Grandma’s Tidbits and Treasures

I do a lot of reviews of products through a company called Tomoson. They match up companies with individuals willing to test and evaluate their products. Most of the items come straight from Amazon.

I recently received a seat cushion to evaluate. It was shipped from Amazon in Las Vegas. When I opened the box, there was a worm/grub type bug on the cushion. The cushion was wrapped in plastic. It was alive and moving.

I contacted the company and Amazon. They immediately sent me a return label for the cushion and an apology.

I have worked with this company previously and have had no problems with any of their products. I have to say that this is not something the company is responsible for. This helpless hitchhiker came from Amazon and it was taking advantage of a nice cushy cushion.  I am a firm believer that when you are honest and you communicate with companies, you will be able to solve any problems you have including a helpless hitchhiker.

#ChiroDoc #SeatCushion #Coccyx

It has been 1 week since I had major back surgery. Up until now, I have been questioning myself why I did this. The pain wasn’t that bad. (At least not all the time) There was always the pins and needles feeling or numbness in my foot. Pain in the hip, buttocks, and low back would come and go. There was no rhyme or reason to the pain. It was continually getting worse. Nothing was helping it. It had caused major disruption in my life. I was unable to do a lot of the things I like to do. I had gained a bunch of weight because I felt sorry for myself. Last year I never even took my kayak out and I did a grand total of 10 runs on my snowboard. 4 of those runs on the bunny hill and 4 of them on just the lower half of the mountain.
I realized today that I have not had a single episode of the pins & needles number feeling in my foot. No pain in my hip or buttocks. The only pain I am having is at the area of the incision.

I can’t actually see the incision,  but it is about 7 inches long. There are plates and screws in there holding 2 of the vertebrae together.  They chipped out all the arthritis and bone spurs from the facets or “holes” in the vertebrae where the nerves come out. They also cleaned out the disk space and moved a vertebrae 12mm. To get to where they could do all this work, they cut, stretched, and move stuff out of the way.  The pain I  am experiencing is from what they had to do in order to repair my back. I realized that this pain will get better and eventually be gone for good unlike the pain I was having before which would only get worse.

I am no longer questions myself on why I did this. Now, it’s what can I do to help myself heal.

When was the last time you changed your furnace filters? If you are like me, it’s very sporadic. Usually I get reminded when I go to the Fall Home Show or the Spring Home Show and there is a filter company there handing out little coupons to come get a filter. I will either head into town and “forget” the coupon or just plain forget to go pick up a filter. And when I walk into Home Depot or Lowes, I don’t want to pay full price for something I have a coupon for. So I found a solution.

The 20x20x1 AC and Furnace Air Filter by Aerostar on Amazon is the best solution I have found.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CSWPVME   They come in a box of 6 filters for $26.99. (About $4.49 each) . I set a notification on my phone for the first of every other month to remind me to change the filter. These filters fights lint, dust mites, mold spores, pollen, pet dander, and dust. Change frequency is 60-90 days (which my furnace info says to change every 60 days) They are made in the USA. These filters are comparable to the ones at the big box stores that sell for about $5.00 each. So I think for the convenience of having a year’s supply at my fingertips is a great deal. 

I decided a long time ago that a regular massage is the best thing I can do for myself. It’s especially true when you find someone that is very good. Most of the time when I walk in, my therapist can determine exactly what type of massage that I need. Sometimes it’s deep tissue and trigger points or it’s a “fluff and buff” as my therapist calls it.

But in between massages or when your massage therapist takes a vacation, what do you do? I found a little tool that can help during those times.

ChiroDoc Trigger Point Massager – Self Massage Tool for Pain Relief – Accupressure for Deep Muscle, Myofascial Release and Back Pain –

It looks a bit strange, but works well for most people. Here’s my Amazon review.

“This is not a flimsy piece of plastic. There are multiple knob projections in various sizes and shapes to dig into all of those tight muscles and trigger points. You can put as much pressure as you need without it breaking. I really liked it on the shoulder muscles. Just small movements and a little pressure loosens those muscles right up. I tried it on my calf muscles and although it was a little awkward, it worked well there too.
I found the 2 knobs for working the muscles along the spine were just a little too far apart for me – especially at the neck. The same with the knobs for the feet.
I asked a friend (a big guy) to try using it on his back. He had difficulty trying to get the knobs positioned right for his spine or for his shoulder. (because his belly got in the way) He quickly gave up and said it wouldn’t work for him. I showed it to my massage therapist and he liked it. He also thought the knobs at the spine were too far apart but he suggested just using the single knob on the other side and running up one side at a time. So the verdict is that this is a good tool, well made – just not made for every body type. It will never replace getting a massage, but great for in between massages or times when you have a muscle that need a little bit of attention.
When I received the massage tool, it was just in a plastic bag in the shipping box. There was no instructions or even a company name on it. I ended up going on line to find some You Tube videos about it so I could learn to use it. (BTW it’s called Body Back Buddy on the You tube videos)

We recently went out to a fancy restaurant for dinner – you know one of those places where the presentation of the food is as important as the taste. We ordered Filet Mignon Steaks served over roasted new potatoes and sauteed greens. The salad was a mixture of spring greens, feta cheese, roasted almonds, and rounds of yellow and red beets with a huckleberry vinaigrette dressing. It was beautiful. Next time, I’ll have to take pictures. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

So last night, I decided to try and reproduce the salad for dinner. I had the spring greens and feta cheese. And I has some raspberry vinaigrette dressing. That’s a start. I also had carrots, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and jicama. I recently received the Kitchen 4 You 4 Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer from Amazon to review. I thought this would be a perfect way to “dress up” my salad like they did at the fancy restaurant. So I started spiraling my carrots, cucumbers, beets and jicama. The 3mm blade worked well for the carrots. I used the 5mm blade for the cucumbers. I had a real hard time with the beets. They were very firm and hard to hold. So I thought maybe if I microwave them a bit. Nope. That just made them to soft and beet juice went everywhere. So no beets. I didn’t try the jicama. My kitchen was a mess and Mike would be home any minute so I decided slivers around the edge would look just fine. So here’s my attempt of making a fancy salad.

He was surprised and impressed.

This is a cute little tool to make garnishes or small amounts of spiral sliced food. I don’t think I would like to try doing enough zucchini noodles for a main dish such as zucchini noodle spaghetti. There is a tool to help you hold the vegetables when they get down close to the blade. (you don’t want your skin in your salad and I’m sure the blades are sharp enough to make that happen) The blades can be removed for easy cleaning.

https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-You-Vegetable-Spiral-Slicer/dp/B01DLKZCYE   #HomgaVegetableSpiralSlicer

It was a very exciting week at the doTERRA One Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Mike and I spent 4 days with 29,998 of our friends listening to great  motivational speakers and company executives talking about how doTERRA has grown and how we will keep growing.

This year 23 new products were introduced including 2 new brand new oils, a new product for children, several reformulated blends, and 11 great spa products.  For the past few weeks we have been given little teasers about the new oils so you can imagine the cheering that was going on when they introduced Spikenard and Petitgrain.

Spikenard  is a flowering plant of the Valerian family. It’s grown in the high altitudes of the Himalayan mountains. The oil is distilled from the roots. It can be diffused to promote feelings of calmness and relaxation. You can add it to your favorite skin cream to help promote healthy, glowing skin.

Petitgrain oil comes from the leaves and twigs of the bitter orange tree. It can be used aromatically, internally, or topically.

My favorite new product is the sleep combo.

Serenity essential oil has always been one of my favorites to help relax and sleep peacefully. DoTERRA has added Cedarwood, Ho Wood, and Vetiver to their blend to make it an even more restful blend.

A totally new product is the Serenity Restful Complex soft gels. These little soft gels have everything that’s needed to make counting sheep unnecessary. I have used the combination for the past three nights and have slept better than I have in a long time.

A new product for the kids is the PB Assist Jr Probiotics. The Children’s A2Z Vitamins has been reformulated. It now contains Vitamin K and Chromium. They have included a cognitive blend in it.

The Aroma Touch series that was introduced last year is now available in a  10ml roll-on bottle. (My favorite is the Passion blend) These new roll-on and all future roll-on bottles will have the stainless steel rollers in them! DoTERRA listened to us when we told them the other rollers got sticky and gummed up.

I think I will set up a spa night so I can highlight the rest of the new products.

I was asked to review this garden hose sprayer by RY Professional Gardening Equipment.

I intentionally waited a couple of weeks to write this review because I wanted to see how this nozzle would work with my delicate spinach seedlings. I am so happy I used this nozzle to water them.
The RAAYA Garden Hose Nozzle is definitely a high quality, professional grade tool. It fits well in my hand and is comfortable to hold.  

I like the quick disconnect feature. It comes with an extra fitting so I can use it on more than one hose. The hose side of the quick disconnect is made of plastic, but I think it will hold up pretty good. There are extra washers and o rings which is great because those are the most frequently replaced parts. I had no problem with leaks anywhere while using the RAAYA Garden Hose Nozzle.

The nozzle goes from a pinpoint stream to a light, wide shower. I planted some fall spinach in my garden and have been very happy with the gentle spray on the little seedlings.
I love the color. It is easy to spot this bright blue tool. It stands out even if it falls among the foliage of my other plants.
I am confident that this will be a garden hose nozzle that won’t need to be replaced for a very long time. It comes with a one year “No questions asked” warranty with easy on line registration.

You can get one of these professional grade tools at https://www.amazon.com/RAAYA-GARDEN-Heavy-Duty-High-Pressure-Control/dp/B016PU3MMQ/ref=cm_rdp_product

It is exactly one month until the United States presidential election of 2016 which is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016. It will be the 58th quadrennial U.S. presidential election. Voters will select presidential electors, who in turn will vote for a new president and vice president through the Electoral College. That means there’s only 30 more days of commercials, phone calls, debates, social media posts, and signs posted up on the street corners.

This morning I had tea from DemocraTEA2016.com. Besides being great white tea, I enjoyed the fun artwork. The Hillary ClinTEAn is vanilla flavored and the TEArump is peach flavored. The artwork on the package was a fun conversation starter at work. I enjoyed passing out the tea and when the conversation started heating up, I slipped out.

I did a review on Amazon but I thought it would be fun to post about this tea here too. You can check the review at: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LE20M3M

or my YouTube video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRWVunIgLHI&feature=em-upload_owner

I looked at their website (http://www.theteabook.com/) and found they have more than just political satires for their teas. They have Collectible Teables such as Shakespearmint (mint tea) and AgathaChrisTea (earl grey tea). They have a great organizational system called The Tea Book. (hence the name of their website) It holds 144 teabag in a book rather than boxes. This is a new company, but their ideas and marketing are sound.

I enjoyed their blog post that gives several ideas on ways to reuse old tea bags. http://www.theteabook.com/blog/  My favorite tip is using it on cast iron to prevent rust.

I feel sometimes thing are taken too serious. We need a little humor in our lives. For me personally, I don’t care who you vote for, just get out and vote.

I found this neat video on how to use an empty applesauce container and a mason jar to make great nutritious lunches or snacks. My favo9rite is the yogurt, granola, and raspberries. In fact, I think I’ll take one of those to work tomorrow. Check it out.

https://www.facebook.com/littlethingscom/videos/1889060194654964/

I use doTERRA Essential Oils every day. It starts with the Daily Nutrient pack. Here’s a good video  about this great product.

I use lemon oil in my water through out the day. Depending on my mood, I will difuse Cheer or Motivate.  Both are great blends. I personally like all of the citrus oils…. Wild Orange, Tangerine, Citrus Bliss, Lemon, Lime, and Grapefruit and will diffuse them or add them to my water.

I use all of the On Guard products. I can’t say I have a favorite because they are all so great. The foaming hand wash is all I use at the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room sinks. I use the On Guard Cleaner concentrate from washing dishes to cleaning my floors. When I do laundry, it only takes 1 tablespoon of On Guard Laundry detergent to get my clothes clean. The On Guard throat drops come in handy whenever I get a dry scratchy throat. And a great afternoon pick me up is a nice green drink using doTERRA Terra Greens, apple juice, and a drop of On Guard oil. I can’t forget the On Guard toothpaste. It cleans my teeth wonderfully and protects my mouth. One of the other Wellness Advocates tells me that they used to get sore spots in their mouth and lips all the time. After switching to the On Guard toothpaste, they haven’t had any more of those annoying breakouts.

Cooking with essential oils is a fun way to incorporate the benefits of the oils into your daily life.  This is a quick and easy recipe for a week night dinner.

http://doterra.com/US/en/blog/recipe-roasted-marinara-sauce

Here are some great websites where you can find information about doTERRA Essential Oils.

https://www.mydoterra.com/terrivogt

You can  find sections on cooking with essential oils and Do It Yourself projects. There’s information on what are essential oils and how to use essential oils.

https://www.mydoterra.com/terrivogt/#/essentialOils101

I also do educational classes. If you would like more information please contact me. I look forward to sharing doTERRA Essential Oils with you and your friends.