Home Spa Treatments

Pineapple Facial – great for dry skin!

Using a blender, puree 3 pineapple slices, 1 T. plain yogurt, and 3 T. honey.  Gently apply this mixture to your freshly washed face and leave on for about 10-15 minutes.  Rinse off with warm water.

 Smooth Hands Treatment

Mix together 3 T. sugar and 1 tsp. softened butter.  Massage your hands with this mixture for a minute or two.  Wrap both hands in a towel that has been soaked in warm water and wrung out for about 5 minutes.  Rinse hands and wash with a moisturizing liquid soap.  Dry your hands and massage hands, nails, and cuticles with Vitamin E oil.

 Foot Softening Treatment

Soak feet in warm water for a few minutes.  Dip a half a lime in sea salt and use this to scrub away the dead skin on your feet.  Concentrate especially on those calluses!  Soak your feet again in warm water that has 1-2 cups of Epsom salts added to it (you can add some essential oils to this or many pharmacies now sell Epsom salts that are already infused with things like lavender and eucalyptus.  Soak your feet for 10-15 minutes.  Pat your feet dry and moisturize with a thick foot cream.

 For Soft Silky Hair

Steep 6 peppermint tea bags in hot water for about 10-15 minutes.  Allow this to cool and pour it over your hair (dry) and scalp.  Mix 3 drops of lemongrass oil into a cup of olive oil and massage this into your scalp.  Without rinsing first, wash your hair with your usual shampoo.  Be sure to thoroughly rinse your hair and follow up with your usual conditioner.

A Treatment for Oily Skin

Mix together 1 T. lemon juice, 1 tsp. water, ½ cup plain yogurt, and ¼ cup cornmeal.  Massage this mixture into your freshly washed face for 2 minutes.  Rinse well and pat dry.

 Silky Smooth Skin

For an all over body treatment, combine 1 cup ground oatmeal, 1 cup olive oil, and 1 T. honey.  Standing in your tub/shower, massage this mixture into your skin all over your body.  Rinse well, pat dry, and follow up with a rich cream like shea butter.

Neti Pots

My Neti Pot from NeilMed

This past April I began using a Neti pot to treat my chronic allergies.  I had heard about them in a few articles and had seen them advertized at my local pharmacy.  I have a number of chronic health conditions and am required to take medication for them but I was becoming increasingly concerned with the quantity of medication I was taking.  I started seeking out ways to treat some of my conditions naturally, without medication so that it would decrease the amount of chemicals going into my body.  Some of my medications simply aren’t optional but I knew I had some leeway with some of the others and the first one I looked into giving up was my allergy medication.  My allergies begin each year in March and last well into November.  During that time period, I have to take a prescription allergy medication twice a day and have had to do so for years.  I began with that same regimen in March 2009 but by the beginning of April I had purchased and started using my Neti pot.  Since that time, I have only had to use allergy medications twice.  That’s two pills in the past 7 months as opposed to my usual of over 400 pills in that same time period.  That’s how effective the Neti pot has been for me!

In North America, sinus problems are the number one reason for visits to a doctor.  Pollution and chemicals in our environment have raised the number of occurrences of allergies, sinusitis, and asthma in the population and therefore, the amount of allergy medications being taken has greatly increased as well.  A Neti pot offers an alternative to all that medication.  Even if it simply decreases the amount of medication a person has to take, it has value. 

In addition, doctors and scientists have found in their research that Neti pots can clear cold and influenza viruses out of the nasal passages, reducing the incidences of these viruses actually taking hold in the body.  Furthermore, if used while a person has a cold, flu, or sinusitis, it can decrease the amount of time they are ill.  I caught a cold about a month ago and normally for me, I will have the major symptoms of a head cold for about 5 days, followed by the cold migrating to my chest where I will have major chest cold symptoms for another 5 days and potentially causing pneumonia in my lungs.  I did take Guaifenesin syrup along with using my Neti pot during this cold; I always use the Guaifenesin as it helps to prevent the cold from settling in my chest.  The major difference this time though was that, with using the Neti pot to flush the germs out of my sinus passages, the major head cold symptoms lasted only 3 days and the chest cold portion, only 1 day. 

I have used the Neti pot faithfully twice a day for the past 7 months not only to treat my allergies but to help prevent colds and flu and to lessen their duration should I catch anything.  Although my allergy season is over, I will continue using this year round as it keeps my nasal passages lubricated even in all of the dry heat we have in our homes at this time of year in Canada.  Furthermore, influenza experts have suggested that it is, along with handwashing and the other guidelines, a valuable source of some additional protection against H1N1 and that as long as it is flu season, they suggest that people continue to use it.

A Neti pot is a nasal irrigation system that utilizes gravity to assist in clearing out one’s nasal passages.  It has been used in India for thousands of years, especially by those who practise yoga or Ayurveda.  Some experienced users irrigate with solutions that have certain herbs or aromatherapy oils in them but for most, a simple saline solution is all that is used and all that is needed.  Neti pots come in slightly different designs and different materials.  Original ones were made mainly of a clay pottery or ceramics, but more modern pots come in several varieties of materials.  Mine is plastic. 

To use a Neti pot, you fill it with a warm saline solution.  When I purchased my Neti pot, it came in a “kit” with the pot itself and a lot of packets of dry saline solution to be mixed with water in my pot.  It is very important that you get the water just the right temperature.  You want it slightly warm as hot water can be dangerous (you CAN burn yourself) and cold water can be extremely uncomfortable and can give you a headache.  The procedure for using the Neti pot is very simple but it does take a little getting used to for most people.  Honestly, it is not as uncomfortable as it looks; in fact I don’t find it uncomfortable at all.  It’s just an unusual feeling that I was not used to at first. 

Prior to using the Neti pot, you should blow your nose to clear it out as best as possible.  You want to turn your head a bit to one side and lean slightly forward to use the pot.  You have to experiment a bit to get the positioning just right.  If you lean too far forward, you may find the solution is draining down the back of your throat instead out of your nostril as it should be.  You insert the spout of the pot into one nostril and pour gently.  If you are relaxed and positioned correctly, the solution should flow out of the other nostril.  Raise the pot a tiny bit at a time to maintain an even flow through your nasal passages.  You need to breathe through your mouth throughout this procedure.  When you have completed one nostril, repeat on the other side.  Exhaling strongly after each irrigation can help to clear out any remnants of congestion in your nasal passages and release anything the solution has loosened up that has not already been expelled.  There are now nasal syringes that use a bulb type system to force the saline solution through the nasal passages but this seemed too “aggressive” to me and I felt I would be more comfortable and have heard of better results with the Neti pot instead. 

As I said, when I purchased my Neti pot, it came in a kit with 50 packages of the powdered saline for me to mix with warm water in my pot.  Once I finished that, I couldn’t see spending that kind of money on buying those little premixed, premeasured, individual packets all the time.  I did some research and spoke to my doctor and found that I could make my own saline solution easily at home without purchasing the pre-made packets.  To make the solution, you need noniodized salt such as kosher or sea salt.  Combine a heaping 1/4 tsp. of the salt (if a finely ground salt) or a rounded 1/2 tsp. of a coarser salt with 1 cup warm water in your Neti pot.  I put the lid on tightly and put my finger over the spout so I can give this solution a good shake to allow the salt to dissolve.  This method, I find, is just as easy as using the packets but much much less expensive. 

This video shows a demonstration of how to use a Neti pot.

Another blog with a post on the topic:  http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/neti_potapalooza/

Winter’s Coming Spa Treatments

The temperatures have finally dropped here in Southwestern Ontario and we are having more traditional fall weather. This of course signals a number of things. It’s time to do the outdoor cleanup in our yards to prepare them for winter, it’s time to fire up our furnaces and pull out the heavy quilts and duvets, it’s time for a little nesting and warm-in-our-tummies comfort food, and it’s time for my hair, nails, and skin to dry out like straw and sandpaper! Perhaps it’s my less than perfect health, perhaps it’s part of the aging process (sigh), but it seems that every year I battle the effects of dry skin, hair, and nails more and more. As such, I am constantly trying out new products in an attempt to solve this problem. I have tried $3 products and $80 products and in all honesty, none of them met with 100% satisfaction. Either they soaked in so fast that it was like I had never even used anything at all or there was this greasy film left on my skin and hair all day long. Ewwww. Frankly, I am frustrated. So, I have decided to try a different tact this year. I have been researching homemade spa treatments and I am going to try out some of them and see if I have any better luck than with commercial ingredients. I do have sensitive skin and eczema as well as medical conditions that affect my hair, skin, and nails so it was suggested to me by one doctor that most commercial products might be overpowering for my skin and that this might be the way to go. Given my frustration, it’s worth a try! Here are the first of the spa “recipes” I have found that I share with you now.

White Russian Deep Hair Conditioner: This is supposed make your hair super shiny, soft, and silky. Wash your hair and apply this, cover with plastic wrap and wrap up with a towel for 10-15 minutes. Combine either ¼ milk with ¼ cup Kahlua or ½ cup milk with ¼ cup cooled coffee and 1 tsp. sugar. (I suppose if this doesn’t work well for your hair you could always mix up another and drink it! 😉 )

 Chocolate Champagne Body Wrap This claims to make your skin incredibly soft and smooth. Melt ½ cup chocolate chips in the microwave and allow them to cool. Puree 4-5 fresh or frozen strawberries (note: I will NOT be using these as doing so would put me into anaphylactic shock. I am substituting raspberries!) with 1/3 cup honey and stir this into the melted chocolate. Now, personally the next step sounds messy (but potentially fun?) and it sounds to me like you could really use a second set of hands for it (again…potentially fun?) but what you are supposed to do is to use a small clean paintbrush (and by small I don’t mean those teeny tiny ones you use for painting fine details on faces of artwork…I mean small as in the kind you use for detail/edge work when painting a room in your house) to paint this mixture all over your body beginning with your feet. Once you are entirely covered, spray on a mixture of ½ champagne or sparkling cider and some water and then wrap yourself up like a mummy with plastic wrap. Stay bundled up like this for about 15 minutes before rinsing off.

White Chocolate Latte Footbath This treatment is meant to make your feet soft and silky. If anything can make my feet soft and silky it will be a miracle but I’ll report back on how it worked! Gently heat up 2 or 3 cups of milk (you don’t want it too hot for your feet and you don’t want it to scald – use 2 cups if using the Godiva, 3 cups if not) and mix in either 1 cup of Godiva White Chocolate Liqueur (hmmm, am I really going to sacrifice an entire cup of this stuff for my feet???) or with 1 tsp. cocoa butter and ½ tsp. vanilla extract. Put this mixture into a basin large enough for your feet to soak in comfortably and allow them to soak for 10-15 minutes. It’s nice to follow this up with a massage of more cocoa butter following the soak! (I wonder if shea butter would work as well. I prefer it over cocoa butter.)

Lemon Drop Martini Facial Scrub This is a variation of the typical facial scrub. I have seen them done with salt or sugar as the exfoliant and a variety of things such as olive oil or shea butter added to it. This one uses lemon which it says adds to the sloughing abilities of the sugar and brightens the skin adding to radiance. Mix 1 T. sugar with either 1 tsp. lemon vodka or 1 tsp. lemon juice to form a paste. Use your fingers to gently rub this over your face for 1 minute after thoroughly cleaning. Rinse well.

Hot Buttered Rum Manicure This treatment sloughs away dead skin and enhances moisture and softness. Fill a small bowl big enough to soak your hands in with 1 cup milk and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Soak your hands for 5-10 minutes and rinse well. Mix together 1 T. brown sugar with a sprinkle of nutmeg and add enough water to make a paste. Massage this into your hands and rinse off. Follow up with your favourite hand lotion.

A few random hints I found in my travels:

Rooibos tea is high in antioxidants making it very good at fighting wrinkles.

Soy milk is rich in protein helping to grow longer, stronger nails.

Drinking 3 tsp. cider vinegar mixed in a glass of water each day will thicken your hair (and as a bonus they say it will help you lose weight as well!).

 An 8 ounce glass of pomegranate juice a day can help keep your skin healthy. The ellagic acid in it has been shown to help protect skin from the harmful rays of the sun!

Ant Eradication

Early in Spring we seemed to develop a bit of a problem around here. We became nearly overrun with spiders, to the point where I had to wrap the end of our Swiffer in paper towels and dub it the Spider Killer. (Ok, before you environmentalists and animal lovers go crazy on me here, I have to say that if there were some way to safely get these spiders out of the house and into freedom without a) the dog eating them or 2) my spider-phobic kid from sending them flying as she screams and flails about, I would. Sigh. I used to be the Junior Kindergarten teacher who would lovingly tell her students not to harm the poor little insects and arachnids that would venture into our classroom. I would gently scoop them up, marveling in wonder aloud with the children about the miracles of God’s creations, and set them free outside.) Honestly though, there were just too many of them and those little suckers can move fast! I guess it was all the rain we were having that kept bringing them in? I am not sure but I was relieved when I no longer had to jump up at least 3 times during every show I watched to go on spider-eliminating patrol.

Like I said, I WAS relieved. That is, I was relieved until said spiders were replaced by an entire army of ants taking up residence in our house. Once again the screams and flailing limbs have begun along with the shrieks for me to deal with them, not 3 times per show like with the spiders. Oh no! If I thought we had a problem with the number of spiders in the house, I was horrified when I realized that we now had 5 times the number of ants. And while it’s bad enough to have ants crawling about in the kitchen (thank God they have only been seen in the vicinity of the recycling bins), I cannot tell you how disconcerting it is to have them crawling up the wall behind your head as you recline on your bed! I am not sure what it is drawing them into this room as they don’t seem to go near anything I would expect. We have not spied any of them near our glasses of juice or pop nor near any of our food (yes we eat in bed…I have some chronic illnesses as well as constant pain from a car accident and so spending more of my life in bed than the average person is just a fact of life for me). The ants have only been seen crawling up that wall behind my bed!

I was hoping it was one of those temporary situations that would resolve itself in a few days and honestly, it is MUCH better than it was but still as I look behind me right now, there are 3 of them crawling up the wall. So, off to research I went, hitting up any internet resources I could find. I am sharing the results of my research here in case anyone else has an ant invasion in their home. The criteria that I am using for these potential remedies are that it must be inexpensive (preferably using something I already have on hand rather than requiring a purchase), easy to use, and it must be non-toxic not just to us humans but also to our pets as we have a dog and 3 cats to be concerned about here.

Here are the suggestions I found. Please note that I have not tried any of these remedies yet so I cannot personally vouch for any of them. I plan to report back here with my results once I have tried some of them. If any readers try some of the suggestions and would care to share their results with us, I would be very grateful!

Suggested remedies to rid your house of ants:

1) This may seem obvious but it’s worth saying; you need to begin by finding out where and how the ants are getting into the house in the first place and do something to stop it. In fact, I found some research which suggested that attempting to deal with the problem by simply killing the ants you see is not only futile, but actually will make the problem worse. Apparently, living ants are attracted to the smell of their dead comrades and it literally attracts more ants to the area as they seek out the carcasses in order to carry them away. Who knew? Try to follow the line of ants back to the entry source and use silicone caulking to plug up those holes! You might also want to add weather-stripping to doors (if a draft can get in, so can an ant and believe me, they love to travel in large groups!) In addition, it was stressed that it is very important to trim back any vines, trees, bushes, and such that are leaning up against the house as well as to eliminate any garbage being stored close to your home. Did you know that ants can climb from a tree branch that is touching the roof of your house onto the roof and then use the rain gutters and drainpipes much like their own personal freeway to gain access to your entire house? You want to make it as difficult as possible for those ants to get back into your house again! While doing your outdoor investigation, you may even find the anthill these ants are all coming from. If you do, one of the suggestions was to pour boiling water over it to destroy it. I told you some of the suggestions were a bit barbaric. Oh and be sure to check out your window screens. Even a small hole in them can provide an entry point for ants and other unwanted houseguests. (Did I happen to mention the little mouse problem we had when we first moved into this house?) One final suggestion I found was to bring some reptiles and amphibians such as frogs, toads, or lizards into the area around where the ants are coming into the house. These animals eat ants and are very good at keeping ant populations under control. My question is, just how do you find frogs, toads, or lizards to live in your yard and what exactly do you need to do to entice them to take up residence? It seems like more work than I want to expend on this particular problem.

2) Just as you have done some investigating and cleaning up around the exterior of your house, it is also important to attend to some indoor housekeeping chores. It is very important to ensure that entry places into your house are especially clean and free of food; this means windowsills, doorsills, and so on. I am not trying to suggest that you aren’t a tidy housekeeper but if your house is anything like mine you have kids (ok so technically she is an adult now but college students are not always known for their fastidious cleaning habits) and pets (dog and cats dropping food on the floor all the time; dog dragging various forms of outdoor life and greenery back in when she is let outside to do her business, litterboxes – ewwwww) and well let’s face it…summer can just be a messy time of year, can’t it? We are in and out more often, working in the garden, spending more time doing outdoorsy (aka messy) things like camping, hanging out at the beach, and so on. (Of course I am describing my family. Maybe your family lives in a warmer climate than Canada or is one of those crazy outdoor winter sportsy type families but brrrrrr, that is so not me!…oh and I mean crazy with all the love in the world!). The most important thing you can do when dealing with an ant problem is to ensure that you are meticulous in cleaning up food. You need to sweep up all those crumbs from countertops and floors (or let the dog clean ‘em up for you!…err just the ones on the floors…not the countertops…ewwww!) as often as possible. Additionally, it is vital that you keep all food products carefully put away. Everything needs to be in sealed containers and I was reminded on one of the sites I explored of the importance of remembering to put the pet food in sealed containers as well. Also, I realized that with our dog, when we feed her, we put down a serving and she comes in and eats it right up but with our cats, I simply fill their dish and let them graze from it as needed. There are 3 of them and that can make it difficult to feed each of them separately; i.e. if I were simply to put down 3 single servings, Patches would polish off all his food, try to push Sugarplum out of the way so he could steal her food, at which time Sugarplum would “yell” at him and so he would go on to Midnight’s bowl instead. Midnight, being somewhat more passive and easygoing than Sugar, would simply move out of the way and then sit there sadly watching as Patches ate all his food. It would also mean that I would have to go downstairs every day to feed them and with my back and hip injury, I find it difficult to do that on a daily basis. I am not sure exactly what I can do about this little issue. I don’t think the ants are coming in downstairs at all anyway so it may be a moot point but it is something worth thinking about. The sites I consulted also suggested storing as much food as possible in the fridge and freezer to make it even more difficult for ants to get into it. Note that I said more difficult and not impossible. It is also critical that you take trash out regularly and keep it as closed up as possible the rest of the time. In my case, I feel it is really important that I do something about the recycling bins since that seems to be one of the main places in which the ants are congregating. I am debating whether to simply relocate them outside for now and not keep any recycling in the house at this time of year (and the lazy person in me does NOT like that idea…plus it pretty much guarantees that I will be solely responsible for taking care of the recycling as it is difficult enough to get my college age daughter to put recycling into the bins that are right here in the house, much less requiring her to take them outside every time!) or to try to put something in and around the bins to keep ants away. I also read that it is important to prevent moisture from gathering on any surfaces in your home as this will also attract ants as they seek out water to drink. We have had quite a rainy spring/early summer and are dealing with a basement flooding issue so perhaps this is part of the reason why we are having an ant invasion. In assessing the “moisture issue” in my home, I realized that one thing I would need to start doing is to be sure to clean up the water that gets spilled onto the floor every time the dog takes a drink from her bowl.

3) Ok, so you have cleaned up around the inside and outside of your home to discourage more ants from entering. What else can you do to keep them away? I found a variety of suggestions, ranging from natural and environmentally friendly to toxic and sort of barbaric if you think about them too much and encompassing a variety of cost and convenience levels. I will list these suggestions here but again please note that I have not personally tried any of the ideas yet. I promise to report back with results once I do. Here are the ideas:

~ Baby powder sprinkled on windowsills, doorways, and other potential entrances as well as along the trail that the ants are taking to get in. (Honestly, I have not seen any such trail in my home. The ants just seem to be in the bedroom and the recycling bins and that’s it but I am considering sprinkling some under my bed along the baseboard, the bedroom windowsill since my bed is right under the window, and maybe around the recycling bins. My only concern is, how safe is baby powder around dogs and cats? I assume (and you know what they say about that!) that it would be non-toxic if they licked it up since we use it on babies but I also recall when my daughter was a baby that there was a whole controversy over using powder because of the dangers of breathing it in. We used only plain cornstarch instead. Would I need to worry about our pets breathing it in too?) I read that chalk and Vaseline are also effective in preventing ants from crossing. I suppose I could try some chalk lines drawn on windowsills and doorways but the Vaseline just sounds too messy to me.

~ According to my research, ants will also avoid cinnamon, mint, red chili powder, cloves, black pepper, laurel leaves, bay leaves. catnip, cayenne pepper, and vinegar. One site claimed to have had success with lavender but that was the only reference I found to its use. I do have some lavender here so I can try it out and see what results I get. The herbs and spices can be safely sprinkled around countertops, window and doorsills, and so on to keep the ants at bay. The vinegar can be placed in a spray bottle with an equal amount of water and sprayed anywhere you have seen the ants to prevent them from coming back. Now that I think about it, we use a vinegar and water mixture for most of our cleaning around here (trying to be more environmentally responsible) and so perhaps that is why I never have seen any of the ants on our countertops and appliances. Some sites suggested adding some dish soap to the vinegar and water mixture to make it even more effective. I can’t see that it would hurt and it gives you some extra cleaning power too. Another item suggested again by only one site was to sprinkle around your used coffee grounds as it was stated that it will also drive ants away. Certainly is worth a try. I mean, what else am I going to do with my used coffee grounds anyway? It just sounds messier than some of the other ideas so perhaps I will try it around the outside of our home. Oh wait, caffeine! I can’t imagine that caffeine would be very good for my dog if she got it in her head to lick up the coffee grounds. But, this might be a good idea for under our back steps. Oh wait again! We have bunnies galore in our backyard and I don’t want to hurt them. Anyone know if rabbits will ingest coffee grounds and what it will do them?

Another suggestion for the mint, cloves, and bay leaves is to plant them around your home to keep the ants away from the house in the first place. I do love having a kitchen herb garden and so I think I will try to plant some more outside if I can figure out exactly where they are coming in. Perhaps I can also clean the recycling bins with vinegar rather than trying the baby powder. Some of the sources I examined suggested “ramping up” the potency of some of these ideas but these involved the use of products containing alcohol or bleach or ammonia and like I said, I am trying to be more environmentally friendly and I have the animals’ safety to consider as well. So, I have chosen not to post those ideas in this blog. That being said, please don’t think me to be acting superior here. If my ant problem was to a serious degree and I could find no other successful solution, I might resort to other options but judging from what I have read, there are many effective solutions out there that are natural and safe. It is important to remember that your success with any of these solutions can depend on a variety of things beginning with the variety of ants you have in your home. I am no etymologist and I have no desire to inspect the ants under a magnifying glass to attempt to identify their particular type. Trial and error will work just fine for me, at least at this time.

~ Besides the vinegar and water mixture, another blend purported to be effective in ridding your home of ants is made by putting citrus peels through your blender or food processor with some water. As with the vinegar mix, you can spray this in any areas in which you have seen ants. Another site suggested cucumbers but offered no additional information on how to use them. I would think that just chopping them up into little bits and sprinkling them around would be messy and likely to attract other bugs like those little flies that are similar to fruit flies. I suppose if I were to try cucumbers, I would blend them with water in the same manner as with the citrus peels and use them as another spray mixture.

~It was also said that some success had been found by using the product Febreze (which has the bonus of making your house smell yummy too) in place of the vinegar or citrus mixture. Another product touted as a possible ant remedy was Simple Green. This is a cleaning product, environmentally/pet friendly, with a clean scent of mint. Likely it is the mint in it that keeps the ants away and I have found it to be a very good cleaner. They suggest using this to clean all areas in which ants have been seen as well as spraying it on ant trails to chase them away and keep them from coming back. Note: Read the instructions on the Simple Green container. It is meant to be diluted with water before using. I read that items like the vinegar mixture, the Febreze, and the Simple Green serve another purpose. They also destroy the scent trail that the ants leave behind (to find their way to and from the anthill and to lead others).

~ Here is another suggestion I found. I will be honest with you. I do not intend to try this one (nor the one about pouring boiling water on the anthill). I guess I am just too soft-hearted or am too squeamish or something but they just seem too cruel to me. Yes I know, I was swatting and squashing those ants every time my daughter shrieked but really, there just seem to be so many other options to try and I really would feel better about ones that simply redirected the ants out of and away from my home than to set out to simply destroy them. I guess those lessons in my Junior Kindergarten classroom have just stuck with me. Feel free to skip over this idea if you too have a weak stomach for this sort of thing. Apparently if you sprinkle cornmeal around, the ants will consume it, but their bodies cannot handle digesting it. It clogs up their systems and kills them. Another variation is to use foods that expand in water such as oatmeal, cream of wheat, or grits. When they expand within the ants’ bodies, they suck up all the moisture and the ants die of dehydration. Salt is also said to be effective as an ant-killer.

The plan:

Ok, now that I have reviewed my options it is time to make a plan. I will be asking my significant other to perform the outdoor inspection and plug up those holes for me. If I can assure that it will be safe for the bunnies, I am going to start disposing of our used coffee grounds under our back steps. I will purchase some catnip, mint, bay leaf, and clove plants and create a little herb garden outside our kitchen door to try to keep the ants at bay from the outside. I am going to thoroughly clean the interior of the house using the vinegar and water/vinegar, water, dish soap mixture (depending on what I am cleaning), concentrating especially on the areas in which there have been ant sightings. If this mixture doesn’t seem effective enough or in areas in which I need more of a heavy duty cleaner, I will use the Simple Green. I love lavender and have not only some dried lavender here but also some lavender bed spray (yes it is non-toxic for the pets). I haven’t used the lavender bed spray in a while but I am going to begin using it on a nightly basis again. In addition, I am going to sprinkle lavender on my bedroom windowsill (might as well have something with a lovely scent there right?) and make some of those little lavender dream pillows I have seen in some blogs and zines. Like I said, I am going to clean the recycling bins with one of the spray mixtures, perhaps starting with the vinegar mix and then advancing to Simple Green if needed. I am also going to clean and spray the area in which we keep the bins. I think I will do the same with our kitchen trashcan. I keep a bag in our trashcan so I can sprinkle some of the lavender down into the bottom of it, under the bag. That should help keep the ants away and help to make the trash smell better! I might just try these ideas with our outdoor trashcans as well just to see if it helps keep pests in general away from them. I have planned to begin here with these steps but then I will try some of the other ideas if the ant problem persists. If any of you try some of these ideas, please be sure to let me know and I will post your results here as well. Look back here in a week or two for an update on how the ideas are working in my home.

Want more information? Try out this link: http://www.diylife.com/2009/06/17/all-natural-ant-control-and-prevention/

Seasickness Prevention and Remedies

With the many ships that pass by and dock here at the Island of the Temple People, we certainly have quite a call for seasickness remedies here at the apothecary. There are a few psychologists who feel that seasickness is actually psychosomatic and brought on simply by expectations of it, but general accepted medical opinion states that it is a true physical condition caused by a confusion between your senses. Fluids in your ear sense the motion of the ship and so logically send the message to the brain that you are in motion. Of course, your body isn’t actually moving about the cabin – it is feeling the motion of the ship. So, when you use your eyes and look into the cabin, your eyes see that you are indeed stationery and the aforementioned confusion occurs. Any kind of imbalance like that will of course lead to feelings of nausea and dizziness and ultimately may of course cause vomiting and other digestional disorders.

So, what then can be done to prevent or ease the symptoms of seasickness? There are several different options for preventatives and treatments discussed in various research and as with anything else, it often takes some trial and error to find the solution that is right for any one particular person. Fortunately, many of these ideas are very simple steps to implement and it would be not only possible, but also suitable and desirable to try several of these in combination. For some simple preventative measures, it is always best to begin at least several days prior to your departure or use these suggestions while ashore during a break of several days to attempt to alleviate any seasickness that has already begun. When anticipating the possibility of imbalance in your body, it is generally best to set a foundation for dealing with it by strengthening your body’s defenses through gentle treatment of it. This begins with being well-rested. That’s not always easy to achieve when preparing for a voyage, particularly a long one, or when in the midst of a voyage. There is just so much to do to get ready and then so many interesting diversions once underway. Despite this, it is critical that you maintain a sleep schedule sufficient to keep your body rested. Hand in hand with getting enough rest goes eating nutritiously; however, it is best to avoid spicy foods, caffeine, foods with a lot of fat or acid in them, or anything else that has a tendency to be more difficult to digest until you are well-established at sea and have seen how your body is going to react to the motion. That being said, and I know it’s difficult with such an amazing spread of food such as you will find aboard the SS Vulcania, seasickness can crop up at anytime on a voyage – even once you feel well-established and sure that you are fine – and so it is best to avoid large, heavy meals the entire time you are at sea. Most medical professionals will advise that eating smaller, more frequent meals throughout the day instead of the larger, heavier meals is much healthier at any time. It is vital that you do not skip eating completely. As someone with Crohns disease, believe me, I know that this is easier said than done but try to find something light and take very small bites with long pauses in between. Sometimes this enables you to get the food in without triggering your gag reflex. You don’t have to eat much but having at least a little bit of food in your stomach will ultimately help you, I promise. Try sipping chicken broth, sucking on popsicles (you can find ones that are made of fruit juice if you want something with some nutrients in it – I swear by these white tea-peach popsicles when my Crohns is flared up), eating saltines, Jello, or pudding, or having some plain rice or noodles. For some reason, I have found that carrot products work well for me when I have a flareup – pureed carrot soup or carrot juice in particular. Experiment and see what works for you.

Just as it is important that you keep some food in your stomach, it is vital that you remain hydrated as well. Dehydration can become a very serious situation (and who wants to deal with a medical emergency at anytime but especially when out at sea) and it certainly will bring on and exacerbate seasickness as well. One of the keys is not to gulp down your beverages quickly. Sip them slowly. Make sure to drink plenty of water. You may also drink other beverages that will help not only with the dehydration but also with the nausea. Some people find apple juice helpful when dealing with nausea but for others, any fruit juices simply have too much acid in them. Ginger, long known to be an effective treatment for nausea, can be ingested in the form of a ginger tea (simply cut up some pieces of ginger, place them in some water, and brew them over low to medium heat) or ginger ale (although store bought ginger ale sometimes lacks adequate amounts of ginger to be very effective as a treatment). You can also buy ginger tablets (Gravol is one of the brands available) so that you have a more “portable” form of the ginger to take with you as you go about your day. Peppermint is also known for its abilities in quelling nausea and so brewing up some peppermint tea would be another good option for something to alleviate both the nausea and dehydration. Some people brew a tea combining the ginger and peppermint together but I personally didn’t care for the flavour of the two. Fennel seeds also help to alleviate indigestion and can be helpful in this situation as well. Try crushing the seeds and combining them with hot water to make a tea. Alternatively, you can buy “gripe water”. I swore by this stuff when my daughter was a very colicky baby and she still uses it on an almost daily basis to relieve symptoms of her IBS. Be careful when shopping for gripe water though. The major name brands tend to be alcohol based and so made them a less than ideal choice for a baby. Indeed, even for adults, why use a product with unnecessary alcohol in it? However, there are homeopathic blends made strictly of herbs – generally they are a tonic made of fennel seeds, anise, and peppermint. Read your labels! Coke and Pepsi also work well for many people as a solution to nausea because of the phosphoric acid they contain. It is a key ingredient as well in a prescription drug to control vomiting (Emetrol). The downside to drinking the Coke and Pepsi, however, is that soft drinks are actually dehydrating, so you have to balance out the benefits and the costs. One final note regarding beverages – it is best to avoid alcoholic beverages if suffering from seasickness. Otherwise, be sure to monitor your intake and drink with caution as overindulging could trigger an episode of seasickness in a person not previously afflicted.

If you begin to feel the symptoms of seasickness, there are other options you can try as well. Fresh air can be very beneficial to relieving the sick feelings and additionally, since you will have to leave your cabin and go out on deck, it will help to prevent those confusion issues. Out on deck, you can look out towards the horizon and this keeps your brain from getting mixed signals. Stay in the calmest parts of the ship – towards the center and on the lower decks – there is far more movement at each end and with each deck higher. Other possible solutions that have worked to varying degrees of success with some people: medications such as Gravol, Dramamine, Meclizine, and Bonine, wearing an acupressure bracelet, immersing your feet in ice water, sleeping on your back, seeing a physician and having your ears cleaned, and avoiding any areas of the ship where there might be strong odours (the kitchen or anyplace where you can smell the gas or diesel fuel). One last suggestion that is said to work like a charm every time – steering the ship! Do you think Admiral E or Captain AM would be willing to let us take turns?

 

 

 

 

 

Herbal Tea Remedies

NOTICE:  These ideas are ones I have learned and personally used with good results.  However, I must make it perfectly clear that I am not a medical professional of any kind.  It would be advisable that you check with your doctor prior to using any of the suggestions shared here and that you be especially careful with using any herbal or floral products if you have any allergies (such as to pollen, plants, flowers of any sort).  In addition to checking with your doctor regarding the safety of these remedies for you personally, it is very important that you keep your doctor fully apprised of any products you are using as these may interact negatively with medications you have been prescribed or your health care plan. 

Home Remedy Teas 

Gargle with a warm tea made from thyme to help relieve a sore throat and cough.  It is a natural antibacterial and expectorant. 

Make a tea out of 2 tsp of crushed fennel seeds in a cup of hot water.  This tea helps to relieve gas and indigestion.

Welcome to the Island Apothecary!

The Island Apothecary is a part of Lemuria, a group of artists and writers living beyond the portal of the Soul Food Café.  The Soul Food Café is an international group whose goal is to promote writing and art creation as a daily practice.  This is accomplished through creative writing prompts and artistic inspiration provided on the Soul Food Café website and working collaboratively through blogging to post the members’ creative works.

The apothecary is run by Bethany James.  Bethany spends hours gathering herbs from the mountain sides around the island and runs sessions making creative medicine bags.   A mistress of all trades she also reads Tarot and runs the local film society, showing art films at the small retro theatre, The Way it Never Was.