Earring Solutions for Sensitive Ears

Hello friends... I planned to have this post ready for this morning, but things have gone awry. It is snowing here in my little corner of the world and of course my kids were determined to get out in it, even though one of them was just getting over a bout with the flu and has a lingering cough. Their little outing lead to a big boo boo. My darling daughter and baby boy were on a two man inflatable sled and instead of going their normal route decided to take a trip into the retention pond in our neighborhood that is designed to hold excess rainwater, if necessary, to prevent flooding. At the bottom of the pond is a big metal culvert that probably connects to the sewer or something, I don't know or care. Anyhoo... apparently big metal culverts aren't as soft and squishy as they look because baby boy took a beating.

They hadn't been outside fifteen minutes when my daughter burst through the door screaming hysterically. It took a minute to figure out if it was her or brother who was hurt and then to get an idea of how bad it was. I'm imagining bones sticking out, and I am NOT okay with seeing bone. Plus I hadn't washed my hair in three days and was thinking "I don't want to go to the ER like this." My eighty three year old Papaw wasted no time and headed for the hills to rescue his number one buddy. However, that presented its own issues, since what goes down the hill must also come back up the hill.

I'm throwing on shoes, grabbing paper towels, and trying to catch up with Pap, all the while worried that I might see bone or that someone might see ME. I was somewhat relieved when I saw him sitting up and from a distance seemed to have all of the major limbs attached. To make a long story short, he had cuts on his face, a busted lip, lost a tooth, had a pump knot on his head with some abrasions in his hair, and bruised up legs. Seeing blood in the snow made me a little weak in the knees, but at least there was no bone showing.

I half walked, half carried him up the hill to the house and dispatched my daughter to wait for and monitor Papaw. Did I mention he has a history of heart attacks?

When we got home I pulled out the essential oils and went to work on him. I used helichrysum to stop the bleeding and it worked! He didn't take another step on his own the rest of the day and I was chief nurse. It wasn't until much later in the day that I found some of the injuries like the bruising and the knot on his head.

So, if you've been on the edge of your seat all day waiting for a post from me, that is my lame excuse.

The REAL reason for this post is to share a little crafty project with you. My daughter and I both have sensitive ears, and they get infected easily with some earrings, but not with others. Usually by the time we find out which ones hurt and which ones don't, the packaging is already in a landfill somewhere. We decided to do some experiments to find out which ones we can wear and it turns out that we can both wear sterling silver with no problems.

My genius idea is to convert a lot of the earrings we have that hurt to silver posts. This tutorial is showing some earrings we made to give away for Valentine's Day. We used some painted wood buttons to make earrings simply by gluing the earring blank to it. It couldn't POSSIBLY be any easier.

Step 1. Find two matching buttons or any small wood, glass, or plastic objects.
Step 2. Acquire earring blanks
Step 3. Glue earring blank to buttons
Step 4. Let dry
Step 5. Look amazing

The posts I have aren't sterling silver, but now that I know we can wear silver, I am ordering THESE and will be converting some earrings that I like to them by simply prying them off their original posts and re-gluing them to these. Also, you can very easily do the same thing with dangly earrings by using THESE sterling silver earwires. We will now be able to convert most earrings we might find to one of these two styles for less than a dollar a pair. Stud earrings won't be easy to convert, but they often come in sterling silver already, so that shouldn't be a problem. I'm looking forward to being able to wear earrings more now that I know which ones won't hurt my ears.

The best glue to use is E6000. It sets up really well and works great for a lot of jewelry projects.

The button cards were made using THESE stamps from Papertrey Ink. THIS is the link for the die that cuts the card. and THIS is what I cut the backs out of. Just choose ink colors to match the buttons you are using or use a neutral color.

I hope you don't have sensitive ears like I do,but IF you do, I hope you will take the time to convert them to a metal that doesn't hurt your ears. Let me know if you try it!

Kristy

Whipped Coconut Facial Moisturizer

How many of our readers use coconut oil on their face for a moisturizer? (waving hand!) I love the stuff. I use it for cooking, in my deodorants, for my hair (split ends and frizz help), and as I said, as a facial moisturizer. I love to use the extra virgin organic kind that has the coconut smell. Nothing like going to bed at night smelling like a macaroon. Mmmm!

Most of you have probably heard the hype over it in the last couple of years. I do not buy vegetable or canola oil anymore. I use mainly coconut oil and sometimes olive oil for cooking (and a whole lot of butter). It’s natural and naturally good for you. The way God intended when He created it for us. For more ways to use coconut oil, check out this post.

**Edited** Here is an updated, VERY comprehensive article on coconut oil, "28 Science-Verified Health Benefits of Coconut Oil." Check it out!

However, if you are at all familiar with coconut oil, then you know it usually comes as a solid. So how use THAT for your face? Well, until earlier this week. I kept a small bowl of it in my bathroom where I had dug some out of my big jar to use each night. It’s great for removing eye make-up too so sometimes in my laziness I’ll moisturize and remove make-up at the same time (just using a tissue to wipe off the eye make-up after I rub coconut oil on my eyes).

This week I saw an idea of simply whipping your coconut oil with a mixer for 5-7 minutes to use as your facial moisturizer. Guess what? It stays soft and fluffy….even in my cold bathroom that has two outside walls and four windows.

I also added some essential oils (10 drops each) to help my skin: lavender and melaleuca for pimples, frankincense for overall skin health, and lemon to even skin tone by lightening places. You could choose different oils depending on your skin type (dry or oily) or even any issues you have. Some other good ones to use include helichrysum, geranium, myrrh, patchouli, and ylang ylang. If you have not used any of these essential oils on your face before then I always recommend making a small trial run to see how you react before whipping up a whole batch.

Whipped Coconut Facial Moisturizer

1 cup extra virgin organic coconut oil
30-40 drops essential oils (see above for ideas)

Whip coconut oil with a hand mixer or stand mixer at medium-high speed 5-7 minutes. Add essential oils and thoroughly combine. Store in a glass jar.

This take 5-7 minutes to make, and the one cup of whipped oil may last you months unless you split it and share it with your teenage daughter like I’m doing. I also ended up using it on my body because it feels and smells so good. Seriously, the hardest part was washing the mixing bowl and attachment afterwards which was not hard at all! The standmixer did all the work for me.

This is one of my favorite brands of coconut oil, but you can find it at all the grocery stores. If you do NOT want the coconut smell then buy the refined kind (which is not quite as good for you but has a lot of the benefits).

When I became interested in trying essential oils for medicinal purposes I soon realized with research you want to make sure you are using pure, therapeutic grade essential oils. After much research and praying, I went with a company that I feel confident with when I put essential oils on my body to be absorbed. Send me an email or leave a comment below if you are interested!

This would even make a great, frugal gift to give for a friend, family, teacher, etc. Cut or print out some labels to go on top and you're good to go!

See my post on a DIY Facial Cleaner here with more information on what essential oils are good for certain skin types.

So do YOU already use coconut oil on your face? Do you love it lke I do? Maybe you use coconut oil for other things. Share with us below!

Benefits of Fasting

I've had several people asking me about how I've lost weight lately and they are usually quite surprised when I tell them my answer. I did a forty day fast for forty days before I turned forty this past December. Say that four times fast. I had multiple reasons for doing this. The reasons were spiritual, physical, and emotional.

Spiritually, I wanted to seek God and find where He was leading me for the next chapter of my life. Forty feels like a significant turning point because you really are midway through your life. I wanted to take time to reflect on the last forty years and prepare for the next forty.

Physically I felt it would be a good way to cleanse and detox my body and I wanted to lose weight. In this season of life I feel I am being called to a new 'ministry' of sorts. My husband and I have been on a path towards wellness for several years and find that people often come to us asking for advice. In some ways I knew I wasn't practicing what I was preaching because although I had made huge strides, I still continued to eat some things I knew weren't good for me. I don't want to be a hypocrite. I wish I could say I slayed that dragon during my fast, but, unfortunately, he is still alive. I guess you could say he was maimed in the process, because I do have more control than I did, but not complete.

The emotional part is connected to both the spiritual and physical aspects. Our small group from church had just completed an Andy Stanley video series. The focus of the series was to learn what it meant to be a disciple of Christ, and not JUST a Christian. At one point Andy made a statement that if you wanted to be a true disciple, there were three things you needed to do. I have no idea what one and two were, but the third point was, "don't be mastered by anything." That phrase hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks. I knew I WAS mastered by something. I was mastered by my sweet tooth! My husband says we should ask ourselves the question "What do we run to when we are sick, tired, or hurting?" If the answer is anything but Jesus, we have an idol. Sometimes I don't like the things he says and I had tried to ignore the answer to that question. Anytime I was sad, or tired, or stressed, or angry, or bored, I would run to my secret stashes of chocolate.

I could get all 'dear diary' on you,  but I'll stop there. Let's just say I realized I had a problem and it was real. My jeans had been warning me for years, but I just wouldn't listen. It was time to address the issue!

To be honest, I didn't do much research about how to do a forty day fast or what was the best way to approach it. The idea had been rolling around in my head for a while, but I didn't want to do it, so whenever it came to mind, I pushed it away and ate a piece of chocolate. It worked great. I went with three ladies from my church to Missouri for some training for a conference we are hosting at our chuch. I was very busy for those four days, but I did the math and realized if I wanted to start 40 days before my birthday, I needed to start ASAP, so I just made the decision to go for it. I told them the night before what I was doing. We were driving home the next day, so I told them they could choose where we would be eating. As for me, I bought some of those Naked drinks from the gas stations along the way.

The plan I came up with was to drink one green smoothie a day and the rest would only be water or herbal teas. I usually also drink about four ounces of orange juice to help me get down all the vitamins and supplements I take, That was it. Sounds easy, huh? Actually, it wasn't as hard as you would imagine.

The smoothie I made was pretty much the same each day. It contained either a banana or avocado, a huge handful of something green (kale, spinach, or M&Ms), some coconut water, a chunk of fresh pineapple and/or some organic raspberries, green smoothie powder, and some ice and water. I made a good size one and usually didn't have it until about 3 or 4 PM. I drank it all at once because I like it cold and can't stand how the greens get frothy if you let it sit.

There are two things that I believe made this doable for me. First, I believe God gave me a lot of grace to be able to get through it. It is the ONLY explanation. Keep in mind, I was fasting during THANKSGIVING! And I am the one who cooked dinner for my whole family. It MUST have been God who gave the the strength to do that. There were numerous Christmas parties I went to during the following weeks. I will admit to licking a spoon or two as I prepared dinner for my family at Thanksgiving.

The other thing that I believe made it easier for me was that my husband and I are already used to fasting. We do something called intermittent fasting every day. It is pretty rare for either of us to eat before our noon meal. You can read about intermittent fasting here. The basic idea is that you don't eat anything after dinner until noon the next day. For us that means from about 8 pm to the following noon, giving us 16 hours of fasting each day. It is more than just 'skipping breakfast' because if you are doing it correctly it means you don't consume anything except water (and hot tea for us) during that time. Throughout a normal day your body burns glycogen for energy. Glycogen comes from the food we eat. It takes about six to eight hours for your body to metabolize your glycogen stores; after that you start to shift to burning fat. However, if you are replenishing your glycogen by eating every eight hours (or sooner), you make it far more difficult for your body to use your fat stores as fuel.

Please note that I am not a doctor, so I advise you to do your own research before you make diet changes based on my suggestions. I am just sharing MY experience. My husband and I have found that at mid-morning we go through a period of about twenty minutes or so when we are very hungry. After that, its almost like you can tell a switch has flipped and your body is burning stored energy and we are no longer hungry. I can go way up in the afternoon before I eat anything, and it isn't all that uncommon for me to not to eat anything until three o'clock. 

From my reading, I have learned intermittent fasting helps you to regulate your blood sugar, and I have to say, that I FEEL that is true for me. I don't have any evidence other than just how I feel, but I do feel better when I am fasting. I don't crash in the afternoons like I sometimes do. I made pancakes for my family this past weekend and ate a couple of them. Within half an hour I felt like a zombie. Before my forty day fast I would not have realized the cause of it, but I am much more in tune with how my body feels based blood sugar swings. When I eat sugar I almost feel sick and know that I'm going to feel bad for a few hours. Prior to my fast, I would have just continued to eat sugar throughout the day to prevent the crash that comes from eating it. 

I believe that doing intermittent fasting off and on for the last year prepared me for the physical part of the forty day fast. I was already used to being in that ketogenic state, so that part wasn't difficult for me. That's not to say I wasn't tempted, and the last couple of weeks of the fast I started nibbling here and there on things I shouldn't, but as far as being hungry, I can honestly say I wasn't that hungry. I certainly got familiar with how an empty stomach feels, but feeling empty and hungry are different. The hardest part was mental, not physical, because I WANTED to eat. I wanted to taste and chew my food, but as far as being hungry, I really wasn't. 

Like I said in the beginning, I had several reasons for doing the fast. Spiritually,  I was a little disappointed that I didn't feel like I got a lot of insight. To be honest, I was really discouraged about that and that is probably a lot of the reason that I didn't do as well in the second half of the fast. Physically, I was happy with my results. I lost twenty pounds and got back in a lot of my clothes that I had outgrown. I'm now wearing jeans I haven't worn in several years, but refused to discard. Emotionally, it helped me tremendously to know that I am not enslaved to my cravings. I can say no. I can also say yes sometimes, but it is now in my power to say no. I can see I will still have to watch that area of my life as I still have those old tendencies to run to chocolate when I am stressed, but I'm aware of it now, and it helps me to make better choices. 

I shared how I felt disappointed at the end of my fast that I hadn't had a burning bush experience and didn't really feel like I had gained any significant insight. I do feel like I am getting that now. It is still not clear, but the Lord has put some things on my heart and I feel that I am changing into someone who is different with different goals and priorities than I had in the last few years. I'm still in-process, so its difficult to articulate, but I feel a change happening within me and I'm excited about it!

I shared my experience with fasting and intermittent fasting to encourage you to consider if it would be a good fit for you. I think most people would benefit from doing intermittent fasting at least several times a week. Be sure to read the article I linked to for more information about that. It contains information that comes from an actual doctor, not just some chick who thinks she knows everything. And let us know what YOUR experiences with fasting have been.

Kristy

Room Spray Alternative

Face it. We don't bake apple crisp every day so our homes very often smell of maybe something not quite as pleasant.

Sometimes we want to freshen the air or mask a smell. My husband does not like the smell of fried bacon, but I personally love it….but not usually after the second day. Many are inclined to burn a candle, spray some “air freshener”, or plug in some chemical fragranced oil to mask the smell.

Air fresheners may also contain some really gross chemicals that won’t show up on the label. A 2007 study tested 74 air freshening products and measured the concentration of VOCs in the air after use. They reported that a total of more than 350 different chemicals and allergens were detected, including (but not limited to!) benzene, formaldehyde, styrene, and phthalates. source

There ARE alternatives to all those chemical-laden options. 

There are ALWAYS natural alternatives.

This is coming from the lady who shared natural perfume ideas, poo-pourri spray, natural alternatives for acne, face cleansers, hand sanitizer gel (without the alcohol and chemicals!), deodorant recipes, etc. If you use it, there is SOME natural alternative out there either to buy or make yourself. It’s usually cheaper to make it yourself. Such is the case today!

You remember my post, my "soap box", from last week, right? Natural Enzyme Cleaner and Synthetic Fragrances. I told ya I would share a super easy room spray and that's what I'm doing.

Most of the time, we use a diffuser to freshen the air if there is an unpleasant smell. However, I have also made and successfully used a simple room spray for rooms (ahem, my son’s) that need a little help A. S. A. P. Can anyone relate?

All Natural Room Spray Using Essential Oils

1 cup water
1-2 teaspoons emulsifier* (see below)
10-20 drops essential oils, depending on the strength you want

Pour your choice of emulsifier in the bottle; add essential oils. Mix well. Add water, then spray!

*Emulsifier – an emulsifier is used when you are mixing two components – such as oil and water – and don’t want them to separate. For this recipe you can use alcohol, witch hazel, aloe vera, or even vinegar. You can choose NOT to use an emulsifier but you really cannot get the essential oils dispersed sufficiently by shaking the bottle.

The great thing about this room spray? You can mix essential oils and use them for other reasons – a linen spray, a cat deterrent spray, a dog deodorizer spray…..Or if you use the right essential oils then you can use the spray as a garbage deodorizer/antibacterial spray, to wash kitchen surfaces, etc.

Here are a few ideas to get you started. These are some of my personal favorites and others I have found. I included some that may be good as linen spray to help you sleep at night. If you want to use these blends for a diffuser, just decrease the amounts.

Click here to download for printing.

The special thing about using essential oils is that you get the added benefits so that if you are using essential oils with antibacterial or antimicrobial properties, they will also help clean the air of germs! Making a room spray is a great way to use essential oils aromatically until you can get a diffuser (which does put more in the air and for longer periods).

Check out my page if you are interested in purchasing any essential oils or you can email me through our blog email to the top left if you have any questions.

Do you have a favorite essential oil blend that you like to diffuse or spray or use as perfume? Share your favorites!

Secret Hiding Place

Do you ever need a good hiding spot? I have them all over my house. I can't name them, of course, since my family members might read this. You see, my hiding spots aren't from potential intruders, but from those who live right inside my house! Usually it is chocolate I am hiding. I like to know there is some in the house in case of an emergency. Emergencies occur whenever I am feeling stressed and NEED chocolate. I figure these secret stashes have saved more than one life over the years. I have gotten away from my dependence for the most part, but there are still times when nothing else will do. Unfortunately, most of my stashes have been discovered, so I am always looking for other options.

I came across this idea back in the fall when I was looking for ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. I thought it was very clever and frugal, but couldn't bear to cut up any of my beloved books. I recently stopped at a used book store in search of books on bee-keeping. (Don't worry, I am sure you will hear all about it one day.) So, I picked out a nice, sturdy book and coughed up the two bucks and brought home my new safe.

I do think this would make a nice little hiding spot for something that you would still like to be able to access. You can even get very specific as to the size  you need. I think I even saw where someone took the time to outline their pistol and cut a very snug shape for it. I would not have the patience for something this tedious, and since mine is a generic holder for who-knows-what, I just marked out a rectangle with a ruler and began to carve out the pages with a utility knife..

I stopped about halfway through, but you could go all the way through the thickness of the book depending on what you plan on storing. To be honest, my arm was getting tired, so I decided it was deep enough.

It is now ready to hold your little treasures, and from the outside, no one would guess! It looks like an ordinary book because it IS an ordinary book! 

Once it is settled on your bookshelf, it will blend right in and you will have a good little hiding spot in plain sight! 

Please don't send me hate mail telling me I'm an awful person for destroying a book. Not all books are sacred and there were at least three other copies of this book at the used book store for $2 each. It makes me think of all the crazy places people have hidden things, from mattresses, to the freezer. What's the craziest hiding place you've ever used?

Kristy