Oil Pulling?

I'm back already! 

There has been a lot of posts on Pinterest and Facebook about oil pulling. My chiropractor is trying it and I thought I would also. I have only use it a couple of days now so I have no information on the effects just yet but I do have some articles that are helpful and some tips from my experiences already.
Dr. Mercola is really great at researching and finding the latest information out there. His article on his experience with oil pulling is a good one to read. And it is not just for tooth decay or mouth problems. Another article from oilpulling.com offers a lot of information and is a good one to consult also.
I use coconut oil. In the pic the brand on the left we use for everything!!! Moisturizer, cooking, burns, bug bites, we used it on my granddaughter's bottom after every diaper change and bath and no diaper rash in her first full year! But I got the jar on the right because it is glass and I can put it on the warmer and keep it liquid at all times.

So far my tips would be:

1. Make sure it is liquid, putting solid coconut oil in your mouth and waiting for it to dissolve does not taste good :( (don't microwave - it kills the good benefits of the oil or any food for that matter! Set the oil jar or bottle in warm water or get a warmer like the one I used-Bed, Bath and Beyond-$5.99)
2. Keep busy! Plan on folding a load of laundry or watching tv, anything to keep you from just standing there, swishing in front of the sink. I was able to get up to 15 min while watching tv and then again while cleaning up the kitchen and folding laundry.
3. Find the right amount. For me, exactly 1 Tablespoon was a bit too much but 1/2 a Tablespoon was too little.
4. Don't swallow any of the oil, once you have swished it around it is full of toxins and bacteria.

Saw it on Pinterest!

Addicted is not the right word...not obsessed....more than interested...not really sure. 

I definitely love Pinterest! I do know that. It's one of those things that I really enjoy for a short time but can walk away from once I have viewed a few pages of random people that I don't know and get an insight on what their house, closet, craft room, and pets might look like. And it might be weeks before I sit here again and look for other random people to check out. I have gotten a lot, I mean A LOT of ideas for crafts and how I want my future home to look like! So many cute cats and dogs I would like to have and whoever puts those outfits together is awesome! I myself am not into the recipes but I re-pin them for my cousin, who loves to bake! I have a board for my business of course and hope that it helps me grow by leaps and bounds! So I guess I am semi-addicted or maybe occasionally addicted to Pinterest! Either way I will keep pinning here and there, randomly, like I blog :) 

PTTHHH!!!! :(

I'm back!!! Back to the day to day list of things to do that life requires! Back to the days filled with timelines, chores, errands and just plain old stuff to do! But vacation was fun! I throughly enjoyed my time with my granddaughter, son and daughter-in-law. Business put aside, blogging put aside, even facebook was neglected except for the random pic uploaded here or there.  Just a time for fun with an almost 2 year old, playing with dolls, reading books, dancing, singing, laughing-lots of laughing and giggling. Her giggle is infectious! I miss her already! I'm having withdrawals of hugs, kisses and smiles. So now it is back to work! Gotta make money so Grammy can go see her giggly girl again soon! 

Happy Birthday to Me!

      

Today is my birthday! 

I am 43 years old today! A lot has happened in the last 43 years. 

I will spare you most of those details! You are welcome! 

To treat myself (other than the piece of cake I just had @ 2 am!)
 I made myself a birthday montage of some of my life. 

I thought I would share it with you! Not all of my family made the final cut, 

it would have to be a full length feature film to achieve that, 

but some key players are in there! 

In doing this I have done something that proves I am 

growing up, maturing, learning to accept myself, etc... 

Just a very short time ago I would NEVER have put a video of myself up anywhere, 

not facebook, youtube, anywhere for anyone else to see. 

I have always hated getting my picture taken. 

I have had it taken plenty, good thing or there would be very little footage to use. 

But I hated every picture and wish I wouldn't have stood there and posed. 

In choosing pics for this endeavor I took a good look at myself in them 

and I think, finally, that I don't look half bad in most of them. 

It doesn't bother me that this will be out there for all to see. 

I am definitely not an attention seeker but I'm ok with sharing my life now, 

even if that includes pictures. :)  

Where? When? What?

November!

Where has this year gone? Lots of things happening in November! My birthday! 

The election!  My son's birthday! My daughter-in-law's birthday! 

I get to go to see my son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter for 12 days! Thanksgiving! 

So many things, lots to plan for! I am so excited for this month to arrive 

yet astounded that it got here so fast. Need to remember, with so many things on the agenda, to stop and enjoy the moments of celebration, make some memories, 

snap a couple of photos, (or a few hundred, you know me) 

because before we know it, it will be December! 

Do these feet go with this outfit?

A cousin of mine pinned this recently and I re-pinned it on my pinterest board.  I know why she did it, she liked the look of the outfit. She had pinned many other outfits similar right before and after this one. BUT I re-pinned it because I think it is stinking funny! Something is a little off here! Life is so serious, so real, that sometimes you just have to laugh at a headless-armless girl wearing jeans! 

Christmas Elves

I hate winter! Hate the cold, the snow, the shorter days, no sun, I could go on and on. Christmas doesn't even cheer me up enough to appreciate the yucky conditions. But I am too connected and attached to my hometown in Indiana to move. Most, not all of my family is here. (Most, not all of my siblings are in warm, lovely Texas! A place that I like to visit but would not want to move to.) 
There is one thing though that I do kinda like about this time of year and it is really silly but it is the Elf Yourself videos from Jib Jab. (Remember, I love to laugh!) They aren't out yet this year but I am looking for them. I subject my son and his family, and my step-sons to them every year. I even shelled out the yearly membership fee to get access to member only videos! I am including a Jib Jab video, although it is not the Elf Yourself of my son, his family or my step-sons, sadly, because those are hilarious. But I do need to keep some measure of peace in the family and I do want to see my granddaughter again.  So I am posting one I made a couple of years ago of the members of my brothers band, Abandon, because they love the publicity and won't be mad :) Enjoy! 

Say Cheese!

I have an iMac. DO NOT be envious! It is sooooo slow! I see the "spinning rainbow wheel of death" all the time! We are talking pre-high-speed internet slow, beep-bop-boop-dial-up slow. I have ran mac cleaners, free and paid, taken it in for service and had my brother look at it. It might be faster for a little bit but then back to the colorful orbiting graphic below. 

I find little problems that it might be and it helps some but if I am honest I think I know the real issue. And it's a number, 8065 to be exact. That is the number of photos in my iPhoto folder. But not all of them are on the computer. The iPhoto library is actually on an external hard-drive. A 1T external hard-drive that the Mac store salesman said I would never fill up. (It only has 357 GB left out of 1024 GB)  

Only 1725 of the pics are of my one and a half year old granddaughter! (give or take) They rest are of the dog, my son, daughter-in-law, my big family, my brother's band (Abandon) and you get the idea. I know I need to weed them out. And I have another external hard drive to move some less important, yet still want to keep them, ones to, BUT my computer is so slow that the actual moving of said photos will take so long that I probably will have a couple hundred new ones of my granddaughter before it's accomplished! 

So my iMac has swiftly become one very expensive and slow digital photo album. 

Knock, knock!

I love corny jokes! Puns, the occasional knock-knock, 
sometimes a little dirty is ok, if it's really funny, I just love funny jokes! 

You know what's better than a joke that makes you laugh so hard you cry? 

Sharing that laughter and the tears with someone that gets it too!

My husband, for the most part, DOES NOT get it. Every once in a while he will humor me. (ha ha "humor" me) But if he has his choice he would rather watch the news or sports than sit and have me read jokes from twitter or facebook. 
Maybe he feels the same way about sharing news and sports with me? 
I don't know because he doesn't communicate things like that well, so?  

So when I had the opportunity to visit my sister this past weekend I knew I would get to laugh and share funny things with someone who gets it and I was so excited! 

I showed her a youtube site that I follow and love. Seriously they are hilarious! 

(Check them out: Kid History) My sister agrees! "FACT!" 

And we sat late into the night and I read twitter jokes and facebook jokes and even looked at my pinterest board where I have pinned things I find funny. 

I think the later in the night, the funnier the jokes are! 

Yet another thing my husband, who goes to bed before 10, DOES NOT get. 

The party, or joke telling with inevitable laughter, does not start until after 10 pm! 

So I am very thankful that I have a sister that is in visiting proximity now 

and will hopefully be able to go visit her more often! 

Look I'm putting the gratitude lesson into practice there! :) 

Me? Strong?

"What is your greatest strength?"

It was a simple question on an application for an online women's networking site. I sat and stared at the question for a long time. My greatest weakness is easy, I focus on my weaknesses, that is my weakness. I find the things wrong and dwell on them. But my strength is much harder to come up with. I asked my husband, even took a "What is my greatest strength?" quiz online. Here are the results:

"Perseverance and Fortitude"
When at your lowest, you rely on your perseverance to pull through any hardship. You don't let yourself get down easily and always try and see the good. You want the world to be better, but you know that this can only be through hard-work and effort. 

You believe in the strength of relationships and shared experiences. You know that people need people and that we all rely on society. You place great value in people who give back. You want to do your best in life.

You charge forth and reach for the highest results. You are, by nature, a very strong individual. Your strength comes from within and you don't mind being the shoulder to lean on. You are very loyal."

I answered honestly and, as accurate as an 8 question, online, limited choice quiz can be, it is pretty close. Even my husband agrees. Even might have made me re-think some things about myself. Maybe I am not as weak as I think? 

Maybe I can add "overcoming weaknesses" to my list of strengths?  

Attitude of Gratitude?

I went to a business meeting last night. Someone there talked about a book she is reading about gratitude, and it being the key, the “magic”.  I thought a lot about what she said and realized that we have been asked since childhood, “What’s the magic word?” And usually it was “please”. So in a sense we were taught to beg for what we wanted. But our “magic” word should be “thank you!” I have a hard time seeing God as one that wants us to beg for something. We should ask, expect and then thank Him for the answer.

Plus, I googled it, according to the Free Dictionary of idioms:

“What’s the magic word?” (British and Australian)

‘something that you say to a child in order to make them say ‘please’ or ‘thank you’

So they had it partially right! I have started giving thanks for the difficult things to get better, for good things, as they are now, but then giving thanks because they are about to be GREAT! 

intro... somewhat

it's just me :) 

It's usually how I start a conversation on the phone with the people I call most often. They know me, know my voice. Most have caller id, so an introduction is not necessary. Some know me better than others. Some think they do. They're wrong.  (Kelly Clarkson's Mr. Know-It-All plays in my head right now.) A lot of the time I even question how much I really know myself. So this is a journey that might give US ALL some insight?