S K N with the i

10 days ago my skin on my legs

reacted to the shaving

I was using coconut oil to shave

but my legs did not like the razor and oil this

time

I have had quite a time with figuring out how to

moisture this time

i put on aloe vera gel and it lasted a few hours then

got super itchy and then coconut oil another day

ouch.. it didn't like that.

I have been wearing pants outside

(in this weather not a problem)

then by 5 pm I can't handle the itch

I looked at the baking soda on the

kitchen counter and remembered that

my son needed it in his bath for his

skin years ago

well I put that in the tub water and it got

itchy itch and I was scratching

until all of a sudden it subsided

later that evening my skin felt so smooth

and no itch.  It is now 2 days later

and no problem with my leg itch.

I think...just my diagnosis here; that I have been busy with a new property

and gardening and I did a lot travelling for Mother's day weekend

my skin is the largest organ on my body

so I am listening to that now

 went to bed at 8 o'clock twice

this week and I am feeling very settled and

I let go of my silly concerns

and thanked the baking soda!

now what do I put on it to keep it moist?

{happy skin now}

I know that hyalauronic acid in lotions is a good thing for me.  I use SKNAddix products.  It contains this acid.  I have Aveeno for eczema moisturizing lotion but that has only worked for a short time.  EPSOM salts tends to aggravate as well.  Aloe Vera Gel and Coconut Oil is out for now apparently.  My homemade soaps work well for my skin but for moisturizing my skin for lotion use?  well - its a guinea pig wheel - some days one lotion works the other days it does not.  My diet could be a bit better I am a type 2 diabetic and but, blood sugar is good these days.   How are things with your skin?

I am amazed that one thinks you are stress free

but like blood pressure and other things in your system

worrying about things that are really just the "small stuff" is a problem

because when you prolong that worry-ness your body lets you know.

two rules to follow:

1) don't sweat the small stuff

2) it's just small stuff

{Robert Elliott)

DONE

soap is a homemade staple

This morning I cut my soap

mould open to slice the new bars to store in a

box for a few weeks.

I have been making soap for 2 years

and hubby and I really love it.

We both are very sensitive with

lotions and soaps from retail providers.

This recipe I use consists of

olive oil, coconut oil, almond milk;

I put in a few sprinkles of

YL essential oil Northern Lights

Black Spruce in the mixture. This oil is
a smell I love and great for the skin.

It is science though.

Making soap requires Lye.

Also making glycerin to use for

making soap requires Lye.  

After 6 weeks of

storing the new made soap

the Lye saponifies which means it is no

longer in your soap.  Even though you don't like
the idea of it Lye is what makes soap.

you need some equipment:

food weigh scale

food thermometer

soap mould

soap cutter

hand held immersion blender (or smart stick)

a big pot set aside for just

mixing your soap oils and liquids and lye

this is the best part of making your own soap

you can choose your own moulds.  I choose the

long wooden mould I ordered on line as

it makes one big long log and I can cut my own

size of bar.

I have flopped one new recipe I tried as
the oil I used was sunflower and canola oil
it never took the canola oil.  That was my error
in not checking the oil before using.

I now have a good almost never fail recipe!

no gold

my hands, the struggle this past year,

eczema, allergies, swelling, itching

I have the results of my patch testing

done this week

gold is a culprit

no gold jewellery,

put away the wedding ring (yup!)

have not worn my ring for awhile

my ring finger is the worst for itchiness and swelling

and the fragrance mix of cinnamon, balsalm, cassia

in any hygiene, cosmetic, laundry detergent, or soaps 

would be a no no

my foaming cleansing soap in both bathrooms and

kitchen has been dumped, it has cinnamon oil

boo hoo, love that soap

glad I had this done and look forward to some

steady improvement!

Changes

this 2nd week in city

is more real and we are having a withdrawal or 2 for

the big house and not seeing our horses outside our windows

it is -30 windchill on a steady basis here for the last week and

seems to continue for a few more days so

city life is very acceptable right now

my hand eczema has really improved and I will know for sure

in another week or so if the lotion I am using is a "winner" as it seems

my remedies are good for only one week and then the skin flares up again

so here is to the "sandalwood moisturizer" from Young Living Essential Oils it

has really smoothed out my skin so far and it has been 5 days (crossing my fingers)

still heading to the dermatologist in January as well...what a struggle!

Dec 10, 2013

Summer December 8, 2013 in Qu'Appelle

time flies..

my hands are way way better and only because I went to the medical doctor and not the naturopath to get some serious action on my hands.  The Naturopath I believe was really way off and I may have killed a parasite (was their an actual parasite?) I dont know but with this move the stress is high and my hands flared up and I need them for packing and well everything.  So steroid creme and glaxal base lotion for my hands and 3 days of prednezone has really improved the situation.  I am booked in to see a skin specialist in Regina aka dermatologist!

okay the move, so many family emotions and nothing has been bigger than my husband leaving this acreage he has had to work through alot of emotions and I was not the most patient wife....

my son is anxious about Summer and we have gone back and forth as to what is the best to do for him (I even phoned the vet to discuss if Summer could handle this move being 13 years old and severe hip soreness)

the small but yet big gifts I have received during this stressful time with animal placement decisions and not being able to find a new acreage/property to move to right away and looking for RTM or modular home to be ready to move to a property if that is the way we go?   well our friends for one thing and Morley and Shirley and Wendy and Gerald have been big supporters of this move and helpful to me and hubby both, physically (packing) and mentally talking about it (also storing our acreage equipment) - yahoo for great friends!!!!

 Ben is staying on this acreage and he has a little girl who would like to ride him.  We have leased him out to the new owners and will check on him a year from now or sooner to see how things are going.

 Tom is not moving with us as he is staying in Swift Current for now, who knows he may change

jobs as he is young.

right now Summer will move with us and stay at our friends acreage

at Qu'Appelle - hope he can adjust (I am fearful of him not)

this is a good shot of me praying for my family and all the separations (spouse is still by my side though ha!)

Ziggy here with Mantracker - well .."you can take the boy out of the country but you can't take the country out of the boy"  

time does fly by and I am hanging onto my seat belt (but excited for the new adventure)

golden touch

it seems everything I touch these days has my imprint left on it of coconut oil,

because that is what I use for my hands to keep them  free of bacteria and to control inflammation , you see I am on my 5th week of a strict diet and well here goes....

ode to parasite

i want to hold a sparkling wand

that once I have tapped and said my wish out loud

would lighten up my days with a golden 
promise that this bug in me will blow away
and i would welcome snow into my life in exchange

oh golden touch

surprises

what a hectic 4 days this has been.....

actually it started last Tuesday,

I was seeing "floaties" in my

right eye and by the third day I phoned the

optometrist and they got me in within an hour

they found a tear or break in the bottom of my right eye retina,

and I was sent to Pasqua Hospital to the eye centre

to have laser surgery

apparently this happens when we age and my eye happened

to have a break that started just recently

the surgery on my eye retina took only 10 minutes

and then I was good to go

at this same time an Offer to Purchase came in on my iphone (eye phone LOL!) little humour helps!

our acreage was potentially going to be soldl

we were on our way to Langenburg to deliver a horse and visit with good friends for the

weekend.  

needless to say we arrived at our friends with horse intact and my eye surgery complete just

a few hours ago.

then it was 2 days of negotiation on the acreage sale.

we have signed/accepted this offer on the conditional sale of their home in

Swift Current.

health wise: my hands are improving and I am killing the parasite so I have been a good

girl, however, I must continue with the new supplements for another 3 weeks and put YL oregano oil drops or two on my tongue as well.  Oregano is very hot but extremely effective in killing unwanted yeast and organisms in the body.  My "allergy" reaction was the "clove" and we found out the two together was way to strong and my sensitivity is high.   

this photo shows my reaction to all these situations that I had to deal with last week!

a week in review

my days since last thursday

have had a yo yo of good and not so good

Thursday, Sept 27

saw a Naturopath regarding my eczema as I have not

been able to control it for long periods of time

and what is it? is this eczema? 

diagnosis: I actually received a nasty parasite in my body from my holiday

in the Dominican Republic in February of this year.  It is nasty to get rid of and my hands

are where it is showing up.  I am on day 6 and this parasite is starting to lose the battle.  My hands are
dry, hard and scabbing and my neck feels like a scratchy wool scarf is still around it, so 2 more weeks
of only eating protein only and vegetables, no fruit or carbs..(feeds the parasite) plus supplements at each meal to take
I am killing this parasite!

on a high note, (yeah) I was in my dining room/kitchen and saw a large brown

movement out the front yard walking on our grass towards the trampoline.  A young moose was

almost in our driveway and he stood and looked around for about 10 minutes and then headed towards

the horses corral (our horses are still grazing in the coulee) and he then easily jumped over our wire

fence and sauntered away.  wow!  that was exciting and I did not get a pic because it is dangerous!
Where was our dog, Summer?  He must have been exploring outside the acreage or sleeping deeply, as he is getting old? lol! he missed that one!

was at the Market Square again last Saturday and had lots of fun and saw 

people I hadn't talked to for a while and also lots of women who came over to

talk about their experiences with essential oils.  It was a great day and it was cool and a bit windy but

sunny and blue skies!

I am singing with the SCOC again and have attended four Monday night practices
this is an out of my comfort zone committment for me once again but the singing is a wonderful experience for my voice, makes it stronger, my voice.

beautiful hands....

i mentioned in March of this year the struggles i have been having with my hand eczema and my right index finger that ended up in a fungus infection (what a mess).  It has taken until 3 weeks ago when I visited a new doctor and asked her if she could send me for allergy testing as my hands were causing problems and I thought it would possibly be allergies?

"No", she said "it is eczema and I have a plan for you"...so I treat my hands several times a day with

"hydrous emulsifyng ointment", {Emulsifying ointment is a mixture of paraffin oils. It is a greasy moisturiser that provides a layer of oil on the surface of the skin to prevent water evaporating from the skin surface}.

 and especially after I get my hands wet and to apply this ointment at bedtime and add vaseline/petroleum jelly on top of that and then slip on white cotton gloves.  I also started taking Young Living Sulfurzyme supplemental vitamins created by Naturopath/Nutritonist Dr. Gary Young at that same time.

My eczema is now under control and I must continue this treatment forever, however, to add to the nourishment for extreme eczema breakouts, I am going to add Myrhh essential oil to my skin because that is the best oil for aged, chapped, dry skin and was used in the biblical days along with Frankincense.  I will keep you posted with how this added oil treatment progresses.   I believe that to eventually go to just the oils would be awesome...but it will be progressive and I have no problem working with both treatments.

my dry hands has not prevented me from "bauble" buying (as my spouse calls it)

or to paint like I am Leonardo Da Vinci

a view from our deck (sideways view iphone photos suck - new post on that)

oh I did not mention that I no longer have a camera as both

went to Sarcan for recycle, that will be a new blog post! My search for

a camera....not in the budget at the moment....to be continued

diffuse diffuse...

I was introduced to essential oils from a facebook friend and I attended
a information evening and was sold on all the health successes that the women their
were experiencing.  It also gives me something to enjoy and spend quality time
on since retiring.

I know health is an issue for most of us:

I take cholesterol (Lipitor)

I take (Altace) for blood pressure

and my blood sugar and hand eczema I am using

YL Sulfurzyme vitamins 

I use peppermint oil and eucalyptus oil for my seasonal allergies instead

of Reactin or Alleve or Benadryl over-the-counter-drugs.

I am doing a progressive change to chemical free living, but it is very

progressive and it is dangerous to abruptly switch as I believe we need the

doctors and alternative naturopathic doctors and our nutritonists to work on our health.

Dr. Gary Young is the man in motion on these oils and products and he created

the selling of oils from his plant farms in Idaho, Utah, Ecuador (total of 7 chemical free plant farms where they slowly distill or extract the oils from the plant with the technical monitoring of when the plant is ready to farm from- seed- to- oils- to- bottle)

I have several things for my booth I am setting up in Sept at the Market Square such as

soaps with essential oils and pendants and car air-freshners to use and I want to keep promoting because it is fun to meet and greet people and present different products.

 I am investing in bringing in some pendants for diffusing and car air freshners to keep that pure healthy air wherever you are.  These are for the Market Square YL essential oils

booth in Sept.  I  will enjoy doing this...it is so entirely different than what I have been

doing for the past 21 years 

I had a great time at the SC Fair booth with Leah and other distributors and sharers of their love of these pure oils.  I learned a lot about what the

young, middle-age and old are looking for in alternative health:

I had men with severe foot pain, muscle pain, young adolescents who want

to do a 5 day cleanse and be healthy, I had a young man who worked in the mine up in

Saskatoon and he gets so low on energy and wanted to know if there was an oil

for that, he purchased a bottle on-line, and the biggest seller was Lavender oil, and Peppermint Oil and my favorite oil Valor....

I love pendants and bracelets,

check out some of these I will be bringing in...maximum price is $15 and

you can choose your oil to drop on the pendant and smell it all day as you wear it

young girls will love this?

Terra-Cotta Pendant Diffusers

These wonderful handcrafted terra-cotta pendant diffusers are perfect for taking your favorite essential oil scent with you all day.

This lovely pendant has a polished stone-look surface, and hangs from a black cord. Each pendant is handmade and unique. The back of the pendant has a special absorbent surface meant to diffuse essential oils. Enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy all day long, wherever

Apply one drop of your favorite essential oil to the surface of the decorative terra-cotta medallion, and hang it in your car, bathroom, office, or other area to diffuse the fragrance!

I am making some soap bars with the essential oils in it and will

have that to sell as well

lots to be creative with and lots for me to get ready and make the soap bars

I usually have my diffuser going during the day too, while I am in the house working or 

napping....

my oils that work best for me when diffusing 

are Peppermint and Release

smells fresh and divine!

Abundant Health

rough on hands

it has been a "rough" winter for

my hands

i have faced the fact now that I have

eczema

I have tried many lotions

We bought a couple of bottles of pure coconut oil when we were at

the coffee and cocoa plantation tour in the Dominican Republic;

that is the no. 1 helper for this problem and oatmeal bathing (Aveeno oatmeal bath works very well)

if concerned about the oatmeal clogging the drain

just put the package or oatmeal solution in a sock and

put it under the faucet and turn on the water over the sock and the oatmeal will stay in the sock

I aim to have nice looking hands once again, it is a constant effort to treasure my

hands like they are precious objects so I hope they can become soft and supple again.

may the sun come down on my hands and provide that Vitamin D!