Self Care Archives - Page 3 of 3

January 29, 2019May 21, 2020

For The Love of Lavender

Everybody loves lavender, don’t they? Do you know anyone who doesn’t?

Last month I wrote an article about the gifts my granddaughter and I made for her teachers. You can find that article here.

Bundle of lavender — A bundle of lavender and wheat. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

In that article I told you I would go over the herbs we used in those gifts.

I thought I’d start by telling you some of the awesome benefits of lavender, a very old and well loved flower/herb.

Here’s just a few of the benefits everybody should know about this beautiful flower.

Everybody knows lavender for its beautiful scent and relaxing qualities. It’s said to relieve stress, lift moods and relieve the agitation that comes with dementia. I wish I had known that years ago.

Germany actually has patented a product called Silean that’s been shown to be as effective as Ativan in helping adults diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorders.

A drying rack full of lavender — Drying lavender. You can only imagine how lovely that lavender smells. Picture courtesy of
Prairie Lavender Farm.

Another study showed when the essential oils were used in nursing homes and was shown to decrease falls. Now that’s pretty cool, says the old lady writing the article.

All these things have long been Lavender’s claim to fame.

But did you know, there’s a lot more uses for lavender and some you might not have thought or heard of before.

It’s good when it’s used as an antiseptic and antimicrobial. Both of which help prevent infections and decrease pain.

I’ve used the essential oil to relieve a minor burn I got from pulling something out of the oven. I read about that somewhere and decided to give it a try and was shocked at how well it worked.

A few days later I read a little more on the subject and found out it promotes tissue healing too.

Lavender with a bee. — A bee and his lavender flowers. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Then I found this study that showed that kids who had their tonsils taken out took less Tylenol (or its equivalent) when they inhaled lavender essential oils after surgery. That’s pretty awesome, cause I know how bad that hurts.
**(“Evaluation of the Effect of Aromatherapy with Lavender Essential Oil on Post-tonsillectomy Pain in Pediatric Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 77, no. 9 (2013): doi:10.1016/j.ijporl.2013.07.014 )

Rows of lavender — Beautiful rows of lavender. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Lavender’s considered a warming herb which means it makes a great tea when you’re a little under the weather and have a bit of a chill.

And on top of everything else it can help promote digestion. Who knew!!

And here’s a little history.

Did you know Cleopatra was said to have used lavender as one of her secret weapons for seduction? It seemed to have worked on Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar.

Lavender with a butterfly — Looks like a sweet meal. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

And at one time, the sprigs were hung in doorways to protect against evil spirits. And added to baths to drive evil spirits and demons away from cranky kids, then used to rejuvenate adults (probably after giving those cranky kids a bath and putting them to bed).

There’s one more thing it’s good for.

Lavender is an edible flower and there are a ton of recipes out there, which is great since it’s so good for digestion.

Dried lavender flowers — Dried lavender. Great for teas and cooking.

What I love most and make regularly, is my most favorite way of using lavender and that’s in a loose leaf tea.

I use it together with a lot of different herbs but what I mix it with most is lemon balm tea. 3 parts lemon balm and 2 parts lavender is the best.

It doesn’t only smell divine but it tastes great.

So, the next time you need to kick back and relax, grab a cup of lavender tea. Enjoy the warm feeling it gives you and its lovely scent.

Enjoy these small things a little more.

Chairs in the shade under a tree — A lovely place to relax. Picture courtesy of Prairie Lavender Farm.

Remember to use organic UNSPRAYED herbs or flowers of any kind for whatever your using. You want to put the best quality products in and on your body that you can afford.

If you’ve tried anything lavender, let me know how it worked out for you and what you loved about it. I’d really like to know.

I want to thank Prairie Lavender Farms for letting me use the beautiful pictures taken on their farm. Please visit them online here and if you live nearby, I hope you can get by to see them in person.

Until next time…

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey

January 15, 2019January 11, 2019

The Best Homemade Chapstick

So, have you ever thought of making your own homemade chapstick? Well, you should, cause it’s easy. And because 1 recipe makes a ton of chapstick.

The basic recipe includes 2 ingredients, almond oil and bees wax. That’s it, really.

Almond oil is used because it’s not as greasy feeling as coconut and some of the other carrier oils. You could always make it that much better and infuse your almond oil with calendula flowers and make it that much more nourishing for your lips.

Yep, it really is that simple.

Do you know What’s in Chapstick

Have you ever read the ingredients in chapstick? I just looked them up and it’s crazy!

Here is the list of inactive ingredients from the Pfizer website.

With the active ingredients listed as Avobenzone, Octinoxate and White petrolatum.

How many of those ingredients do you know?

Well, now you’ll always know what’s in your chapstick and it’s so inexpensive to make. I wanted to say it’s cheap to make but that really sounds bad, but anyway.

How To Make The Best Homemade Chapstick

Before you start, you’ll want to get your tubes and/or tins set up and ready. This is a cup of oil and 2 oz of wax and it made 25 1-oz tubes and 7 2-oz tins. Never hurts to have a couple of extra, just in case. I link below where I get mine.

Start with 1 Cup Almond oil

Mix with 2 oz Bees wax.

A side note about bees wax. You can see from the picture that I’m cutting from a block. The first bees wax I bought, I thought I was doing good by buying more for less. While this wax is just as good, it’s SO hard to cut up or shave off. This is where I buy my bees wax. It’s awesome wax and they have several different ways you can buy it. I highly recommend buying the pastilles or 1 oz bars unless you are making candles. Just my opinion, but I’ve used both and it’s SO worth it, trust me.

Melt wax and oil over a double boiler or very low heat. I’ve made my own double boiler. That’s a medium sauce pan with the glass measuring cup sitting on a canning ring. It’s easy to make something similar.

If you want to use essential oils, add them after you’ve removed the oils from the heat. It’ll take about 1 tsp, give or take. Start small and work up. You can always add more, but you can’t remove it.

Then pour into chapstick tubes or small tins. Sometimes this can be a challenge, but it’s doable. There are tube holders I’ve seen, but I haven’t found a need to buy one yet.

I’m sure there are a lot of places to buy these (or you could re-use tubes if you are keeping them for yourself), but here is where I’ve bought the tubes and here is where I bought the tins.

So there you have it. Simple homemade chapstick, that’s easy and inexpensive to make. Not often you find that combination. I hope you like this one and, if you need to, can adjust it to make it perfect it for you.

If you have a different recipe let me know. If you have an essential oil combination you love to use, let me know that too. Leave those ideas and recipes in the comments below to share with anyone else who may want to give it a try.

And if you know of someone who might want to give this a try, share it with them.

I hope you enjoy it. I make it and give it away during the holiday season to family and friends. It’s makes so much it would take me forever to use it up.

Until next week–

Health, Wealth & Blessings~Tracey

December 25, 2018August 7, 2019

7 Tips To Help You Learn To Relax

Do you ever feel like you need to work at relaxation? Sounds like an oxy-moron, doesn’t it? But nonetheless, it’s true. For most of us relaxation actually is close to impossible. In our day in age, relaxation has become an art…a hard earned art and then, only if you practice it.

I have to remind myself several times a day to relax. It’s not something I remember to do naturally. If I don’t my shoulders and neck start to hurt and I can get a headache before I even realize it’s starting.

Just because it’s the holidays doesn’t mean we all can’t learn to relax and enjoy the season just that much more. Here are a number of different ways I’ve learned, depending on where I am and what I’m doing.

Here are 7 tips to help you learn to relax for both work and home.

If I’m at work, I have to be able to use a quick method and it has to be pretty low-key as to what I’m doing.

I . I sit at a desk all day and in some cases I can sit there for several hours at a time using a computer, so I try to stop every hour or so. I’ll put my hands in my lap, sit up straight, feet flat on the floor and take several deep breaths with my eyes closed. While doing this I visualize a white/yellow light above my head and as I exhale, that light rains down on and through my head and body. With each breath my shoulders and/or neck will feel just a little more relaxed. After about 4 or 5 breaths, I’m ready again.

2. Or, I’ll take a deep breath and lift and tighten my shoulders, hold both for a count of 4 or 5 and then release my breath and relax and roll my shoulders slowly, again to a count of 4 or 5. Repeating this for 4 or 5 times.

While I’m at home I can use longer methods that are a bit more involved and more fun.

3. Sometimes a hot bath with Epsom salts, or maybe some bubble bath always with essential oils and of course candles.

A hot bath with candles. — Sitting in a hot bath makes all the difference

4. A bit of music maybe a mask made of crushed oats, yogurt and honey.

5. Listening to music and just watching the flame dance on the candle can be magic.

A lit candle. — Candles are always helpful

6. Maybe take a walk and enjoy nature.

A nature walk. — Taking a walk in nature is a perfect way to relax

7. As the saying goes, stop and smell the roses, enjoy the view, listen to the birds and even the wind blowing through the trees.

A pond with ducks. — Enjoy the wild life too.

The End Game

The point is instead of thinking of all the things that need done, just listen to what’s around you, enjoy what you see. Look for the simple things and fill your head with paying attention to those things.

Whatever works for you, use it. We don’t do it enough and it makes all the difference in dealing with stress and strain in our full everyday lives.

If you know someone who needs to learn to relax be sure and share this post with them.

Be sure to subscribe and receive at least one new DIY every week.

Health, Wealth & Blessings~ Tracey

December 11, 2018August 10, 2019

Essential Oils

Do you have any idea how awesome essential oils really are?

I know it took me a long time before I really understood the potential of real, high quality essential oils.

Bottles of essential oil. — Essential oils

Since our grand-daughter was born our lifestyle has moved to a more and more organic and natural one, making most of our household products and using less and less store bought cleaning supplies and personal products.

The use of essential oils just fit with that perfectly.

I began seeing DoTerra Oils a lot. I’d used a few and knew their scents were top notch.

I did some of my own research and found they were of high quality.

I really liked that they are delivered through the mail because I really hate shopping. Then I found out how to get discounted oils.

DoTerra allows you to pay a fee (kind of like Costco) and you get wholesale pricing.

Nothing minimum to buy, just buy what you use, if you want. You can go on to sell them if you want, but it’s not necessary.

There are several of the blends I’m really happy with. And for what I use and how much I use them, that fee was minimal.

If I go on to sell some, that’s a bonus.

I continue to learn more and more. I’m really happy with what I’ve learned and experienced so far and I can’t wait to try new and different things.

Essential oils are the easiest “help yourself” I’ve ever run across. They can work miracles just as the actual herbs can.

They can change a mood, change an appetite, they can help you focus or help you sleep. The range of the uses of essential oils is almost endless.

I’ve used them in baths, in body sprays, in puppy sprays, room and upholstery sprays and personal care products like lotions, shampoos and body oils. You just can’t go wrong because, they smell awesome, and make the house smell great.

The scent of the actual herb is generally the same scent of the essential oils. The strength of the essential oils makes the herb so much more diverse.

In some of my other posts, you can read the different uses of different scents from various herbs. Whatever an her does in a tea, you will generally get the same affect in a scent.

There are a ton of choices for whatever you may be looking for. Try them each separately to determine what you truly like and then mix and match and create your own favorite blends.

If you’d like to look at more information, you can visit here. There’s a ton of information on this site for whatever you’re looking for.

A diffuser and essential oils. — Oils, a diffuser and candle.

I’d love to know what you’ve discovered about essential oils from your experiences. Leave me a note and let me know how you use them.

Until next time-

Health, Wealth & Blessings ~ Tracey