Home Remedy and other stuff

                                 

These are home health remedies that have been emailed to me or that I found on the Internet.  I have not tried them all and do NOT guarantee the effectiveness of them.  If you try one and it works, or if you have one that works for you, please email me.  Thanks.

Wrinkles & Skin Freshener

• Combine 2 Tbls. vodka, 1 Tbls. fennel seeds, and 1 1/2 tsp. honey. Stir well and allow to sit for 3 days. Strain mixture. Use full strength or add 2 Tbls. water to dilute. Use a cotton ball to apply to face as a toner.
• Apply coconut oil on the portions of skin and face where wrinkles set in and gently massage every night at bed time.
• Banana is wonderful as an anti-wrinkle treatment. Mash 1/4 banana until very creamy.  Spread all over face and leave for 15-20 minutes before rinsing off with warm water followed by a dash of cold. Gently pat dry.

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The following is another email message from the Spark People website.  Sometimes their messages just make so much sense.  It's completely logical and what we know we should be doing but sometimes just don't. 

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."  - John Wooden, Hall of Fame college basketball coach

Believing In Yourself

Limitations can either define us or give us a challenge to outwit. When you look at your abilities, do you see boundaries and limits, or do you see possibilities and potential? Obsessing about weaknesses can blind us to the untapped abilities we already have. You have talent. Everyone does. The secret to success is to find that talent, develop it and push it as far as you can. Grandma Moses might have been a lousy bowler, Einstein probably couldn't sing a lick, Michelangelo could've been unable to speak well in public. So what? They knew what they were good at and rode that pony. Your talent might be right in front of you: where do you get the most compliments? What seems to come easily to you? What do people ask your advice for? Live there. Don't let the rest get in the way.

My problem is feeling like I need to be perfect doing everything.  Not because I'll let myself down if I can't do something...but I don't want to feel like I let everyone else down.  As if the whole world is going to come to a screeching halt if I mess up the gravy or the house doesn't look immaculate all the time.  I guess maybe I should sit down and make a list (another one of my anal things...list making) of my abilities or talents and concentrate on those.  Ya know, ride that pony, lol. 

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The baby is doing much better.  She isn't quite over the being whiney, crabby and mean yet...oh, that's normal temperment for her though, lol.  Seriously, she seems to be feeling better.  The temperature seems to stay down most of the time.  She's still congested, well, not so much congested.  Sometimes her lil' nose looks like a leaky faucet.

I am having to trick her with the medicine though.  She threw up once right after taking it and now refuses to take it.  So I pour a wee bit of 7-UP into a cup and then add her dose of medicine.  She'll usually drink most of it that way. 

So she is doing better, Ray is well and I just need to catch up on many hours of sleep that seem to have been lost over the last few days.  During a crises I seem to do real well on very little sleep.  It's afterwards that it all seems to catch up with me, then I can't seem to remember which sock goes on which foot, lol.

Thanks to everyone for your concern, words of advice and well wishes.  God bless ya'll.
Hugs!

9 years

For Ray...

I forgot to put on the graphic that the poem was written by David Foster and Arthur Janov.

We met 9 years ago today.  You've changed my life in so many ways.  There have been hard times and good times, but I wouldn't trade any of them.  The rough days make the good days that much sweeter.  Without the rough spots I wouldn't be able to appreciate the good ones as much and might take them for granted.

I love you more today than I did yesterday and I will love you more tomorrow than I do today.  I appreciate everything you do to take care of Rylie and myself.  I thank you for caring for my children and welcoming them into your life.  I thank the good Lord for bringing the two of us together.  Thank you for loving me. 

I love you baby.

Sick baby update

Well, I tried and tried to get a real person at the doctors office.  I left a few messages and after about 4 hours of my child being miserable I couldn't take it any more.  She just layed her little head on my lap and was unnaturally quiet.  I could feel the heat emanating from her itty bitty body. 

After waiting to hear back from the doctors office, I finally packed the baby up and took her to the hospital.  Amazing how quickly a ride to the hospital in a cold car (the heater doesn't work and I wrapped her in a blanket) can bring a childs temperature down.  She was amazingly healthy appearing the whole time we were at the hospital. 

The ER doc said that she has an upper respiratory viral infection.  Keep up the fever reducer, whether it be Tylenol or Motrin, and something like Dimetap to relieve the congestion.  He said it should ride its course in 7-10 days.  If she isn't better by next week I am to call her doctor...if I can reach him.

So she appeared almost normal at the hospital, but by the time we got home her fever had returned.  She laid down and took a nap while watching the Disney channel.  She woke up crying (pitifully) about an hour ago and holding her tiny little forehead.  I held a wash cloth on her forehead and rocked her until she fell back asleep.  The whole time I was rocking her my heart was just breaking.

She just woke up again...gotta run. 
Take care.
Jill Marie

Laundry tip

                         

A cleaning tip, or two, that you may find useful.  As I say on my Web page, these are tips that have been emailed to me, or that I have found on the Internet.  I have not tried all of them and do NOT guarantee their effectiveness.  If you do try one and it works, or if you have another one that works for you, please let me know.

Yellowed / Grayed Whites: Rit, the makers of clothing dye, makes a white-wash that works well for bleachable and non-bleachable clothing that has yellowed or grayed. You can also hang yellowed clothes out to dry in the sun whenever possible to reduce the yellow.

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It's almost 7 am here.  I think I got somewhere around 3 interrupted hours of sleep last night.  Maybe 1 and 1/2 of it was uninterrupted.  It's almost time to go take her temp and give another dose of medicine.  Thanks for the tip about the medicine Tina.  I remember someone telling me that once, but I couldn't remember if I then had to wait 6 hours after the Ibuprofen to give her Tylenol.

Take care ya'll.
Hugs!

Fever

It is a quarter till 4 am.  Rylie threw up last night and began running a slight fever which has slowly climbed all night long.  She is up to 101.5 right now.  She is congested and having trouble sleeping, which in turn means I am not sleeping.

I just gave her another dose of children's Tylenol.  I hope it starts to work so she can get a little relief.  Her whole tiny body is just burning up.  I know that a fever is actually a good sign.  It means her body is working on fighting off an infection.  But that baby is just so miserable and my heart is breaking for her.

She is sleeping in the recliner behind me right now.  I think it is better than the bed because she is kind of propped up and I think its easier for her to breathe that way.  She kept sounding like she was having such a hard time breathing in bed, then it got so quiet I thought she quit breathing.  But then the labored breathing would start again.  Occasionally she'll start to cry or "fight" in her sleep.

She just woke up again.  I changed her diaper.  Soaking wet...a good sign.  I'm trying to keep her well hydrated.  If the Tylenol doesn't start to give her some relief, in the morning I'm going to try switching to Ibuprofen.  If that doesn't do anything and the fever continues to climb I am definitely going to call the doctor.  Not that I trust that quack over at the clinic.  I hate it when medical people talk down to me.  Or put me off because I don't have insurance.

Well, I will see ya'll later.  Good night, sleep tight.

Stuffed pork chops

I thought I had already posted this recipe, but wasn't sure so I checked by doing that search thing at the top of the journal.  It didn't come up with any results, so I am hoping that I didn't already put this one in here.  It's a bit more involved than some of the recipes I post, but it sounds real tasty.  The recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens.

Apple Stuffed Pork Chops
Makes 4 servings
Prep: 25 minutes
Grill: 35 minutes
Ingredients
3 cups apple wood chips
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon onion salt or garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (optional)
1/4 pound bulk Italian pork sausage or bulk turkey sausage
1 apple, cored and finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup corn bread stuffing mix
2 tablespoons snipped fresh parsley
1 to 2 tablespoons apple juice
4 pork loin rib chops, cut 1-1/2 inches thick (about 3 lb. total)
Purchased apple butter
Grilled sliced apples (optional)  
Directions
1. At least 1 hour before cooking, soak wood chips in enough water to cover. Drain.
2. For the rub, stir together the black pepper; onion or garlic salt; cloves; and, if desired, red pepper.
3. For stuffing, in a saucepan cook the sausage, apple, and onion for 5 minutes or until sausage is cooked through. Drain fat. Stir in stuffing mix and parsley; add enough of the apple juice to moisten. Remove from heat; set aside until cool.
4. Trim fat from chops. Cut a pocket in each chop by cutting a slit in the meat and working the knife inside to cut almost to bone, keeping original slit small. Spoon stuffing into pockets. If necessary, secure with wooden toothpicks. Sprinkle the rub evenly over both sides of the pork chops; rub into meat.
5. Drain wood chips. Prepare grill for indirect grilling; test for medium heat above the drip pan. Place chops on the lightly oiled grill rack directly over the drip pan.
6. Cover and grill chops for 35 to 40 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted into center reads 165 degree F, turning chops once. Add more wood chips every 15 minutes. Brush with apple butter every few minutes during last half of grilling. If using wooden toothpicks, remove them before serving. Serve with grilled sliced apples, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Test Kitchen Tip: Make a double portion of the stuffing mixture and spoon the extra into an ovenproof baking dish lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 45 minutes. Pass hot stuffing with pork chops.

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This should be a very interesting day, to say the least.  I have been complaining about a leak in the kitchen that seems to work its wet and nasty way over to the living room for about...hmmm, 8 months (or more) now.  I was told that it was just because of a tiny little drip around the faucet, apparently something that is completely unfixable.

Then we noticed a "bulge" in the living room floor a few weeks ago.  I was told that he looked under the house and didn't see anything going on.  But on Saturday as I walked down the hallway I stepped onto soaking wet carpet.  Oh freaking joy.  I was told that he would get to it Sunday morning.  Not.  And more and more of the carpet is getting wetter and wetter. 

So me, being simple minded apparently, thought it made sense to turn off the water.  I mean, why have the water continue to leak if you can stop it until it gets fixed.  Apparently I'm just an idiot and being able to take a shower is waaaaay more important than oh, I don't know...protecting the flooring, carpet and maybe the walls (since we don't know where it is leaking).  But apparently this logic > "the fact that it has been going on for how long now, so what is another 24 hours of leaking going to do?"  makes much more sense than my simple mind thinking to turn off the water.

So I am off to see if I can learn anything about plumbing on the internet.  I asked Cathy to come over today and watch Rylie for me.  That way I can get to the bottom of this problem and try to do something to fix it.  I may not be able to, or I may mess it all up, but at least I will have made the effort.  Or I could just join forces and sit in a lazy boy and do nothing while the house falls down around me. 

Hmmm, I do know that I am going to be busy so I'm sure I won't have time to do laundry or fix dinner.  As a matter of fact, with as involved as this project could get...it may be a few day's before I feel like cooking or cleaning.

Have a better week than the one happening here.
Hugs!

PS~Ever see one of those cartoons where the fella has his finger plugging up a hole where a leak is and then the leak keeps moving and popping up all over?  Yeah, picture that and think of me today, that's kind of how I imagine this to go.  LOL

Coffee Cake recipe

This came to me in an email from the Spark People website.  It sounds delicious and something that would be easy to do for a special weekend breakfast.  Or, if you have people coming for any of the upcoming holidays, I think you could make this ahead, put it in the freezer until you need it and then just pop it in the microwave or oven.

Apple Coffee Cake
Serves: 20
Apples and raisins provide sweet moistness, which means less oil in this coffee cake that is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sodium.

INGREDIENTS
5 cups tart apples, cored, peeled, chopped
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark raisins
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg, beaten
2-1/2 cup sifted whole grain flour
1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. Lightly oil a 13x9x2-inch pan.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine apples with sugar, raisins, and pecans; mix well. Let stand 30 minutes.
4. Stir in oil, vanilla, and egg. Sift together flour, soda, and cinnamon; stir into apple mixture about 1/3 at a time, just enough to moisten dry ingredients.
5. Turn batter into pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool cake slightly before serving.

NUTRITION INFO (per 3.5" x 2.5" serving)
Calories: 180.7
Fat: 4.6 g
Carbohydrates: 33.6g
Protein: 2.8g

Have a great weekend.
Hugs!