Things you can do when you have the flu

 (Hint! It’s not what this picture shows you, although it’s not all that bad of an idea!)

Remember this post? About how I wasn’t sooo scared anymore? Well, who knows if I have Swine Flu, but I can surely tell you that I’ve got something. So, let me just give you my advice for getting better:

Netflix Watch Instantly, Emergen-C, Advil, a sweet, amazing boy who doesn’t mind so much to watch Star Wars everyday (the gun scenes fast forwarded, of course), and the ability to just give it up and let go (that’s the hardest part)!

Benefits: Me time, catching up on movies, my husband bringing me things, resting – finally, and a few needed days off of work. I feel like crap but I am anything but stressed, that’s for sure.

Now, these are not the best ideas. If you have any costructive suggestions, please DO share them. For now, lunches will be applesauce, green smoothies (I add protein powder and carrots – no apples), and popcorn (with coconut oil, of course)! See? There. At least I’m trying a little bit.

Swine Flu Freaking You Out?

Yes? Then read this:

While watching a great video from our local library today Vaccinations?: Assessing the Risks and Benefits I thought I’d check out Dr. Jay Gordon’s website. The primary reason I checked out this video was to evaluate the risks/benefits of the flu shot and H1N1 flu shot for this year. The video is great – maybe a little long with too little information on what EXACTLY to do (which is understandable as he wants every child to be seen and to have this discussed with their pediatrician – that’s my problem – no one will talk to me about it!). However, I did find more updated information on the website. My favorite piece is this. In the article we are given info on herbs and probiotics to take and how much. My second favorite (and just another reason why I won’t be getting the H1N1 flu shot, nor for my three-year-old) is this article. Now, please also research this information before you take one man’s word for it, but from what I’ve heard/read I’m liking this guy. I’ve bookmarked the site and will be visiting it soon for more information!

Chapped Lips?

Mine are fine, thank you. It’s the Little Dude’s that I’m worried about. Constantly, CONSTANTLY we’re battling chapped lips. Why is this? We don’t live in the desert or anything. I used to struggle with this when I was a kid and lived in California, but we live in the Mid-West. How is this possible? I’ve read that he could be a “lip licker” and he may also be dehydrated. I suppose he does sometimes lick his lips, but he is NOT dehydrated! No matter, I’ll keep Chapstick on him and keep pouring down the juice-water (1 Tbsp. juice and one cup water).

Do you have a good solution for chapped lips? Please share and help a momma out.

Toddler Yoga Positions… In Reality

Ever Heard of Ladybug Magazine? Sam started his magazine life with Babybug and has since graduated to Ladybug. I love them BOTH! In fact, I kinda miss “Kim and Carrots”, but absolutely LOVE the silly pictures, fun stories, and great pre-school ideas in Ladybug. Go here to see an example magazine. In the last issue we came across “Yoga in the Garden” – enough with the toddler yoga, I know! But since I had discussed an interactive video I thought it would be fun to share Sam’s session with you. He’s a shy little man, though, so we settled with pictures. Here was OUR extremely quick session. Since we don’t have a scanner, here’s the only pic I could find of the example – thanks Beetles and Bees! (Psst. Please, oh PLEASE ignore the stains on the carpet – we’re renters, remember? And haven’t necessarily made every stain…)

***And remember “breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth…” – kids LOVE it.***

Spider scurries up and down its web

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Squatting position, clasp hands together using your elbows to push out your knees (this was the hardest one, by the way) so your legs look like spiders. (Bug week, anyone?)

2. Bring your hands down behind your feet, lean forward, and move like a spider.

Butterfly sails above the flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Hold your big toes, balance on your bottom, and gently lift your feet.

2. Straighten your legs as much as you can (as you can see I held on to Sam here) and make butterfly wings.

Snake lifts its head to see the path

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1. Lie facedown and rest your forehead on the ground, bend elbows and place hands on the floor on the side of your head. Hide like a snake in the garden.

2. Breathe in as you slide forward onto your tummy and lift your head and chest slowly. Beathing out, come back down to the floor, hissing like a snake.

Garden mouse curls up inside its cozy hole

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1. Sit on your heels (can you tell he’s done at this point?), knees together, hands on your thighs.

2. Bring forehead to floor, relax your arms by your sides. Ahhh.

Giraffe eats a leaf (Um, made this one up – obviously.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…and ssstttrreeeeaaaatttcchhhh…..

Now. GO RUN AROUND THE ROOM AND GO CRAZY! AAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!! (Toddler talk…)

I hope that you can forgive the format of the pictures/text. No matter how I try I just *can’t* get them to line up. Whateva. Blessings.

Pamper Party Recipes

While in high school I learned the beauty of an hour long bath dedicated to pampering my skin and soul. Now, as a mom, I need it more than ever. I used to be able to spend loads of cash on beauty products. I’d throw in oil, bath beads, eveb tea bags specially made for your bath. I’d slather on face masks, face scrubs, body scrubs, foot scrubs, hair masks, and hand masks. Geez! What a bunch of stuff! After I was done I would emerge a new soul – ready to take on the world – and my bed! It was so relaxing and made me feel so beautiful I never thought I would feel the need to give it up! But I did.

Once I stopped working full-time and became a mom we had very little to spend on beauty, let alone beauty rituals! How frivolous! If anything I’d soak my hair extra long in the bath tub and use a new razor! 🙂 That’s all I had the money for. After a while I missed that alone time at home and found ways to get around the high cost and artificial ingredients on my skin. Here are a few recipes that I use now from ingredients straight from my kitchen.

Note: I don’t have any particular allergies, so I’m not sure how it works if you’re allergic to honey, etc. Test a small spot and wait overnight to see if you’re allergic to any ingredients. I wouldn’t want you rushed to the hospital on my account!

Pamper Party Recipes

Face Scrub: 1 part honey, 1 part regular coffee grounds– Mix well in the palm of your hands and scrub gently around face, neck, chest – wherever you experience acne or blemishes. The honey will cleanse your skin (really! It’s FANTASTIC!) and the coffee will slough off the rough areas. Let it sit for awhile if you’d like, then rinse. Don’t worry about the coffee in the bathtub it will rinse right down – but it is gritty against your butt!

Face Mask: 1 part honey, 1 part oatmeal – First grind/blend the oatmeal so that it is powder fine – this makes it easier for the oats to go down the drain later on. Mix oats and honey in the palm of your hand and slather on your face. The honey will be sticky at first but will soon melt and glide on easily. Close your moth tightly. 🙂 Let sit for about 10-15 minutes, rinse.

Foot “Soak”: Kiwi/Pineapple skin – I read recently that the skin of kiwi and pineapple fruits contain bromide, a meat tenderizer. Theoretically, this is supposed to soften the heals of your feet. I’ve tried this and LOVE it. I say theoretically because I can never tell what specific thing I’m doing is helping my nasty feet, but something’s working and I’m not going to stop doing this – especially since we always have kiwis! Just rub the skin on your feet, let it sit for just awhile and hop into the tub.

Body/Hand Scrub: 1 part sea salt (regular table salt works just fine, too), 1 part soap/body wash – Scrub, scrub, scrub, rinse. Pretty easy. See this post for a more intense recipe.

Moisturizing Body/Hand Scrub: 1 part sea salt, 1 part coconut oil warmed in your hand or stove (I’d say microwave, but I feel very strongly about not using one). Scrub, rinse.

Face Scrub: Face wash, Cane Sugar or Sea Salt – be careful with this and scrub gently, as you can cut your skin with these products which in turn can smear around bacteria creating more nastiness.

Eye Treatment: Of course there’s always cucumbers, but my son really loves these and I hate stealing them for stupid vain purposes like the gross bags under my eyes. You can also try my favorite, used black or grean tea bags. Wet the already used bags, squeeze, let sit on eyes for 10-15 minutes.

Bath Oil: Add to your bath any essential oil – my favorite is lavender!

Bath Soak: Use that same ground up oatmeal and sprinkle 1/3 cup under running water. You can use baking soda as well. This works especially well with itchy, dry, or rashy skin.

I have loads of other recipes – do you have any specific concerns you’d like to address? These are the easiest of my recipes – things I use weekly. I hope you like them and you enjoy your own special PAMPER PARTY!!!

Nothing Inverted, Really…

Sam loves Yoga. So do I, in fact, so we hang out sometimes and do it together. For about 5 minutes. But 5 minutes is about as much as you can ask for from a toddler, right? The new Parents Magazine had a great article that Sam and I loved (we tried it for the first time today). I have been looking for some free vids on the Internet to have Sam watch with me to show kids how to do yoga but have never found anything. Maybe I’ll post one of our “sessions”… Anyway, the article was very easy to follow.

Go to parentsmagazine.com to search a wide variety of steps to follow (no videos, though), different ages, styles, etc. if you don’t get that magazine. Here’s one I really liked and will practice with Sam.

Don’t like structured exercise? Me neither. Instead what Sam and I will usually do is “Child’s Pose” and he pretends to be a baby, “Cat Stretch” and he roars like a lion, we stretch as high as possible and pretend to be giraffes eating leaves, stuff like that. He loves it and without even noticing has stretched and grown a few centimeters. 🙂 Sneaky mommy.

Fruit Ice Recipe

MMMmmmm. Ice cream. My weakness. The other day Sam and I experimented and found THIS!!!

Yum!

Here’s what we did:
One ice cube and 5 frozen blueberries (or other frozen fruit) ground in our (extra) coffee grinder. I felt like the actors on the “Magic Bullet” commercial! 🙂 After it was all shredded I stirred in some honey and wow! We actually made three and I didn’t feel guilty at all!

Diaper Rash Solutions

So my poor little baby has some issues with diaper rash. In my struggles, we have tried every brand of diaper, wipes, ointment, etc. We have had major success with Boudreaux’s Butt-Paste, all brands of sensitive wipes, home made wipes, and Huggies brand and cloth diapers. He also went through a whole tube of anti-yeast cream for his bottom. Cortisone cream helps with the pain.

We have also changed foods, such as cutting out citrus and apple juice, etc. However, the struggle still goes on and at least twice a month he breaks out with another flare-up. Thanks to my RN mother-in-law, however, we use this trick to ease the redness, swelling, and pain.

BAKING SODA BATH! We throw him (ok, so we don’t actually THROW the child) in a warm bath with 1/2 cup baking soda. It softens the water and neutralizes the skin. It is fantastic! He feels so much more comfortable after a particularly bad poopy-diaper-on-rash incident.

Other things that are supposed to help that we don’t really notice a difference with are letting him go bare butt for a few hours and changing diapers frequently.

For a free sample of fore mentioned Boudreaux’s go here.

What have you tried? Do you have anything that works fairly well? Please share!

Does This Look Attractive To YOU???

I am 28 years old, so if my opinion changes here I’m sorry. I expect to feel the same on this subject when I’m 87, but who knows? Maybe I’ll hit 45 and demand plastic surgery, Botox, expensive age creams tested on animals, etc. But NOT NOW! Right now my wrinkles are starting to get makeup stuck in them by the end of the day. And I have this long, thick strand of white hair that (honestly!) I am loving! My ta-tas that used to be lovely and attractive now most certainly need a bra – even when no one else is home. Other stuff is starting to happen, too. Who knew that at 28 (ok, well, almost 29) I’d already be noticing these changes? Certainly not me!

But in everything I am I know that I am more beautiful than this picture. WAIT! I am NOT saying this woman isn’t lovely. In fact, I do believe that without the touch up and the facial distortions brought on by computer imaging she would be very beautiful. But how’d you like to be her? Knowing that this is your picture? I don’t think I’d even do it for money.  

I HATE THESE ADS! I HATE THESE COMMERCIALS! I GET SO FURIOUS WITH THE HOLLYWOOD STARS THAT I LOVE AND RESPECT AND SEE UP THERE IN L’OREAL COMMERCIALS!!! (L’oreal tests on animals, by the way.) Women are beauiful. And yeah, men naturally age more gracefully. And yeah that sucks. Big time. All my husband has to do is grow a beard and he all of a sudden looks distinguished. I can spend 30 minutes a day REMOVING my excess hair and all it does is make me look less hairy! 🙂

Oh, but women, you are beautiful. I look at my mother – now 56 – and her hair is longer than mine, completely gray. She wears long, flowy skirts, way too much jewelry, and always smells like Chanel No. 5. And when she smiles her soft, smooth skin glows and all I can think of is how warm and beautiful she was when she would kiss me good-bye to go have a night out with my dad. And honest to God she is more beautiful now than ever. But that’s just my opinion. It WOULD be nice to be electricly beautiful and sexy for my entire life. But I won’t be – haven’t been for SOME TIME NOW. I don’t care. As long as I can be as beautiful to people as my mom is now, I’ll be good. And it won’t cost a thing!

Meal Planning Made Easy

So, yeah. I’ve been away awhile. I just don’t see the point in posting about something that I don’t REALLY care about. It always ends up sucking. So there. I am passionate about menu/meal planning, however, so this shouldn’t be crappy. “Shouldn’t be” is the phrase to notice here.

Meal Planning saves me time, money, taste buds, sanity – really, the list could go on and on. Fortunately for you, it won’t. I was just on my way home from work and was planning a trip to Wal-Mart. Not my favorite store, but the only one open when I get off work. The other day on a trip to WallyWorld I saw an excellent deal on a day planner/desk blotter set complete with calendar. Tonight at work I realized that this may very well be what I was needing – and for only Eight bucks, how could I lose? But, hesitantly, I drove by. I felt God steering me away and (like I said, HESITANTLY) pulled away. Just then I realized that I could find a perfectly good calendar online – after all I still have a day planner that’s good until June and I would have to tear off the pages of the calendar to post it to the fridge to make it a meal planner, anyway. I got online straight away and guess what I found? A meal planner. And not just that – a calendar, too. This way Rick will know what I know about the plans for the day/weekend and vice versa.

Go here to pick yours up for FREE. Also, don’t forget to check out Menu Planning Monday for some great, fresh ideas for feeding your fam on the cheap.

Be blessed (and organized)! Kellie