this little piggy went to Walmart

I woke up in the night last night to a weird smell in the house. In my groggy state, it finally hit me...nail polish. She had polished her nails..all of them..right before she went to bed.

What a horrible smell. Worse than that, a VOC!

It got me to thinking. I have read articles and pins about not horrible for you nail polishes, but had yet to take the plunge and purchase any. I have just done without because it's not that big of a deal.

Well. Today it became a big deal. No reason. I was kinda crabby and needed in a pick me up. So thanks to google,  I had a list of possibilities. But one stood out because of it's cute name. Piggy Paint.

The more I read about it, the better I liked it. And they carry it at Walmart.

So this little piggy went to market and got some Piggy Paint!

It is in the kiddie section of health and beauty. (it is also carried in some baby stores and some froo froo boutiques on Main Street in a suburb near me) Walmart carried a two pack of what I would call tester bottles. Very tiny. I got hot pink and really pretty turquoise kinda like color (just go with it). I also got a bottle of remover. All vegan. All no VOC. No smell at all to the paint and very very little in the remover.

I came home and painted my piggies. They are hot pink and oh so cute! It was such a simple thing but it lifted my mood so much to look down past my hot pink tee shirt, and see my hot pink piggies in my hot pink flip flops. Made. Me. Smile.

So there ya go.

(They also have an adult line, a pooch line and a toenail line among other things. Worth checking out. But the kiddie stuff comes in many colors and if I like the wearability of it, I will just stick with it. It's easy and fast.)

Happy piggies. :)

ps..I should add that my girl rarely paints her nails, so it's not like she was exposing herself to these toxins every time she turned around. : )

the root of all sorts of evil

I got a root canal when the girl was in middle school. It never gave me any problems after that (or so I thought) and I never thought another thing of it.

Until I started reading about health. And guess what kept coming up again and again? Root canals! And just how awful they are for your health. Many in the natural cancer treatment community believe root canals are a major contributor.

Well..not good news for me to hear. So I started researching holistic and naturopathic dentists.  And finally I found one that didn't act like I was crazy for wanting to get a root canal OUT rather than putting one in.

So yesterday I got it out. I love this dentist. I think I will be using him for everything (for me) now. But back to 'the story'...he was very kind and listened to my concerns about my tooth and how that I wanted to get it removed. He agreed that we could go ahead and get that thing out. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that I was going to feel real silly if he pulled that thing out and it was 'perfectly fine'. I knew he would be rolling his eyes and I would feel like I had caused myself a lot of pain 'for nothing'.

Long story longer..he pulled my tooth. Oh my word. It was a bit dramatic. He had a hard time getting the crown off and I found myself wishing for knock out drugs about three minutes into the fierce tugging and stretching of the corners of my mouth to get his horrible instrument 'all the way back there' to get it out. But finally he got the crown cover and then the tooth out. Then came the scraping. By this time my brain had calmed down and the mouth stretching wasn't as severe so I 'relaxed' and he finished up the job.

And then he sat back and took of his face gear and told me the story. He said it was a super good thing that I had it removed because it was full of infection! None of it showed up on xrays etc. Remember, I wasn't having any 'problems' with it. He said it certainly wasn't a wasted effort on my part to get this thing out.

So here I sit today. Recovering. I actually feel pretty good. Last night, not so much. I took three Advils twice yesterday but haven't needed anything today. I have a chipmunk cheek on one side, my cheek is sore to the touch and the corner of my lip was stretched enough to crack. That is actually the most sore part right now.  He gave me aloe vera gel to put on the tooth area, arnica cream for the TMJ area of my jawline externally and a scrip for heavy duty pain meds that I haven't needed. I feel half way decent, given the circumstances.

Now for the interesting part..the tooth that I had removed was #2. There is a thing called a meridian chart that shows how each tooth corresponds to a part of the body. Guess which part of the body #2 corresponds to...my right breast. I will only give you one chance to guess where my BC was. Yep! When I figured all of that out, it sent chills down my spine.  And I am so thankful to get it out.

Mainstream doctors annoy me so much! Nothing they do is in unison with the rest of the body in their world but it is. And I think my root canal is proof of that.

So...my .02...think twice about that root canal. It could do more harm than good.

Further reading about the dangers of root canals here, here and here.  And those are just quick links I grabbed. There is a ton of info out there. Just don't ask a regular dentist. ; )

the dynamic duo

I made an appointment to visit a new dr because I had a sinus infection. (see previous post) I thought I was seeing the dr, but there is also a chiropractor in the office. Well, my appointment was with the chiropractor, who is also a nurse practitioner. Are you confused?

So was I! I was so thrown off by the whole thing. Anyway, she explained that they do things a little bit differently, which was welcome news. She prescribed colloidal silver for my sinus infection. The next day I was worse so I went to Sprouts and asked what else they would add to that. She commented that my sinuses were probably hard and needed to be broken up so they could drain. I knew...ew, right? So she suggested I add SinuZyme by Redd Remedies.

And together they are the dynamic duo. Yes, they knocked out my sinus infection in three days.

Unfortunately, I also have so nasty throat cooties going on. So she suggested I keep going with the silver and it should be knocked out in a week. So that's what I'm going to do..and see how it goes.

But if you have an infection..not just sinus..lots of different types of infection...and antibiotics aren't working for you, give colloidal silver a try. It just might do the trick. : )

If April showers bring May flowers....(updated)

...this year should be a bumper crop!

Y'all. It has rained an insane amount this spring. We went from having a hard winter (for us) to everything blooming within about a week. It was crazy, even by Texas standards. (If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute)

Since everything bloomed just about at once, my allergies went off the rails. And I ran out of Allergra. I thought I was doing ok but I finally came down with what I think is a sinus infection.

I have been trying really hard to kick it on my own WITHOUT antibiotics. (antibiotics make me sick to my stomach most of the time, which affects my immune system worse than being sick..and then comes the yeast infection). So yeah..I was hoping to avoid.

I have been taking...

• Garlic tablets - antibiotic and antifungal
• Lobelia - dries drainage
• Elderberry - general upper respiratory
• oregano oil - antibiotic and antifungal
• marshmallow - does many things including general upper respiratory
• licorice root - does many things including general upper respiratory
• tart cherry - great antioxidant with dinner. Promotes sleep.
• Eucalyptus essential oil - breathing in the vapors in hot water/shower
• various pharmaceuticals..advil, allegra, mucinex

I have tried enough things and waited enough time to now know that it's lingering and I need some help. Most of you remember that I had a serious run-in with my GP during my VCD days. They were so rude and unhelpful when I needed them most. So I have been searching for someone that perhaps is more holistic. East/west. Functional. Integrative. Something. I found a small clinic in the area with an m.d. that is more functional and integrative. I have been wanting to "try her out" to see if she's all that and a bag of chips. And since I can't kick this crud, today is my lucky day. (I love my integrative dr but I cannot afford to pay cash for all of my health care, which is unfortunate because I love him. And this office takes insurance..and they have a chiropractor and my girl needs to get started with one this summer.)

I don't know whether I'm going to like her. I am also window shopping because I need to move the girl over to a grown up GP at some point. After all, she's 20. 

But alas, it's not snowing anymore (like it was in my last post lo a many weeks ago). We've moved on to the pestilence of rain. Today enjoying the warm temps and sun. Word is its more rain starting next week. Fun times. Hoping by then, I have some sort of relief from my head and throat. 

Hugs and love, y'all.

Update..I liked her. It was an odd visit. A bit confusing. I ended up seeing a chiropractor that is also a nurse practitioner. Weird. But she was nice. She did a nebulizer treatment with colloidal silver and sent me home with it to quirt up my nose and take some by mouth a few more times and I can do one more neb treatment tomorrow if I feel the need. She says that should do it. Jury is out on all of this but I am willing to try it. The alternative health care world is a different animal altogether!

Ice and snow

I'm sitting here waiting on my leftovers to reheat in the toaster oven. A salmon croquette...or salmon patty..or as we call it, CRABBY PATTY. There goes my 4th grade humor for the day. You're welcome.

We have missed two days of school for ICE. So that was fun. Hubs stayed home the first day but ventured out the second (and did ok..no wreck). And then last night they issued a snow warning. And despite my best efforts to warn the girl that school would probably happen, she set her hopes WAY high that today would be a triple play and we would miss yet another day of school.

It was raining when I woke up way too early to potty. I was all see I told you so.

And then a bit later she got up all excited that it was snowing. But grumpy that school was indeed happening anyway. And I was all see I told you so.

So it was dark and very cold and snowing early this morning. I was also grumpy about having to get out in this awful weather. But I tried to keep it to myself.

And then I needed to run a couple of errands. So I trudged out in the gray skies and wet snow flakes.

But then a funny thing happened. It stopped snowing and the sun came out. I ditched the coat for the rest of my errands and ended up enjoying being out and about...with less grump and a little more spring in my step.

Let's hope spring weather isn't far behind.

I made...

So I wrote a post the other day and then never got around to finishing it. Here goes anyway so I can get it out of my drafts folder. : )

I hope your Christmas and New Years were safe and happy.  Ours was quiet and nice. And as always, I'm glad it's over. I guess I'm sort of a grinch but I am always happy to pack it all up and be done with holidays for a while. : )

I am happy to say that I have not been having problems breathing. I would say 'at all' but every now and then I will notice it for like A breathe. But it really has felt nice to just feel ok in that regard and not have to put so much mental effort into correctness in that area.

When I started feeling better, I started thinking about all the things I hadn't felt like doing when I couldn't get a breathe. One of them was cross stitch. I started a project a couple of winters ago and got bogged down on this one part and just stopped working on it. So I picked that up and got past the tricky part and finished it.

I did learn making this project that I have major anxiety over french knots. I dotted both the "i"s but did not do any of the decorative knots...I kept obsessing over them looking exactly alike, which they do not, so I knew doing the 20-30 other ones was a lost cause.

INSERT PHOTO HERE..yeah it never happened. : /

I also started putting more effort into my meals again. I have lots of cookbooks but you know as well as I do that it always comes back to the simple stuff. I have lots of recipes for 'raw' foods and salads. And there are some foods I'm trying to learn how to eat raw. One of them is cauliflower. So I played around with several recipes and came up with my own. I had to come up with a name so I went out on a limb and decided to call it Cauliflower Salad. I know, right.

Nothing here is exact...chop up a head of cauliflower..if it's a large one I use about 2/3. Chop into small pieces. I used to try to make it tiny but now I just go for small. Call me lazy. Then chop up a couple hand fulls of parsley, half some tiny tomatoes, add black olives, some onions and or green onions, some lemon juice, garlic powder,  olive oil and salt and pepper. Just chop everything up in the amount and size that is your liking and add the flavorings etc and you're done. It is so yummy and bright. And super healthy. And there isn't a recipe. Just put a bunch of stuff together. And you could swap out other veggies altogether if you want.

INSERT PHOTO HERE...yeah this never happened either. : /

Anyway...I hope you and yours are enjoying the first days weeks of 2015. : )