin!

Spring Cleaning Week: Non-Toxic Cleaning

I am a sucky housekeeper. I admit it. I do a much better job at keeping my grandmother's house clean, but she pays me to do it.... Hmm... I seem to need some tangible kind of motivation.

How about the smell of a clean house? I don't mean a fake pine forest smell, but a fresh, windows open kind of smell... How about not needing to get all gussied up in rubber gloves and a gas mask to get things clean?.. How about being able to let my eager-to-help four-year-old stick her hand into the cleaning bucket, without fear of her skin breaking out in a rash or her lungs burning from harsh chemicals?

Yeah... that should do it.

Simple Mom's list of the top non-toxic cleaning benefits fit the bill today. But, really, I already knew about that. She follows that list with another that tells you how to make the switch. This one includes a recipe for an all-purpose cleaner that you can customize with your favorite essential oils, and you know how much I love essential oils!

My task for today is to toss the few remaining cleaners I have that I never use. They're not toxic, but they are taking up valuable cabinet space. The one toxic cleaner I do still have is the toilet bowl cleaner. I don't want to name names, but it's bright blue liquid that you squirt around the bowl, then leave the room for 15 minutes before you brush and flush. Does anyone have a non-toxic toilet bowl cleaner idea?... Preferably, one that works. I would love to hear it!

Pay It Forward: The procrastinator finishes early!

Not a lot early, mind you, but it still counts. They've actually been finished for a while, I was just having a hard time getting myself to the post office. Now that they are en route, I will go ahead and share what I made.

First, I must share the absolutely detail-oriented apron I received in the mail a couple of weeks ago from Angela Pea. It is gorgeous, yes? Perfect colors for an autumn-born girl. I absolutely love it. Thank you, Angela Pea!!!

Next, I started with a gift for the youngest person to join my Pay It Forward post. I remember loving to dress-up when I was a young girl, so I thought this knit choker would be fun for her. Anastasia insisted it have a yellow button, so... there ya go.


Finally, I made little drawer sachets for my other two giftees.
This pattern was from another that I found in my pattern binder and hadn't used yet. I filled them with fresh lavender from my garden, enhanced with essential oil.

I wanted to wrap the gifts in something pretty, so I utilized these silks that I dyed last month.

I did enjoy making these and hope to stumble across this challenge again next year. It sure was fun to be part of something with such heartfelt intent.

Missy the Dog vs. Skunky the Skunk

This happened in August, but I still want to share in case any of you ever need this information:

Missy (my pound puppy who is now 8 and 1/2 but still acts 1 and 1/2) got into a tussle with a skunk. I've kind of been waiting for this to happen, since I always see a skunk out in the neighborhood when I come home after dark, so really I should have been more prepared. [Now I am!]

Luckily, she is current on her rabies shot, because she got either bitten or scratched by the skunk on her cheek/lip. It's smallish and she's let me clean it with witch hazel and tea tree oil, so I'm hoping that it will just heal nicely and not get infected. [it did]

I got a nice recipe (below) to remove the smell from Missy, which seems to have worked. Sadly, I brought her into the house as soon as this happened (fearing an angry skunk was roaming the backyard, looking for revenge) and now the house reeks... I took out the rugs from the animals' room and Missy's bed is in the trash can. I don't know what else the smell is on. I still have some of the anti-smell solution, so I am going to try scrubbing the floor with that. Thank goodness Anastasia went to bed fairly quickly tonight, or I would have a screaming child on top of this! Small miracles... [I ended up needing to diffuse Purification throughout the house to get rid of the smell. It took a couple days.]

Dog loving friends--have hydrogen peroxide and baking soda on hand at all times "just in case". I'm so glad I just happened to have some the night this happened. Here's the recipe for de-skunking your dog:

Mix in a bucket:
1 pint hydrogen peroxide
1 small box baking soda
squirt of dish soap
gallon water

Do not cover the bucket! This will lead to an explosion, and you really don't need another mess to clean up at this point.

This solution will be good for about an hour. Pour it on your dog, avoiding the face area. Of course, Missy got skunked all over her face, so the smell was lingering there even after the de-skunking solution. I put some orange oil or citrus fresh (I can't remember what I had on hand at the time) on her face and neck, which greatly helped to neutralize the smell.

Hoping you don't need to use this information, but if you do... good luck!

**I discovered the next morning that Missy had killed the skunk. Skunky was curled up in the place where the tussle occured the night before, so I found a little comfort in the fact that it must have passed quickly. I also discovered that animal control will come out and remove a dead skunk from your property, thank goodness.

Lemon Oil

I had a great experience with lemon oil today.

A couple nights ago, Anastasia decided that it would be nice to color on her baby doll's face with a red crayon. A couple months ago, she thought a red crayon mark would be a nice gift to leave on mama and daddy's bathroom floor. So...

Today, it occurred to me that essential oils are able to dissolve petrochemicals (I don't know how, but there is a fun experiment you can try with a Styrofoam cup and a drop of essential oil) and lemon is used as a cleaning agent in a lot of home recipes. I put a single drop of my lemon essential oil on a cloth rag and starting rubbing baby doll's face... The crayon came off instantly. Cool! I remembered the crayon on the linoleum and marched in there with the same drop of oil on the same rag and rubbed it off instantly as well. I then started looking for crayon and pen marks elsewhere in the house and used my same rag to eliminate them as well. Cleaning without effort.... that's what I'm good at!

Later in the afternoon, I used lemon oil to dress a wound on my finger (ironically, I sliced my finger on a thorn of our lemon tree). You would think that lemon oil would be the last thing that you would want to put on an open wound, but it is actually cold-pressed from the rind and is pH neutral. My finger feels wonderful, and smells yummy, too.

There are a ton of other uses for lemon oil--like putting a couple drops into a pitcher of water for a refreshing, good-for-you drink--but, these are the ways I used it today. It really is an "everyday oil"--a good one to have on hand for every day use.

For more information on, or to get your own bottle of, lemon oil you can search my web site.