Friday, November 23, 2012

More tips for Healthier Living, tooth whitener, house freshener, hand soap

  Are you stuffed with turkey, pumpkin pie and all the fixings?  I had a small lunch, sweet potato, lima beans and some turkey, and a bit more for supper as I was the recipient of a delivered dinner. Part of the meals on wheels program. I helped with it too, got the folks needing the meal contacted before hand. Hope they all enjoyed their dinner. Nice to be part of such a good organization.
  Well, I have never shopped at Williams Sonoma, but this week I read on a blog how they keep the store smelling fab. If you want to try, it's easy. Put a pot of water on your stove, bring to a boil, then lower to your lowest setting and add a sliced lemon,  a few springs of fresh rosemay, or lacking that, a few spoons of dried, and a splash of vanilla. Just let it simmer.
   I ran out of hand soap this week, being quite a few miles from town, a trip in for just one item is really silly. And a container of refill soap runs about $4.00.  So did some looking on line and found a lot of recipes for home made liquid hand soap. So easy and cheap, just grate a bar of soap into 8 cups of water, add 2 tablespoons of glycerin and  a few drops of essential oil of your choice for scent. If it seems too watery, add a little sea salt to thicken it. I used a bar of hand made soap, yogurt and rassouli, plus a little of a bar of hand made peppermint I had left over, so didn't need to add scent. It works well, and cost nothing except a little time. In case I forgot, you do need to cover the pot and let it set overnight before storing in containers, labeled "hand soap."  This can be made using any kind of soap you like, Dove,  castile,  or home made. 
  If you have tried  teeth whiteners and not had much luck, try this. Use about as much of your toothpaste as would cover your brush, put it in a small container and add 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide. Mix well, use a small amount and brush for a full 2 minutes.  Use this one time per week until your teeth are as white as you want them, then only use once a month to maintain the whiteness.
  I was watching the Doctors this week and they all agree if you are prepping your foods from scratch, you need to add a small amount of iodized salt to your foods. If you use commercially prepared food, they are always loaded with added salt. Of course if you suffer from kidney problems or high blood pressure, avoid that salt altogether.
  And now a spoiler. Did you know that your salad dressings that are white in color, like ranch, blue cheese etc, get that white color largely from titanium dioxide?  That is a product used in sunscreen, can you image just adding sunscreen to your salad? Make your own dressings, they are easy and healthy.
 If you are looking for good ideas and recipes for natural housekeeping, I found two new sites this week, The Farmers nest, and Homestead Revival. Check them out, you can subscribe, if you want their ongoing tips and recipes.
 And now Thanksgiving has come and gone, and the next four weeks until Christmas will go so fast we won't believe it. Most of you are thinking shopping, decorating and all the pre prep for the next big day, Christmas. I am fortunate, our family is trying to get back to the real meaning of the holiday so except for the under 8 crowd, which are only 4 these days, we are not shopping for each other. Cards, e-mails, phone calls, visits and photos are our requests. We all have way more than we need in t he way of "things" so why pile in more ? And we all know we can't take it with us.
  Hoping your holidays are peaceful, warm and blessed. Til next time.
  

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