IF YOU HAVEN’T ENTERED YESTERDAY’S GIVEAWAY, GO DO IT NOW!
Today is my actual birthday. I feel compelled to give away another gift. Not some swag I got for free somewhere, but something I intentionally picked up for this month’s giveaway extravaganza. It’s not something all natural – I’ll get to that in a moment. Today is, after all, This n That Thursday, hosted by 2 Brown Dawgs. But here’s what I’m giving away today.
All natural – I’ve been blogging for Jones Natural Chews for over a year now. This has changed my life in a lot of ways, one being I’m more aware now of what I put in and on my body. I look for all natural and made in the USA now. Last week this made a huge impact on me.
Last week I was sick, sick, sick with a cold. That’s a big deal, since colds tend to turn into bronchitis and pneumonia for me. But this cold, I decided, was going to be kicked the all natural way. Well, and NyQuil at night so I could sleep. Let’s not be stupid.
The long and short of it is that I took the advice of every one of my friends on FaceCrack. You’re not my FaceCrack friend? I’m known as Felicia Christenson there. Find me. Here’s some of the best advice:
- Sugar’s mom – ginger and honey in hot water – I added lemon juice, but next cold I’ll add red hots instead – this concoction was warm and soothing and helped me stay hydrated
- Peppermint oil – a good friend swore by it, saying it opens nasal passages immediately – I kept dabbing the concentrated essential oil in my nostrils, but I never did smell it – worked great on my sore throat, though, when I dabbed a bit on my tongue
- Thieves Oil – Jodi recommended this essential oil blend, and another friend brought over a bottle – it’s supposed to be a cure-all extraordinaire – it’s spicy, the cinnamon in it, and tingly – I love it!
- Frankincense and Myrrh – my thieves oil friend brought this oil over, too, and I rubbed on my neck and under my nose – I’m told it smells amazing, but I spent a week not being able to smell
Consensus? None of it cured my cold, helped me smell or breathe. But all of it kept a truly nasty cold from turning into bronchitis or worse. So thank you, friends. What did make the cold go away and open up my nose? Day five I went to the doctor. She wrote a prescription for an antibiotic in case I got worse. That’s still in my purse. She told me to take sudafed and use a nasal saline mist. Within twenty minutes of taking the sudafed, I could breathe.
So. All natural kept me alive and out of trouble. Sudafed knocked it out of the park. Hooray for a combination of good friends and modern medicine!
I went to bed one night smelling of peppermint and Hunny told me I smelled like Christmas. Jodi said I also probably smelled like Baby Jesus, given the frankincense and myrrh. All I need now is gingerbread to go with the cinnamon …
In other news, when Hunny brought home the peppermint oil, the woman at Whole Foods convinced him I’d need a carrier oil, since the peppermint oil would burn my skin. Puh-lease. I grew up pumping gas. Nothing but the sun burns my skin. This carrier oil was grape seed oil. The bottle said it was so light I could use it to condition my hair.
Y’all remember this?
Yeah. You know where I’m going with this. I love that Chubbs all natural dog and cat grooming bar soap on my own hair. It’s amazing. Why the heck not try a single ingredient all natural conditioner? This is what it did:
Not sure I’ll do that again. Hunny loves that it’s curlier than ever, and it’s soft and silky. I think it’s just oily. Y’all, I put OIL on my hair. We’ll see.
And that’s all I’ve got. Y’all go enter the contest from yesterday! Leave a comment here if you’d like to be entered to win the cute salt and pepper shakers! I’ll announce that winner Monday as well.
Until I write again …
Flea
