Posted in Food, Herbs, Womanhood

Weekly Photo Challenge: Culture – I’ve Been Baking!

Lavender sugar cookies. The house smells divine.

But I’ve loaded almost all those wonderful cookies into zipper bags to donate to a charity. (I saved a small set for a son whose wife is on vacation . . . )

You see, I have joined in with a group of blogger ladies from all over our fair state to make a bake sale happen. The purpose is raising money to help feed the hungry. I love this idea. I, from the working class, make ritzy cookies and wealthy people from a wealthier culture pay too much for them. Then the money goes to buy sensible food for those in another culture who are struggling to find even a bite to eat. It just seems to jive.

So, here is the photo!

The Cookies!
The Cookies!

And here is the recipe:

1 lb butter, softened
1 c. sugar
1 c. powdered sugar
Blend above, well.
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Blend in well.
4 1/2 c. flour
2 Tbsp. pulverized, food-grade lavender blossoms
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
Sift above and mix in, well.
Drop by teaspooon onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with glass dipped into sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Mmm!

Posted in Believe it or not!, Blessings of Habit, Health, Herbs

Whatever Works. A Code

dose globules de 1 gramme

I’ve had a “code id by doze.”

But in one day I was well.

This was an entirely untimely disease that struck me very suddenly and flattened me.

In one day, I was well.

On last Wednesday afternoon, I was fine. By nightfall I was sneezing, weakening, and worried. By Thursday morning, I had a fever, aching sinuses, and zero energy.

We were leaving for a 12-hour car trip to an important destination on Saturday morning, very early. North.

However, by the very next night, I was well enough to realize I need not stay home, and on Saturday morning, very early, I felt cured.

I think you would like to know how I did this, so I will explain and you must believe I do not get any reward for mentioning the products I used. Here goes:

  • On Wednesday night, when I started feeling bad, I was out of the house, but had one very wonderful product in my purse: Sambucol. I keep that in my purse if at all possible. It is for taking at the first sign of a cold. I was sneezing and chilling. So I took it often. More than once I have found this product stops a cold for me. The directions call for melting the tablet in the mouth, but I know that works best for many people if we consider inside the cheeks the best melting place for these types of supplements.
  • Once I got home, I took Oscillococcinum. I took another dose right before bed, too. We try to keep this wonderful cold and flu stopper on us at all times, too, and I should have had some of it in my purse, but did not. My husband keeps this at work, too, because he, too, finds it supremely effective at stopping viruses. Again, it is to be melted and held in the mouth for as long as possible.
  • I often use another similar product called Coldcalm, and because I was worried about missing out on the trip, I chose this occasion to use it also.
  • Finally, I added Umcka Cold Care drops to my treatment. I was serious about getting well, you can tell.
  • With supper, instead of my usual beverage, I’d had water with Airborne in it. I always drink this when I’ve been around sick folks or when I feel my immunities need boosting. So by the time I knew something was amiss, I was already geared for action.
  • I keep a box of Celestial Seasonings Complete Care Echinacea tea , and made myself a double of that at bedtime. Mmm.
  • Also at bedtime, I took one Benedryl capsule, since my nose was beginning to burn and stop up. I also rubbed Mentholatum over my nose.
  • Because I ached and could feel fever coming on, and because I cannot tolerate aspirin, I took a couple of white willow bark capsules.
  • I went to bed early. Sleep is very important.
  • In the middle of the night I woke and drank a large glass of water, following it with another dose of “Oscillo” plus another dose of Sambucol.
  • All day, Thursday, I rested in a recliner and repeated all the above as often as needed. One exception: I used Sudafed in the daytime for my stopped nose and ears, at a half-dose.
  • I had absolutely NO sugar. Sugar zaps immunities. I seldom have sugar anyway, but was extra careful at this time.
  • By Friday morning, I felt quite a bit better; by Friday afternoon, I knew I could go on the trip.
  • By Saturday, although I took all those meds with me on the trip, I never used them, except for Benedryl at night. I was well.

The important aspect of all this is that I was able to catch the progress of the disease in the very smallest beginnings of it. Once a virus gets the upper hand, these products do not work for me. Nothing does, then.

You may price the above products and if you think them expensive, you have not been to the doctor lately, and you certainly have not had to go two or three times before you got well. We consider the price of these products health insurance, or even health “ensurance”.

Posted in Blessings of Habit, Herbs, Inspiring, Recipes, Who's the mom here?, Wisdom

$aving of the Green – Blog Carnival

"Waste No Food... Food is Wasted... Food ...

I’ve been writing about saving money (saving resources, saving the ecology, etc.) for years, but all that work is scattered around on this site, and rather hard to find amidst over 700 posts.

Now I’ve been invited to help a fellow blogger create a “carnival” which is basically a collections of bloggers using the same topic. Rather than rewrite so much content, I am creating this list as my entry in her project.

Saving resources in a sort of do-by-self way has been the theme of our great country for many centuries. We were not always motivated by the same exact ethic when we scraped and made do, but we always just could never feel right throwing away perfectly good stuff.

I guess it came too hard. My mom always reminded me of all the starving people in some far-away place. Many of them have since moved here, but still, how cruel to throw away that last bite of food on the plate, when they would do almost anything to obtain it for themselves! Ahem — except work, that is.

Well, and then there are the ones who have managed to get the food off our plates, but that’s another subject.

The facts remain, though. If you own a patch of dirt and some seed, you can eat. If you bother with putting food up in jars, you can save our tin resources. If you eat leftovers you save food. If you grow your own, you save money on groceries.

In other words, whether you save out of poverty, stubbornness, habit, frugality, guilt, or greed, DO join in this grand, centuries-old fad and $AVE something!

Now, enjoy the list, and don’t forget, several others are contributing on other sites you can find here.

That’s all for now. I probably lost some, so let me know if you find them. Thanks.

Posted in Herbs, Inspiring, Photos, Scripture, Wisdom

. . . They Brought to Him Gifts . . .

Bringing gifts on camels

The first recorded baby shower in the world, perhaps, was when the Magi brought to Joseph and Mary, and their new baby, Jesus, three amazing gifts from their traveling treasure chests.

Gold

What? No gift card for Baby Gap? No.

Gold.

  • Gold cannot be canceled and is the standard for all worth. Just as Jesus is.
  • Gold never tarnishes, never rusts, never becomes corrupt in any way. Again, like Jesus.
  • Gold is the decoration of kings, the drapery of kings, a symbol of kings. Which is what Jesus is: King of Kings.

Frankincense

No Lysol Spray? No.

Something much nicer and much more meaningful.

  • The aged sap of the boswelia bush, obtained by beating and cutting it, frankincense was considered as precious as gold. Okay, so Jesus is more precious.
  • Frankincense was both appealing and purifying. As is Jesus.
  • Priests burned frankincense to mingle with prayer; it is a symbol of prayer. Jesus is our High Priest and ever lives to pray for us.

Myrrh

No Mennen’s?

No. Something much more foretelling.

  • Myrrh was a valuable resource from the Middle East, a fitting gift for such an extraordinary birth as Jesus’.
  • Myrrh was a healer and lifted pain. It was offered to Jesus in a drink during His crucifixion.
  • Myrrh speaks of death and was combined with aloes inside Jesus’ burial shroud.
  • It’s bitter properties also foretold the rejection Jesus would face.

How could these three wise men have known their gifts were perfect?

Probably the same way they knew when and where to find the Babe.

They paid attention to the things of God.

We should try it.

_____________________

Image via Wikipedia

Posted in Herbs, Recipes

Announcing Another New Page – Recipes!

Cookbook

Okay.

I know this site is a mix.

But so is home life.

One minute you’re mopping the face of a heart-broken pre-schooler
while dispensing wisdom about overcoming heartbreak.

The next minute, supper is due.

Or past due.

You come here for help and encouragement about the home.

Me, too, sometimes.

And if I am not feeding a soul, I am feeding a tummy.

Or 17 tummies.

And looking for that recipe.

Or wishing for a new recipe.

When one of my own recipe cards is lost, I come here, myself.

Really!

I need that recipe!

When you need a recipe,

or a boot in the motivator,

or you just want to think about food,

COME HERE!

 And have fun.

P.S. I know I have not found all the recipes I’ve posted at Home’s Cool, and need to search for more. They’re tucked into all sorts of places, kinda like at my house. If you find one somewhere, here, and it’s not on the new page, let me know, please. I’ll send you a yum recipe of your choice from my private stash as a reward.