Totally Off Topic...

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FIRST DAY OF "SCHOOL"!

I'm terribly busy today and the realization hour is almost here. My husband says "Why be so sad? It's only 3 hours a day - it's Pre-K!" I say (in my own mind) 'I have been home with this child since he was born now he is going off to some stranger to be taught valuable knowledge and I'm jealous that I will miss all of his wide-eyed wonder'. I thought by adding U2's flashy "Beautiful Day" as the song of the week I would feel better. No chance, they had no chance. Sorry Bono, but still LOVE the sunglasses! What if he likes it and I become obsolete? What if he comes home and I try to tell him something new and fascinating and he counters with "Mom, let me just stop you there. I already know all of this. I learned it in school today. What's for dinner?" I'm irrational and emotional and I might need a pill of some kind for a few different ailments by the end of the day! Just kidding. I'm going to try and be strong. I can do this...I can do this...don't cry...don't cry...too late. Okay time to go make the donuts and bring the firstborn off to college. :o)

My best, Lynn

Music: U2 Beautiful Day - is it really, Bono? Really? Really. Really?

Like a Candle In The Wind....

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Did You Know...?

...that air fresheners and candles are not considered food, drug, or cosmetic so there is no requirement for their ingredients to be listed.

Everybody wants their room or house to smell pretty right? Some opt for the floral, some for the fallen pine tree in the woods scent. Whatever it is, we want to be transported to a calmer more happier place when we light 'em up!

But are candles and products of its kind safe for us or are they bad? Like, get booed offstage by the whole audience kind of bad?

I did some researching and came across alot of people saying that candles - the everyday Glades and Febrezes types - can cause harmful toxins to enter our airspace and that they should be avoided. The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) had a question posed to them on their website of "Can the use of fragrances indoors cause health impacts?" After a bit of some hemming and hawing (I thought) and saying that to some people it affects more than others, they did make their observations known from their own testing. They said that their Indoor Environments Division (IED) "understands that exposure to fragrances can cause some sensitive individuals to experience asthma episodes and other adverse health impacts". Yikes!

There are some smells that I love i.e. fresh laundry, fresh cut grass, Snickers... but the fact that some fragrances can cause damage to your nervous system in different ways was always at the back of my head when it came to purchasing candles and all things Plug Ins. (Plus, did anyone else get that email awhile back warning that Plug Ins will burn your house down? Or was it just me?)

So I really want to have a sweet smelling home to reflect how homey I feel when I'm here. There is a great article on candles here on Care2 (love them!) by Melissa Breyer. In her article she says that a safer and healthier alternative to the conventional candles you find everywhere is the unscented, 100% beeswax candles with a cotton wick. For our vegan friends, they can stick with unscented soy-based candles.

But what if I want to smell pretty and have butterflies flock to me, you say? Well she goes into perfume on a whole.nother.level. so I highly suggest clicking on the link to her article. She gives you tips on homemade perfumes and the best all naturally scented perfume makers in the biz. The first 2 out of the 3 are on the pricey side but Black Pearl Botanicals has some affordable things for purchase. I think I am going to go the make it at home avenue. I love learning new things.

So what products do you use for stinkin' up the place at your abodes? ;o) Does anyone have a good natural candle Co. they use as their go to? How about natural perfumes?

That's all for now humankind. Ta-ta!

My best,

Lynn

Music: "Sounds Like Life To Me" by Darryl Worley. Ain't nothin' wrong with a little country! I have been humming this song since Friday. They sing such truthful stories...we really get a peak into the male mind sometimes with country songs. I highly recommend it.

Pic: Letty from 123rf

Aura Cacia body wash

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Did You Know...

...your skin sheds a layer of dead skin cells every 24 hours and renews itself about every 28 days?

That is amazing. Truly is. It's a good thing we shower on a daily basis! Our skin is an awesome organ that is just mindboggling when you think about it. Skin. It's just. There. Doing it's own protection thing on the D.L. (down low) and delivering every time. There is no fanfare when the skin does something amazing like healing itself from a wound after time goes by. It doesn't hold up a sign saying "Oh yeah! I did this. Remember that razor nick from last week? Taken care of. No need to thank me or anything. Hold the applause. I'm SKIN. It's what I do." Skin just does it. I love my skin. So I want to take care of it for decades to come. Here's one way to do so:

Aura Cacia's aromatherapy body wash (Patchouli Sweet Orange scent)

I have used this over the past couple of months on and off as my morning shower wash. (Tell you why in a bit). The sweet orange and patchouli smell are no joke people! The awakening power in this scent sometimes rivals my morning coffeemaker. It's just super refreshing and I love it. It's the smell I'd imagine an orange grove to emit. The earthiness of the patchouli is just really grounding too. It serves a really underlying purpose. It almost could be described as spicy! Just a tad. A little hint.

There are no parabens, synthetic fragrances or colors in this. There are a lot of bad, terrible preservatives left out of this concoction. BUT! That does not mean that ALL bad things were taken out of this body wash. For those of you with sensitive skin beware because this can cause irritation if used on a constant basis due to these culprits:

• Cocamidopropyl betaine: irritant
• sodium myreth sulfate
• Guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride
• Sodium hydroxymethylglycinate
• Disodium EDTA

They are all known irritants to varying degrees. The bottle warns against prolonged use so to avoid rashes, redness or itching of the skin. It also warns pregnant women and those taking medication. Sheesh...now you know why I only use it once in awhile. But aside from those things, if you can make it past all the irritants and you have semi- to pretty tough skin as I do at times, you might enjoy this body wash. But only in small doses. Don't go crazy with it.

There is the review of the week. Oh and if you purchase anything from auracacia.com between now and Aug. 31 you can recieve a free 8 oz. bottle of Kids Body Wash FREE. Just add it to your order at checkout. I also didn't find this bottle on auracacia's site so I went to google it and found it a few other places. The most inexpensive find was at imedmart.com where it is going for $5.99 for 8 oz.

What do you use for body wash? Anyone have a great natural one that they love or want to try out? Let our inquiring (nosey) minds know! :o)

Have a great week all!

My best, Lynn

Music: It's been a real musical medleys kind of week in our household. The song of the week this time is from Babs from Funny Girl. This is my message to the economy. ;o) "Don't Rain on My Parade". Click to the left on the 2nd one from the actual movie. Have a listen.

Let Green Works Work for You!

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Did You Know...

...that you have a 1 in 10,499 chance of falling and drowning while in the bathtub over the course of your lifetime?

What a bummer, eh? Well if you're gonna go, the tub might as well look good when the medics rush in right?

Enter this weeks review.... green works natural bathroom cleaner (original scent)

Now this stuff rocks! I am not a paid endorsement or actress. I am but a simple housewife lookin' for some sweet cleaning action without all the harsh side effects. I really like this bottle. I was at the store recently perusing the cleansers aisle and looking for something that resembled normalcy and wouldn't make me grow a sixth toe while I slept at night (I have a very active imagination and may highly exaggerate at times). Have you ever read a bleach label? It says on cloroxprofessional.com that the active ingredients are:

Sodium Hypochlorite (6.15%)

OTHER INGREDIENTS (93.85%)

I kind of laughed at first and was like "Here we go again. Another large Corp. trying to get away with not really disclosing what is in their bottles" and I moved onto another bottle to see what ingredients they had. Every single bleach one had the same label. The tiniest percentage of the Sodium Hypochlorite and then 99.?% of whatever else they put in there. Now I would have had no problem if the other ingredient was made up of water even. That just shows me that the Hypochlorite is just that strong and needs to be THAT diluted down. Then it got me scared and worried because if it was water, then they surely would label that right? Right. Then what on earth could possibly make up the other 99 percent of what is in that bottle???? Slowly backing away from the Clorox my eye stumbled upon this pretty little number (pictured above) and I was drawn first and foremost to the non-sterile looking sunflower which was oh so purdy. I have been at this searching for the "good stuff" for awhile, so much so to the point that anything with a green label gets no quickening heartbeat from me! I know better than to believe that everything labeled green is actually good for me and my family. Beware of the packaging plot! This had a green label, but I gave it's ingredients a fine toothed comb looking over before committing it to my basket to mingle with my yogurt and orange juice.

It passed the test.

I have had great results every time I have pulled this out to clean the tub or sink. I have not used it on the toilet yet. I probably should have to give this a complete review. Hold on.

Okay. Don't use it on the toilet. It was just...eh....nothing to write home about on that front.

But everything else? Tub? Stellar. Sink? Stellar. I love this stuff. It has all natural ingredients and the only non-natural ingredient (alkyl polyglucoside) has not shown any harmful effects on the environment or humans. It does have fragrance and essential oils in it. I will say that it is a nose tickler. They were a little heavy handed when it came to the fragrance. That's one thing I don't like, and I have to turn on the vents when I spray but I'm just getting more sensitive as I age I think. Other than having too much of a good thing when it comes to the scent, this bathroom cleaner gets a huge thumbs up in my book. Tell your friends and your friends friends to use this stuff!

I bought it at Wal-Mart. Can't remember how much it was though. Sorry.

Unfortunately, if you missed my previous post, that's okay but it just explains a bit about why I have come to the conclusion not to do as many giveaways as I have in the past. Now, the fact that they will be surprises to you all will make it that much more special, right? :o) Riiiiight...

Have a great week people.

My best,

Lynn

Music: The Beatles "Here Comes The Sun". Sun, sun, sun, here it comes....enjoy it while it lasts! Here comes fall...