Natural House-Cleaning and Using Essential Oils to Lessen the Aggression in My Home

Hey y'all,

It has been downright awful over here, I'm not gonna lie. The bad attitudes and the raised voices have been going on for weeks; and I am so over it, especially where it concerns me. We all feed off of each other and there seems to be no end to the cycle, as hard as any one of us might try. Until today.

Today has been awesome.

Disclaimer, though, before I get into why: **If you're super anti-oils, then skip on through.**

This weekend was cold here in the South. We dropped off children at the in-laws like any other Sunday, and Jacob and I came home to enjoy a fire on the hearth and some quiet time together. I ended up doing some reading in my book on essential oils. I was specifically looking for oils that could be effective in war against the bad morale in this house. I took note of a few ideas, and that night I diffused a new blend I hadn't tried yet before and during bedtime: 1 drop of cedarwood + 1 drop of a grounding blend + 8 drops of lavender. I set it off in all the rooms and watched a miracle take place. My kids had been fighting like cats and dogs all day long, even at the grandparents'. They've been doing it for weeks; and bedtime has become a consistently outrageous time in our home. I started diffusing 30 minutes prior to bedtime when we brought two wired children through the door. Within minutes, we were all winding up the day with stories and tickles and smiles and laughter instead of the usual screams and tears and emotional unrest.

This morning is Monday. My husband got a work call at 2:45am, so I woke up less than ready to face the day. My kids are usually horrendous after a day spent at the grandparents' because they know there's an attention deficit here vs there; thus, they did not wake up ready to face the day, either.
I tried another new blend of oils to diffuse in our living room: 5 drops of an invigorating blend + 2 drops of that grounding blend again.
It's nearly 1:30 in the afternoon and they have been playing well together all day. The fights have been minimal; and there has been no raised voice on my part at all. I could cry for that fact alone. I'm a yeller, and I absolutely hate that I sometimes yell at my kids. Bonus: I have been so productive all day, but not in my usual stressed-to-the-max kind of way. It seems nothing can shake me today.

It doesn't hurt that I'm been experiencing some similar miracles in my household cleaning today; thus, I have a recommendation for you:

This book:

My mom is the queen of quality literature, especially in the realm of self-help books such as this one. She has an entire library of home-keeping how-tos and I have always loved spending rainy afternoons curled up with several of them. 

If you're looking for an informative yet quick reference guide to more natural cleaners that you can use in your home, then look no further. At just 128 pages (including the index) this book on household cleaning has given me an entirely helpful education on commercial vs homemade cleaners.

I have a fairly rigorous cleaning routine. Living with two toddlers, several pets, and a grease monkey, I really don't have any other choice. It takes some powerful cleaners to keep up with this household; and thank goodness my mother instructed me well in the ways of cleanliness.

However, lately, I have been reacting to my usual arsenal -- and that's not helpful. Even wearing gloves, I regularly break out for days after cleaning my bathroom. The products I use to mop my floor or clean my furniture have been giving me some major headaches. Also, I have to do nearly all of my cleaning when the kids are not around because the chemicals and bleaches are incredibly harmful to them. You can imagine how often that happens.

For all of these reasons and more, I finally asked my mom about some recommendations for more natural cleaning. But I did it on an exasperated sigh. She has been lecturing me about the dangers of my commercial products (that she introduced me to) and has been trying to get me to convert for a few years now. But the commercial products are readily-available literally everywhere, and everybody uses them, and they are all I've ever known for cleaning purposes; therefore, it would take great time and energy and study on my part to totally uproot every aspect of my cleaning routine and switch to "more natural." Yeah right.

But my hands and nosehairs were burning excessively and my kids are into everything, so something had to give.

She simply handed me this book on the run one day and I laughed at how small it was. Then I flipped it open and saw the helpful format it was in and I thought, "Hey, I can read this book."

Rachelle Strauss does an excellent job at briefly presenting the dangers of commercial products to the environment as well as to ourselves. In a compare and contrast format, she lays out how much less-harmful more natural solutions are; and then she gives you the products and recipes to start detoxing your home.

I intended to begin with gradual small changes; but I loved the immediate results I was seeing in both my cleaning and my reactions (or lack thereof!) and I ended up completely swapping out my routine in just one week. The best part about it was that I pretty much already had all of the "ingredients" on hand -- things like white vinegar, baking soda, and borax. I ordered a small bottle of liquid castile soap and a couple of glass spray bottles and I was completely set to revamp my cleaning cabinet. 

Seriously, that's all it took.

I made one of her listed recipes for an all-purpose cleaning spray and I use that on literally everything. I also made her more heavy-duty scouring powder for my tub because Jacob showers in there and it's gross. I put it in a mason jar I already had and it works super great! There's even a recipe for some homemade air-freshener (bye-bye, fabreeze!) and I use that in the kids' diaper pails as well as in my bathroom closet where Jacob dumps his dirty work clothes. It works like a dream!

There are really so many neat tips and tricks in this little book that will have you wondering why your grandmother never shared these with you. It's really a lost art and will save you so much $$ on cleaning products.

I've been using her 1 cup white vinegar/1 bucket of hot water (+some essential oils) to mop my floors semi-regularly. It does work; but lately I've gotten out of habit, so I had some built-up gunk on my floors around where the kids eat. Things like blackberries and oatmeal and bananas, etc. #gross All the things that harden and leave stains. I was dreading scrubbing those floors.

Today, I pulled out her mop-water recipe using castile soap. I added a few drops of a protective blend of essential oils that I have that smell good as well as work as an antiseptic. I was doubtful of the effectiveness of the castile soap vs the white vinegar because the soap just seemed too watery. Then I realized I poured the whole concoction into a really dirty bucket and splashed in a really dirty mop (I guess Katie had been mopping my back porch some time last week after I had set things out to dry). I used it anyway because #lazy
Another miracle proceeded to occur in front of my eyes. With no scrubbing whatsoever, week-old blackberry stains completely disappeared; that dried banana and oatmeal came right up; grease spots my hubby had left and squashed sweet potato from a month ago -- gone!
I did the laundry room and mud room where the cat had knocked a full bowl of food and water down and made a huge mess with it and litter from her box. Sparkling!

Then I got an idea.

Thursday is the day that Cintas takes all of Jacob's work uniforms from the week and washes them. He's supposed to get them back the next week but sometimes a load gets missed. Thus, my husband will hoard his nasty uniforms on the floor of our bathroom closet, saying he'll have to pick out the cleanest ones to wear the next week. He fixes garbage trucks for a living, people.

One such week happened to fall on this last work week. When he left on Friday, I finished the family's laundry and then rolled up my sleeves, pinched my nose, and threw a few of his dirty uniforms in my washing machine at a time. Charlie's Soap got them as sparkling as they are ever going to be. The same could not be said for my machine.

A black ring of dirt and oil and grease formed all the way around the drum, where the height of the dirty water had been. I knew I would have to clean it before the next load of family laundry, but I was dreading touching that nasty, so I procrastinated -- all weekend. 

Well, I took my bucket of now extremely dirty mop water into the laundry room, grabbed a rag from the cabinet, and proceeded to wipe out the drum of my washing machine.
I have had to scrub this sucker many a day; but today, it literally took only a swipe of my rag. Look:

Isn't that ridiculous?? Ridiculously easy!

Then I moved into the kitchen. My sink has been calling for my cleaning attention since before Christmas. Everybody has that one side of the sink that they favor; and therefore the other side that rarely sees a gush of water. Mine is the left side; and the orange greasy, smelly grime was more than real. It was a slimy nightmare.

I spritzed my sink with that all-purpose spray I mentioned and left it to sit while I wiped out my washing machine. Then I simply took the same rag and started to swipe around my sink.
Behold, the final miracle of the morning:

I think the results speak for themselves.

Essential oils = 2
Depression/discouragement = 0

Cheap, natural cleaning solutions I already had in my cabinet = 10000000
Hormonal/physical reactions to dangerous chemicals found in commercial cleaners = 0

I Bought A Weighted Blanket

Hey y'all,

I posted on Facebook a few days ago that I bought one of those weighted blankets you hear so much about for people with anxiety. A few people asked me to let them know what I thought about the blanket. Here's my review:

It's by far one of the best purchase decisions I've ever made, and it was an accident.
Amazon has that "buy with one click button" right underneath the "place in cart" button. Guess which one I hit while browsing.
My husband is one of those people who looks at things online, adds them to the cart, and then lets them sit there while he makes up his mind. I'm constantly having to go through the cart, saving things for later, before I actually buy what I logged on for (like unicorn laundry soap).
This time, I bought swiftly without meaning to. The blanket came and I was instantly in love.

A few things you may or may not know about yours truly:

After I got married to my best friend, I learned that I am a major snuggler. You're shrugging your shoulders right now thinking, "Yeah, me, too."

NO. I'm talking conscious-bedhog because I constantly need to be held. I'm talking, if I could glue Jacob's arms around me permanently, I would. I'm saying that I need an actual monkey on my back.

We call what I do in bed at night "burrowing" because it is just that: Jacob gets comfy and could fall asleep instantly. But here I come, clawing my way underneath him. I am not comfortable or serene enough to doze unless I have the weight of him pressing on me in some way.
Heck, it doesn't even have to be him. When he gets 2am work calls (like this morning) and I still have 4 hours of slumber to go, I do whatever I can to coax the cat to jump up and stay for those remaining 4 hours -- and eventually it dwindles down to like two hours of actual sleep because of this song and dance. I've even considered the fateful "co-sleeping" with my children. *gasp!*

I wear many layers of clothes to get that "hug" feeling. I battle insomnia pretty much every single night because there's no way for me to force my husband to sleep with his arms wrapped around me -- especially when he's a natural heat source and sweats profusely if we're too close.

I've logged much time pondering the reasons why I have such a problem (anxiety, depression, my husband works many long hours, I like all the hugs); and I've spent just as much time thinking and reading about getting a weighted blanket. They are $$; so I've been using a duvet that someone gave us for our wedding. But it's too big and makes Jacob sweat even more; thus, it's a lot to clean.

Enter the game-changing new blanket. Here's the specific one I got from Amazon. I got a child's size in 10lbs because I don't need it big enough to share (MINE; but mostly because Jacob sweats) and I wanted it small enough to not be cumbersome to take with me if we spend the night anywhere -- or just to drag it out to the couch for a movie night. All the hugs, all the time.
I love that this one comes with a removable minky cover; and there's even a coupon inside the bag to get 40% off of a lighter, summer cover for when you still need the weight without the heat.

I have not slept this soundly this consistently in a couple of years. The other day I wrapped it around my shoulders like a cape because I was feeling hormonal. It helped.
The only cons: it's making my body realize how much sleep I have missed and therefore need to catch up on; and thus it calls my name from wherever it is in the house, begging me not to Mom today and be hugged. The snuggle is real.

Also, the weight obviously takes some adjusting to, skeletal-wise. That sounds weird to say; but I have been waking up with a little back and neck pain -- but this is due to the fact that I am not a poster-child for "healthy sleep positions." I'm awful, all scruntchy and snuggled and -- well, burrowed.
The pain directs me to be more consistent with my yoga again, which isn't a bad thing, is it? And I'm positive that now that I've fixed the snuggling issue, I'll be able to sleep much more comfortably without having to curl into a ball to feel closeness.

In conclusion: if you severely struggle from insomnia like I do and you've tried to change every other variable there is, I would definitely recommend you look into getting yourself a weighted blanket.
Or if you struggle emotionally or even physically or just crave being wrapped up every now and again, then I recommend you get one of these bad boys.

I'm pretty sure this thing saved my marriage, even if Jacob doesn't want to outwardly complain about my being so needy and such a bedhog. I know he's relieved.

Being the Firefighter to Our Kids' Equivalent of a Burning House (eg, you looked at them the wrong way)

Hey y'all,

I have been meaning to make this "picture post" for a while. Some of you have been extremely
patient; some of you, not so much. You know who you are.

After two solid weeks of flooding to kick off the year, we were grateful for *nearly* an entire week of warm sunshine this past week. We took every advantage.

Now we are back to dreary, low-hanging clouds that block out the heat of the sun, only letting the North wind bite our skin. I'll be remembering these days this summer when I can't breathe because it's so hot and humid out.

I really want this post to be about pictures. But since they are pictures of my kids and our days lately, I do want to include a quick parenting encouragement/tip:

I, myself, am in the throws of parenting toddlerhood. Unbeknownst to you through the pictures, our days here at Cedar Creek are full of tears, fit-throwing, screaming at decibels that bats can't even pick out -- and then suddenly flipping a switch and flashing the cutest smile, wrestling and giggling, hugs, kisses, sweet story times. Jacob and I are getting major whiplash from the bipolar disorders going on around here. If they so much as look at each other across the room, screams can be heard throughout the neighborhood; but if I send one to time out, they are inseparable. Being the parent in this mess is at best, confusing and usually exasperating. It's hard to maintain patience.

I saw a close mom friend of mine put out an "SOS" signal over Facebook because she is right in the middle of such tyranny, as well. Our encouragement to each other, ladies, is that we're all in this together; not one of us is alone; and the older women are right on the money: these days don't last forever. So take a deep breath. Breathe. And let me share a metaphor that I was reminded of. I heard it through the Family Life Today podcast back when Katie reached the "terrible twos" early at 18 months:

Picture yourself, Mommy, as the firefighter. You are brave, resilient, courageous. You are mature, experienced, and not afraid to put out fires because it is your job.
Now, picture your toddler, who is in the middle of losing her mind over nothing at all. She is the victim stuck in a burning house. Her emotions are the fire raging all around her. She is not trained to deal with the fire. She is not yet experienced enough to even know how to get out of the burning house. She is stuck, and her screams are her cries for help.
Simply put, your job as the firefighter is to remain calm, and patiently put out the fire. You can do this because you have the proper tools: love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control, etc. The fruits of the Spirit is the water you are pouring out onto the fire of emotions. The Spirit, the Helper, is your fire hose from which you get the water.

To take it a step further with older children:
Part of a firefighter's job is to also inform the community as far as safety precautions are concerned. Firefighters regularly instruct the rest of us in ways that we can help ourselves in dangerous situations. We can even learn to use such tools as will help us diffuse potential safety threats.

Teach your children from an early age how they can obtain the fruit of the Spirit to help themselves. Teach them about love. Teach them about gentleness. Teach them about self-control.

Right now, my children are too young to sit them down and discuss the concept of self-control. Instead, my most powerful tool in training them to become functioning people is my example. Instead of raising your voice, whisper or walk away or don't say anything at all or even just count to ten outloud so that they can hear you. They will learn from you how to handle heightened emotional situations.
It is a lot of pressure; but honestly, parenting is a lot of pressure. It's just part of the job.

This metaphor that helps us to understand how young children simply do not understand or possess self-control also helps us to maintain perspective on another count:

When your toddler is uncontrollable, it is not personal. They are simply reacting.

My own mother is constantly having to remind me of this because I am not a naturally patient person; and I take everything personally. I literally repeat this outloud to myself -- sometimes under my breath, sometimes over the top of the toddler -- so that I can remember her (or his, Mason) reaction to my discipline is not personal. It is simply them learning how to live in this world.

Now I get to go practice what I preach as Mason wakes up, once again, on the wrong side of the bed from nap time.
I'm not sure there is a right side to his bed...sigh.

(What I'd rather be doing.)

The Only To-Do On the List That Really Matters

Hey y'all,

Well, we're officially a week into the new year. Yikes.

Resolutions are hopefully well-underway. We're beginning to see our floors and countertops again after the holiday scramble. For the majority of us, this fresh new start after the holidays is oftentimes just as busy as we try to set into motion new and better habits for the future, and maybe even focus on taking out a few of the bad ones already in place.

I'm on the sidelines, playing "Eye of the Tiger" for you as you knock out your entire agenda today, whooping and hollering that you're definitely the bomb.com.

But take a second and please hear this brief reminder God had for me today:

My husband and I are aiming to read through the entire Bible chronologically this year. We are currently finishing up Job. Chapter 28 is a fantastic reminder right now as we seek wisdom for the new year and set our goals.
In verse 28 of this chapter, God tells us that "the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding." (Job 28:28)

My agenda today looks absolutely crazy; and for the week, it's insane. This Bible reading plan we're doing only has me reading just a couple of chapters each day; but I'll admit to you, I'm already a couple of days behind. Because there really just aren't enough hours in the day to do everything I should be doing, much less everything that I'd like to be doing.
But here in this verse, pretty much in the middle of the Bible, God reminds me what is truly important on my long list of goals and things that need to be done: taking time to sit with Him and read His Words to me. This item on my list is not only the most important one, but it is also the best choice I can make all day. It is, The Good Choice.

Well, hello there, Mary and Martha. (Luke 10:38+) Mommies, wives -- read about these two women.

"Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Then tell her to help me." But the Lord answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things; but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'" (emphasis added)

Firstly, can you imagine having such a relationship that you could call out the Lord like Martha did??
Secondly, He didn't even reprimand her -- not really. He didn't say that all of her agenda and serving and preparing was bad. All He pointed out to her was that the most necessary thing on her list of things to do was to sit with Him, just for a little bit, and hear what He had to say.

There are many reasons why this is The Good Choice.
God gave us our work to do. It is a gift and our calling. Doing our work well is a testimony of Him, and our personal way of giving Him worship and glory and honor. But (and I've said this many times before, and I'll say it many more times) we can not complete our agendas well, fulfill our calling to it's greatest potential, without Him. This is one of the biggest reasons why spending time at His feet, studying His Word, is The Good Choice, the necessary choice, the only choice that matters on your to-do list today. Truly.

So, wherever you are, whatever the next thing on your list is, crack open your Bible or open the audible app on your phone and take some time to really hear Him. It can be 10 minutes. It can be 5. However long you have, however infrequent, make The Good Choice and watch Him move in mighty ways because you are seeking out True Wisdom.

Make it part of your agenda every day. 10 minutes with Him.

Side note: If your goal as a God-following parent is to someday lead your kids to Christ, then one of the greatest weapons you can have in your arsenal is the example you set by spending time with your God.

I Found The Unicorn of Laundry Detergents

Hey y'all,

Against my better judgment, we did visit around during Christmas week; and then again for New Years. Thus, we are now sick with a cold. Boo.

Usually, I ignore sickness in my home. I know that sounds really irresponsible; but I have always felt that money was wasted on medication as far as cold viruses are concerned because each time you get one, it's different; and at least for me and my babies, it hardly seems to make a difference when I do apply them. Snotty noses run rampant, people are coughing everywhere, and if there's no fever, the best method to me has always been to tough it out.

This week, I am taking a new approach. I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to many people's testimonies with products and thus we have doTerra's OnGuard blend diffusing liberally in the main house, melaluca diffusing with lavender in the bedrooms during sleeptimes as well as in infused bubble baths. It is chicken broth for lunch, and we're keeping a close eye on our liquids intake. One final combative measure we are implementing this time around is the use of elderberry syrup. The kids are getting a small dose every four hours (Katie has only a slight congestion issue; Mason is the one with the snot and the puffy red eyes -- though the weepy eyes are non-existent after our first day in action yesterday). Jacob and I are taking consistent adult doses of the elderberry syrup twice a day as a proactive measure. Moms just don't need to ever get sick, and really, neither do the daddies. Neither of us is really showing any progression of sickness, thus far. I'll give an update at the end of the course of this cold. I'm crossing my fingers for 3-5 days.

ANYWAY, the real point of this post was to offer a recommendation of a new product I began trying last week. (Mom, I can't believe you didn't tell me about this years ago!)

*drum roll.............................................* Charlie's Soap!

It's biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, and leaves no residue on your clothes! Plus, it's fragrance free. *deep breath in* ahhhhhhhhhh!

Let me state here that I don't get any kind of offers or benefits for telling you about this product. I just want to tell you about it because I could cry, I'm so happy with the results.

Most people know this, but if you don't: I'm married to a grease monkey. Jacob has been a diesel mechanic since before he graduated high school. He is also a man. Needless to say, my bathroom and laundry need regular deep cleanings and deoderizings. I have used so much of so many products. Seriously.
I've done buckets of baking soda, gallons of vinegar, boxes of different kinds of detergents -- both powder and liquid -- I have even used borax and Dawn dishsoap, especially to wash Jacob's stuff. Heck, we keep a jug of the Dawn in the shower because that's the best stuff he can find to get the grease off of even himself.
Even after all of this, my family's clothes have never truly come out clean.
Lately, I've been at the end of my rope as far as figuring out the laundry goes. I thought I would just have to settle for sub-par "clean" laundry. And before you say anything: yes, I actually regularly clean my machine itself.

Texting back and forth with my friend Hope a few weeks ago, I remembered that she had mentioned that she orders Charlie's Soap from Amazon to wash her laundry. Since my Gain was running dry and we had just spent a small fortune on buying all of my laundry supplements that have become necessary, I thought, "Why not give it a try?" The bag of powder claimed to give me more loads than the detergent I was currently buying. If that was true, it would work out to be cheaper; so why not?

The new soap arrived the same day Jacob walked through the door after work exasperated because the company that does his work laundry failed to give him one of his jackets back. And in case you're not keeping up with the times, we have had hot-vs-cold flashes here in the South with monsoons of rainwater. The work jackets have become necessary. Thus, he had been wearing the same one for two weeks solid and it was nasty, to say the least.

Normally, I would be shaking my head -- "Absolutely, no way am I washing that grossness in the same machine I wash the kids' clothes in, grease monkey. Too bad, so sad."
This time I thought, "Alright. Let's see if this new laundry powder has the magical capabilities the reviews claim."

I actually threw Jacob's nastiest jacket into my home washing machine with a single Tablespoon of the new detergent on a regular cycle with no presoaking. (This is a big deal, because let's refer back to the buckets and gallons of product I usually have to use just for his clothes; and that includes an extensive presoak.)

1 greasy, oily, black jacket covered in diesel fuel and garbage from the last two weeks + 1 Tablespoon of laundry powder + 1 regular cylce of hot water.

That jacket came out almost as clean as the day they gave it to him brand new. I'm not kidding. It hardly smelled of anything at all; and the lining was so clean and fluffy. We were stunned. Jacob was already in love, but I was still skeptical.

Immediately, I thought of the kids' footie pajamas. Every single set has taken on a permanent odor of rancid diapers, no matter how often I wash, on what cycle, with what product. I was dejectedly planning on trashing all of them and just buying all new sets. $$$

After washing the jacket, I immediately went to the kids' rooms and began finding all of their footie jammies from every nook and cranny -- clean or dirty, they all got collected and thrown into the washing machine. I added a single Tablespoon of the Charlie's Soap and ran them on a warm cycle. They smell like nothing but fabric now.

I love this stuff, and I guarantee you will, too! Heck, if you don't -- I'll buy it off you. I don't even have to use a full Tablespoon on any of my loads; and now I'm not sure what to do with all of these scented dryer sheets that I no longer need.

I also now have all of these gallons of white vinegar to make some more eco and family friendly cleaning supplies for the rest of my house. Which will eventually take up an entire blog post for itself.

Get Charlie's Soap, y'all. Seriously. I'll never look back.