Simple Mom giveaway!

Amazing giveaway prizes at Simple Mom!! A gorgeous pearl necklace from One Pearl, where they donate 100% of their profits to non-profit organizations that benefit children's health and education. A package of 365 overlays from the delightfully talented Ali Edwards. Also, you have a chance to win an annual subscription to the wonderfully simple Seeing the Everyday magazine. Please check out this link to find out more!

The healing power of onions!

I haven't been posting much lately because our family has been down and out with the sickies. Croup type nastiness all around. It has caused a usual problem for me and I decided that I would share a solution with this first foray back to the blog. I have teeny tiny ears. That means I also have teeny tiny eustachian tubes. When I get a cold or react to seasonal allergies, my tubes fill up with fluid. That fluid causes the them to swell up and get inflamed and they don't get better on their own. Besides feeling like my head is full of water, sloshing around, another side effect is I lose hearing. Right now you could probably speak at normal volume against my left ear and I wouldn't hear it. That rather unpleasant side effect has me craving an onion.


You take an onion and slice it in half. Place each ends of the onion, cut side down on a cookie sheet. Bake it in the oven...this part I'm a bit fuzzy on, at about 350 for just a few minutes. You want the onion as hot as you can stand it without burning. Grab the onion with a potholder and hold it against your ear. This will relieve the pressure of the fluid build up and will begin to drain the fluid. Plus, you are gonna smell great! :o) This is a tried and true temporary cure. I am ready for my onion perfume today. By the way...I have mentioned this to my ENT doctor. Someday I will need tubes, but for now this is my quick relief. He laughed it off and said to use a hot pack against my ear and that "it will do the exact same thing." It doesn't. It feels good and relieves a bit of pressure, but nothing like the onion.

Onions having healing properties. You have probably heard about the awesome goodness of garlic. If you haven't, don't worry, there will be a future post. ;o) Not as many people have heard about the healing power of an onion. Would you like to know more? Find out how onions can lower blood pressure at Foods That Heal: Onion. Find some more healing properties at The Healing Power of Onion.

Happy Birthday X2!

to our beautiful, bright, FUN niece. Rylee, you are great girlie!
to The Hubby. Today is your day, baby. Hope you have a good one.

This looks like an amazing movie!

Thanks to iVillage, I have seen a preview for this new HBO movie. For anyone blessed to have an autistic person in their lives, you know what a delight they can be. I can't wait to see this.

Trailer

Valentine card giveaway!

I am not joking with you. I literally snorted my coffee in an attempt to not spit it out all over my computer screen this morning when I read this. I have to get my hands on this card! :o) This one is my favorite, but there are many more to choose from too. Check out Petit Elefant for the details. Minted is fast becoming my favorite card store.

Puddle jumpers.

We are late. We really can't deal with getting soaked right now. Do you have to destroy your shoes like that? Ugh!! Some of the many reasons why I am always telling the kids to stay out of the rain and puddles.

Today, I realized it would be a perfect day for jumping in puddles! With their jammies still on, and Baby Doll sporting her favorite cowboy boots, we took the plunge.

I would ask you if you can just see the excitement on their faces, but Duder looks a little bit frightened more than happy. Don't let this photo fool you. They were loving it! Have you jumped in a puddle lately? Take time to "smell the roses." Or, in this case, skip through the water until you get thoroughly wet.

Twaddle free zone.

I learned a new word today. Twaddle. Charlotte Mason, a pioneer in children’s education during the 19th century, coined this term. I am getting my information here from SimpleMom, one of my favorite places to be online. Twaddle means dumb-downed literature; absence of meaning. Wow. This was profound to me! There have been many times when I have wondered why a book is just so darn good and enjoyable. There have been far too many more times when I wonder why a book isn't sparking the tiniest bit of enjoyment out of me. I am on a quest to find the best twaddle-free books out there to enjoy with my children. I will be starting to post about some of the books out there that I would highly recommend. Books that my children have gotten hours and hours of entertainment out of. Books which stay with me still, to this day. I have no idea if all of these books are award winning stories. I would still like to share with all of you. And I have a request from you. Please, oh please, share some of your favorite stories in the comments section. Let's specify the catagory a bit. The books should be from children's literature to young adult. Leave me a comment and I will be sure to showcase your book. :o)