An apple a day....

Am I getting really old? Please tell me you all know the saying, "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Frankly, I don't know if it works or not but this year I may just give it a try. I am SO sick of illness. I hate it for me and I hate it for my kids. If only we all had the immune system of my husband. Man never gets sick. He's probably had surgery (bad knees) more than he's had a cold. So aside from apples what can we do? Mom's, we never have time to be sick. Frankly, no one does our job for us so by the time we are better the kids look homeless and the house condemned. Lol. I'm trying a little of everything this year. My kids are the ones I worry about the most. They have to wallow in that petri dish we call public school every day. I try to stress hand washing and mouth covering but if you've ever been in an elementary or jr. high school, you know it's a waste of effort. Don't get me wrong, my kids are totally the ones with pocket hand sanitizer and a box of tissues all their own. It's the daily Vitamin C and lots of hand washing and water drinking once they get home. We've been somewhat successful in the past but it'd be great if I could save the small fortune in copays and prescription cost that I pay out a few times per winter per person. :) This year I have assembled a new list. It's in addition to my previous list. It's for all of us, young, old, big, small.
1. Flu shot. Yep....I stand by my medical background. Get it. It doesn't make you sick. That's a lie and a silly coincidence that fate plays on you.
2. Hand sanitizer. Keep it EVERYWHERE. I have some right in side my front door and YES, people use it and are strongly encouraged to use it. I have it by every sink (I don't trust my kids to sing the ABC song) and I have it in their backpacks, my purse, and our cars.
3. Drink. No, not vodka. Although I'm sure it's crossed each mother's mind. Lol. Water, water and more water.
4. Here it goes....essential oil. Educate yourselves. There are so many that can do so many things. My favorite and cheapest are probably Lavender and Lemon. I think as far as respiratory illnesses are concerned they are good or so is Eucalyptus and peppermint. (and yes, you can buy them from me) If you want you can email me time4momcare@gmail.com and I will tell you how I made my own SUPER CHEAP way to diffuse the oils into the air.
5. Take a multivitamin. Get on for yourself and give your kids a Flinstone.
6. Seek real medical advice when needed. While I truly believe that the oils can help you stay healthy and fight of certain illnesses there may come a point where modern medicine needs to step in. The oils work and that's why they used to use them but....we live in a day and age where there are all kinds of mutant viruses and we would be naive to believe that they perhaps don't need modern treatments.
7. Last but not least. Eat an apple a day. LOL. Idk, I'm gonna try it. Maybe you should too. :)

Good luck and stay healthy! Protect your little ones, don't be afraid of offending people by asking them to stay away when they are sick or to use hand sanitizer or to wear a mask. You are your greatest advocate and you are your child's #1 advocate. Here's to a happy, healthy winter for all of us.

Essential Oil....

Don't shut down! Not yet anyhow. I sat and thought the same thing, really I did. Then......I got some free lavender. That from a fundraiser I was involved in and then a script from my Dr. for steroid tape. Apparently I can use either one to treat my son's GNARLY scar that he got from turfing it on the driveway and refusing to be taken to the Dr. (I know, I should have taken him. I know.) Turns out the Lavender was free to me and the steroid tape was $80! Holy crap! No way could I pay that! So we tried the voodoo. My husband so affectionately calls it...snake oil. Whatever, either way all I know is the boy would put it on and do it himself 2x a day AND that it was significantly cheaper. A move I took out of desperation turned out to be the start of something I NEVER thought I would explore. The world of essential oils. Who knew? Well, I'm sure many people did, but not me. I was so surprised to find out what you could treat with different oils and what they were good for. The next time I used my oil was about 4 months later. My daughter gets migraines occasionally and this night was one of those nights. I had her take 2 Excedrin migraines and an hour later still NO relief. Really? Again, desperate, I went to the the Internet and what would before my wandering eyes but appear? (What? Not in the mood for Christmas yet? Ok. Fine.) LOL The suggestion to use Lavender Oil. Hu. Ok, worth a try, my baby girl is suffering and while I'm sure the meds have got to be kicking in they don't seem to be providing relief yet. So I took a couple of drops of Lavender Oil and rubbed it into her temples and then placed a cool wash cloth on her forehead. It was only like 5 minutes and you could feel her body relax and in no time at all she was falling asleep. It was crazy cool.
So, this is my invitation to ya'all. Join me as I explore this world. These remedies used to be common place where now modern medicine has taken over. I am soooo grateful for modern medicine but am even more excited to explore this new world. Will it ever replace most of the pill bottles in my house? Probably not. Will it become my first option of treatment now? Probably so. Just as you wouldn't ever think about NOT taking medicine when needed why would we completely quit using something that worked so well in the past? If you wanna message me with questions feel free. If you wanna try a couple of things check out my website at www.doterra.myvoffice.com/melissabeckstrom