A busy day.......

Blair came today to interview me for a piece that she is doing on alternative health. For some reason my brain did not compute that it would include a camera. I was thinking old school reporter with a notepad and paper:) Imagine my surprise when she showed up with this massive camera. She made me feel so comfortable that I almost forgot that there was a huge camera in my zone room. She said she would email the piece when she was done. It will be fun to watch and see how it turned out. Zoning is something I cannot imagine my life without so it was worth being stretched to get the word out to other people. Right after she left we ran over to the radio station to run a radio ad on KVNU for the next set of Foot Zone Therapy Classes. Usually right before I go into production for the radio ad I get pretty nervous....... This time after having the camera on me the radio ad seemed easy:) We got it with one take, usually it takes me several. Moral of the story: stretching yourself makes things that seem hard a whole lot easier.

More salad anyone.......

Morgan has not been feeling so great lately and it all boils down to drift in his diet. It is so easy for it to happen. A little treat her a little treat there and then all of a sudden his blood sugar is out of control. Type 2 Diabetes can be totally controlled by what goes into your mouth and exercising. So he got really motivated and started OPERATION HEALTH. He got so motivated that it got me excited and then it trickled to Meghan. So here is what we are doing........ All of the vegetables that we can eat cooked or raw. Salads at every meal as the main course. 1/2 of an avocado every day. A small handful of nuts every day. At least four pieces of fruit daily. No salt, dairy, sugar, oil or meat. We are also eating 2 ounces of fish a few times a week. All of the legumes we can eat. No butter which is killing me. Oatmeal every morning with just a touch of Agave to sweeten it.
Meghan and I are also T-Tapping every day and rebounding and running. We are on Day 6 and cannot believe the difference. I will start posting updates...........

Homemade Laundry Detergent

If your house is like my house there is always laundry to do. Always......... Here is a laundry recipe that my family has used and literally takes pennies a load.

Recipe For Laundry Soap

1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated) we only like fels naptha
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep it on low heat until the soap is melted.

• Pour the soap water into a large, clean bucket and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.
• Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed. At this point I will use a slug of orange essential oil. I mix it in very last. Why, it helps with the grease cutting and smells delightful.........
  
• Cover the bucket and let it sit overnight. Use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (it will gel)

Here are some answers that always get asked......

What is washing soda?

• The brand of washing soda I’m most familiar with is Arm & Hammer. It is not the same as baking soda.........
  
• Look in the laundry aisle of Lee's or Wal-mart, that’s where I find it.
• The UPC code is 33200-03020 or 033200- Sometimes local grocery stores are willing to carry it.
  

What is Fels-Naptha?
It is a bar soap made by the Dial Corporation.... I have tried many other types of soap and they do not clean as well so I will only use Fels-Naptha. It is wrapped in paper and is a long bar of soap.

Kristen, I cannot believe you are recommending a bar of soap like Fels- Naptha...Why don't you use your handmade soap?
Believe me, I have tried it just does not work as well. Fels Naptha does have chemicals in it but compared to what is in laundry detergent it is a much bettter choice.

How long does it last...... Depends on how much laundry you do. I have made it in five gallon buckets and had it last for several weeks.

How do you grate the soap?
I use a salad shooter or you could grate it by hand.

One thing that you must know about this soap is.... If you have food stains you must pre-treat. I also use a downy ball filled with white vinegar in the rinse cycle. I do not like the vinegar smell it leaves so I keep a gallon with a few drops of lemon essential oil to help cut the smell.

I do not over dry my clothes therefore I do not use dryer sheets. My clothes come out smelling like sunshine.........

I make my own stain stick that I really like with this soap but that is for another post.......

There are many versions on the web. I have tried many and kept coming back to this one. How hard your water is will make a differece if you need to tweak the formula.

It was a party.......

Can you say trashed....... I always get so worried that people feel like they can go home and recreate that I forget to clean up after myself...... This class asked the best questions ever. I wanted to get a picture of everyone but I forgot......
One of my favorite things about class is meeting new people that are truly kindred spirits. This class was no exception. It will be fun to watch as they progress in their new found skills.

Why would you take the time to make your own.....

lotion. The call went something like this...... Hi, I just heard your ad on the radio and I have a question. Why in the world would you take the time to make your own lotion when you can buy a bottle of Jergen's for a few bucks. I had to smile, not laugh, just smile:) It may seem strange to some people that I make all of my family's skin-care products. First of all, Jergen's preservative system creates formaldehyde which your liver does not break down but has to store. If you have dry skin it literally preserves it making the dry skin a lasting problem. I used to always buy Burt's Bee's. The product was natural did not have a lot of fillers and I liked the preservative system that they used. Fast forward several years and Burt's Bee's started making my girls skin itch. I started doing a little research and found out that it had been sold to none other than the CLOROX Corporation and slowly very slowly they have been changing the ingredients to boost the bottom line. For example real Vitamin E is good for your skin and can actually heal topically. Clorox has now put synthetic Vitamin E in everything. Synthetic Vitamin E does nothing for your skin and is chemically derived. The reason is, it is so cheap and many people do not realize the difference in the labeling. So what is a mom to do, other than figure out how to make her own stuff for a fraction of the cost. Over the years the ingredients have changed and I am just waiting for them to add mineral oil which is truly one of the worst oils for your skin. Anyway, it was a wake up call for me. Making it myself, I control what goes on our skin and I save a ton of money in the process. I also love the creative outlet. It is a fun learning curve for me to learn about blending and processing and oil properties. My girls love it because we always have handmade gifts on hand for their friends. So it is a win-win situation for all. No more steroid creams for their skin, no more dry itchy skin that actually cracks and bleeds in the winter time and a project that the whole family has enjoyed.
added: Here is a ingredient list of their lip balm. Notice the Canola Oil and may contain Carmine. uck!!!!!! I do not want crushed beetle wings on my lips. We ingest about 30% of what goes on our lips so I deleted all the carmine from my product line. So many people are sensitive to Carmine but it is the cheapest way to color a lip balm. The bottom line profit. I truly do not want that to be the decision maker for what goes on my skin. The only way to do that is to make my own. Let me teach you how in one of my hands on classes. Cut the learning curve because I already made the mistakes. I will show you how to make your own body-care products quickly and teach you how to save money in the process.

Classes Soap and Lotion.....

When: Saturday March 21st
Soap starting at 10:00 am cost of class 125.00
Lotion starting at 2:00 pm cost of class 125.00
Take both classes and take the scrub class for FREE!!!!!!!!!!
I supply everything that you need for the class. Is all you do is show up ready to learn.......

This is an intensive hands on class. You will take home all of the product that you make. Either a pound of soap or several pounds of lotion. You get to choose the scent.
You also receive a binder with the formulations that I use in my own business and websites to help you explore further.
* You will learn the shelf life of your products
* How to determine what kind of preservative to use
* How to tweak the formulation for problem skin
* Labeling options
* How to keep hexane out of your products

We have so much fun in this class come and join us.........
Location to be announced.........

Essential Oil Class

Today (Tuesday March 10th) is one of my favorite classes. Probably because it is different every time I teach it. The cost is 10.00 and it starts at 6:00 pm. It takes place around my kitchen table. So bring a note pad and pen and lets talk oils. We will have some first hand exploration with several of my favorite oils. Which oil do I turn to when my family feels a cold coming on.....? Which oil is my favorite to clean with? We will go over the history of oils and how to incorporate them in the day to day happenings of life. My all time favorite oil (at least for this week) is pain ease. We will talk about how to use it for a headache and what points to apply it to. Experience each oil and how it smells. We have room for two more people in this class so it is not to late to join us............