Category: Health

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Health, Inspiring, Wisdom

7 Ways to Beat that Stale Day

Posted on by Katharine
English: Stale water during a drought at Old M...
English: Stale water during a drought at Old Mill Dam at Cedarock Park near Burlington, North Carolina. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Do you ever have stale days at home?

I don’t mean the air in the house is stale, although it may be, and that may even be part of the trouble. No, I mean one of those days when you cannot put your finger on it, but something just seems off. Missing. Sinking.

Stale.

It can be a job hazard for the home-based woman, because it can quickly lead to a small bout of self-pity, which could turn into a medium-sized bout of disappointment, which might even develop into a big case of the blahs. Mullygrubs. Discouragement. Fear. Anger.

Don’t ask me how I know.

But DO ask me what I’ve learned about how to fix it!

I have learned how to fix it.

Many ways.

I learned from watching the animals, from watching other people, and from “watching” (keeping my eyes fixed on) Jesus. (Hebrews 12:1-3)

  1. Catch a few rays. Open the curtains and blinds and let the sun in. I know you don’t want to. But you know the fastest way to get away from anything is to run in the opposite direction, right? Well, when we’re all darkness inside, it’s best to let in some light. In fact, going outdoors is even better, because sunlight gives us vitamin D, which makes us absorb calcium from our diets, which they say is a catalyst for every chemical reaction that is supposed to happen in the body. Often, when we think shopping, gardening, or taking a walk cheers us, it’s largely exposure to daylight that does the trick. Just sitting on the porch in the sunlight for ten or fifteen minutes may be all you need to get more D. To get more calcium. To get more MO.
  2. Breathe. Open a window. If the north wind is blowing, open a south window, turn down the thermostat, and put on a sweater. Allow some fresh air into the house. Lack of oxygen slows the body and the mind. Not hard to grasp that, but usually during extreme hot or cold weather, we hesitate to let oxygen in. Those are the days we think we have cabin fever, spring fever, or just a blue funk. How little we guess we’re oxygen deprived! I wonder how many of us even acquire Alzheimer’s Syndrome from it!
  3. Get a drink. Not that kind of drink. You don’t have to wag water all day, but if you’ll just chug a glass or so, now and then, you would be surprised. It revs your metabolism, dilutes toxins in the blood, and gives the kidneys something to work with. Even your VISION can become clearer right after a big drink of water. Imagine what it does for your thinking.
  4. Sing. Music has charms. We need it. Be sure you sing a happy song, heh heh. If you cannot sing, whistle. If you cannot whistle either, play a CD. Loud. Let happy music take you where you ought to have been. I am amazed at how much more I like everything about my life when I sing or listen to great, uplifting music. And for ages, I was totally unaware of that about myself, until I found a survey asking if I worked better with or without music. I answered “without” and instantly realized I was WRONG. I constantly whistle while I work, something I learned when I was teensy and viewed the premier of Disney‘s Snow White classic cartoon. Yes, I’m old.
  5. Move it. Get up. Tie on some comfy shoes. Get going. Take a walk. Sweep the front sidewalk. Scrub the tub. Pull weeds. Knead some bread. Clean out a closet. Scrub a smudged door. WHATEVER. Just make yourself a bit breathless. It does wonders for the lymph system if you keep it circulating by moving your major muscles. You just feel better when you move more. I’m not a medical professional, but I’ve heard that major movement even can work like a pain-killer.
  6. Combine all the above. Had you noticed? You can do all the first five ways in one 20-30 minute goal by taking a big glug of water and then taking a walk. Too simple.
  7. Bathe. I don’t mean to say you’re dirty, but don’t we always feel better when our hair is clean and our clothing is fresh? Sometimes, that morning can seem to drag on forever, but after a hot shower or soak, we just have more confidence or something. I think I first noticed this, too, as a child, whenever I would be ill. The first day “back to the land of the living” Mom would make us bathe, although we might still feel weak. She would change our bedding then, and we’d go back to recuperation in clean sheets, clean nightie, and clean skin. I was always surprised that such a big effort on the part of my little sicko self could make me feel so much stronger and rest so much better.
  8. Read your Bible. Get one. If you’re not experienced reading the Bible, get one with red letters, and read the red parts first. You’d be surprised. Sometimes I pray this shorty first: “God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but just tell me something that will fix it, please.” Then I read until it hits me: Oh, what a great truth I forgot! And it ALWAYS hits me, because He is so much more interested in getting me going, than I am.

Okay, there you are. No more excuses. Kick the stale out of your day!

And share with us, PLEASE, what are your tricks for freshening your day? And THANKS!

Posted in Believe it or not!, Health, Herbs

State Senators Seek A.G. Opinion on Marijuana Vending Machines

Posted on by Katharine
English: Snack Machine
Snack Machine (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Dear Friends,

Today The Arkansas Family Council held a press conference announcing they are working with State Senators Jeremy Hutchinson and Johnny Key, who are seeking an opinion from Attorney General McDaniel on whether or not the proposed Issue 5 would open Arkansas up to marijuana vending machines.

Marijuana is dispensed through vending machines in California. Some people are trying to get Connecticut to permit vending machines under its marijuana program. Vending machines seem to be the future of the ‘medical’ marijuana industry.

These machines are basically high-tech snack machines that sell marijuana and marijuana-infused food instead of potato chips.

Having read the measure, I don’t think there’s anything in Issue 5 that would prohibit vending machines. Hopefully Attorney General McDaniel’s office can shed some light on how widespread vending machines might become if Issue 5 passes, next week.

For instance, if Issue 5 passes, can a marijuana dispensary put a vending machine offsite somewhere? Can a dispensary in Magnolia or Jonesboro contract to put a vending machine at a convenience store across town? Can a dispensary put a vending machine out front for people to use in the middle of the night, when the dispensary is closed?

We don’t sell beer out of vending machines. We don’t sell cigarettes out of vending machines. I don’t know why anyone would be comfortable selling marijuana out of vending machines.

You can see the website for the marijuana vending machine (“Med Box”) popular in California here: http://www.thedispensingsolution.com/

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Posted in Health, Home School, Inspiring, Wisdom

Did You Learn to Swim in a Sewer?

Posted on by Katharine
English: Mind that Fence. As the sign says at ...
Mind that Fence. As the sign says at Maltby sewage works, ‘Health and Safety is no accident’, perhaps the loose temporary fence panel could learn a lesson from this.

They say life out there is sink or swim.

They say we learn to socialize by socializing. You know — make enough social errors and you’ll learn, eventually.

What if our children are, instead, just learning to like the smell of sewage?

Or that it is good?

I never could get used to it.

People kept splashing sewage all over me.

Told me I was too sensitive.

Sighs.

I kinda wish more were. How about you?

Anyway, I found a Stream of Water that is Alive and cordoned off the section of sewer where it was entering, for my children to learn to swim.

Also gave them swimming lessons, instead of just throwing them in and hoping.

Made more sense to me.

How about you?

____________________

photo credit: Wikipedia

Posted in Health, Home School, Wisdom

Who Should Home School?

Posted on by Katharine

Physical bullying at school, as depicted in th...
Physical bullying at school, as depicted in the film Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Are you on this list?

  1. Those who think ketchup is not a vegetable
  2. Those who think ketchup is a vegetable
  3. Those who know what bullying feels like
  4. Those who don’t know what bullying feels like.
  5. Those who know there is always free cheese in a mousetrap
  6. Those who care about their children
  7. Those whose conscience is bothering them about lack of school choice
  8. Those whose minds are not concrete (mixed up and permanently set)
  9. Those whose children need to pray before an algebra test
  10. Those who have good horse sense and want their children to have it, too
  11. Those who know the best way to get a life worth living is to make it that way
  12. Those who want to guide their children’s experiences
  13. Those whose hearts are telling them things their minds are not sure about
  14. Those who realize little ones do not learn by the clock.
  15. Those who long for a simpler life
  16. Those who want everything green for their kids
  17. Those whose children have roach allergies
  18. Those whose children stay sick all during the school year
  19. Those who are at home
  20. Those who must travel all the time

You don’t have to cry over spilled milk if you own the cow.

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Posted in Blessings of Habit, Health, Inspiring, Pre-schoolers, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

Huh? Oh. — Repeating as a Step in Learning New Habits

Posted on by Katharine

(302/365) Q W E R T YBe good.

Be quiet.

Be careful.

Behave.

Brush your teeth. Pick up your toys. Clean your plate. Wash your hands. Wear a hat. Feed the dog. Wipe your feet.

Haven’t we all said all those things, and many others, a hundred times, at least?

We should train our children in every habit of good, such as obedience, kindness, and cleanliness.

This produces good adults. We could use a few more good adults.

How do we instill habits into children? The three-stage process is not so hard and begins with repetition.

I can type, from memory, a list of all the countries in Southeast Asia:

Malaysia, Laos, Burma, Kampuchea, Brunei, Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines.

I can type, from memory, a list of all the English auxiliary verbs:

Is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, could, do, does, did, have, has, had.

Formulas for geometry, rules of the road, conjugations of foreign verbs, Bible verses, State capitals, all still reside in my attic, ready for me to climb up there and retrieve them. I learned them through repeating. They may fade as I age, but that will not mean that the repetition I used to learn them was wasted.

Repetition has saved me trips to the reference section of the library. It saves me mistakes, it helps me be a better teacher and helpful person, and it is fun. It is especially fun if after 40 years, I hop on a bike or sit at a keyboard, and every skill is still in place. It makes me very glad for asdf jkl; asdf jkl; asdf jkl; .

Repetition is a great learning tool, one that we can teach our children to enjoy, if we do not mind making a little effort at helping with it — you know, songs, games, flashcards, etc. Our children’s future successes are worth more than a little effort, on our part, and on theirs.

Repeatedly asking the same question is one effort that works. Every time we went shopping, I would ask my children what was the rule. They knew. “If anyone but Mom touches merchandise, we all have to go back to the car.” I made it stick. They knew that, too. That repetition saved many a gift store. As they aged, the question changed: “Did you bring money? No? Then you are not shopping; you are just handling things that belong to the store manager, and not to you.” I thought they’d never learn, but they did.

This policy of repeating was a big part of our learning method throughout life. What is seven times eight? When do we feed the animals, and why? How do we know a tornado may be coming? What’s the first thing to remember in case of fire? What are friends for? Who loves you? Why do you exist? How do we spot a manipulator? What should you do if someone tells you not to tell your mom or dad? What does it actually mean to acknowledge Jesus Christ? What should you look for in a possible future spouse? What should you do if you’re in trouble? Your children can learn any important thing through repetition.

Then they won’t get burnt.

More tomorrow

_____________________

Photo credit: Sarah G…

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Good ol' days, Health, Homemaking, Inspiring, Photos, Wisdom, Womanhood

Ode to a Wringer Washer

Posted on by Katharine
genuine Kenmore wringer on tub
Genuine Kenmore Wringer on Tub

The second-most-viewed post on my site. I cannot figure this, but have loved seeing nearly every week, someone else coming to read this.

Have fun.

My gramma had a laundry wringer. And for a while, so did my mom. I always loved these machines that squeezed the water out of clothing so graphically and intriguingly.

click to view water running off
Click to View Water Running Off

Back then, washing used only one load of soapy water, beginning clean, with white clothing, and proceeded to gradually dirtier and darker clothing and water, until the last thing washed was the dingy dungarees worn to protect the good clothing from animal chores.

no longer dripping
No Longer Dripping

After washing came rinsing, or some said, “wrenching,” which surely they thought referred to the old way of removing extra water, by hand wringing, making the arms and hands feel nearly wrenched out of socket. My gramma put bluing in rinse water to make whites look whiter. I never could understand this substance, bluer than a computer screen, that made things white.

Gramma used homemade soap on clothes. I mean: natural lye made from last winter’s wood ash combined with natural trimmings from natural meat, and yes, she made it herself, on the wood stove in her woodshed, and stacked it everywhere in there to cure. Then she grated it for flakes. It all smelled so fresh and good.

To this day, aroma from homemade soap makes me think of birds calling and locusts scritching combined with comfy sloshy sounds of laundry done during warm laundry days. And my gramma’s voice explaining . . .

The washer, and its accompanying rinse tubs on platforms, rolled creaking out onto the bumpy concrete porch around Gramma’s woodshed. A hose ran first to fill rinse tubs, and later to empty them onto the enormous strawberry patch.

Only large pots of scalding water went into the washer, itself, and yes, heated on that wood stove. All the concrete porches got a scrub-down with used laundry water splashed on, pure and natural.

There were manual and electric versions of the wringer. My gramma had the kind she had to crank and disdained the electric, which could swallow up an arm or break off buttons. She fished clothes out with a stick; the water was that hot. My auntie had one and I didn’t like the noise of it. Besides, cranking the wringer was an honored chore because you had to be old enough to reach and strong enough turn it without let-up.

The wringer and its tray were rotatable to provide also for two tubs of rinse water. Every article of clothing went through the agitation in soapy water, wringing, pouring and dribbling, to kerplunk into the first rinse, and then into the second, before finally being wrung into a laundry basket for hanging on the line.

It seems like so much work, and it was. No wonder laundering was an event with its own day set aside. Imagine dragging all that production outdoors on a daily basis for just one load! Yet, all this was such an improvement over lugging all the laundry to a stream, or boiling it in a huge pot over an open fire.

Yes, it was good, honest work, but that woodshed and that porch were my gramma’s gym and she stayed fit, even into old age. And although she belonged to a gene pool that proved a tendency to plumpness, she always remained trim.

Unlike me.