Things to try, Carrot soup, Spring on the mountain

It's that wonderful time, when you look up the mountain, it's glorious with dogwoods blooming and redbuds, all against that lovely pale green of spring leaves. This morning it was 28 degrees in Seveirville, not sure what it was here, no sign of frost but feels so cold. We had a warm winter, so this is not feeling much like spring. I love watching the earth come alive, we have had something blooming since late February this year. I don;t watch it often , but caught a part of the Home and Family show on HGTV a while back, they had some ideas to try. If you want those popular pouty looking lips with out botox, try this. Mix some liquid lip balm with 1 tsp cinnamon and a good sprinkle of cayenne powder. Make it into a paste, and apply it to your lips with a cotton swab. If you don't have liquid lip balm, you could melt the solid stuff, adding a little carrier oil to it for the right consistency. Not sure I would try it, but it might be interesting. This one I can say would work. When we were in the Phillipines, for 25 cents American money I went every morning to the neighborhood hair salon and had my hair done, it was long and they did a beehive, french twist or other fancy do. And they always used beer to set and hold and make it shiny. So here is the next tip - Mix beer, maybe 1 cup, with an egg yolk. Apply to clean wet hair , cover with a shower cap and leave on for 30 minutes, rinse well and proceed. You can use beer that's gone flat as a hair set by itself. How about some healthy spring soup? IN a large pot, saute one chopped yellow onion in a little olive oil, when slightly browned add 2 chopped cloves of garlic and 2 inches of grated fresh ginger. Cook 1 minute, then add 2 lbs of cut up carrots, a pinch of red pepper a pinch of salt 2 t honey and 4 cups of chicken or veggie stock. Simmer til carrots are tender, puree with immersion blender. When you put it in bowls, grate a little lime peel over the top and put a spoonful of Greek yogurt on top. This may become my second favorite soup, I also love split pea. Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and the Cantata at church. Looking forward to an inspirational morning. Wishing you and yours a Joyous, blessed Easter season. Til next time, enjoy spring and the fresh veggies that are in the stores.

Spring, and cleaning and refreshing naturally

The winter was warm this year, only a few cold days. Now its early March and the fruit trees are blooming as are some of the ornamental trees. Bradford pears have been showing their white gowns for several weeks now. We are already in a drought, which is sad and scary as we are still recovering from the nasty fires in our area of late. At least there is a lot of cleanup going on to remove old leaves and debris that help fuel fires. Lesson learned. If you are getting ready to do some spring cleaning, here are a few easy recipes to help you out. This is a carpet refresh, does not clean but leaves the room smelling fresh. In a shaker container put 1/2 cup of cornstarch, 2 cups of baking soda, 1 T ground cloves, and 4 to 5 crushed up bay leaves. mix well, sprinkle over entire carpet and let sit one hour, then vacuum well. I keep a huge container of this on hand and use it on my mattress every few weeks. 1 cup baking soda, 1 T homemade fabric softener, mix, sprinkle over mattress, leave an hour and vacuum off. I make my own fabric softener with 3 cups white vinegar, 2 cups hair conditioner, and I like Suave, pick a nice scent, its cheap, and 6 cups of hot water mixed together. If you want to avoid the conditioner, use 1 quart of white vinegar, 25 drops of lavender oil and 1 teaspoons of rubbing alcohol, adding 1/2 cup to final rinse water.While you are cleaning to make the whole house smell nice, put a pot of water on the stove, add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary or a good handful from a jar of dried, a sliced lemon and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and simmer. My new Mother Earth magazine says that thyme oil is as effective as any antibacterial you can buy, so to make a cleaner for you bathroom and kitchen surfaces take a gallon of hot water and add 1/2 cup of pure liquid castile soap plus 10 drops of thyme oil, shake and use to clean. And last today, if you are fighting spring allergies or stuffy noses, make some tea by boiling 2 cups w3ater, and adding 6 T of fresh oregano, brew 10 minutes, strain and drink as needed. Here's hoping you are having a lovely spring, enjoy the longer days.

Yes I am

I am Christian, I am Republican, I am conservative, I am pigheaded, obstinate, stubborn and narrow minded. And I am happy with that. My upbringing had a lot to do with the person I am, mom was black or white, no grey most of her life. We did not argue with her. We were brought up in the church, read our BIble and followed the rules. The world today is full of folk who only believe in themselves and what they can do. I feel bad for them. Revelations says the Bible is GOd's word, we can not add or subtract from it. Anyone who says we can is wrong. And we have let people come along and say we need to change, be tolerant, be accepting etc. Well, we can accept the sinner but not the sin.We do need to love all the people on this planet, and do everything we can to help them, by spreading God's word and shining His light into their dark lives. Today a new president is being sworn in. I did not vote for him. I am not sure what he can or will do, but I am not out there making rash statements, being unaccepting of him, or causing him grief. I hope God leads him to do great things for our country,he was elected so the majority wanted this. I wish the naysayers would just shut up and get in step. Why haven't all those who said they would leave the country if he was elected, not left yet? Enough. It's a lovely morning, we have had spring weather since the snow storm, and I love it. I have a female cardinal that comes in the morning and scolds herself in the rear view mirror on my car. Sometime she brings her mate, and shows him this other bird in the mirror, it's funny. And repeated daily. She must htink it's a rival. The wun is up, we had rain in the night, it will be warm again. And we are just over a month from daffodils and forsythia. Yea. I have made up a refreshing face stuff for morning use, takes out lines and wrinkles, soothes and feels so good. I use a small jar, fill it almost ful with aloe, ad a touch of glycerin, a bit of jojoba oil, soem vitamin E and a good splash of lavender essential oil. Nothing like having a cupboard full of good products to experiment with. Later, have a good week

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.