Christmas Long Long Ago

Memories are funny, triggered by the strangest things, a smell, a picture, so many things. I was thinking this week of some of the most memorable Christmas's of my child hood. I was born about the time of the war, in the early 40s. Money was tight, food was rationed, we practiced blackouts, and Dad worked at the bomb plant in Mead NE, which was likely a much more scary job than I would have known about back then. We did not do big Christmas affairs, we did have a tree and there were always gifts, mostly home made. From a new dress( Mom made) to a doll, retrieved from a thrift store, painted and a wardrobe created for it. Or a cloth doll, or dad got a hold of the rollers from the newsprint at the printing shop he worked at sometimes, and cut that roll into round blocks that he painted with bright colors. We had a sock, it always had an apple and an orange, some Good n Plenty's, and maybe a few whole nuts. But we were thrilled with those things, they meant the world to us. If kids today got something like that they would go ballistic. We were grateful for small things and quite happy and content with them. Gram Sharp always saw we had a new book. I collected the whole set of Bobbsey Twins over time. And family, we had family with us for a good meal. i can';t remember what we ate, so it was not likely a big turkey or ham dinner. More likely a big bowl of soup and a sandwich. But times were simpler, and happy. Kids could walk many blocks to school, we spent our days outside playing. Bike riding, roller skating, hopscotch, jacks. Nothing electronic. And we were seldom sick. You could go out in public and not worry about some disturbed person with a gun or a knife attacking and doing in a lot of people. Our politics were simpler too, most presidents were God fearing and based their rule on that. Life surely does change, and not always for the better. Sometimes I would like to go back and spend time with mom and dad again, just being together and warm and happy in our little house. I wonder what kind of memories our grand kids will have someday? Nothing like mine. I wish all my family and friends some of that warm fuzzy feeling from the past, hopefully happy thoughts and memories for you too. And maybe this year will be a better year, how I pray for peace on earth, understanding and caring for each other, doing things to help where ever possible. that's what we are here for, to care for our brothers and sisters and make life the best we can for everyone. Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all.

Aromatherapy, Thyroid ideas, Jack fruit, what?

I am blessed with an amazing family. kids, sisters. grand kids, great grand kids and friends scattered through all the places I have traveled through along this journey called life. For a good many years I have been studying what we eat, what's in it, on it etc, and what it does to our bodies. Anything grown with GMO's is not good for anyone and we are slowly waking up to that fact. Dairy and meat products are next in line, full of anti biotics, inhumane practices, hormones that alter youngsters bodies, so much to think about. I quit milk and dairy products for the most part 40 years ago. And after all the scary recalls on hamburger and meats with ecoli etc, I stopped eating red meats and have only had chicken and turkey for some time. Organic. My Grand daughter has done some research on dairy and meat, and is now baking in her bakery with all plant based products. And she is teaching me a lot more. She found something called Jack Fruit. Its grown in south American countries, the trees get to 70 feet tall and bear 100 pounds of fruit a year. They might grow in southern Florida or California, or Texas, but no where else. The fruit is like pulled chicken or pork, and can be made into sandwiches with bar be que or adobo sauce or what you like. Amazing. Never too old to learn something new. Sea food has been on my hit list too, most of the things people eat are bottom feeders, living on the excrement of other sea creatures. Not appealing. Ok, moving on. There has been a lot of talk about candles, unless they are beeswax or soy, they are carcinogenic. I have been using misting fountains for about 15 years now, , and the new thing is a difuser. Into these you put essential oils, designed for what ails you. If you have sinus, colds, bronchitis etc you could use camphor oil and eucalyptus oils, smells like vicks and helps clear your lungs. I like a mix of lavender and vanilla just for calming and relaxing. Another blend for congestion is 3 drops of peppermint oil, 2 drops of eucalyptus oil, 2 drops of tea tree oil and 1 drop of lemon essential oil, mixed and added to your difuser. lacking that, you could put it in a pan and simmer it on your stove. If you crave a holiday scent, try cinnamon, cloves, spicy smelling oils. I recently purchased a new one from Piping Rock called Christmas, have it going today and love it. Using oils again, if you are having thyroid woes, to boost thyroid function mix 1 drop each of lemongrass, clove, myrrh and peppermint oils, difuse or simmer. Also massage into the adrenal area, Slow down an overactive thyroid, use 1 drop of myrrh, 1 drop of lemongrass and massage into thyroid area and on the bottoms of your feet. There are many place to get good oils, Mountain Rose Herbs, Piping Rock, Swanson Vitamins, and on and on. Even Amazon has a good supply. The fire in the Smoky Mountain Park is finally out. So much damage, 14 dead, thousands of acres burned, homes and businesses destroyed. All by a couple of kids, one 13, one 17 walking through the park tossing lit matches into the dry leaves. A tourist caught them on camera and thus they were apprehended. What an awful thing to do. Seems the whole world is responding, donations and help coming from all over. There are still an amazing amount of good people who are wanting to help their fellow man when trouble comes. It's getting close to Christmas, have my little tree up and music playing, and have baked a few cookies and made some truffles. Hope you are about ready too, what a great time to gather with family and be aware of how much we have, and that family is much more important than any gift under the tree. Give your family extra hugs and love this year. We all have much to celebrate. Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks, Laundry soap changing weather

Its been nice and warm for late November, but with the warm, we have had no rain since August. There are so many fires burning in the south, right here in our area we have had one on Neddy Mountain, about 10 miles away that left us gasping with the smoke and setting off smoke alarms. This morning the first firefighter fatality was reported. We are blessed to have only had smoke, and woke to a light rain this am. Hope it does some good. Yesterday 22 new fires started, some folk already leaving their homes for safer places. It would be great to see all this end, and sadly, many of these fires were set, I never come to grips with people who purposely set out to hurt others. Not why we are here. As usual, I have so much to be grateful for, starting with my family, and of course a home I love, is paid for and suits me. We woke to a light rain this am, hope it does some good for the fires. The temps will be dropping all day, into the 20s tonight and for the next few nights, but then warming up to more seasonal levels. Hard to believe we have left summer behind and are now into the holiday season. I have been using a laundry soap that works well, smells nice and is super cheap. If you are tired of clogged plumbing and high prices, you might want to try this. In the laundry section of your store, find a 4 pound box of washing soda, and 4 pound box of Borax, each about $2.00. Then look for a bar of Fels Naptha soap. Mix the powders, and grate the bar of soap into them, stirring well. Store in a covered container and use a heaping tablespoon full for each load. Costs about 7 cents per load, should last about a year for small families. I made a half batch for myself, I don't wash that much. Want to make your carpet smell like the holidays? Mix up 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 2 cups of baking soda, 1 T or more of ground cloves, 1 bay leaf crunched, in a shaker can. I used to buy Parmesan cheese in big jars, and saved all those. They make excellent shakers. Don't buy them now as research shows they are stretched by adding sawdust to them. Better to buy a chunk and grate your own. It's dark and gloomy this morning but we do need rain so no complaints. The Earth now comes into her sleeping, restoring time, Not fond of winter but at least it's shorter here than a lot of places. I do hope you and your family have a lot of reasons to be grateful this year and will spend time with them. Happy Holidays and Good health to you all. s

My Blessed Life, and some good recipes for around the house

I was sitting here drinking my coffee a few days ago, looking up the mountain at the beautiful fall colors and thinking how lucky I am. Then I realized its not luck. I have been blessed from birth to today. The Bible says we are conceived by God before our parents conceived us. I was born into a Christian family, went to church from likely a few weeks old and lived among all my close relatives from the beginning. My grandad died the day I was due from pneumonia, I never got to know him sadly, I am sure he was a very special man. Mom and dad married and had moved in with her mom, so when I was born, I had 3 people to hug and cuddle and read to me. When mom's sister married, she and her hubby lived at Gram's too. Always a lap, a playmate and lots of love. We moved when my second sis was on the was and we ran out of room. But always close. We could walk to Great Grams, assorted cousins etc and when there was need in the family they were always there to help out. When I had polio, cousins Claude and Genevieve were first to come and help set up the bed and equipment I needed. Hospitals were full due to the epidemic. To this day, I am grateful for the life I have lived, places I have been and seen and the family I have. My kids have all turned out to be loving caring people, could not be prouder of them. And I have such wonderful grand-kids and even 2 great grand kids that are the best. One of those grandsons, Paul, put Pat's name on a wall at Wrigley field after the Cubs finally won this year, Pat would have loved that, he wanted that win all his life. Oh yes, I fell out of grace at times, when I was young and foolish but always came back and cling to what I hold dear in life. And yes I am opinionated about a lot of things. My upbringing taught me the Bible is always right, and we don't change God's word. So the things we are told we MUST accept are not what we were taught. I accept people for what they are, but the sins I do not. I do not watch shows on tv that use bad language, mom always said people that cussed had no skills with words and did not know better, and she was a teacher. I do not like blood and guts and violence, we are teaching our kids way too much of that. If I watch tv, its the stations that run the old stuff, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, McHales Nave, Designing Women, and the few stations that carry family things, like Inspiration and Hallmark. Most of the time I have music playing, it calms and soothes and I love it. Have a good library of CDs, oldies and classical. I am very happy on this quiet Mountain, once again I have been led to a place I love. On another subject, I had some nasty scratches in my table legs and cabinets, hit them with my wheel chair a lot. So here is a great way to fix them. In a glass jar put 3/4 cup of oil, I use sunflower as it's not sprayed, and 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. Shake. Use a paper towel to wipe onto the damaged areas, do not wipe off but do not apply too heavy, it soaks in and hides the bad spots. Can not believe how well it worked. I also made my first round of laundry detergent this week, a big box, 4 lbs, of washing soda, a big box of borax and a bar of grated Fels Naptha soap. Smells nice, works well, easy on plumbing and cheap, about 7 cents per load, use one heaping tablespoon unless very soiled , then maybe a tad more. It is much cooler now, think the days of 80s and 90s are over for a time. Looking forward to holing up and keeping warm for a spell. Socking up on beans, rice and shelf stable stuff in case we get stuck inside for a while. Hope you are well, and enjoying the changing seasons, be well.

Surgery, trips, safe hand sanitizer

What a crazy last week it was. With many thanks to my patient son Doug, who took me back and forth to Knoxville so many times I lost track. Had a cataract removed on a Tuesday, had to go back for a check up on Wednesday. The surgery went well but after it was over, we were stuck on the second floor as the power had gone out and the elevator was not working. So getting home was a little later than planned. The next day checkup was fairly fast but on the way home we got behind a long long line of traffic, we slowly moved until we got to an accident scene, that looked to involve several cars. All kinds of emergency vehicles were responding. So I spent a week sleeping with a shield over the eye, not real comfy, kind of made a lot of sweating. And eye drops,3 times a day, 3 kinds. So this week, one return trip that was a doozy, as I got out of Doug's car, I hit the switch for windows and locks. We were partly pulled into a parking spot but he stopped, and got me out of the car before pulling in as the space was tight. And then we realized I had locked the doors and the car was running with the key inside. Duh. Felt like an utter idiot. I went on in, by the time I was done, Doug had come in, he called AAA who happened to have a guy a block away who got the car open. Well, if that was not enough, when we left the office, we could not get out as someone had locked the door from the other side. There is a series of 3 doors across the building, and we were behind door number one. Another couple was there too, and Doug went around the building and let us all out. Whew. Finally home, have one more check up middle of next month. Not sure I want to do the second eye, such a hassle. The last few days I peeled, chopped and cooked pears into pear butter and sauce. Now I am getting back into a somewhat normal routine. The last few weeks the news has been running articles on using hand sanitizer and anti bacterial soap, they contain triclosan which is not considered a safe ingredient. The soap is being re formulated, but in the meantime if you think you need to use such and item, I have a recipe that is safe. Actually, good old soap is good, and better for you to use. But here is the recipe:10 drops of essential lavender oil, 30 drops of tea tree oil, 1 Tablespoon of witch hazel, 8 ounces of pure aloe vera gel, 1/4 teaspoon vitamin E oil. Mix all together and put in a pump hand soap container, Shake lightly before use. Its approaching Fall on the calendar but still in the 90s here. Time to start getting the yard ready for winter. Not my favorite time, cold is not my best thing these days. I will take the heat over that. But it will be nice to see some crisp temperatures, and fall leaves one of these days. The holidays will get together and roll past in a blur, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Hope we all take time to enjoy the changes. take care, stay well.

Toxic Tomatoes

My very first blog was prompted by watching migrant workers picking green tomatoes here in Edwina TN. Why? Ripe tomatoes have the best flavor. Well, you can't ship them ripe or they will rot. So here is a tale of what I see in these fields. Early in spring, March, the fields are turned, long tunnels of plastic are installed with heavy doses of fertilizer under them, not sure whats in the fertilizer. Shortly, migrant workers plant tomato plants, grown from GMO seeds, into those rows. For the next few months, they are sprayed constantly with weed and bug killers. Its now August and the green tomatoes have been picked, packed and shipped. When they arrive at their destination, they are placed in ethylene gas chambers to ripen. Look up www.acadamia.edu/23211590. If a man were to enter that chamber while the tomatoes are ripening, the gas is strong enough to kill him. Its absorbed into the fruit. Then its sent on to be processed into all sorts of tomato products, ketchup, pizza and spaghetti sauces, marinara, and canned tomatoes of all types, from sauce and paste to diced and whole, and juice. A good share are packed into cans with white lining, butyl hydroxalated touethylene, also very toxic. And sent to you to eat. Now those fields are sprayed again, with something so potent, the tomato bushes and unusable to packers ripe tomatoes, literally thousands of them , are brown and crunchy in 24 hours. Signs are posted saying "If you eat these you will die" and then all that poison is turned into the ground, waiting for a new crop to be planted in it. If you start checking it out, you will ind that most produce is grown with sprays by the Big Six, Monsanto, Syngenta, Basf, Bayer, Dupont and Dow. These sprays are killing our bees, butterflies and us. Graphs have been done showing the direct increase in cancer, arthritis, allergies,Alzheimer, etc since these growing practices began, about 30 years ago. Before then, cancer in a child was rare, ADHD was not known, you get the picture. it's not that we need research to find cures, we need to stop eating what is causing all this. But that would be costly to the BIg SIx and Big Pharma and doctors who make a great living trying to treat these ills. And of course, insurance factors in. If we were not sick, how would they make money? When I started this study there were some countries banning these growing practice, now over 64 have done so and will not buy the U S 's GMO grown crops, in fact we are importing corn from other countries because folk are wising up and demanding better food. So our farmers are loosing pay checks. . I am going to give you a list of sites to look up to verify all this, and there are hundreds more, you can do your own research and learn just how badly we are being fed. Get smart, buy organic, it will change how things are done if we refuse the garbage we are now fed. Please do some looking and learning, and get healthy. We are destroying our planet and ourselves with greed. And here they are, good reading to you. naturalsociety.com/conventionalfood, www.ewg.org/agmag/2014, articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archives/2013/06/09/monsanto

Brew Your Own Anti biotic, to stay well this coming season

Hard to believe that school is back in session, and fall is not far away. When school resumes, bugs come home and germs get spread around. I have a recipe you need to start now as it takes two weeks to brew, but this is almost exactly what I have been making for coughs and colds for many years. So first, your need a quart glass jar, with a tight fitting lid. Into that jar put 1/4 cup of chopped garlic. 2 fresh hot peppers, chopped, the hotter the better, 1/4 cup of grated ginger, 1/4 cup of chopped onion, 3 tablespoons of honey , 1 tablespoons of powdered turmeric, 2 tablespoons of grated horseradish. Stir well, and add 3 cups or what fits in your jar leaving an inch of head space. Shake. Place in a cool dark area and shake daily for 2 weeks. Strain, put in clean jar, and take at least 1 tablespoon a day to boost your immune system and prevent colds, flu etc. Well worth the fixing time. I have a problem finding fresh horseradish but you can buy a jar of just horseradish, not made into a spread, in the condiment section of the store. The garden is slowing down a bit now, still getting zucchini and tomatoes, and a few cukes. The pear trees are loaded. In fact, they are so heavy, a branch fell onto my roof and into my Dish, disrupting my tv service. My son came down with his chain saw and took down the offending branches. The tree right at the back of my house grows very tall, 30 feet maybe, limbs that are very thin and can't support the weight of all the pears on it. Looks like a lot of pear butter will be made this fall, better go buy more jars. Our new kitten is so cute, even though my older cat is still hissing at it, we are making progress, boy, could I use some of that energy. She is like a whirling Tasmanian dervish. Makes me tired just watching her. She is still very young, about 10 weeks old now. It's Fair time, seeing a lot of them ongoing in the area,including one that injured three kids on one of the rides, so glad they are all improving, there have been too many accidents this year already. Be cautious. Hope you have the school shopping done and are getting ready to settle into the routine again, I do not have to go there now, but keep watch over my grandkids and great grandkids school progress. Bought my first Christmas gift, so have started the shopping for December. Have a great week, til next time, stay well.