Last time, I offered a peek into the madness that is the medicine cabinet of Ms. Daisy. Let's sneak on back to see what we can do about some other common maladies we face in this here life of ours.
The Flu?
If you've got the flu, well, my dear, I am sorry. That is not fun. I'm just going to stay waaaay over here while I tell you a few things that might help you feel better and recover faster.
First off, do you have any Norwex enviro cloths (microfiber with silver in it) around the house? Get someone to wipe down your surfaces and doorknobs with water and one of those cloths to kill the baddies that are crawling all over the place. If you haven't got one around, you can get one here.
Now that we've got the external germ spreading taken care of, let's fix you up. The Oscillococcinum is great if you can take it right at the onset. You might save yourself a few barfs. If you're past that and you can tolerate eating anything, sip some ginger tea for your belly. Chop up some ginger and steep it in boiling water (I add lemon and honey, too, but do what you want). If you are manly enough, get one (or as many as you can stand) of those minced bits of ginger in your mouth and mash it up (I'd keep the liquid in while you do so so as not to burn the inside of your mouth off). Ginger is great for upset stomachs. If you are not a ginger person, sad for you. You could do the same with garlic. Otherwise, I would suggest some kombucha, which will fight the baddies in your guts. If you don't like kombucha, well, that just means you are obviously the type who runs around with your fingers in the air, skitting about on your tip toes. What else? Are you looking at that jar of green mush and wondering what I'm going to suggest next? Well let me tell you! That is Bieler broth. It is basically slightly steamed and blended green beans, zucchini, parsley, and celery. (Specifics here .) Keep the water with which you steamed the veg to blend. I add a bit of Celtic sea salt for the magnesium balance (which can get out of whack when you have distributed the contents of your insides into a toilet). If you can keep anything down, this is a very gentle way to get your vitamins and minerals so you can get better.
What about a sore throat?
If your sore throat is due to nasal issues, you should be using your neti-pot before you go to bed to kind of clear that out and prevent that issue. If you have a straight up sore throat (and you're scared you're going to go down the road to strep), then take a look at what natural medicine has to offer you. My 101 year-old Grandma will tell you just what to do: get a mug, cover the bottom with a thin layer of salt, splash in some vinegar and add water as hot as you can stand. Gargle that LOVELY mix until it is gone and your sore throat will be exponentially better. No, it doesn't taste good. In fact, I plug my nose, but by golly, it works. Otherwise, if you just start to feel iffy, take a shot of apple cider vinegar. It has worked really well for me.
If you have something you're worried might be strep (or pink eye), go hit up that Sovereign Silver. Give it a couple or a few squirts a few times a day (throat or eyeball), cut your sugar to ZERO, and you may find within a few hours to a few days that you are as good as new. I just read an article about someone using Spanish radishes or something for this same thing, so that might be worth looking into if you have the interest (haven't tried it myself, though). I have to add (because people are really awesome) that no, I am not a doctor, I do not play one on TV (although I did win best actress in my high school acting class), I am not approved by the FDA (pronounce it F-duh), and I am not a substitute for medical assistance. But it's worked for me and a bazillion people I know, so take it for what it's worth.
If you have some other scary infection, you might want to take a look at oregano oil. That stuff kills nearly everything. You can do the oregano oil or the Sovereign Silver topically as well as internally, but don't just go drinking the stuff whenever you want in whatever quantity you want. Read your dosage and research. Kids can do silver, but cut their dose to at least half of what an adult dose is. And overdosing on silver will turn your skin permanently blue, so pay attention so you can avoid people continually asking you if you are a superfan of the Avatar movie.
Remember, fine people, children cannot take all of the same herbal or natural remedies that an adult can. Just because it is natural does not mean it cannot be toxic. Do your homework, please and thank you.
Peace, love, and feel better soon,
Ms. Daisy
Random #1:
Here's a tip: Don't just paint your walls the moment the urge hits you, please change your clothes first. I know, you may have known that. I did too, but I regret not acting on it. Oh well, white spots in my greenish hair is kind of Spartan looking, not to mention my awesome speckled outfit now.
Random #2:
Do you know any boys who think they are stronger than their mothers? Apparently there is something that happens in the mind of a boy when he nears preteen years where he thinks he is no longer a rugrat and has become the boss of the world. They learn how to throw a football and can carry their mothers on their backs, so they think they have arrived at manhood. I had to knock a certain little off of his high horse last night. It went like this.
Son 1 to younger sibling: Monopoly is stupid. I could crush you in Monopoly.
Me: So, it's stupid but you want to play it? Awesome. How about football is stupid and I could crush you in it?
Son 1: No you couldn't!
Hubby: Yes, she could. She is taller than you, she weighs more than you (by probs 15-20 pounds), and she is stronger than you.
Son 1: No way! SO!? I could throw a football farther than you, Mom.
Me: False.
Son 1: How far can you throw? I can throw 20 yards.
Me: I could whomp on that.
Hubby: She can probably throw at least 30 or 40. I, however, could throw like 50 or 60 (gotta keep that pecking order straight, apparently). She could beat you in wrestling and arm wrestling, too.
Son 1: NO WAY! Let's go, Mom!
Me: You're going to be crushed, dude.
Hubby: You're going to regret that. Mom will beat you.
Son 1: Let's go right now.
Me: (clearing my dinner plate away) Bring it. Let's go lefts. (Hands locked, other hand on the elbow of the other.) 1, 2, 3, go.
Instant crushage. Down in less than two seconds.
Son 1: No way! Okay, let's do right then.
Me: Seriously? I'll crush you faster than before. (Hands locked, other hand on the elbow of the other.) 1, 2, 3, go.
Even instant-er crushage. Down in one second flat.
Homeboy, don't mess with Mama. He gave up on the idea of wrestling, plus I wanted to paint my nails. It looks better when you win at arm wrestling when you have glittery pink nails, I think.
Peace, love, and I need to repaint my pink due to all of the gobs of white paint now,
Ms. Daisy
Were you just sitting around the house wondering what is in my natural medicine cabinet? Oh, I know you were! Well, good thing I can read minds, because I'm bringing it to you right now.
If you come over to my house and have some issue, don't expect me to hand out Tylenol, Motrin, Bengay, and Tums. No way, Jose. You're going to get to know the alternative in alternative medicine around here. I have a basic array of things that will deal with the most common things: colds, sore throats, flu, headaches, muscle aches, and a few things that are not very common (like shrinking ovarian cysts and things in case you think you have parasites - yeah, it's a long story, but no, I don't have any).
When I started reading all of the side effects and about how your liver pretty much hates you when you start downing over the counter (and prescription) meds, I dove in to research what on earth people do besides the usual answers that you can find at Walgreens.
Today, I present...my herbal and natural medicine cabinet.
So what's your problem?
You've got a headache? First let me ask you how much water you've had today. Are you dehydrated? That will give you a rip-roaring headache. Don't drug it if that's the problem, just go get some water. If that's not the case, then skip the Motrin or the Excedrin and try one of these: white willow bark or a Petadolex.
White willow bark is the stuff that Dr. Bayer (of Bayer aspirin fame) used to make his aspirin. Except you can't patent stuff in nature, so he had to break it down and re-build it to mimic what had worked for a few thousand years: white willow bark. Otherwise, if you have a migraine, give Petadolex a try. After I was poisoned at my brother-in-law's rehearsal dinner with who knows what (even though I called and talked to the manager about their ingredients), I had to figure out what I was going to do with the migraine I had on the day of the wedding, especially since I had to do a reading and HELLO, more importantly GET DOWN ON THE DANCE FLOOR. The accupressure wasn't doing anything, water was not the issue, and I just needed something to make me not want to die. That was Petadolex. That stuff is amazing. It contains butterbur and has no known side-effects or drug interactions. It saved the day. And I got to request L.L. Cool J's Mama Said Knock You Out, so it was pretty much a perfect wedding.
What if you have a cold?
Pobrecito. You are suffering. You need to get some sleep, my dear. And I know you aren't eating any sugar, right? Wouldn't want to feed those baddies and make yourself feel worse. No ice cream! No cookies. But you may have some homemade bone broth. Please go take a nap on the couch, I am going to make you a cup of ginger, honey, lemon tea. Let's fight this thing on all sides. What can we hit it with? Glad you asked. If you are a child, I'm going to give you some Coldcalm (adults can take this too). It is an herbal mix that will clear up your nose and sore throat. If you take it soon enough at the onset of a cold, you can kill it entirely. If you're too far in, well, it can help the symptoms. If you are an adult and it is very nasal-y, go for either the Fenu-Thyme (that's my favorite - when you sweat the next day you will smell like maple syrup) or the OregaRESP (that's hubby's favorite). If you are so boogery, you can try the MucoStop too. If you want to kill something in your sinuses, I love shooting my nose with Sinu-Orega.
Don't forget to neti-pot (I use a stainless steel one and make sure you have good clean (not tap) water. Don't put bacteria and spores up your brain hole, but if you insist on it, don't blame me for your stupidity.) Do try to get some rest, though. And don't be surprised when I make you soup with a bunch of cloves of garlic in it. When you're sick, it's your responsibility and job to give your body the best and not indulge yourself in whatever your tastebuds whimsically desire.
The next time around, I'll hook you up with stuff for the flu and sore/strep throats. In the meantime, I hope you feel better, dahling.
Peace, love, and tuck your feet in tight under that cozy blanket,
Ms. Daisy
I know you may find this nearly impossible to believe, but my hubby and I have differing opinions on what exactly consists of a great idea. (I know, RIGHT?! SO WEIRD!) In the last 28 days, I have come up with at least 3 great ideas, but they were all shot down for one reason or another. Allow me to divulge the details to you.
My first great idea was the idea that for New Year's eve, we should have a 90's dance party in our basement. I envisioned a whole pile of people with me as I danced my guts off to Pump Up the Jam and Gonna Make You Sweat (as opposed to my usual dancing in the basement solo). We could move the table out of the room, blast some 90's dance hits, and sweat uncontrollably into the new year.
For some reason, my hubby did not think this was a good idea! He brought up the idea that our house was miniscule-esque, and secondly that he hates dancing. I think that the second rebuttal was a stronger factor than the first, but he pressed the former as it seemed more logical. Fine.
The next great idea came just within hours of that first idea. I decided that we ought to move to Switzerland in 2015. (Originally it was either going to be Switzerland or Svalbard, but after much consideration, I chose Switzerland.) You know what they say, right? If you want the American dream, move to Switzerland. (No, actually, I am not kidding. People say that.) Can you just imagine all of that grass-fed Emmentaler? And they hide cannons in their barns and every house has it's own arsenal, but they are neutral and won't pick fights. (See if you can say that about America.) They have bombs attached to their bridges in case an enemy tries to attack! They're geniuses. Hello, Swiss Army knife anyone? Yeah. Exactly.
And I could learn a few more languages, which is a bonus. I speak Spanish and I have limited knowledge of a few other languages, but this would exponently help learning a variety of other languages. They actively oppose GMOs, are uber clean, and have one of the highest standards of living in the world. Sign me up. So I went on some Swiss job search page and loosely guessed at the French and Italian and told my husband I'd find him something great. For some reason, he kaboshed yet ANOTHER great idea.
Whatever!
This morning I came up with my third great idea. It came to me as I was driving home from the gym. I have been learning Mandarin Chinese on CD (Pimsleur) in the car (it was my Christmas present!), but haven't uploaded it to my ipod yet to listen to it while I run. I do, however, have Hebrew on my ipod. When I got into the car, I plugged the ipod in to listen to the Hebrew lessons for nostalgic sake (I haven't reviewed it in such a long time). I heard the Pimsleur guy asking to say nearly the same things he asks you to say in Mandarin, and then it came to me.
I could just pause and answer in both languages and do them both at the same time.
What a time saver! Two languages at once! I would call it Duo Linguo. Pimsleur (or I) should invent a program that you can drop in two languages at once and say them.
It would go like this:
Pimsleur guy: Try to say, "I am American."
Me: At americait. Wo shi mei gua ren. THIS IS SO AMAZING! (p.s. I have no idea how to spell in Hebrew or Mandarin. Sorry. It's all verbal.)
Then they would have the native speakers say it so you could check your work, as usual. I came in the house, and nearly glowed with excitement.
Me: Honey, honey, honey! Guess what? Ohmuhgawsh, I have a GREAT idea! What if we made a thing that you could learn two languages at the same time! Wouldn't that be great! You'd save so much time and learn twice as much!
Hubby: Um...wouldn't that be confusing?
Me: No! Hebrew and Mandarin sound nothing alike!
Hubby: That's not really what I meant...
Ah, well. I'll keep trying.
Peace, love, and yodel in the Alps,
Ms. Daisy
Are you tired of sweeping and vacuuming thirty times a day? Do you wish you could shave your dog bald just to rid yourself of all the gobs and piles of dog hair that curl up like stray tumbleweeds in the corners of every single room? Do you find dog hair in places that makes you scream your eyes off?
Get ready for freedom and joy with the new Dog Bag! Simply trim to size for the legs and tail, and tie it up around the neck, and you're all set!
No more shedding on your clean floor! It collects inside the bag so you can just dump it out in the wind outside. Environmentally friendly - the birds can now have cozy nests with the amount of hair you're flinging to the wild!
No more backbreaking work of sweeping, scrubbing, and vacuuming like you're Cinderella on crack. With Dog Bag you can sit down and enjoy your evenings!
Imagine: no more finding stray dog hairs on towels, couches, carpets, coats, clothing, or embedded into the hideous stair carpets! Your life will instantly break out in the hit song from Annie, "Easy Street", as you waltz around your home, mocking at your now rarely used broom!
Dog Bag comes in packs of 60 for only $14.99! Go to your favorite retailer and demand that they carry the original, the best, the only: Dog Bag!
(Note to panicked people who love dogs more than their own eyesight: No animals were hurt in the making of this advertisement. Dog wore Dog Bag for about three minutes to take a picture and was positively reinforced for her "prettiness" throughout the experience - although I would have liked to try it out for a good 24 hours. If you'd like to "rescue" my dog from me and what you perceive as inhumane treatment, please email me and I will send you off with all the supplies you need, minus the $150 a month for special food and drugs for her EPI disease. Local pick up only, and a short interview required. Thank you for your concern. The world is a better place now.)
Dear rich guy,
I was over on realtor.com looking through some houses in desirable locations when I came across yours. At $2.4M you were slightly out of my price range, but I had to have a look to see what that looked like on your 6 acres, so through the pictures I went. I have to admit, my heart did a flip-flop when I saw your indoor pool and sauna. It was a real pool, too, 25 yards and all, with several lanes. I looked at your marble fireplace, and your seven bathrooms, with a separate tub and shower and heated floor tiles in the master bath.
I started to imagine what it would be like to live in your house, all 11,000 square feet of it. Your all mahogany library was quite a doozy. I guess my Target bookshelves wouldn't have to make the move and I could really keep all of the books I read, instead of sending them out on paperbackswap.com or giving them away to Friends of the Library. Your kitchen could house five of my kitchens and then some. And then I looked at your bedroom. It seemed the size of a gym, enhanced by those totally stupid cameras that make houses look all weird (realtors: for crying out loud, those are the DUMBEST things ever). I thought, "How empty!"
And that's what it is, I think.
Empty.
Yes, I admit. I live in a mid-century house, not even 1/11th the size of yours. I have the smallest house out of anyone I know. I live in a city that I would trade in for pretty much any other on the planet (minus two I can think of off the top of my head). l have to sit on the end of my bed and move my knees to open my dresser drawer to get to my pants. It would be nice to not have to do that, obviously. It would be a bonus if my backyard were as big as your living room so I could have chickens without my German Shepherd dog killing them. It would be nice to have more than 22" of closet space. It would be really nice if I could choose to use a different bathroom instead of the one the whole family uses since I think they secretly have a love of peeing all over everywhere except inside of the toilet.
But you know what? I wake up everyday to a family who loves me and I love them. We have meals together and I cook all of those meals from scratch every single day, because that is what I love to do. I garden in the spring and summer and we eat what I grow. We do the dishes together, go for bike rides together, watch Jeopardy together, and do life together. I get to raise my children. My husband is a talented go-getter, with quirky things that make me love him more every day (plus, he's hot). I don't want to trade my kids in for other ones (most of the time, unless they're peeing on the floor). I don't have stupid amounts of bills. I live simply and keep my house clean. I don't even have cable TV or a smart phone. I have a ten year old vehicle that I am happy with - because I don't find my identity in my car. I have best friends who I could literally tell anything to (and have before) and they would still love me no matter what. I have peace with my Maker (not because of what I've done, but because of what He's done).
Maybe you have all of that, too. I really hope you do. But I thought about what I would think if I lived in a house like yours. I would start thinking that I would have to put on a really good show for people, I'd have to buy a Modigliani painting and put it in my living room, and those things are freakin expensive. I'd have to have just the right kind of drawer pulls, because if I didn't, I'd have all this house that was supposed to be top-notch and here I was with horrible drawer pulls and that would be a tragedy. I'd have to have 2,189 channels on my TV because if I didn't, people would wonder what the heck is up with me. And if I didn't have heated tile floors in my bathroom, well, I'd just be a peasant.
But, dude. I now live without any of those things and I am happy and content and even joyful. For me, I can have my entire day made by simply seeing sunshine through my kitchen window while I sip my organic black tea. I can see that in every person there is something interesting, and as I walk past them or when I talk to them, I wonder what makes them tick. They aren't a commodity, they aren't expendable, they aren't there to help me get from A to B, they're something amazing. I'm not better than them and they're not better than me. If I lived in your house, would I think to start comparing my awesomeness to their outward pathetic-ness? I don't know. I might be tempted.
So, you know what? Even though your house really is beautiful, I think I'm just fine where I am, even if I had an extra $2.4 million laying around. Thanks for the tour, though. I hope you sell it and find what you're looking for.
Peace and love,
Ms. Daisy
My face thinks it is 15.
I predictably break out once a month (thank you, hormones). This is payback for my teenage years when I think I got 3 zits total from the time I was 12 until I was 21. Now, you can set the clock to my zits. Awesome. But even though I'm in my 30's, it still stinks to get blemishes. I mean, it's not life crushing like when you're 16, but it is still stupidly annoying.
I tried Crunchy Betty's face scrub with milk and nutmeg, and it does make you have a baby butt face (that is - your face is so soft it feels like a baby's butt, not that you are a small butt face), but honestly, I think for the zits, it really might only help a teense.
I was wondering what was out there that would be helpful to crush the life out of the red little hormone dots in my life, and I may have stumbled upon something. Now, obvs, different things work for different people because of our different chemistry, but this works for me. What's the secret mix?
Well, if you followed Crunchy Betty a couple years ago, you may remember the month or so when everyone was washing their face with honey. Were you on that bus? I tried it. It was pretty cool. Honey is anti-microbial, and filled with wonderful enzymes and lots of other goodies that make it a wonder.
One day a few months ago, I had a few zits and the thought dawned upon me to combine the wonderful properties of honey with the scrubby exfoliating powers of nutmeg (yeah, seriously, but don't use nutmeg on your face more than twice a week - the overdose of nutmeg on the face looks like your face got into a fight with sandpaper and a cat).
I poured a small blob of honey into my hand, sprinkled nutmeg into the mix, squished it around and slimed it on my face (in an upwardly circular motion, of course - I really should be less technical, but I just can't...). I stared at my weird looking face in the mirror for a few minutes, thinking this was likely a necessary step in my experiment. I pretended I was at a spa as I layed a hot washcloth over my face (even though I was standing in my vintage 1950's bathroom - but hey, when you have a washcloth over your face, you can pretty much pretend you are anywhere) and then followed with wiping the magical mess off.
I don't have any hard empirical evidence, but from my point of view, I honestly think it was helpful in zit reduction. It makes sense that it could be, anyway, right? You have the anti-microbial properties of the honey gutting out your zit dirt (I think that's the scientific name for it), and the nutmeg is smoothing to the areas on your face that are having skin distortion/flaking/etc. Anyway, it worked for me, and if you want to try it, I hope it works for you.
Happy zit reduction!
Peace, love, and grow up, face,
Ms. Daisy
On the day that I guessed the Christmas present that my husband bought for me, I responded immediately with a giant freak out because it was too large and expensive. I then felt an absurd amount of jerkfulness, especially as his thoughtfulness was directly inversely proportional to my unwarranted spazfulness.
The only way to console myself was to Google "I am a jerk", which led me to a quiz, which I dutifully took and failed (or passed - whatever you call it when you are a jerk). This plunged me into more sentiments of disturbing-ness.
I had to climb out and distract myself from myself. But how? (I mean, besides the part where you go and say you are a jerk and will you forgive my horridness.)
Oh! Yeah! Reading funny t-shirts on Zazzle. I submit, therefore, the evidences of my pathetic evening pre-Christmas.
You're welcome?
Peace, love, and don't be a jerk in the first place,
Ms. Daisy
Families have different things that they value. One family is all huggy and loving and kisses each other all the time, other families value clear communication and value hanging out with each other spending quality time together up the wazoo.
Not my family.
We value being TOUGH.
We were taught this from a young age. Let me illustrate this with a true story that actually took place when I was about 5 years old. It was winter, oh, bloody winter (sorry, you English, it's not a swear here, it's just a funny word) and we were going to grit our teeth and freakin enjoy it. We were going to go sledding. And my Dad was going to take us. If you've not heard before, my Dad is actually Rambo, which is part of why we value toughness.
So, my brother (he was 3 at the time) and I hiked off behind my Dad whose steps in the 4 foot deep snow were like eight feet apart and we could only crawl into the holes he made by his gigantic boots. Was he going to turn us into some kind of pansy babies and walk slow just because our legs were eleven inches long?? NO!
(This is only the beginning of the lessons in our house. Walk fast or die. That's one thing you've got to learn, especially if you are in the woods. Walk fast or be left behind and a bear will eat your face off. And if you walk too close behind the person in front of you, a giant whippy branch is going to snap directly into your eyeball, attach itself to the inside of it, snag out and dangle in the middle of the path as a sort of warning for others.)
But I digress. We walked/crawled to a hill that led down to a bridge. The bridge was the walkway over a channel between two lakes. This path was about as wide as a car with trees lining the sides. We stood at the top of it. My Dad placed us into the sled, stood behind us and gave us a shove. The wind whipped past our faces as we reached probably 30 mph (or so it felt), the ground beneath us a blur of blinding white and the whoooshing sound filled our ears. Because we were unaware of any possible danger, we made no effort to abandon ship as we crashed full force into a tree. We were fine. We thought it was fun. Upon going home and reporting the incident to my mother, she did not find it (for some weird reason) as fun or as awesome as we thought it was and began some weird tirade at my Dad. Imagine that!
We learned gems of lessons as youngsters. I recall a recurring theme in the form of a phrase from childhood when something unfortunate would happen to us and we thought it would be awesome to protest with whimpering tears. It declared clearly and poignantly, "Is it broke? Are you bleeding? Then QUIT YER CRYING!" Sometimes, if you persisted in crying, you would get the bonus, "Quit crying or I'll give you something to cry about!" This was alternated for variety with, "Quit your crying or I'll knock you into next Tuesday!" These were very helpful in pretty much any situation.
We learned toughness from example. One day in the summer, my Dad had gone out on his dirt bike and rode up some of the two (which dwindled into one) track trails through the woods (which dwindled into no tracks and just woods). He would go tear up the hills at 80 miles per hour, swerving around each tree and obstacle. That was until he popped over a certain spot, didn't see a stump and it went through his shin. No, really. Through it. A hole. With blood. Do you know what a shin bone looks like? I do. I got to see my Dad's up close and personally. I think he ripped part of his sleeve off in the woods, tied up a tourniquet for himself, and walked the bike all the way home. He sauntered into the kitchen and nonchalantly said to my mother, "I think I probably should go to the hospital." This was in the same tone as you might say, "I think we'll have tacos for dinner tonight." or "That new movie sounds interesting." Except that blood was squirting out of his leg like some kind of fountain in the middle of Paris and you could see the white of his shin bone. I think my brother passed out. Wimp.
There is a girl I play volleyball with who happens to be part of my distant family (like as in, her great-grandpa and my grandpa were cousins), but we have the same family of origin surname. Whilst playing last week, we looked down at my knuckles and watched as blood dripped all over them (for what reason, I am not sure - blood? It's just a flesh wound!). She reacted initially as any person is trained to act - she inquired, "Did you just do that now?" Yeah. "Are you okay?" I looked at her, straightfaced at first, then with a sort of confused and insulted expression washed over me, wherein we both declared simultaneously that of COURSE I was okay, I am a "Fill in the blank with my maiden name".
This goes back to who knows how far, but the story is that the first person in our family in this country came here as a German soldier hired during the Revolutionary War to fight - he got a musket ball in the guts, pulled it out and fought in the rest of the war.
What's up now, suckas.
When I hear about people not wanting to go outside because it is too cold (-20 F windchill), or they don't want to go running/start exercising because it makes them tiiiiired and it's haaard, or they don't want to eat their vegetables and get healthy, I have some advice for you:
Is it broken? Can you see bone sticking out of your leg? Then QUIT YER CRYIN' and just do it.
Blam.
Peace, love, and just doooo it,
Ms. Daisy
Many people find January the perfect month for cleaning up. It's a fresh new year, and you want to rid yourself of the dust of last year and start with a nice clean slate. So, you break out the Windex, the Soft Scrub with bleach, the Oxyclean and go berzerk. Small problem. This is going to conflict with your other New Year's resolutions to become "greener", healthier, and less toxic.
So many cleaning products out there are totally toxic, and I want to save you from them.
How do you know if what you're using is deathpaste, anyway?
Glad you asked.
First, check to see if you've got some poison lurking in your home over at the EWG. The EWG is an independent organization that has a worthwhile mission - rid the planet of toxic chemicals. Their plan? An informed public. They have a database that you can look up your cleaning products (along with sunscreen, cosmetics, and other stuff you slather on your body, squirt in your air, and wipe all over your home). Here is their page on all of their databases: EWG consumer guides. They rate each product (grades A - F) and ingredient and show you different areas of concern (environment, reproductive health, cancer, respiratory, and skin allergies). This page is one of my top go-to's and is an amazing resource. Bookmark this baby and check back on it often.
If you've found that your household contains products that are killing you and your family (and if you're using stuff that is mass produced, you have a high chance that it is), move to step two: Go on over to Ms. Daisy's Norwex site. You'll find amazing solutions for cleaning your home in a non-toxic, and truly non-chemical way. How is this possible? Oh, I KNEW you wanted to know! If you haven't yet heard of Norwex, it is a company that makes silver-woven microfiber. You do know the benefits of silver, right? It kills baddies like nobody's beeswax so you can have a truly clean surface. This microfiber is used ONLY with WATER, so you don't get crazy endocrine disruptors, funky fake scents, and poisons on your hands, surfaces, up your nostrils and into your children's bloodstreams. Now when I say "microfiber", some of you are like, yeah, microfiber, whatevs. I can get microfiber at the dollar store. Yeah. You can. That's called the crap microfiber. Might I recommend the Mercedes? In order for anything to be classified as microfiber, the fibers must be 1/6 the size of a human hair. Norwex blows the lid off of that and goes to 1/200th of a human hair. I kid you not. Like I said, Mercedes.
Now, you're likely thinking a couple of things here. When I first heard of it, I turned my nose up at it and thought, "WhatEVER!! Like, so DUMB! I make my OWN cleaning stuff, and I am superior. Duh!!" So, a dear person sent me a couple of microfiber cloths in the mail for me to try and I have to tell you it shut me up in about two seconds. I cleaned my entire house top to bottom three days in a row while I stood back and drooled at the results. This leads to the second thing people think, which is, yeah, okay, but does it actually work? I am slightly OCD (read: as in the same way China is a slightly populated country) and I am rather particular about how my house looks. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I am also particular about what I put in my house, so there are many things that won't pass the test in that arena. I will personally vouch for these things. They are ridiculous.
If you are someone who is more than happy with the results you are getting with vinegar and water, I applaud you. If you are using vinegar and water and it's not doing what you wish it was, check the Norwex out. If you are using anything you can buy in the store (Soft Scrub, Tilex, 409, Clorox wipes, Lysol stuff, etc.), I am putting this out there for you - begging you to take a look at it. Norwex will get you cleaner than that stuff without any toxic effects on your environment or destroying your children's reproductive organs. (I tend toward being dramatic, but in this, I assure you, I am being dead serious.)
I recommend all of the microfiber, the cleaning paste (giant tears of joy on this one - removes black permanent marker, hello?), and the mops (and since it is so easy to suck up the globs of dog hair, it makes me slightly more fond of my dog). If you are interested in the body stuff, email me first, because some products have ingredients that make me raise an eyebrow.
I put a link on the top of my page called Ms. Daisy's Natural Cleaning for those of you who get updates in your email but don't visit my page - so come on! Come visit me and check it out!
Happy non-toxic cleaning, my peeps!
Peace, love, and keep it clean,
Ms. Daisy
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