Breathe & OnGuard

Winter...the dreaded cold/flu season. It was only a matter of time before our house got infected by the first cold of the season. 

Two weeks ago was our turn. Bryce and I came down with it first and it lasted 9-10 days - and mine is followed by a lingering cough. Bryce's symptoms started with a croup-like cough but I combated it with a humidifier, Vick's and Lavender oil on his feet and chest at night. It really just consisted of a cough, some phlegm, but mostly a wet cough. I think his teething during this cold spell made him more miserable. Either way, it lingered for 9-10 days.

Then came the following Monday. Chloe decided to come down with a cold (if only it were a choice, huh?). She woke up with a coup type cough. Later that day my 3rd dōTERRA order came. In that lovely box was Breathe. A respiratory blend of Laurel Leaf, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Ravensara, Melaleuca, Lemon and Cardamom. (Description below).

 

I immediately opened that box, filled up my diffuser (which came on Saturday) with water and 3-4 drops each of Breathe and OnGuard - another lovely oil by dōTERRA. (description below). I put the diffuser on a shelf above Chloe's bed and I ran that puppy for 12 hours (refilled/refreshed 4 times) within 48 hours. I could already tell going into the 2nd day that she was feeling better. 

I also mixed Breathe and OnGuard with coconut oil and rubbed it on the bottom of her feet and on her spine for 2 nights in a row. 

I am going to credit Breathe and OnGuard for getting Chloe over that cold that was 90% over in 3 days and completely gone in 5 days. Meanwhile, Bryce is over his cold but still dealing with teething - my next symptom/remedy to research!

Now that Chloe is better I am running the diffuser above my bed with Breathe in it, while I sleep. I'm not completely over it, but I can tell it's working because of how much my coughing has slowed down.

That's my Breathe and OnGuard story and I'm sticking to it!!!

Breathe: Enhanced with the powerful respiratory benefits of Cardamom, Breathe is a remarkable blend of essential oils that help you breathe easier. This proprietary blend cleanses and soothes the airways and can be applied topically or diffused at nighttime, allowing for a restful sleep.

OnGuard: OnGuard is dōTERRA®'s unique, proprietary blend formulated to support healthy immune function. Wild orange essential oil, combined with clove, cinnamon, eucalyptus and rosemary offer a fragrant, natural and effective alternative to synthetic options for immune support. OnGuard, with its unique aroma, is one of our most versatile blends. It is also safe to use on counter tops, as a non-toxic way to cleanse surfaces, or to purify the atmosphere by diffusing. OnGuard is superb for eliminating and controlling pathogens due to the potency of its constituents. For aromatic, topical, or dietary use.

If you are interested or intrigued in Essential Oils, please visit my page!! I would love to help you find solutions for your symptoms!!

 www.mydoterra.com/SarahRossing

My first dōTERRA order came!!

Alright, here I go!! I got my first delivery of dōTERRA last night. I ordered Slim & Sassy and PastTense. 

I had a sinus headache last night so I immediately busted out the PastTense. I rolled it on my neck, temples and forehead. 

Earlier in the day I was counting down the hours before I could go to bed for the night. My head hurt so bad. 

At 9:30pm I realized that my headache was gone. I could feel the the pressure but it didn't hurt. Best way to explain it was an epidural for my head, haha. I could feel pressure but I didn't care, cause it didn't work. 

This morning I am drinking Slim & Sassy water. Ice water with 5 drops in it. Very citrusy. I'm not brave enough to put drops on my tongue, it's pretty strong. 

I will blog later with my results of taking Slim & Sassy. 

If interested you can visit www.doterra.com/SarahRossing 

No more excuses!!

What better way to get rid of excuses then to bring the equipment in where I can't argue...though I could try. 

No more excuses that it's raining. 

No more excuses that I'm tired. 

No more excuses that I don't have time. 

We purchased an elliptical. It's quiet so it doesn't wake Bryce when he's napping in the adjoining room. I've already lost weight just thinking about it!! (Better yet, it gave us an excuse to get rid of the loveseat that served as my unfolded laundry pile location!)

We used to have one about 5 years ago but we sold it. We lived in an upstairs condo and it was really loud from the first floor. I couldn't exercise knowing I was annoying the lady under us. 

Now though, nobody to bother!! 

So, here's to no more excuses!!!

My newest endeavor...

Well, I've been looking for something to do to help bring in some extra income. I tried transcribing, what a joke. Made a whoppin' $3 in the 12 documents I transcribed... 36+ hours of my life I won't get back!!

I have tried selling stuff on eBay, who has time for that? Taking pictures, posting it, wait for a bid and package it when it sells. All to find out you lost out on shipping...again.

I have been wanting to try some natural remedies for ailments that we suffer in this family. Is there a cure for laziness? Over booking? Tardiness? Talking back? Not cleaning up after yourself? Wouldn't that be nice? 

I have a couple friends who have used essential oils to cure, or help alleviate, some of the issues that they have. Growing up my mom used essential oil on us. It's not uncommon to still hear her say, "Have you tried lavender oil?" Lavender oil seems to be the cure-all. No joke!

After some thought, I decided that I'd really like to try these oils and see how they work, and in the meantime share with you my results. 

With that, I have become a dōTERRA Wellness Advocate and sell the product to you! It's a win-win! :)

The greatest part of this company is that they have made it so that you can:

 1. Enjoy the product

 2. Enjoy the product at 20% off (for a small fee/yr)

 3. Enjoy the product at 25% off for $35/yr and they give you a website so that you can share these same benefits with others and make some commission. 

 4. Enjoy the product at 25% off and build a business with dōTERRA. 

I have chosen option #3 for now with the hopes of moving into option #4 as I find people interested and while I use the product. 

If you would like to see what dōTERRA is all about you can visit my site at www.mydoterra.com/SarahRossing 

They have a lot of single oils and also blends of oils. They've taken the guess work out of combining oils that work together for one problem. 

My first purchase was the Slim & Sassy. This is a metabolic blend. They suggest using it to increase metabolism and suppress appetite between meals. We shall see how that works. David and I will both be using it. Stay tuned for results!!

My second purchase was their Past Tense. I'm hoping to use this roll-on for my tension headaches. I will definitely be raving about this one, I hope. 

That's all for now. Can't wait for my shipment to come in so I can start using it, blogging about it and sharing with all of you, the benefits of dōTERRA!!

Visit my site! Click on the purple words Shop our Products to start checking out the store. 

If you have a particular problem you'd like to solve, please let me know and I will steer you toward the right oil(s).

Thank you and I pray that you will all support me in this endeavor!!!

Something's Gotta Give

So, in this battle of being healthy, it's so much easier to be unhealthy. The food is cheaper, sitting is easier than exercising, thinking about it is easier than doing it. 

 I have tried many things to lose weight. I have used Weight Watchers. I have used weight loss systems that claim to help you lose. I have purchased exercise equipment off an infomercial. I have tried low-carb. On all of these systems I have lost some weight but nothing notable. I lose a few pounds, lose motivation and stop.

 This morning I stepped on the scale and I am the heaviest I've ever been (without being pregnant). They say that your metabolism slows down when you're done nursing. Bryce doesn't nurse nearly as much as he used to and I've noticed the scale climbing faster. 

 I've even tried dietbetter.com. This is a website where you pay an entry fee and if you lose 4% of your weight in a month you get part of the pool. 

 The truth is, I always start stuff and don't  finish it. Story of my life!

 I have a great friend who I have been having daily exercise challenges with. Currently, we are having a steps competition. Each day we try to get the most steps in our 12 hr day. Good clean competition :) 

 I'm not 100% sure why I'm posting this blog post. I desire to be transparent in my journey in hopes that people will help keep me a accountable. I've posted a couple times before in hopes of getting the motivation and it didn't work. 

 Today I have started drinking water with lemon to help boost my metabolism for the day. I'm also going to go low carb. Limit my intake to 15g at breakfast and 35g at lunch and dinner. Along with Weight Watchers and my steps challenge with my friend, I'm hoping this will work. 

 I'll let everybody know how I'm doing on Tuesday (my weight watchers weigh in day). 

 So, this week I'm doing the following:

 - drinking lemon water in the morning

 - eating low carb; 15g at breakfast, 35g for lunch and dinner. Veggies are unlimited. 

 - steps challenge 

 - only drinking water; cutting out juice, pop, sugar-free kool-aid, coffee

Wish me luck - and help keep me accountable. Also, please feel free to leave friendly advice/ideas for me in the comments. 

23 weeks until our vacation. I could be 50+ lbs lighter...that'd be awesome!!

How I Made Sugar Scrub Christmas Gifts

This year for Christmas I decided to make my gifts. About 8 years ago we made candles (that left lots to the imagination). I wanted to do something a little different so I entered the world of Pinterest and found how to make sugar scrubs.

I researched what I needed and purchased the essential oils, coconut oil, jars & lids from Bulk Apothecary. 

(I would recommend this site to everybody who needs oils and jars/lids in bulk.)

I purchased baskets that would fit 3 jars, shredded paper to put the jars on, small spoons to scoop the scrub out with, wooden tags to write the name of the scrub and it's ingredients on and ribbon to tie the tags on with. My supplies were purchased at Fred Meyer, Joann Fabrics and Craft Warehouse.

Next, I mixed up the scrubs in small batches and *painstakingly* scooped sugar scrub into the jars.

For each recipe I used:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil

~ 10 drops of desired essential oil

(By mixing in small batches you can more accurately determine how much more or less oil to put in.)

After filling the jars I tied the tags onto the jars with color coordinated ribbon. One jar got a spoon. I set them into the basket with a flower and then wrapped the entire basket in shrink wrap. 

*That was fun. I don't own a blow dryer so we had to put our electric fireplace on the kitchen counter. Made it go a lot quicker, but man that air was hot!*

My next step was to add some beauty to these baskets. I found a youtube video about how to tie an easy, but pretty, bow. Once I did one or two it was easy to do the rest. 

After the bows were tied I put a glued a flower into the middle of each bow. 

Voila!!

 A beautiful basket of sugar scrub!! 

How I potty trained Chloe before her 3rd birthday!!

Chloe is a child who does things in her own time and not a second before [or after] she wants to. She waited until she was 2 to start talking and is still picking up new words. She started self-feeding at 6 months old. She got her first tooth at 8 months. She started walking at 11 months. She nursed until she was 2 (and only stopped because I got pregnant and couldn't handle the pain from her nursing anymore).

Potty training has proved to be another milestone she is going to do in her own time. I have found many sites on potty training. Everybody has their own way of doing it. Some parents had great success their first time out of the gate and some had to try multiple methods [multiple times].

December was when I first tried potty training Chloe. She was 2 1/2 years old, but Bryce was only a few weeks old. Because I was couch ridden with a newborn (newborns sure eat a lot!), I decided to try having her potty chair in the living room with me where I could easily help her. She would sit and watch her cartoons or play, and I would ask her to sit on the potty every so often. She only ever produced for me, one time. I wasn't consistent. I was too busy with a newborn and she didn't care to try potty training.

We tried bribing her with M&M's and Jelly Beans [which we always ended up eating]. I can't even count how many times I've filled the "potty mum mum" jar (mum mum is how she says 'candy').

We tried a sticker chart with a goal to hit, but I didn't hang it up and it is now in the scratch paper pile and I never remembered to give her a sticker. Bad mom, I know.

I tried training pants at one point too. The theory was that she'd hate the wet feeling. Nope. Soaked her undies and didn't care and my scolding her didn't help [or hurt] her either.

A couple weeks ago she was in the bath tub and she said she had to go potty. I let her out and she went potty. She got back in the tub and within a few minutes she asked to get out again, this time she pooped. I immediately sent Dave a text to share the exciting news. That evening after work he stopped at Target and purchased a new Thomas train and some more railroad tracks. (Chloe LOVES her train set!)
On Monday, I decided that we were going to do this potty training thing by having a naked week. I'd seen it online where they did a naked weekend. Stripped to nothing and stayed on a cleanable surface for a day or two. I decided I wasn't going to be that strict. Completely naked, but as a rule she stays downstairs with me so I wasn't worried about her wetting on the floor somewhere I wouldn't know about.

Well, after 5 days of being naked, she earned 25 stickers and didn't have any accidents! On Saturday, I tried putting training underwear on her and she wanted NOTHING to do with them!! After calming her down from her crying fit I tried to determine why she wouldn't wear them. I deduced that she was afraid she'd have an accident and not earn her railroad tracks (she knew she was getting them if she didn't have any accidents). I told her that she just needed to earn 10 stickers but that didn't help. She would NOT put them on. So, I said, "Hey Chloe!! Would you like to go to the store today and pick out your very own underwear just for you?!" Her response was a resounding, "YEAH!"
Before we left the house I put a diaper on her and I said, "This is a big day Chloe! This is your very last diaper!!!" Off to Walmart we went! She of course chose Hello Kitty! I handed them to her and I said, "Chloe. Why are you getting new panties?" She said, "I pee in the potty!" With tears welling up in my eyes I gave her a huge hug and asked for a high five and made a HUGE deal about being a big girl!

(I typed this weeks ago and lost my train of thought - so I'll take off from where we are now.)

We did the naked thing for a week, and then we did just underwear for a week. Only one accident. The following week we got dressed.

It has been a month or so and she goes tells us whenever she has to go to the bathroom. She does #1 and #2 (never had a problem with going #2 like some kids do.) We praised her up and down after every single attempt and success. She has 2 very full sticker charts in the bathroom. She hasn't figured out how to get her pants down on her own yet, so we always have to help her, but she'll get it.

She earned 20 more feet of railroad tracks for her Thomas train. That was her big surprise for using the potty all week with no accidents, clothed and earning 40 stickers (a number I came up with and she didn't know about.)

She wears Good Nights at nap time and bed time and most of the time she wakes up with a dry Good Night.

So, there you have it...

1 week of being naked
1 week of just undies
1 week of fully clothed

Potty trained by her 3rd birthday!!! We'll work on night time after a little while.