Tag Archives: #Christian Blogger

Why should I use natural cleaning products

14 Apr

Lavendar Lydia's Herbals

Last year I began to take a serious interest in herbal remedies and In June I found Lydia of Lydia’s Herbals asked if she would allow me to interview her. The interview has been a popular stop on the blog. If you would like to read it, her is the LINK. This year my interest has turned to making my own cleaning and personal care products, so I contacted Lydia and asked if you would stop by  and share her knowledge.

So, welcome back to Old Things R New, Lydia. What is your take on natural cleaners?

You may wonder what all the hype about natural cleaners is. First of all, it isn’t just a fad. It is something that everyone should research and make wise choices for their family. There are very real dangers lurking on the cleaning products aisle of the supermarket.

Here is some research on cleaning product choices.
The Environmental Protection Agency lists our homes as one of the top 5 environmental risks to our health. The causes include insulation and weatherproofing, which effectively seal toxins into our homes. These emissions come from building materials, electronics, grocery bags, paper towels- but the two main sources are cleaning supplies and body care products.

Why does this matter?

Environmental toxins build up in the body, and can lead to many problems. One of the main problems is Sick Building Syndrome, which is directly linked to poor indoor air quality. It causes congestion, nervous system disorders, allergies, asthma, fatigue, and irritation of the eyes, nose and throat. This is especially problematic for children, because their exposure is greater than that of adults. They spend more time sleeping, playing on the floor, and putting items in their mouths. All of these activities contribute to a heavy toxin load.

So what can we do about this?

There are many ways to reduce the toxic load in your home. Here are several suggestions:

  • Buy used- used items have already released most of their toxins, so they won’t release them into your home.
  • Open your windows- This allows fresh air in and toxic air out.
  • Get a houseplant- houseplants have been shown to filter out toxins in the air, and they don’t have a limit of toxins that they can absorb. The most effective plants are ferns and palms, but rubber plant, English ivy, ficus, peace lily, mums and daisies are also good choices.
  • Make your own cleaners- we will be discussing how later in this post.
  • Make your own body care products- it is quite simple, and there are many recipes online for all kinds of beauty products, including perfume and make-up.

So, lets get started by learning about the ingredients used to make household cleaners.

  • Baking soda- an alkaline scrubber, it has a pH of 8.1 . Most supermarkets sell big boxes in the baking aisle.
  • Washing soda- a much stronger alkaline with a pH of 11, it needs to be handled with care and only by adults. It is found in the laundry aisle at most supermarkets. ( Here is a link to Amazon to give you a visual~Onisha)
  • Vinegar- Plain distilled white vinegar. It is an acid. Supermarkets sell gallon jugs. Don’t worry, you will use that much.
  • Borax- a naturally occurring mineral, it is also alkaline with a pH of 9.5. It is found in the laundry aisle at most supermarkets.
  • Liquid vegetable/castile soap- I just make my own, but a good brand is Dr. Bronnor’s. (Amazon link)
  • Essential oils- I get mine from Mountain Rose Herbs. Good oils to have on hand for cleaning include lavender, lemon, eucalyptus, tea tree, orange and peppermint. If you have small children, you should not use eucalyptus or peppermint. Eucalyptus has ketones, which can cause liver damage in small children. Peppermint has caused breathing problems in children under 3, so use caution. Always research an essential oil before using!
  • Distilled water- This works best in the recipes because it has all the minerals and bacteria removed.
  • Spray bottles- you will need one spray bottle for each spray you make. Do not reuse spray bottles from other cleaning supplies or you could end up with a deadly reaction. I get them in the beauty section at the supermarket.
  • Labels- Address labels or masking tape work well. I usually just use a permanent marker directly on spray bottles.

Some tips for using your cleaners- Acid based cleaners work best on dissolving mineral build up and soap scum, while alkaline cleaners remove stains, odors and grease. ( I had no idea what would  make a cleaner acid based so I emailed Lydia. The answer was a real head slap for me…. vinegar!)

Thank you, Lydia for the excellent information. I added my comments above in parenthesis and italics.

The Amazon links may or may not be affiliate links. I am never sure if they work, but if they do, I may earn a small fee. if you buy from Amazon after clicking on one of the links.

I have begun collecting recipes for natural products on our Rebekah Lyn Books Pinterest board or if you are not a Pinterest fan, here is a LINK to one of my favorite sites. I have begun using a shampoo made with castile soap and coconut milk. For the first two weeks my hair felt gummy but I was expecting that and stayed with the natural shampoo. Now I love it and can’t imagine using anything else. Making the shampoo is fun, knowing I am not polluting my body….. priceless.

Be sure to visit Lydia on her website

 Lydia’s Herbals 

Herbal health from a Christian Worldview

Click HERE 

Calendula

Calendula

Tags: , , , ,

Sand Paintings

12 Apr

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

JUDY

In previous memories, I’ve mentioned my Aunt Jessie.

2

She was a lover of “things.” She never married, and things became quite important to her, and she surrounded herself with the things she loved.

Living in New Mexico, she became enamored of all things Indian/Mexican. She purchased and wore many different pieces of Indian turquoise and silver jewelry. She had necklaces. She had bracelets. She had rings and earrings. She loved every piece she owned.   I was fortunate to inherit all that jewelry when she died.

She wore fiesta dresses a lot – both to work, and at home. (Please see my blog on December 9, 2012, titled “Fiesta Dresses” for an explanation of them)

One thing she learned to love were sand paintings. It is truly a unique art. She had dozens of those paintings around her house, and I was pleased to be able to take my pick of the ones I wanted. All had pieces of crushed turquoise in them. Some had larger chunks of turquoise. But they were all unique. I so enjoy that, with them on my wall, I still have a touch of New Mexico around me.

See what you think:

Tags: , , , ,

My Colonial States Trip~Part 21

8 Apr

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Bill Small Red Plane

After that educational tour, I headed for the rental car office to turn in my car and get a ride to the Providence Train Station for my trip to the T.F. Green Airport. All went well until I arrived at the train station and my train #807 showed no gate assignment. There were four tracks, and I didn’t want to miss my train (12:27) because the next train after that (2:54) to the airport would cause me to miss my flight to Orlando. As I bought my ticket, I asked the clerk which track train #807 would leave from and she said, “That information will be posted on the schedule board about 15 minutes before the train arrives.” So, I broke out my CD player and settled in to wait. At 12:15 the schedule board had not changed and I asked the clerk about the gate number again. This time she rolled her eyes and said, “Sometimes they don’t post that information until 5 minutes before the train arrives.” I thanked her and sat back down to watch the schedule board. By now (12:23) I was about to panic, and go holler at someone, when the schedule board changed showing “Train #807 Arriving On Track 4” and I breathed a sigh of relief.

1

I got to the T.F. Green Airport Station at 12:43 and figured I now had a little over 2 hours to wait for my flight leaving at 3:30. But, when I went to check my bag for the flight, I was told that the plane had had mechanical problems and they would have to bring another plane to Providence, and the new departure time for my flight was 4:50. What a bummer! All that anxiety over missing the train was for nothing. So, what else could I do, but call DiVoran to tell her my flight was delayed, and that would make it too late arriving for us to go to dinner there in Orlando, as we had planned. She said, “No problem, I’ll just whip us up an omelet when we get home.” Well, that was fine with me, so, I broke out my CD player again and settled in for a little longer wait this time. As it turned out, it was almost 9:00 before we got home and that ham/cheese/mushroom omelet was just what the doctor ordered.

2

                                   

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love going on these trips, to see different parts of our wonderful country, visit interesting places and museums and meet my American neighbors no matter where they live. But, it is always good to get home to the company of my lovely wife DiVoran and sleep in my own bed. I hope you have enjoyed reading about this trip as much as I have enjoyed re-living it in these blogs. I’m sure I have left out some important details of the trip, but if I remember them I’ll just have to include them as some kind of a “Post Script” or “Addendum” to My Colonial States Trip at some later date. In the meantime, keep smiling because GOD loves YOU and has a wonderful plan for your life.      

3                             

 

           —–The End—–

Tags: , , , , ,

Pit Bulls on the Trail

6 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistOn my way home from my walk day, before yesterday, I came upon two bit pit bulls running wild on the trail. They both barked at me and I started saying my prayers. I’d seen the black and white dog before, but not the pure white one. All I knew to do was act brave and pretend to be friendly. When they stopped barking and started wagging their tails, I took a breath of much-needed air. After a few minutes, I decided to move toward home and they decided to turn around and go with me. I walked a ways then turned to see if they were coming along. They stopped and look nonchalant as if they were busy sniffing the side of the trail and couldn’t care less what I was doing. I went around a corner where they couldn’t see me and when I came out again they actually ran to catch up.

When we got back to the neighborhood, they left me to go to their back door while I went to the front of the block. The owner was in the garage with her son. I told her they’d been a mile down the trail and she was very upset with them. I urged her to keep them in and she thanked me. I could just imagine how terrified people would be by such big dogs of a breed that had such a bad reputation. Here in the south they are often used as fighting dogs for gambling and have been known to fight to the death.

Today I walked past her house on my way to the trail and three pit bulls rushed out. Two were barking, but they didn’t fool me anymore. I said hello and tails started to wag. They knew I was going for a walk and asked if they could go too. I said a big no, although by now I liked them and would have enjoyed their company. The third one was a puppy. She said she’d go wherever everybody else was going. I did everything I could to rouse the person who lives there but at first got no answer.

I thought I would turn around and go home, but I could see they didn’t care where I was going, they just wanted to be with somebody. There’s was nothing else happening right then. Then I thought about trying to get them into the old car sitting in the driveway so they couldn’t follow me, but I didn’t know how long it would be before somebody came. I went to the open garage and yelled HELLO as loud as I could — twice. Finally, the woman who lives there came out. She was mad at the dogs. She was DONE. This was IT! She wasn’t mad at me. We had a little talk. The white dog was her son’s, but he was sharing custody with her. She had found the pup on the street when she came home at three a. m. from work the night before. It seemed lost. Now she picked it up and cuddled it and said in a baby-talk voice, “but you’re going to the pound, aren’t you, sweetie?” The pup snuggled up to her not seeming to understand what she was saying.

The woman and I had a little chat about the white dog’s nipples, wondering if she was pregnant. The woman said she and her son had discussed it, too. They’d only had her five days, but they thought maybe she was.

Everything is going to be all right though, at least for me. I liked the woman and would have enjoyed having her as a neighbor. I liked all the dogs too, but there was just something a bit much about the whole scenario. In the end, she told me she’d be moving because the house, which she is renting, sold. I’ll take another route until I’m sure they’re gone. It’s almost the end of the month so it shouldn’t be long. I used to have a big dog that ran free back when the woods were wild and there was no official trail, no other people. I miss him. I wouldn’t mind if those dogs walked with me, I just don’t think anybody would appreciate my entourage, well, not when they first met them, anyway.

Pit bull

Tags: , , , , ,

My March Madness

19 Mar

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I'm a winner

I know now why March has been named March Madness and it has nothing to do with basketball! I don’t think I have caught my breath yet. I even set my alarm clock an hour earlier to pack more into my day. That is a big deal for me.

The disturbing part is that aside from doing first round edits on Rebekah’s upcoming release, Spring Dawn, I can’t tell you why is has been “mad.” Isn’t this how life goes most of the time, busy, busy, busy with little to show for it.

As I began writing this, the phrase “Be Intentional” came to mind.

Keepand Be Intentional

 

.So I decided to be intentional as I think back on my March activities. I realized that I had accomplished more than I thought.

  1. Created a blog for my son’s travel business, Oasis Travel.
  2. Created and posted content to his blog.
  3. Searched for travel blogs to follow and connect with.
  4. Regularly maintain this blog and Rebekah Lyn Books.
  5. Edited fifty chapters of Spring Dawn.
  6. Actively participated in two book promotions.
  7. Then there is the every day routine of social media networking.

The best part was spending time and sharing laughter with friends and family. I think I will choose to be intentional and be thankful for the things I did accomplish and not fret over what I did not.

If you haven’t visited Rebekah Lyn Books stop by and see our new projects. On Sundays, DiVoran is sharing her serial novel, Go West. It is a historical western romance complete with original artwork. Wednesday is Promise Poster Day. You will certainly want to view them.

Rebekah Lyn Books is a part of an exciting book sale and giveaway March 16-20. One lucky reader will win over FORTY digital books and registration is very easy.

That’s all for now. Our time in Florida is over for a few months and while I will miss my precious friends and family, the beautiful western Carolina Mountains are calling my name!

 

PS I forgot to mention that Rebekah is giving away an autographed copy of Summer Storms. For a chance to win, leave on comment on the blog hop post.

Created this as part of my March Madness

Created this as part of my March Madness photo license free from bing images

Tags: , , , ,

How to find security. Five important steps.

28 Feb

Happy Saturday! How do you define security?

Tags: , , ,

Writing and Painting

23 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

Author, Poet and ArtistWhen I started writing blogs for Old Things R-New and Rebekah Lyn Books, I was working on the novel, Go West and enjoying it immensely. Painting had taken a back seat and I thought I was over it. But people kept saying they liked my prints and the paintings on my walls and when I remembered how much I enjoyed splashing paint around. My fingers began to itch for a brush.

The more I painted, the more I neglected the things I thought I ought to be doing. I wrote out several long talks with the Lord asking how I could find time to paint and to keep up with my writing goals, as well and he gave me some new ideas.

Finally, my angel, and enabler Onisha and I sat at a table in the Target Starbucks and talked it over. I had also been writing paraphrases from the Bible and I wanted to illustrate them. Onisha suggested we serialize the novel and use it instead of blogs and she liked the idea of the Promise Posters too.

So now, I’m painting and writing and I’m having a wonderful time. If you see any Go West illustrations or Promise Posters you’d like to buy, they will be available as prints and note cards at www.creativeartworks.com. Come join me in my new big adventure.

“Posters and Cards of the Go West paintings will be available on Creative Artworks soon.

 

Tags: , , ,

Christmas Blessings

25 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

3 Wise Men

The Three Wise Men is the most compelling image of Christmas for me this year. As I contemplate the gift of the Christ child, I give thanks. I pray that like the wise men I will seek him with my whole heart.

 

Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones.

Thank you for being a part of our  Old Things R New family

Tags: ,

Great Aunt Allie’s Blindness

10 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Author, Poet and ArtistI met Great Aunt Allie when I was twelve years old. My granddad and grandmother took me to Illinois to meet some of my kin. I enjoyed my second and third cousins and had a wonderful time, but I’ll never forget meeting Allie, my great grandmother’s sister. She was the first blind person I’d ever met. She was sitting down when they introduced us, and she asked if she could feel my face. I thought then, and have always thought, it would tell her about my appearance. Recently, though I’ve talked with Janet Eckles about it and she says, no, it doesn’t tell much. But now that I know more about Allie, I think she just wanted to touch her great-grand niece.

The Illinois families had always been farmers. They lived harsh lives, and I think they must have kept a thin layer of armor around their hearts so they wouldn’t be hurt beyond bearing. I don’t remember any hugging from any of my people.

That’s one reason the next story is so sad, though it goes back in time to when I was a newborn. Apparently, the meeting in Illinois wasn’t our first. Allie traveled to Colorado around the time I was born. My mother tells the story with much regret. Seems in those days the medical community decreed that if you held babies unnecessarily you spoiled them. Unnecessarily was any time when you weren’t feeding them or tending to their needs in some other way. My mother followed doctors’ orders and did not allow Allie to hold me. But Allie wasn’t easily discouraged. She stood by my Bathinette while Mother bathed me, and rocked it with her knee as she sang, “Rock-a-bye Baby.”

The last story isn’t about me, but it’s the best one. Allie and all my female relatives, in Illinois, were quilters. Allie managed to live alone, but I’m sure she received help from her family. Anyhow, she had her quilting frame set up in her living room and she’d piece together scraps of material into warm coverlets and give them away. It’s amazing that she could do that. She didn’t have anyone in the house to thread her needles so every morning she took several to a corner on the tiny Main Street and waited for someone to come by. Many times, it turned out to be the town judge. She had known him since he was a boy. She probably gave him lots of fresh fruit pies when was growing up. When the judge threaded the needles, he was showing his respect for Allie in the way it was most needed.

What is the point of these stories? Whatever you like. Maybe it will encourage you to tell some of your own family stories. Believe me; someone will appreciate them if you do. I’d like to read them myself. And they make terrific grist for a writer’s mill.

Tags: , , ,

The Archvivist

9 Mar

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy Wills

My Mother died in 1993.  After that time, my brother handed me all the family photos and documents he had, and informed me that I was the family archivist, so….here you go!  And there were hundreds of items!  It was quite a daunting prospect. However, a friend from church was a Creative Memories consultant, and I sought her out as to how to go about “organizing” all that stuff.  Her suggestion that I separate them into “families” sounded good.  So I set about it – putting my Mother’s family in one pile, and my Father’s family in another.

There were still hundreds of items to work through!

For whatever reason, I decided to start working through my Mother’s family first.  Perhaps because she died more recently than my Father.  So I began to gather the scrapbooks and paper and ideas to work on putting those photos in some chronological order, to put them on decorated pages.  I always had at the back of my mind, that this was a “legacy” for future generations to know their ancestors.

I was never very fast at that project.  It would take me quite a while to decide how I wanted to decorate the page, and what pictures I wanted on the page.  But as I went along, I realized that I was, indeed, getting quicker with the ideas.  I also realized that I was getting rather “immersed” in my family and it’s history.  I have pictures of my great-grandparents on my Mother’s side.  It really turned out to be quite a lot of fun.

My Great-grandparents and their three daughters. My grandmother is second on the right.
My Grandfather (right) and his father

Of course, other “projects” came into play, and I had to set aside the archival project once in a while.  A driving trip we made with our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren.  Those pictures just had to get into a book before I forgot what we did and when we did it.  Then back to the archives.  Then a cruise, and those pictures had to make their way into a book.  Then back to the archives.  You get the picture.

My Grandmother and Grandfather. Purported to be their "wedding" picture. They eloped.

My Grandmother and Grandfather. Purported to be their “wedding” picture. They eloped.

But I never lost the feeling of really “knowing” my family’s history – where they lived, and when they lived in that town and on that street.  It’s something that I’ve come to cherish.

My Great-grandparents and my Grandmother. She was about six months old.

My Great-grandparents and my Grandmother.
She was about six months old.

            

I’ve gotten away from it now, for a while.  I’ve been rather busy with scanning all the old 35mm slides Fred and I have taken over our 50+ years of marriage.  I hope our daughters and grands will someday want the pictures of their grands, and parents as small/growing children, but I’m sure they don’t want the slides.

My Grandmother at age 2 years 3 months. The "frame" around the picture is the back of the photo, blown up. I thought it needed to be seen - to show how photographs were done in the early 1900's.

My Grandmother at age 2 years 3 months. The “frame” around the picture is the back of the photo, blown up. I thought it needed to be seen – to show how photographs were done in the early 1900’s.

In any case, it’s been a wonderful journey, and one I don’t think I’ll ever finish.

Tags: , , , ,

Newer Entries →