Roll-On for Better Health

Sometimes, the application of essential oils can be a challenge. I remember getting my first bottles and thinking, "Okay, now how do I apply it?" Although there are several ways essential oils can be used (topically, internally, & aromatically), applying them to our feet may be one of the best for quick delivery of EO benefits. But then came my dilemma...how do I get it there, without dripping it all over - and I'm pretty flexible.
You may have more effective results applying essential oils to the area of need or on your wrist, neck and chest.

Enter, the game changer, ROLLER BOTTLES! These little gems make EO application to my feet effortless and effective.

Here's a list of my MUST HAVE roller bottles:

Favorite EO + Vodka = Custom Linen Spray

One of my favorite luxuries has always been linen spray. There's just something about it that makes me feel special. It's like those scented drawer liners, they remind me of another time (or another income bracket). For me, linen spray was always an extravagance that when put in the cart next to all the other needs, often found itself re-shelved. 

My world shifted for the better when I discovered I could make it myself. Pure bliss!

Adventure #1 of the Traveling Diffuser

Over Thanksgiving, we took our first trip to Hawaii and had the pleasure of traveling with  friends and their three year old daughter. She is the cutest thing in the world. I love her.

View from our condo in Kona

Our first full day there, she got extremely sick (stomach flu like symptoms of unknown origin). Stuck in the condo, with trips to the ER, it was not good!

Personal note: It seems that I am a germ magnet. If someone has it, chances are I will get it too. Take shopping, for instance, is one of my favorite things. But touching things other people have touched means that I sometimes catch whatever they had. Yuck!

So…here we are in Paradise, with a sick child, for ten days. What to do, what to do??

Muscle Salve - that REALLY works!

Last fall, as I was starting to make potions, my husband informed me that everything was "girly."  I found this awesome recipe for sore muscles by an essential oils friend, Peggy, at Essential Living/Caring Oils. She tweaked a hand salve recipe she found over at Camp Wander. This got the husband nod as a manly enough product to give to manly men.

Let me tell you, this stuff works! Sometimes, though, I am still a bit of a skeptic. I know that in theory it works and that there are amazing testimonies from strangers about how essential oils have changed their lives to back up that theory. But, part of me still wonders...does it really work? Big chunks of that skepticism disappear every time someone I know tells me, "Yup it really worked." This gets me all giddy because, well...IT WORKED!

Valentine's Day Crafts

It's February! The month of love - and snow and freezing temperatures.  Just this week was the 200th anniversary for Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, my personal favorite romance - besides my own, of course. I celebrated by watching the six hour BBC Colin Firth movie. Yay!

Love is in the air and I love decorating my house.  I seem to have Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas covered but lack decorations for the other nine months of the year. I'm going to fix that!

Here are some easy projects for putting a little Valentine's love in your life, or at least in your house.

Honey Throat Drops (or Candy)

A few months ago, I got a cold. Cough and throat drops helped. After my cold, I was stocking up on more On Guard and I saw that doTERRA has On Guard Protecting Throat Drops (item #3405). Rebecca over at Camp Wander said, "you're  crafty, I bet you could make something like that." Well, thank you, but....Could I?

I'm not very handy in the kitchen. Over the last six years, I've been teaching myself to cook; I have several friends and my brother (hi, Schuyler) on emergency text standby for kitchen/cooking help. This sounded like a kitchen disaster waiting to happen....

And it was!

My first attempt was a disaster, okay not exactly a disaster but it was not good, it was edible but not salvageable. I lacked a key tool - candy thermometer (hey, the blog post I read said you didn't have to have one and I was too impatient to go buy one for $5.06 at Safeway).

I can't be sure if this is a result of not getting to the needed temperature of 300 degrees or that I used candy trays from a chocolate candy kit, that are now in the recycle bin. 

With the proper tools, I'm happy to report, the second effort was a success! Tasty, hard honey candies...I mean honey throat drops. If I can do this, you really can too!

Foot Spa Night

I need a pedicure BAD! Unfortunately, the budget doesn’t allow for that sort of thing right now. But I can be pretty resourceful, so I’d been thinking for a few weeks that I should just give myself a foot spa. Now this in no way replaced my love for going to the spa for a pedi– oh the massage, the cute painted flowers, sigh – but my feet are softer and it was pretty fun if I do say so myself.

Here’s my version of a foot spa at home on a budget with things you probably have at home,  or can easily make/acquire.

I watched a Hallmark Christmas movie (yes, I know, Christmas is over, sad) while pampering myself. I also had some candy hearts and tea and my house was husband free and the dog was snoozing.