Herbal Allergy Tea

i.cant.stop.sneezing.

I'm about to go crazy. I made two of my $32 air purifiers. One sits on Arianna's dresser. One follows me where I go. Living room during the day, bedroom at night. I take Zyrtec, Sudafed, Advil, and do nasal washes and sprays. I'm still sneezing, stuffy headed, and feeling wretched.

While on Pinterest, I found a recipe for a sore throat/allergy tea. The website is down now, but I was able to pick up a cached copy of the recipe. I tried it out and it's clearing me up fast!

 Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

1 tablespoon dried sage

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried lavender

juice of 1/4 lemon

honey to taste (local, raw honey is best for allergies)

KITCHEN TIP: Freeze your ginger! Yeah, I know fresh is better, but I have had trouble grating ginger before, so when I picked up the frozen ginger I had saved from a recipe, I figured I'd try grating it frozen. It did so much easier!!

 Steep the ginger, sage, pepper, and lavender in a tea ball for five minutes. 

Add the honey and lemon juice which makes it quite pleasant. This tea is light but spicy, but has a kick that is kicking my allergies' butt (oops, bottom)!! Sinuses are clearing, no more sneezing, and I feel like I can get some stuff done today!

Rebirth

I've been going through a sort of rebirth as a Christian, wife, mother, and woman in general over the last few months...

I downloaded an app on my phone "Daily Bible". It gives me a daily verse, and an option for reading through the Bible plan. I've enjoyed taking a few minutes before the house wakes up to read, pray, and meditate on the Word.

LJ and I purchased three books last night and at least I am chomping at the bit waiting for them to come in the mail. Two topical studies (one on parenting and one on couples), and a book going through history and geography of the Bible. The big question: where do we start?!

I've never been a "good" homemaker. I knit, sew, etc. etc., but I am a lousy housekeeper. I am kicking my own bottom (we've had to stop saying "butt" in the house) into gear using "Large Family Logistics" as a resource. Slowly but surely I am getting into a stricter routine of housekeeping, homemaking, and getting everything presentable. I'm cutting down on clutter. My mom will be coming over to help me get rid of all of the kids' baby clothes that I've held on to for years. Many I've already gotten rid of, but some I have held on to for nostalgia or some meager hope of a future fourth. While I know that will never happen biologically (unless God intervenes), it may not even happen through adoption. My three are fine with me though, and I need to cut the clutter out of my life.

I'm taking more time to read to the kids. I homeschool Arianna (and occasionally let Jonas and Josiah sit in on it too until they get bored), and usually I let LJ read each unit's book. I'm starting to get into a habit of reading more to the kids. More Bible than the homeschool Bible time and our family Bible time. More books casually read than with Daddy. I want to be that mom. I want my kids to remember me reading to them.

I've also dug my "crunchiness" a little deeper. Before our trip to Colorado (see Help For Arianna for more info on that) I purchased some herbal books. I have fallen in love more and more with herbalism and herbal healing. God has given us a beautiful world, and we have natural gifts that He has given us that can work amazingly with our body systems to mend bones, heal disease, and improve our quality of life. I have used several herbal remedies and plan to do more. I have joined the "nopoo" movement as of tonight. I will write more on that soon too! I have seen an improvement in my chronic pain issues with the use of more herbal remedies as well as removing toxic chemicals from items I use in my daily life.

So it's a new me. More natural, less clutter, more devoted to God, my husband, my family, and myself than ever before.

My $32 Air Purifier

I love the spring. And I hate it. The colors are absolutely beautiful. The pollen... not so much.

My allergies hate me. They make my life miserable at times. It's more than sneezing. Yesterday I woke up sneezing and went to bed sneezing. And sneezed all day in between. More than sneezing it's the itchy, watery, eyes that swell up to the point where I can't see straight. Wheezing, coughing, stuffy nose, I'm completely and utterly miserable. The best thing I can do is take two antihistamines and go to sleep. Not so easy when you've got three kids running around! A friend in my wonderful allergy mamas group on facebook shared a video from a university that showed how to make your own air purifier. With yesterday making the second severe attack in less than two weeks, I decided to go ahead and make this thing work...

The Ingredients:

 20 inch box fan in the seasonal area of WalMart $16.

Allergen Reduction HEPA filter $16.

Tape (I used masking tape, but I suppose you could use duct tape or anything that will hold for 3 months).

This is way too easy. You just tape the filter with the arrow pointing toward the fan to the back of the fan. Plug in and go. Within 30 minutes I could feel a difference! 

If you or your kids have allergies (3/5 of our family does) and you don't have the huge amount of money a big expensive air purifier costs, this is a great alternative!

Tutorial: From top sheet to curtains

Happy new year! We're getting back into the swing of things with the new year, and one thing I want to do is get this blog up and running more regularly. We've been busy already with AHG meetings and homeschooling for Ari, occupational and speech therapies for Jonas, and Josiah's just along for the ride. They're getting huge. And gorgeous. I don't mean to brag, but I've got some awesome, gorgeous kids...

OK, I digress... the reason for this post. We got the kids twin size mattresses and the bedding sets they wanted for Christmas. They were so excited. When we unpacked the bedding, we didn't know what to do with the top sheets. We live in Florida. We have maybe two weeks of super cold weather. Our kids are like their Mama. They get hot fast. We just don't need the top sheets!

I remembered my mom making curtains out of her top sheets the last time she got a bedding set for my parents room. It was super easy. She whipped them up in a day. I wanted to expand on her idea, so here's my take on it.

1. First, figure out which end you want to be the top. Because the kids' bedding had characters on it, we had to be careful to make sure the top was the right end. Fold the seam of the top over twice and pin it.

2. Press the folded seam so you have nice creases.

3. Cut off what you've pinned (I got to use my new rotary cutter! Oh, where have you been all my life??) Cut this in half so you have two pieces half the width of the top sheet.

4. Open up the pinned seam and tuck the raw edge in, then sew it shut.

5. Fold over the raw edge where you cut this strip in half, then sew it down. Do this for both strips, then set to the side. We'll use these later.

6. Back to the sheet. On the same edge you cut from (what is going to be the top of your curtain), fold over the fabric enough so you can fit a curtain rod in it. Pin and press (pressing is optional, just makes it nice and easy to sew).

7. Sew this folded piece down, giving enough "seam allowance" to fit your curtain rod in.

8. Find the middle of the sheet. Fold and press.

9. Remember the strips we cut and sewed up? Find the center of one of the strips, and tack onto the middle of the wrong side of the sheet. One curtain down!

10. You might need someone to help you, but lay both sheets right side down onto your cutting table. This will show you how much of the fresh sheet you need to cut to get it to match the finished curtain. Cut off all but about 2 inches (more if you're using wider rods than the "el cheapo" curtain rods at Walmart or Target). Repeat steps 6-9 for the second sheet.

Voila! Beautiful Hello Kitty curtains for my little princess's Hello Kitty bedroom!

I did the same with my boys' Avengers top sheets. Sorry I didn't take the time to fix their blinds before taking the picture. Working with a headache!

Both sets of curtains were completed in a day. The boys' curtains were done before naptime. Arianna's curtains were done between dinner and bedtime, and I had time to post this tutorial!

Happy sewing!

You dodged a bullet. Here, have a gluten-free dairy-free nut-free soy-free egg-free cookie.

I took Josiah to the allergists office for testing last Tuesday. I had observed some hives when he eats certain foods, so I wanted to get him checked out. Since his sister has anaphylactic allergies, it's always a good idea to have him tested for the allergens she has too. Imagine my surprise when the test shows negative to egg and peanut (Arianna's allergens), but positive to soy, cashew, almond, pecan, and walnut! So, now we carry four Epi-Pen Jr's, Benadryl liquid and I need to get Josiah a medical alert bracelet. They're mild allergens, so if we avoid them he may grow out of them.


When I got home Tuesday evening, I was shocked and horrified to read a post in my allergy mom's group. With her permission, I will share it with you now...

"A 'friend' of mine just casually informed me that an acquaintance of mine doesn't really believe in allergies, thinks it's all hype! Apparently, all six of her kids are healthy without any of these 'crazy, keep those peanuts away from me, life-threatening allergies'... She just thinks it's overly exaggerated and not really real..."

Um, excuse me? My first response was to laugh. Not in a funny ha-ha way. A "did I just read that?" way.


So, Ms. Doesn't Believe, you think it's all hype because all six of your kids are healthy? Isn't that a little closed-minded? All three of my kids have never had leukemia, never broken a bone, never had the chicken pox, or polio, or smallpox. I do, however believe all of these are not "hype". Neither are they overly exaggerated. I know they are really real.

Ms. Believe, I would like for you to spend a day... or maybe just an afternoon... in the life of an allergy mom. Make gluten, dairy, nut, soy, egg free breakfast. Don't forget to double check labels! Plan an outing with a homeschool or scouting group around your child's allergies (and the allergies of five other kids in the scouts group), pick up the Benadryl and Epi Pens from the pharmacy, but make sure not to leave them in the car because if you do, they go bad! Then take the kids to a park, but be sure not to let the kids out of your sight, because their particular allergen could be anywhere!


Now let me tell you why you have to do all of those things. If my daughter gets around peanuts, first her skin itches. She scratches it, she starts to swell, then she starts to cough. That's as far as her allergic reactions have gone because we've taken action fast before she got to an anaphylactic reaction.


I've never had an anaphylactic reaction, but I have witnessed my sister's reactions before. It starts with an itchy tongue usually, followed by your tongue, lips, face swelling up. Then it gets hard to breathe. Really hard to breathe. If you don't use an EpiPen in time, you could DIE. I'm not being overly dramatic. I'm telling the truth.


I had an allergic reaction to something I ate last night. My tongue, lips, and face were going numb and itchy at the same time. I took Benadryl and prayed. I was hoping it didn't get worse than that, because I knew what happened next. I'd get an EpiPen injection, transferred to the hospital via ambulance, and sit for 4 hours in an ER being watched by the doctors for a secondary reaction. Yeah, it's so "not really real" that doctors take it *that* seriously.


So, I'd like to say to Ms. Doesn't Believe, thank God your children don't have food allergies. I thank God every day that my kids have survived so far and that my middle child is allergy free! And try to be a little easier on us allergy moms, mmkay? Because as for me, I'd give anything not to be all "keep those peanuts away from me"!

The Transition of a Basket

When I was a young, excited, expectant mother, I had a baby shower. I received a basket, and in that basket there was a hand-made crocheted blanket for my daughter. Bright pink, with hearts crocheted so carefully. A trim of different colors. Hand-made with love by a woman who is dear to our family's hearts. It continues to be a cherished blanket of Arianna's.

The basket went on after Arianna was born to be used as a home for diapers, burpies, receiving blankets, and the like. We kept it in the living room for quick access to those items. We did the same with the basket for when Jonas and Josiah were newborns.

As our newborns grew into infants and toddlers, we used this same basket for baby toys. The rattles, "chew toys", things that were special for the babies to play with, that the older kids knew not to run off with. The babies knew where they could find their toys. It locked so we could keep them from stringing the toys all over the place.

Now that we're heading into a new era of parenthood, with Arianna heading into Kindergarten, the basket has found a new job. It now holds homeschool curriculum. It has held up to the test of time, and has found a new career. We open it, pull out what we need to teach her, and when we need to we lock it so they don't mess up everything before we use it.

A basket has transitioned through life, but so have I. I've been a mom for five years. I've gone from being nervous, excited, to frustrated and sleeplessly hoping for the next stage in my child's life, to comfortable and enjoying every minute God blesses me with these kids! I fondly look forward to what lies ahead for us... and that basket...

Thank God for eczema

2Co 12:7-10 (ESV)  So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Arianna loves to say her nighttime prayers. As an almost-five-year-old, she often misspeaks. We're trying to teach her the difference between thanking God for something and asking him for something. We thank God for our blessings, we ask God to heal the sick.

Every night we typically pray for the same things. Thank God for our home, Daddy's job, our family, our church family, please help the sick people. Tonight, when Arianna got to praying for the sick people, she didn't get out of the thanking "mode". The first thing she said was, "Thank God for my eczema."

I know what she meant, but I couldn't help but think about how awesome her eczema is. Yes, eczema is a nightmare. Especially hers. She itches everywhere. She has large red rough patches all over her body, from her scalp to her toes. She tries not to scratch. She rubs, she tells us and we apply products from steroid anti-itch creams to natural, organic, homeopathics. We had to stop the steroid creams because they are thinning her skin too much. When she can't stand it anymore, she scratches. She scratches hard. She scratches until she bleeds, and then some more. Her feet are a mess. We're pretty sure she'll have scarring in certain areas she's scratched too hard.

However, eczema is teaching her (and us) a lesson. Several lessons. It's teaching her how to overcome hardships. Teaching her how to be patient. How to overcome physical limitations. It's teaching her that her beauty is not in her red, rough, scratched up and bleeding skin. It's in her smile, in her patience with her brother(s), in her little voice singing "God's not dead, he's surely alive" in the back seat of our minivan at the top of her lungs, in the way she comes to me when I'm in pain in bed and tells me that she prayed that I'll feel better. It's teaching us that some things just happen, there's no rhyme or reason, and there's no point blaming vaccines or formula use or overuse of baby bath and baby lotions with chemicals, but to focus on moving forward rather than looking at the past.

So, thank God for eczema! It is teaching our family lessons we would never have learned without it, and all of us will come out on the other side with stronger faith and stronger relationships with each other.

My heart, my mind

My body, my soul

I give to You, take control

I give my body, a living sacrifice

Lord, take control, take control