A Timely Word

I watched two or three pretty raunchy movies this week.  They weren't so raunchy that I had to turn them off, but there were some scenes throughout the movies that definitely made me uncomfortable and I had turn my head until they were over.

I know what you're wondering.  What movies?  Right?  Well, I'm not telling you because I don't want you to think that I'm judging you for watching them or condemning you for not having a problem with them like I did. They're pretty popular movies that just about everyone has seen.

Anyway, the night after I watched these movies I had a vivid, disgusting, illicit dream that made me so physically sick that I woke myself up dry heaving and praying. And that woke my husband up.  

The next day, my husband asked, "Do you think your nightmare was because of the movies?  Do you think you'll be able to watch anymore of them?"  I told him I wasn't sure and I really wasn't sure. But I admitted that I didn't want to watch any more movies and he was supportive.

Then the next day, as I was reading the Bible passages I was supposed to read for that day in the One Year Bible, I came upon this verse by chance or rather, by design.

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" Matthew 6

This verse was so timely.  It lead me to realize there is an actual connection between my physical body and my spirit.  Good or bad, what I do with my physical eyes is spiritually pervasive, so I must take care.  

 

Egg and Squash Breakfast Scramble

I adapted this recipe from Ree Drummond's Carb Buster Breakfast.  Basically, I busted her carb buster and made it even more healthy and a just a bit more practical.  Here's what you do.

Heat a tablespoon of butter in a skillet on medium/ high heat.  Then chop up half an onion, half a yellow squash, and half a zucchini and add it to the skillet.  (I've also made this with some fresh Brussels sprouts chopped in half in the skillet with the squash and onions, too. Also very good.)  Let it cook for a minute or two, then sprinkle some sea salt and pepper on there.

Get a big plate/ platter ready with some fresh greens on the side. 

Saute the vegetables and onions for about three more minutes. Chop up half a tomato and then add her to the skillet, too. 

Heat up another tablespoon of butter in another, smaller skillet and make yourself an egg over easy. I use a separate skillet for my egg/s because I find that the vegetable skillet is too hot when the vegetables are done and my egg doesn't come out right. And it's important to me that my egg comes out right. 

When the vegetables and onions are done, dump them on the empty side of your plate.

Flip your egg over, let it cook for a sec and then pick it up carefully. Carefully! You don't want to break the yolk yet. 

Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper and then get a knife and fork and dig in. The yolk breaks over the veggies and mixes with the butter and juices and makes an incredible sauce that you can eat with the fresh greens. 

This is a lot of food, a lot of nutrients, but only about 350-400 calories.  So that's amazing.   This is my favorite breakfast these days. 

Our Christmas Scrapbook

On the scale from one to crafty, I'm like a three or a four. 

So I don't keep very many scrapbooks.

Only one, actually, I keep just one scrapbook.

And it isn't anything to write Pinterest about.

I just print a few of our favorite pictures from every Christmas season and try, emphasis on the word try, and put them together into something cute enough to look at.

Sometimes I make the decorations, sometimes I buy them, most of the time let my daughters make them. I just use the most basic, simple decorations because I don't have the patience to fuss over layers and layers of papers and stickers and what-not-all.  It takes every bit of self-control in me to sit and cut and paste and fuss over the arrangement as much as I do each year (five-ten minutes).

Then I tuck the scrapbook away with all the Christmas decorations until the next year.

And when go to decorate for Christmas the next year, we rediscover the scrapbook and look at it together.

For the whole month of December (and sometimes January, if I am slow to get the decorations put away), the scrapbook stays under our tree with a few other Christmas books and the girls look at it a few times a week.

As of now, we have pictures from Christmases 2005 through 2013.

 

That's nine years already!

 

Diffuse Frankicense Essential Oil While Doing Yoga

I diffuse Frankincense Essential Oil while I do yoga.

I've been doing the P90X exercise program and one of the DVDs in is a yoga workout.  Yoga takes a lot of focus and deep breathing and I found that diffusing Frankincense helps me breath deeper, concentrate for longer periods, and relax. Also, my Young Living diffuser has a light that causes a warm glow when I turn down the lights in my exercise room.  The water moving around in the machine also makes a nice trickling sound as I do my yoga DVD. 

Use Essential Oil to Sanitize the Air

I use Purification Essential Oil to clear the air.  

Sometimes I will add a few drops of Purification Essential Oil to my diffuser and put it in the same room as my baby's changing table.   

Or in the bathroom.

Or next to my four year old's bed after she has an accident the night before.

It can turn things around in less than five minutes, if you know what I'm saying. 

And it isn't like spraying a can chemical air fresher into a stinky room.  That just makes the room smell like poop plus whatever is on the label of the can. 

Essential oil actually diffuses the stink bombs.  

You'd have no idea that kind of thing even happens in our house now that we're diffusing Essential oils everyday.

Breathe as deep as you want.

Go ahead.

You won't smell a trace of anything unpleasant. 

It's glorious!  



 

Frankincense Essential Oil to Moisturize Your Face and Heal Blemishes

I have started using Frankincense Essential Oil to moisturize my face.

I know two women who have near flawless, glowing skin and both of them have been using essential oils on the their face for years.  That's part of the reason I was so interested in these oils to begin with.

I asked one of them how she cares for her skin and she said that she uses Young Living products, washes her face, then puts a dab of moisturizer and two drops of Frankincense (or Myrrh) onto her palm, mixes them up, and then rubs this all over her face and neck.

Using Young Living facial products is something I can't afford to do just yet, but I decided to use what I already have and just start adding two drops of Frankincense to my moisturizer. 

 

I've been doing this and my skin shines more without being oily to the touch and any blemishes I have seem to come and go very quickly, healing faster than they used to. Frankincense also smells divine and feels so, so luxurious. 

Purification Essenial Oil to Clean Wounds

I used some of my Purification Essential Oil to clean a wound.  

Disclaimer: I hope this post doesn't make anyone sick to their stomach.  Sorry if it does. 

I cut myself on that knife you can see in the background of the picture above. I was loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher, hurrying to get it done, too, standing at just the right (or wrong) angle to where I couldn't see the knife sticking up out of that measuring cup.  When I went to pick up the measuring cup and load it into the dishwasher... Ouch!  I cut into my palm before I even knew it, quite deeply, in fact.  Instead of using hydrogen peroxide, I decided to put a drop of Purification on the wound and let it air dry to see how it would work.  It didn't sting at all. And unless it was my imagination, the wound healed faster than it normally does.  I've cut myself with kitchen knives before, so I expected it take days to heal like before.  But, by evening on the same day it happened, the wound was closing up nicely and I could use my hand without nursing it that much.  I will certainly use Purification this way again, especially when the kids get scraps on their knees and whatnot, since it doesn't seem to sting like hydrogen peroxide does.