How to Cure Hiccups...

I love being in the presense of old people. There is such a wealth of knowledge they can impart that cannot be partaken of in any other way. Below is a photo of my 95-year-old grandma...


I know I posted this photo a few days ago, but I wanted to make sure you didn't forget her face as I would like to share some of her wisdom here today. What she taught me has changed my life and the lives if those around me.

My grandmother taught me how to cure a case of the hiccups. Here's how...

Step 1: Fill a glass with water.
Step 2: Pinch your nose with your thumb and forefinger.
Step 3: Drink the entire glass of water while pinching your nose.

I know there are a lot of wive's tales out there on how to cure hiccups and I'm sure I've tried them all, but this remedy has never....ever....failed to work for me and my children. Try it and let me know what happens. Best of luck!

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Shannon's "Works For Me Wednesday."

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Profound Piles of Laundry

I have a special relationship with laundry. I actually LIKE to do it. I love to be able to sit down with a big pile of clean clothes and neatly fold them into their respective piles as I listen to some good music, watch TV or even listen to the scriptures being read online. As I've grown older, I have realized that it is the number of piles that has become profound to me, as they have marked both the joyous and tragic occasions of my life.



When I married my first love, Rob, twenty-years ago, I only had two piles - his and mine. Soon thereafter, our first little baby girl came into the world, and then there were three.

During each of the next five pregnancies, I remember imagining the cute little new pile of clean laundry that would be added to my coffee table as I went through the clothes-folding ritual. After each baby was born, my heart would swell as I looked at the new, tiny pile and I would give thanks to God for letting me bring in another little human into our world.

Laundry piles also symbolized the departure of family members. When Rob would deploy for four, six or even twelve months at a time overseas, as I completed the laundry during the days after he left, his pile would disappear. I would be left with only the kids' and my piles and it would be a sad realization that his pile would not appear for many months to come.

The most heart-wrenching experience I had with piles of laundry was when Rob suddenly and unexpectedly passed away four years ago, leaving me a widow with six children, the youngest of whom was two years old. As I folded up the last of his laundered fatigues after his funeral, I was heart-broken to think that I would never have his pile on the coffee table again. We were down to just seven piles now - the kids' and mine.

A few months after Rob's death, I met a wonderful man at church named John. We are soul mates and we knew it right away, so we married two months after we met. Since then he has added his pile of dress shirts and slacks, and three more little piles as he has given me a beautiful blonde little boy who is his clone and two new twin babies, who look like me. We are only down to ten piles now , though, (but sometimes only nine if the twins happen to be the same size at the time) because our oldest, Bethany has been off to college for a year now. I remember folding her clothes two weeks before she was to leave and thinking that this pile would dwindle to nothing soon, perhaps only to be rekindled briefly during her visits home. It was bittersweet.




How many piles we will end up with only God can tell, but for now, I am going to enjoy my ten while they last. Conor will be leaving in two years. Will we have an eleventh pile before he goes, or a twelveth? Stick around with me and find out!

What are your thoughts on laundry?

Healing with Nature at Home Tip of the Day

June 10, 2008

For a tooth ache, rub a drop of clove oil directly on affected area. This will help numb it until you can get to a dentist. For more information on essential oils and how to order them, click here.

June 7, 2008

Rubbing a drop of peppermint oil, diluted with four parts olive oil, on the back of your neck makes a great pick-me-up when you need a bit of an energy boost. For more information on essential oils and how to order them, click here.

June 6, 2008

This article has helped motivate me to try to eat right. I've printed it out and taped it on my fridge as a reminder before I indulge.

76 Ways Sugar Can Ruin Your Health

Contributed by Nancy Appleton, Ph.DAuthor of the book Lick The Sugar Habit
In addition to throwing off the body's homeostasis, excess sugar may result in a number of other significant consequences. The following is a listing of some of sugar's metabolic consequences from a variety of medical journals and other scientific publications.

1. Sugar can suppress your immune system and impair your defenses against infectious disease.

2. Sugar upsets the mineral relationships in your body: causes chromium and copper deficiencies and interferes with absorption of calcium and magnesium.
3. Sugar can cause can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children.
4. Sugar can produce a significant rise in total cholesterol, triglycerides and bad cholesterol and a decrease in good cholesterol.

5. Sugar causes a loss of tissue elasticity and function.

6. Sugar feeds cancer cells and has been connected with the development of cancer of the breast, ovaries, prostate, rectum, pancreas, biliary tract, lung, gallbladder and stomach.

7. Sugar can increase fasting levels of glucose and can cause reactive hypoglycemia.

8. Sugar can weaken eyesight.
9. Sugar can cause many problems with the gastrointestinal tract including: an acidic digestive tract, indigestion, malabsorption in patients with functional bowel disease, increased risk of Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis.
10. Sugar can cause premature aging.
11. Sugar can lead to alcoholism.

12. Sugar can cause your saliva to become acidic, tooth decay, and periodontal disease.

13. Sugar contributes to obesity.

14. Sugar can cause autoimmune diseases such as: arthritis, asthma, multiple sclerosis.

15. Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of Candida Albicans (yeast infections)

16. Sugar can cause gallstones.

17. Sugar can cause appendicitis.

18. Sugar can cause hemorrhoids.
19. Sugar can cause varicose veins.

20. Sugar can elevate glucose and insulin responses in oral contraceptive users.
21. Sugar can contribute to osteoporosis.

22. Sugar can cause a decrease in your insulin sensitivity thereby causing an abnormally high insulin levels and eventually diabetes.

23. Sugar can lower your Vitamin E levels.
24. Sugar can increase your systolic blood pressure.

25. Sugar can cause drowsiness and decreased activity in children.
26. High sugar intake increases advanced glycation end products (AGEs)(Sugar molecules attaching to and thereby damaging proteins in the body).

27. Sugar can interfere with your absorption of protein.

28. Sugar causes food allergies.

29. Sugar can cause toxemia during pregnancy.
30. Sugar can contribute to eczema in children.
31. Sugar can cause atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease.

32. Sugar can impair the structure of your DNA.

33. Sugar can change the structure of protein and cause a permanent alteration of the way the proteins act in your body.

34. Sugar can make your skin age by changing the structure of collagen.
35. Sugar can cause cataracts and nearsightedness.

36. Sugar can cause emphysema.
37. High sugar intake can impair the physiological homeostasis of many systems in your body.

38. Sugar lowers the ability of enzymes to function.

39. Sugar intake is higher in people with Parkinson's disease.
40. Sugar can increase the size of your liver by making your liver cells divide and it can increase the amount of liver fat.
41. Sugar can increase kidney size and produce pathological changes in the kidney such as the formation of kidney stones.
42. Sugar can damage your pancreas.

43. Sugar can increase your body's fluid retention.
44. Sugar is enemy #1 of your bowel movement.

45. Sugar can compromise the lining of your capillaries.

46. Sugar can make your tendons more brittle.

47. Sugar can cause headaches, including migraines.

48. Sugar can reduce the learning capacity, adversely affect school children's grades and cause learning disorders.

49. Sugar can cause an increase in delta, alpha, and theta brain waves which can alter your mind's ability to think clearly.
50. Sugar can cause depression.

51. Sugar can increase your risk of gout.

52. Sugar can increase your risk of Alzheimer's disease.

53. Sugar can cause hormonal imbalances such as: increasing estrogen in men, exacerbating PMS, and decreasing growth hormone.

54. Sugar can lead to dizziness.
55. Diets high in sugar will increase free radicals and oxidative stress.

56. High sucrose diets of subjects with peripheral vascular disease significantly increases platelet adhesion.
57. High sugar consumption of pregnant adolescents can lead to substantial decrease in gestation duration and is associated with a twofold increased risk for delivering a small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant.
58. Sugar is an addictive substance.
59. Sugar can be intoxicating, similar to alcohol.

60. Sugar given to premature babies can affect the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.
61. Decrease in sugar intake can increase emotional stability.

62. Your body changes sugar into 2 to 5 times more fat in the bloodstream than it does starch.
63. The rapid absorption of sugar promotes excessive food intake in obese subjects.

64. Sugar can worsen the symptoms of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
65. Sugar adversely affects urinary electrolyte composition.
66. Sugar can slow down the ability of your adrenal glands to function.
67. Sugar has the potential of inducing abnormal metabolic processes in a normal healthy individual and to promote chronic degenerative diseases.

68. I.V.s (intravenous feedings) of sugar water can cut off oxygen to your brain.
69. Sugar increases your risk of polio.
70. High sugar intake can cause epileptic seizures.
71. Sugar causes high blood pressure in obese people.

72. In intensive care units: Limiting sugar saves lives.

73. Sugar may induce cell death.

74. In juvenile rehabilitation camps, when children were put on a low sugar diet, there was a 44 percent drop in antisocial behavior.

75. Sugar dehydrates newborns.

76. Sugar can cause gum disease.

June 5, 2008

If you are new to natural healing and are not sure what to have on hand, the first thing you should consider is lavender oil. Lavender oil is known as the universal oil because it can be used to treat almost any ailment. To learn more or to order Lavender, click here.