Monday, January 14, 2013

Finding Happy With the Flu & Thieves Oil *recipe

On day one of our Influenza Vacation I felt so horrible I knew it was going to be a long couple of days. I had no idea a week later I would still be having trouble breathing and so weak I need to take a break after doing dishes. It has wiped me out. What a messy sickness. With care though our bodies have all fought off (or are fighting off) the sickness and there is finally a light at the end of this tissue laden tunnel. 

 A few things made me so very happy whilst stuck in a constant state of I'm-not-sure-I-will-ever-be-better and tylenol haze. We must find the happy in the bad, right?
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.~ Philippians 4:11
My super amazing husband, took over my role and was a fantastic mom stand in. He took care of the sickies and even had time to go grocery shopping. He kept the healthy kids occupied and did some schooling one day! I was literally out of commission and he stepped up and fully acted on the "in sickness" part of our vows. What a guy! Happy.

 My sister gave me a beautiful Teapot that she found out thrifting. Lots of Tea has already been made in this beautiful teapot. Happy.

Isn't it pretty?

Princess Peony shared this week of sickness with me and we spent all kinds of time watching stacks of movies and blowing our noses. We also read. And read. And read. Happy.

source

Princess Peony and I found instant relief for the constant sinus pressure and sore neck with homemade heat packs. Happy.

Heat Packs.

Thieves oil! Makes. Me. Happy. Well it smells divine and when you are sick it soothes coughs if rubbed on your chest and neck. It helped with my sore muscles and joints by massaging it onto affected areas. We also used it in a spray bottle mixed with water as a way to disinfect the air, bedding, doorknobs, tables, and pretty much everything. It made a lovely bath oil and seemed to clear my sinuses briefly after the bath. 

 I did not have any bought however and so whipped up my own. I used the recipe from The Hippy Homemaker. I modified it for a much smaller amount. So you can buy it for $35 a bottle or make your own. :)



Thieves Oil

 25 drops clove essential oil
22 drops cinnamon essential oil
9 drops eucalyptus essential oil
6 drops rosemary essential oil

 This is a hot oil. It is recommended that you mix 1drop of thieves to 4 drops of a carrier oil.

Have you ever used thieves oil? Share your story!

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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An Influenza Vacation

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Okay so not really a vacation.
More like a forced rest.
An unplanned break.
A rude visitor that just won't leave and interrupts your daily life.

Even though we have taken precautions and washed our hands. We have taken our vitamins and calcium with Vitamin D. I made Sick Tea at the moment we felt a tickle. I managed to fend off numerous sniffles and coughs with our Cinnamon and Honey Remedy. Yet, this was too much.

Since today I can finally sit for more than 30 seconds without coughing (my abs have been getting one heck of a workout) I have decided to let you in on my new 'stay healthy' research which while lying prone on the blow up mattress in my living room I was able to scavenge from my I pod.

1. De-stress. Duh. There is no wonder that I always get sick with some awful something in January. Now it could be that the germs are just more free flying in all these cramped quarters. It could be that we up here are in the shortest amount of daylight during December and January and that takes its toll. But, more that likely it is the stress of the just finished holidays that throw me for an unhealthy balance of stress. Mental note to place this verse in my bathroom mirror and read it three times a day:
27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. ~Matthew 6:27-29
2. Eat Decent. Well we know this. However, do we know that all those splurges in November and December can truly affect more that our waistline? If we are eating less then healthy our bodies will in turn be less then healthy and have a much harder time fighting off potential sickness. Keep the veggies coming! (source)

3. Sleep. Go to bed. Turn off the T.V. and the laptop and go to bed. Get the rest your body is needing and it will fight off those flu strains. Or you can always spend a week in bed with the flu... (source)

4. Thieves Oil. There is a fair amount of research being done to support the use of Thieves Oil in the prevention of numerous maladies and also in the treatment of such illness. We used it to help sterilize the house and bedding as well as on sore muscles and noses. I made my own. This site has all sorts of great ideas and other resources. This stuff is amazing.


So now that I know what to do, I shall go and rub some thieves oil on Princess Petunia and feed Sir Bean and apple. Prince Ray is already in bed with a vaporizer and some eucalyptus oil. My goal: Sleep.

What do you use for staying healthy over the influenza season?


Always Blessed, (even after 7 days of the flu)
Gretchen :)


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Monday, January 7, 2013

Opening That Can of Worms



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Confession Time.

 I goofed Up. Again.

 Have you ever had one of those moments when a thought pops into your head that seems completely unrelated to what is going on around you? Sometimes it is a drive to do something outside of your comfort zone. Or one of those things you don't really want to do. Perhaps you find it too bothersome.

It may be something as simple as 'You really need to grab the umbrella.' 
I dislike umbrellas. I find them cumbersome while dragging around a toddler, a diaper bag, a purse, my coffee cup and someone's pink blanket. There is no place put the dripping wet umbrella when you get to the grocery store and then it just gets everything wet and messy. Oh, I don't like wet and messy! I would honestly rather get sprinkled on. Unless of course, I had a feeling I should bring that umbrella and I ignored it and then proceeded to accidentally lock myself out of the van. With a toddler. In the rain. Gosh, an umbrella might have been helpful. Maybe I should have grabbed one....

Maybe it is that nagging feeling that you should call so and so from church or send grandma a love note. You are standing knee deep in life while canning tomatoes with a sick, teething, baby and you have spelled Minnesota fifty-five times for your elementary student's state report in the last twenty minutes and in pops, 'You should really give Matilda a call. Maybe she needs a meal.' Really? Umm, I guess I don't have a free arm for that.

I have been getting better about this business of listening. I know in the past I have brushed off that nagging little buzzy bee and said, 'No, not me!' to more than one of the LORD's commands of me. Now though, now I am listening better. The more I read my Bible and pray the louder that command is. Hard to brush it off when you know better. 

 A few years back I was standing in the checkout line of a local gas station thinking about how much I wish I could buy one of their amazing pizzas for supper with my gas money instead of going home and making a real supper. I was politely minding my own business in my daydream while holding my youngster's hand and intermittently saying no to gum, chocolate, candy, and lighters. Once I got up to the checkout woman we visited a bit because I knew her vaguely through my husband. 

In my head popped this idea: 'Invite her to church.' 
What? There are three men waiting in line behind me and my child has just grabbed a beef stick off the counter for the third time... I need to get out of here. I'm not inviting her to church! 
'Invite her to church.' 
No, it's weird. She will think I am weird. 
'Invite her to church!' 
People don't talk about that in checkout lines. No. 

I left with child minus gas money, beef sticks, and my peaceful heart. 
And I never forgot that feeling of disobedience. I had no right to decide no. My job is to say it even if it sounds foolish and crazy. I felt guilt for quite some time.

 Flash forward to my now world. I have learned so much since then! I invite people to church all the time. We do hymns and modern worship. We raise our hands. We clap. We hug and pray. We fellowship and drink coffee. We HOME church. Not an easy, chattable topic for most people because it is a little on the fringes of 'normal'. We never intended to home church, it just happened according to the LORD's plan. Who am I to not invite people to hear God's word just because it may be different? 
So I am not ashamed and I have gotten pretty good at those nudges from the Holy Spirit because I do not like the feeling that comes with disobedience. I really try to act on those buzzy bee ideas even when I am so very uncomfortable I want to squirm under a rock afterwards. I'm trying to obey my LORD and doing okay. Or so I thought.

 Two weeks ago I was at the grocery store, this time with three kids, a list and a mission. I ran into an some old friends. Well a friend of The Preacher Man. The Preacher Man's used to be best friend before the ministry they were in fell apart and dissolved along with their friendship. When that ministry center took a dive it swallowed up and spit out too many Christian brothers and sisters and the pain was a resounding gong that hasn't fully healed in any of us. Aren't church splits the absolute most painful? 

 So here I am, forced with a need to be friendly when it feels so awkward and unsure. There was an ocean of disagreements, tears, and regrets standing in the 4 feet between me and ex-best friend and his wife. It felt uncomfortable, icky, sad. We talked politely. My heart trembled. And I heard it. I felt it.

 Where are they going to church?

Oh please LORD no.

Are they churching anywhere?

No, no, no, no.... this is too hard. That ministry almost ruined my marriage. No.

Just give them the address. 

 No... I don't have it memorized.

Invite them to church.

No, it just hurts too much.

We say goodbye. Sir Bean has to use the restroom. Prince Ray has seen a friend. I am dazed on the inside and yet mostly calm on my exterior. 
I am sweating.
I can hear my internal dialogue on a loop like a bad movie trailer. OVER AND OVER IT PLAYS. 
I feel instant guilt.
I pray. I pull out my phone and quickly text to get the official address and scrounge through my purse and find a scrap of pink princess paper. 

With a green crayon I write the address and time with this: The LORD is leading me to invite you to church on Sunday. It may be a can of worms we don't want to deal with. Which is probably why he wants us to open it.

I look everywhere in the store. 
I lose the paper and write it again. But they are gone.

 I am ashamed.
I pray. I commit.

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
~1 Corinthians 11:1

 Publicly I commit to a do over on that. I think the LORD will bring us another 'chance' meeting and I will follow through.

 Let's open that can of worms.

Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’ and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’ 
~ Hosea 2:1

 Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

Making Snowflakes

Up here in the cold north we don't exactly have a need to make snowflakes. I can merely throw my hand out the back door and grab a scoop if I have the need for snow. 
Sir Bean specializes in saving snowballs in my freezer and princess Petunia is really good at getting it her boots. 
Mittens are often covered in it. 
It tracks in my back door and and leaves sloppy puddles all over the kitchen. 
The snow is fairly shallow this year but I shoveled it above my waist several times last year. 
It is beautiful and cold and fluffy or heavy.
Thick wet flakes that stick like ice cream or light and diamond-like, forming a crust the kids like to crunch through with their boots. 
It can come in biting like ice chunks or floating like bubbles.
Snow has that warp speed hypnotizing effect while driving after sunset with a small wind. 
But it can be gentle as a butterfly kiss on a perfect cloudy and quiet evening.
Catch it on a black sheet of construction paper and you can see the most amazing God created delicate lace designs.
I know Snow.

What I don't know about about is crystals. And why they form. So I thought it would be neat to find a season appropriate chemistry experiment explaining crystal growth. Rock candy sounded good but better for summertime. How about those crystal snowflakes I saw somewhere....? Internet search to the rescue!

After finding several different tutorials we settled on this one because it gave me some very clear instructions.
I found this one for the info on the why behind the crystal formation.
Check out this video from Sick Science! 
Steve Spangler Science has many, many experiments and he not only gives video tutorials he explains how and why behind the results. This is priceless for me because I am not a sciency kind of homeschool mom. I need all the help I can get! 

It was so easy. The kids had a blast. And I have some beautiful semi permanent snowflakes decorating the kitchen. :)
9 tablespoons of borax in the jar

Add 3 cups of  boiling water and then mix it up!
Place your pre-twisted beautiful snowflake creation in the solution.

Use string to tie the snowflake to the pencil and then rest it on top of the mason jar.
This one got some food coloring.

Pretty.
Now wait. Check every couple hours and you will see the crystals growing.

Once they look like this through the solution they are ready. This is about 24 hours.

There is a reason they said wide mouth. It was a mite stuck but did come out minus a few crystals. :)
The crystals grow all over the inside, too!

And a snowflake!
Unique creativity for each one.
Spider Snowflake?

Borax Snowflakes  
1. Form your pipe cleaners into a snowflake shape or be creative!  
2. Boil 3 cups of water. Add 9 tablespoons of borax to your wide mouth mason jar. Mix in the boiling water.
3. Attach your pipe cleaner shape to the string and hang it from the pencil. Submerge it in your solution filled jar.
4. Let sit for 24 hours. Check it often for crystal growth!


Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)



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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

DIY Sweater Slippers

While cleaning up Princess Petunia's room the other day I can across a large tote with a whole passel of clothes that was gifted to us from a lovely family we know whose daughters had grown out of them. Most of it was for Princess Petunia. Jammies and cute little jumpers. All for next year! Yay!

There were even a few things for Princess Peony. She found a sweater and decided instead of wearing it, she would try a project she had seen somewhere on Pinterest. She hadn't pinned it but had read through the post and kept the idea in her head.

She disappeared to her crafting area (aka: Her Room) for 40 minutes, appearing once to ask wear the glue gun had gone and wear did I put all those flip flops from last summer. She then came up sporting these!
Sweater Slippers!

Aren't They Cute!?

I didn't even know what she was making or I would have documented! So here is the quick and dirty version. I'm sure you could make these even nicer and neater but I like them just like this. We kinda like messy and homemade around these parts. :) I think I need to find myself an old sweater.....

Cut the long sleeves off of an old sweater. She cut on the seam.

I think this was a size large sweater. She is slim so a plus size sweater might work better for a plus size mom. Like ME!
 
She lined the sweater arm with quilt batting. Once it was measured she hot glued it to the inside of the sweater arm.

 *mom note: I think if you turned the arm inside out and then glued you could just flip it right side out. Much easier. Also, don't line the entire length of the arm. Only line half of it so you can cuff the other half down. Like so:

Notice the sweater seams? That is the 'wrist' section of the sweater arm folded down to the 'ankle' of the sweater slipper.

Here is wear the flip flops come in.
*mom note: The thong part of the sandal should be ripped out so you just have a 'sole'. Otherwise it could get uncomfortable unless of course you put batting over it. You decide! :) Pull the shoulder section of the sweater arm over the sole and glue in place. This is messy but it's on the bottom of your foot so that is okay!  :)

DIY Sweater Slippers
One old sweater with arms cut off ( I would use a tightly knit sweater with some seams.)
One pair of old flip flops
Cotton  quilt batting
glue gun

Cut the sleeves off of an older sweater. Turn these inside out. Hot glue quilt batting half way up the sweater arm and all the way around it. Make sure you are gluing from the 'shoulder' of the sweater to the half way point. Once dry, flip the arm right side out. Rip out the thong piece in your flip flop (if you want). Pull the 'shoulder' of the sweater (now lined with the batting) over the bottom of the flip flop and glue in place. Slide onto your leg and fold the top of the sweater, the 'wrist' portion , down. Like a very long cuff. At this point you can glue the cuff down if you want. We also thought some buttons sewn on the side seam would be really cute.  Experiment with it!

This pic is awful but they really look adorable with her leggings and a tunic.

 Any questions on my totally uncrafty explanation please jot below and I will try to explain better!

Let me know how it goes and what coolness you added to make them your very own creation!

Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)

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Monday, December 31, 2012

A Kindlier Dozen


And ye, who have met with Adversity's blast,
And been bow'd to the earth by its fury;
To whom the Twelve Months, that have recently pass'd
Were as harsh as a prejudiced jury -
Still, fill to the Future! and join in our chime,
The regrets of remembrance to cozen,
And having obtained a New Trial of Time,
Shout in hopes of a kindlier dozen.
~Thomas Hood



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A dozen. 12. An easy number. Not too big and not too small. Even and clean looking.  
Pleasing to the eye is the number twelve. 
Easily divided, multiplied and added.  
An able goal can be 12 lbs. Or 12 thank yous. 
Twelve more smiles in a day.
Good things come in twelve. 
12 eggs.
Dozen donuts.
Twelve hours and 12 dollars.

A Year. Twelve Months. Twelve new beginnings every single year. 
Twelve last-day-of-the-months to assess how it went. 
Twelve turns of the moon to watch it shift and change, grow and shrink like shadows.
Twelve months to enjoy our seasons flowing into each other like ripples on the lake.

Twelve chunks of time linked together and filled with mundane chores and beautiful moments of grace. The days run together in succession of do this-es and do thats and occasionally we pause for a moment and watch our children be the amazing creatures they are. 

Sometimes life feels on top of the world like you have your own personal ray of sunshine from God warming you into cat in the windowsill complacency. Oh how we like that sunshine and those easy peasy days.

Sometimes it feels like if that one more thing happens just one more time the thin thread of sanity might just break. Sometimes those threads are stuck straining and holding you together for far more than just one moon cycle. It can start to feel a bit tiresome hanging over that pit for so long. Two months? Four? A year?

Some years are just like that.

To God Be the Glory in those days.
 When you cry yourself to sleep from fear.
When your head swims with unpaid bills.
When your stomach turns because of relationships that worsen instead of strengthen.
When the house is constantly in need of repair...
and the children are fighting out their emotions...
and the teenagers are struggling with growing up lessons...
and your friend is possibly sick with cancer...
and your own health is in question...
and your husband is gone so often you feel like a single parent sometimes...
and there is a death in your family that you just can not wrap your mind around or fix your heart from quivering at the thought of his last days...


Some Years are just like that.  God can still get the Glory.

A dozen months to feel kind of miserable in a self wallowing, private, pity party sort of way. To lament your troublesome life. A whole year to hang on to that fraying thread of...
HOPE. 

Honestly, Hope in Jesus is all you really have. 
When all else is out of control and wrong. 
He is there.
When there are no answers and no way it seems out of the situation.
He is there.
When you stop relying on yourself.
He is there.

There are no promises for a top of the mountain sunshiny spa day. So frankly, some years are going to just stink. The LORD uses this though. He uses our human messes and our frustration. He uses our lack of understanding. He uses our life experience and asks us to trust Him. Have Hope in Him. 

18 “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness    and streams in the wasteland.  ~Isaiah 43:18-19


That wasteland can stretch forever. One thing after another until you feel the breaking point. Until it seems you may never feel calm again. But the wasteland is real. It is part of our journey here.  It is integral for God's plan in your life. Embrace it and learn from it. Trust in Him. He is your Hope.

1 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,8     a time to love and a time to hate,    a time for war and a time for peace, ~Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
Dear Lord, please give us a kindlier dozen this year. I'm ready for some sun.


Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)
Verses all from www.biblegateway.com


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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Attempting Organized Planning

I love planning. I like lists of any kind. I love beautiful, crisp pages printed with lovely colored designs. I like to see headings and titles with lines to fill in. I am a sucker for binder with quotes and calendars. I like to color code things and have labeled tabs and dividers.

Those are quotes and a couple love notes from my boys. :)

I like to search out the best of the best for planning pages provided by other planner type people. I have been known to even make my own if I can not find what I am looking for. I poured over websites all summer trying to find ways to make myself more organized. I printed and printed and printed some more! Determined to Be Organized.

Isn't it pretty?
 
With a family of seven, kids coming and going, husband working out of the zipcode most of the time and a homeschool I Need Organization.

I need a plan. I need a piece of paper I can checkmark things off of to say I accomplished something today other that brushing oatmeal out of Petunia's hair and duct taping the sink hose together. I need some guidance that says in non-threatening terms 'Number three under cleaning isn't checkmarked! Please clean the sheets this week!' or 'Prince Ray really needs to clean the cobwebs from his entire room and since he is out of underwear perhaps he could pick up his dirty clothes and place them in the laundry room.' I need to be reminded that the four loads of dishes, 3 loads of clothes hung on the line, bathroom cleaning, meals made, devotion read, homeschool lessons half finished and a moment of scheduled quiet time is A Great Day.

One of 10 calendars in my School Planner... yes 10.

I love lists. I have made lists since I could write. I suppose it helps me break down the million things that are in my mind into useable and workable mini-goals. Then I can systematically check them off or postpone them if I am feeling a bit like Scarlett O'Hara and don't want to think about it till tomorrow.

I do organizing chaotically. Often I have three list going at one time. Not the most productive to some folks but things do get done. Especially when I make Kid Cleaning Lists! :)

The problem is that I love the pretty printables but I can't make them all work. Out of all those beautifully colored daily goal sheets I printed in August when I was determined to break up my day and use every minute wisely I have used two. I couldn't schedule in the time to fill them out! I ended up changing my homeschool weekly planner sheet three times and I am still not completely satisfied. I have tried to plan menus and I just can not be disciplined enough to follow through! What if I don't want to make beef stew on Thursday?! What if we have unexpected company or the basketball game goes late and I can't make spaghetti and sauce?! I have then failed to follow the schedule and then I feel like I have personally failed. I need to find a chaotic-friendly, flexible, organization sheet. For everything.

Notice its is only half filled out... December was a bit lax...

With the coming of the end of the year and the continuation of our homeschool year starting up again in January I got the organizer itch. AGAIN. I'd like to challenge myself to do some more during the day that I want to get done and be okay with what I don't get done. I want to hone those three lists down to one I can manage.

So is planning is it not?

So I began the search and thought I'd share what I found!


If you Blog, here is a nice, simple, free, weekly planning sheet from Living Locurto! Or you could just sit down and write completely unplanned stuff like me....

Find it here.

This is a pretty basic Daily Goals sheet for free. Find it at Life's a Journal!


Freebie!

Plan of Attack for your day! I love these and they are customizable! Thank you Jessalyn at Desiring Virtue!

They come in many colors, too!

Also customizable are the Daily Docket sheets from Money Saving Mom!

Customize!!!

Gricefully Homeschooling has a Mom's Everything To Do List!

A sweet looking little list sheet. I like it!

This is the one for me. I have fallen head over heels with the simplicity of it. And it prints in black and white. ;) Thank you Ann Voskamp from A Holy Experience for the freebie.

Planning Love.

I will sip my morning coffee and fill out my Day's Draft.

I will set daily goals.

I will try to finish it all in the few hours we have during our turn in the sun.

And if I don't complete it... God will forgive my messiness.


Always Blessed,
Gretchen :)
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