HIckey Removal

I successfully shopped 4 locations WITH all 3 girls.  Its a record since T was born!  Ross, Price Busters, Walmart, and Costco!  Got most of what we need for two birthday parties this week. Its both A's and hubby's  BDay this week. Besides groceries, we got stuff for the crafts she wants to do at her party. We came and discussed History Day and the first preseason football game that J was involved in.   A few moments later, I made a comment to hubby about age, totally joking, cuz its a common theme between us as we see the big four zero being the number we are rounding up to.  He then decides to joke back and attacks me and gives me a Hickey!   This being the A-Tack kind of hickey, not romantic night hickey.  It probably looked like we were wrestling or having a tickle fight, and Yes my kids were right there laughing along.  Well the reason for me writing this is because I found a website  that said to use a hairbrush or coin and rub the hickey and it goes away.  It worked pretty well! Hallelujah!  Last question I want to answer from the kids in sunday schoool tomorrow, is, "what happened to your neck".  LOL!  As I delve into natural remedies day after day, this is probably a helpful one for people of all ages:)

SAFEWAY

A couple of weekends ago we stopped at Longs (which is coming to Hauula, next to Tamura's, WOOT WOOT!) and Safeway in Kaneohe.  Safeway's produce display was SO blogworthy!  When you first walk in the automatic grocery store doors, the first thing on display was BEautiful tomatos, four to a cluster still with the green stems AND beatiful perfectly ripe avocados.  So fresh, so colorfully vibrant, reasonably priced,  how could anyway pass by and not put a few of each in their shopping cart?!  We got some for our bean dip that I make for many of Shaun's Sunday football games, especially Superbowl Sunday.  The rest of the store is also arranged and displayed in a manner that creates an atmosphere so unlike the bright lighted Laie Foodland, which is where I often shop.  Safeway now also has these cool digital coupons and they do price match too.  What an example Safeway!  Keep it Up:)

Lima Beans

I made Lima Beans for the first time ever.  I soaked them over night. Refrigerated them cause I didn't have time to cook and the next day I just boiled them in chicken bouillon and water.  I had this recipe using onions and chicken broth but didn't get to it so today I just ate them with the chili that I made for the kids for lunch.  So, lunch for me was brown rice, lima beans, and chili all in one bowl.  ONO:), and SO satisfying!  But as expected,  bag of farts tonite!  The kids have not tried them yet.

Essential Oils, Finally!

This morning I was seeing J and M off too school in the driveway. J was upset because he wanted to go with S in the car but M wanted to ride her bike.  Anyway I tell them to "watch around the corners!" and "Don't ride fast" which is what J had just asked me to tell M to do.  I say goodbye to hubby and head upstairs with T and I see that A is up, dressed,  and ready to go to school!  I was shocked and excited!  In the few minutes I was outside and seeing the other two off and hubby to work...she had gotten up and got ready for school. Woohoo

  Last night around midnight she was crying with an earache and moaned and cried and was so uncomfortable.  I  gave her tylenol which even after an hour didn't seem to work. Before going to bed I had put a cotton ball with a drop melaleuca oil in her ear and had rubbed oil in back of her ears as well.  I put a bit more oil behind her ears and massaged gently,  and I put a hot washcloth in a ziploc bag and had her lay her sore ear on it too.

What makes me so Darn excited is that I was a little sad last night that it seemed like she was getting worse last night, yet in the morning she was fine.  Until this morning, it seemed the progression of more symptoms- only sore thoat to sore throat with cough and then sore throat, cough, AND earache!   She came home on Friday, (which is a whole other blog entry) from Camp Erdman (Daddy went too....so so awesome that he goes with them on fieldtrips) and was a little stuffy.  The next day she was more stuffy and sore throat.  Went to school on Monday, seemed fine, but on Tuesday woke up with sore throat and her voice was hoarse.  I thought to myself I will call the doc at 8am and see if I can get an apptmt.  A while later I thought to myself,  I should call Melissa and see if there is a way I can get some of the oils we've been chatting about (while we wait for our girls who are taking Tahitian and Hula from the same group). I figured why spend $15 copay and more money on prescriptions when all the doc will probably say is get rest, drink water, take these meds....especially cause she has no fever.

 I called Melissa  a while later and she brought  Peppermint, Lemon, Frankincense, OnGuard, and Lavender doTerra oils over.    I gave A Lemon with Honey for her sore throat and started treating her with OnGuard.  Meanwhile, T has had a diaper rash, not severe, but bumpy enough to be concerned for several days.  She hasn't had one for almost a year now.  So I was treating with the usual: vaseline, or desitin, and even clotrimazole.  But it would calm down and go back up and not really go away.  I called Monique who is also into oils and she gave me the recipe for 2 drops lavender to 2Tablespoons coconut oil.  I put the first application on at night before she went to bed with last diaper change.  The next morning: rash practically gone!

Also during the  next morning M wakes up with a stomache ache, runs to the toilet and has a big bowel movement and is moaning and complaining of tummyache.  She says she needs to vomit runs to the toilet but just gags a little spit liquid and that was it.  Coincidentally because I had the oils from the day before I tried the peppermint on her tummy and her feet.  She felt way better within less than an hour and though I kept her home from school she didn't complain about her tummy anymore (but about being bored instead).

Back to "A" , now she has a cough, I FB'd Melissa and she gave me more info and I asked if I could pick up more oils.  I picked up Breathe, Oregano, and Melaleuca, some capsules, and also picked up an book on essential oils.  I treated A with Breathe, Oregano and Melaleuca throughout the day.  So I was indeed disappointed when the earache came about because I was like, are the oils making her worse?  I really wasn't looking forwarded to the Doc and yet ANOTHER dose of Amoxicillin for ear infection.  My kids have had SO many doses of that pink stuff!  Anyway, like I said at the beginning of this blog........she woke up this morning on her own after sleeping it a few minutes longer because I thought I would let her rest before seeing how she felt and calling the doctor and instead she WENT TO SCHOOL!  I was SO Happy because I have been so excited the past two days as I have been reading and learning about essential oils and was hoping to avoid trip to Doc.

Its like a switch turned on and I'm really believing in this stuff.  I grew up with Melaleuca and  my Mom and Grandma use SunBreeze for their aches and pains but I didn't have any strong desire to get into the oils.  I had several  friends who invited me to several of the meetings in 2011 but I was never able to make it and though I was interested in seeing what it was all about I also knew about the MLM aspect of the business which made it less appealing.  NOW, that this switch has literally SUDDENLY turned on, i am asking myself why now, and why wasn't I as interested before because they were close friends who were trying to introduce me to it.  Whatever it is, I am excited, literally giddy, to learn and apply what I learn about these essential oils.  I have a sister who has had severe kidney and bladder infections but is ALLERGIC to many if not most regualr anti-biotics.  When I heard about the Oregano being a natural anti-biotic I was quite intrigued and that is one area I hope to look more into.  Also, I am concerned about my aging parents who could use the oils for a number of things that I have read about in the past few days.  Woot! Woot!  Hooray for natural medicine.  I am SO Stoked its silly.  Yesterday Hubby said I was killing him but he didn't complain when i gave him a foot massage with lavender before going to bed:)!

ME

Okay, I'm finally doing it. This is going to be my think out loud bloggetty blog. its Saturday afternoon, and #2 is at a friends house, #1 & #3 are watching Disney (even though most of those teeny shows are unofficially banned in our house) and I'm here wanting to write. Yes, write. I have a bathtub that needs scrubbing and clothes that need a washing. But I don't care. I'm going to write. I"m going to do this. Its time. Hallelujah! Ha, #3 asked me two days ago. "Mom is 'halelujah'" a bad word" I found though pretty comical. I wonder just how many bad words she really knows if she knows the tone and occasions we use 'halelujah' to think that it could be a bad word, uh oh. I'm not gonna worry to much till I hear it coming out of her mouth. ON second thought, I have head her say "loser" and I consider that a huge bad word coming from one kid to another.

#2 asked me two days ago, "Mom who creates tornados?" then without waiting for me to answer or skipping a beat... "I KNOW, Satan!"

She got her cast off yesterday, whew!