Thursday, May 31, 2012

Epsom Salts For Hives



For over a year now, I have been suffering from severe break outs of the hives. I have been working with the doctors for a solution (GP,dermatologist, and next an allergist). But, I am not the type of person to completely leave my fate in the hands of doctors. They are always prescribing some sort of pill for something and they just keep adding pills until they think they may have solved the problem.

I get hives that have sent me to the doctors office or urgent care every couple months for over a year now. These are serious hives that cover a T-shaped area on my back and chest that spread and turn into patches of red irritated hives. The hives have gotten so out of control, they come out in huge bumps that look like my back was attacked by a swarm of mosquitoes. Nothing seems to work, I have been on steroids, off and on for over a year, steroid cream, and now two different kinds of allergy pills and an anxiety pill, because they also crop up when I am feeling stressed out. All the steroids are not helping me lose weight, They are making it very difficult for me to control my weight.

I have finally found a fix that keep my hives at bay. EPSOM SALTS, they work fantastic for keeping my hives at a very minimum, almost non-existent. After doing some online research, I found that Epsom salts can work wonders for hives and they are gentle enough to use up to three times a day. Epsom salts provides vital minerals for healthy skin. They work fantastic and it is so relaxing. Not to mention, Epsom salts leave your skin looking healthy and feeling very soft. We look for all these expensive solutions to beautiful skin and the solution is good old fashioned Epsom Salts.

I started by using the recommended dosage of 2 cups of Epsom salts in a hot bath 1-3 times a day and with in a few days, you could see the hives disappear. I now take a bath in Epsom salts once every day or so. The doctors have been running tests, adding more pills and creams and can not find a cause of the hives. I hate taking all those different pills and it is so expensive to run to the doctor every couple of months for a temporary solution, then in a couple of weeks the hives are right back. It is easy enough of a solution to take a nice hot relaxing bath in Epsom Salts. I look forward to locking myself in the bathroom with the lights out, burning a candle and a hot cup of tea while soaking in a bath of Epsom salts.

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I hope everyone has a fantastic Memorial Day with friends and family. Just please remember to be safe. Take a moment in all the fun to remember the the real reason Memorial Day is a observed holiday. May God bless all the service men and women who have and are serving our country and giving their lives to preserve our way of life. 


Saturday, May 26, 2012

From the Mouths of Babes

Yesterday was the strangest afternoon, which just kept going until the evening. It was full of arguing, laughing and crying. It started in the afternoon when my two youngest got into a really big argument screaming at each other. To be honest with you, I never did figure out what is was about. Then we my oldest told my youngest who is 11, she had PMS, Sammy said "No, I don't", Amanda asked her "Do you even know what that means?". Sammy said yes, I don't have PMS, because that is when you always mad at men and I am not always mad at men, just Adam.

Sammy said she was in a bad mood, because some girl at school is mean to her, because she doesn't like Sammy's friend. I told her, she was just jealous of how pretty and smart she was that's why she was teasing her. She wishes she was more like her and Amanda told her the same and Sammy started raising her voice at Amanda and she put her hand in front of Sammy's mouth and told her be quiet for a moment so she could talk to her. Sammy told her to move her hand or she was going to bite it. I don't encourage that kind of behavior, but with it being a strange afternoon, I started laughing hard and I tried to cover my face and hide the laughter, but I couldn't hold in the laughter anymore. I broke out in laughter so hard I was crying and laughing at the same time. We were both heart broken and were crying, because Sammy was crying over this girl giving her a hard time, we just burst into laughter when she said she was going to bite her hand.

When my husband came home, he looked like he just walked into the twilight zone and was confused. Here all three of us were sitting in the living room teary eyed and then burst into laughter. Well, it made Sammy feel better to have a good hard laugh.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Finally A Solution To All Of My Dog's Allergies


Max loves his bandannas and doesn't like them off. Which is funny,
we call him the bandit because he likes to steel food.

Finally, after five years of running my dog to the vet every couple of months, I have found a vet who has finally come up with the solution to all of Max's skin problems and allergy problems. Some of my readers have also experienced the same problems with their dogs. Here is the solution to a health happy pooch.

Max has had problems with itching, pulling his hair out, chewing his feet, digging his ears, anxiety and his fear of being left alone even if it is for an hour or so. I have been running him back and forth to the vet every 2 or 3 months for ear infections and allergies.

The vet suggested dog food made from fish. Apparently, they are getting the same amount of protein from the food made from fish as other foods, but their bodies do not process it the same way. So, I bought him the Blue dog food, salmon and sweet  potato food. He loves it. Max gained 9 pounds in only 3 weeks. They began giving him regular steroid shots every two months and will gradually spread out the steroid shots. Then I put him on Omega 3, his skin has made a 100% turn around in under two months. Plus, they put him on an anxiety pill twice daily. Which I have been asking them to do for a long time. The old vet never did it and I am so glad I found a vet who knows how to fix the problems he was having.

The anxiety was getting completely out of hand. I couldn't leave him home alone, not even for an hour. He would either chew his feet until he was limping, pull his hair out  or chew his tail until it bled. When I left home to go somewhere without any there, I would have to put a pair of tights on him with the feet cut out and a cone. But, then he learned how to take off the cone and tights. I was at my whits end with him with no clue how to fix his problems, I had tried almost everything affordable and not so affordable to fix the problems. It's sad to say it took five years and 4 different vets to fix his problems. But, I am glad I finally found one who knows what she is doing when it comes to dog allergies.

Sweet little Lexi


He also had a little play therapy with my Mom's Maltese when she came to visit. She's only a year old and full of energy. He absolutely adores her and takes care of her like she is his baby. Which is funny for a male dog. The two of them together had a fun vacation for two weeks. It was two weeks of romping, running, playing and being mischievous. He let her climb all over him, pull his hair, make him him play, they played tag together. He took trash out of the garbage can with food on it for her, shared his food and water dish, he even tried teaching her to open the refrigerator. Max is a very talented dog. He can open the bedroom doors and the refrigerator.

The day after Easter we were all sitting in the living room watching t.v. when we heard a crash. My oldest yelled "the dogs" and ran into the kitchen. When going in the kitchen she found the two dogs standing in front of the open refrigerator door with the Easter ham plate on the floor and they were eating off it. Mischievous? You put the two of them together and they are very mischievous together, even apart they are mischievous. So, when you put the two of them together it is double trouble. She kept him too busy to scratch, dig and pull his hair out.

Mr. Max enjoying his watermelon.
A slice of watermelon is like a piece of steak to Max.
Lexi loves the baby carrots, so Max started eating them with her. Now, he's on a healthy diet of carrots for treats, his salmon and sweet  potato treats, salmon and sweet potato food and watermelon and bananas. He is looking and acting like his old self again and once again is a healthy happy dog for us to enjoy having.

Friday, May 11, 2012

A Day of Relaxation Needed 3:00 cont...


1:27 pm..... took a nap.





3:00 pm- time for the munchkins, Mommy time is over.  So enjoy your....






A Day Of Relaxation Cont... 11:50 am

10:00 am... made the bed. It's funny how meticulous your can be when that is the only house cleaning that needs done. 





10:15 am.... Soak in a hot bath of Epsom Salts. As I was soaking in the water, I could feel the hot water surrounding my aches and pains, then washing away my fatigue. 



Pampered myself, spending extra time making myself feel pretty. 



Let my hair down....




Made a cup of hot tea....




Put my favorite pair of silver slippers on, sat in my favorite spot.....


and turned on a Lifetime movie while updating my blog. 




A Day Of Relaxation Needed


This picture was perfect, I always feel like I am stuck
in the middle of my  two youngest fighting and don't know what to do to
keep the peace in the house at least for the rest of the day.


I worked hard all week getting everything I need to do done so I can spend Friday relaxing. Even though I am a SAHM, I do have other things to manage with my online web store I have to keep up the running, the errands,  running the kids to and from school, laundry, cleaning, cooking and everything in between, I am completely exhausted and my back is hurting.

Before when I was working, my time was managed differently. I had to fit in working a eight or nine our day in there also. But, the cleaning was done while the kids were getting ready for school, errands ran on my way home from work, laundry done when ever throwing a load in and getting one out would fit in and cooking a quick meal when returning home from work.

Now, I do a whole lot more cleaning than I did before. The children seem to think, just because I don't work outside of the home, I should clean up after them more. The standards of what is clean and what is not clean has changed, I sit down in my living room more now than before and have more time to notice my surroundings more. On days I had appointments or had to take the dog to the vet., it was usually take out for dinner but, now I usually cook on those days unless it's a late appointment.

I spent four hours cleaning the house yesterday, getting the errands ran and doing the laundry just so I can sit, relax and maybe spending sometime writing. For some unknown reason other than a lack of time, I haven't had the time to sit down and write. I don't know if it is my need to have things neat and tidy all the time has gotten worse or that I just have more tasks to accomplish through out the day.

Today, I will get dressed when I am ready to get dressed, I will sit and drink my coffee watching the news and surfing the net as long as I want to and today I am not going to do anything unless it necessity, like picking up my daughter from the bus stop and of course cook dinner unless I get too relaxed and decide to go with take out for dinner tonight. I thought I would give myself my own Mother's Day gift. Happy Mother's Day! 


To be cont....

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Doctors Love Making Us Wait

I am sitting at the doctor's office waiting to be taken back. Of course he is late as usual. Why is it a doctor can be consistently late for almost every appointment. However, they ask us to come ten or fifteen minutes early. For what??? So, they can make us sit and wait even longer. Sometimes I wonder if ot is something they teach them in medical school. If we were late coming to our appointment, it would be a big issue even if they aren't ready for us. Go figure.

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Junior Seau's Death and the Media

Junior Seau's death was a surprise to a lot sports fans. But, do they really need to keep playing his poor mother's gut  wrenching speech talking about the death of her son. I keep hearing the sound track and the video being played over and over again. The media has a way of rubbing things in.

As I was driving my son to school this morning and of course on my way they play his mother breaking down during her speech to the press. It is totally gut wrenching to listen to her. I get a lump in my throat every time I hear it played. I think most mothers can sympathize with her pain. You never imagine burying your child. It has to be a terrible loss to lose your own child to suicide. It has to be even more difficult when it is a death that can be avoided. The media keeps playing it over and over again. There is another way they can report the story. How about high lighting his career in the NFL? 

Rumor has it that Junior Seau shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain to be tested. So, the NFL and everyone can see exactly what damage was caused to his brain from playing football. Football players receive repeated damage to their brains from all blows to the head during their career and the repeated concussions they get from the vigorous blows to the head.  

Anytime a life is lost to suicide is a horrible tragedy for the people left behind, whether it be an athlete or just your average person who feels their life is no longer worth living. But, please stop replaying his mother breaking down. Leave the poor woman alone and as I sit here writing about the tragedy Seau's mother has experienced, they play it again on the morning news. 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Who is to blame for America's overweight children?



I am always hearing about how American children are over weight. They blame the whole problem solely on parents not monitoring what their children are eating and not teaching them healthy eating habits and children not getting enough exercise. Parents are not the only ones to blame, schools play a huge role in the weight problem, offering children chocolate milk with their lunches every day, adding vending machines for the children to get junk food out of to fill up on in school, all the processed foods they feed children, very few school lunches are actual cooked meals. The majority of school meals are quick and easy frozen processed food. They offer children options of buying pizza, tacos, and candy bars on a daily basis as lunch menu options. I don't allow my children to have candy during the week, however they can walk into school and buy candy bars every day! Which are against my parenting rules. Yes, kids do play way too many video games and spend too much time in front of the televisions. But, what about the children who don't spend all day in front of the television all day and who play sports and get involved in numerous activities. You still see children involved in activities who are over weight.

Those factors play a small role in why children are more over weight than they were 20 years ago. Nobody talks about all the hormones being injected in the animals we eat and we are feeding our children playing a role in the weight gain problem of American children. Animals are injected with hormones to make bigger animals to produce more meat from every animal. The hormones do not magically disappear once they are slaughtered and sold in the stores. It is an obvious chain reaction, the animals are injected with hormones and we eat the animals injected with the hormones. Young girls are developing at a much faster rate and beginning menstruate at a much younger age.

We already know the FDA is not looking out for our best interest with all of the toxins, bugs and etc. that are allowed in food our children's baby formula, baby bottles, plastic bottles and so much more and can easily be bought off to approve all this toxins and junk they are feeding us. So, we trust the FDA to say our children eating meat injected full of hormones does not have a significant effect on our children and our bodies? Not only are children struggling with weight loss, adults are also struggling with weight loss. The meat we eat are injected full of hormones and we eat those hormones every day and even several times a day. We eat the hormones and drink the hormones in the milk we drink and give to our children. Who's to blame?