Simple Salve

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: one of my favorite ways to use essential oils is in a salve. It's moisturizing for the skin, creates a protective barrier, and helps us heal without harsh chemicals and alcohols that dry out our skin.

Plain salves with ingredients that we can count on are hard to come by, even with added essential oils. Before I use something on my already sensitive skin, I want to be sure that the oils are pure and the therapeutic value is high.

This ain't no easy thing...

We tried all sorts of products, before we figured out how to make our own salve. It is quite possibly the best deep skin moisturizer ever! You can change up the oils in the ingredients to support allergies, too. We use it on the itchiest, dry, cracked skin. When we haven't been able to get other remedies to work, this salve has done the trick every time.

If you've tried my miracle salve, you know.

Even your dry, cracked, flaky flip flop feet will come out feeling smooth. What I love the most about this salve is that I can add any essential oil to it and put it anywhere on my body. Dare I say, it's edible. Use some common sense here. Don't eat the salve. That's just wrong.

We store our big batches in glass jars - mason jars, jelly jars, etc. Keep it neat and you can melt it down any time to add an essential oil to it.

Here's how we make it: 

• Fill a sauce pan 1/4-1/3 full of water on medium heat on the stove. It's important not to crank the heat, because you don't want your oils to burn (stinky!) and you need even melting. 
• Place a glass measuring cup in the water and add the ingredients to the measuring cup - the beeswax takes extra time to melt completely. Be sure all of the oils and the beeswax have melted together, or your salve will be chunky and/or grainy. 
• After all ingredients are melted together, carefully remove the measuring cup from the pan.

You'll need: 

• 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil (any is fine, the lighter the scent of your olive oil, the less you will pick up on that scent in the salve) or sweet almond oil 
• 1/4 cup coconut oil 
• 3T beeswax pellets (white beeswax pellets or yellow beeswax pellets - both function the same) 
• 2T shea butter
• Optional: essential oils of your preference (we love these ones) 

Pour the salve in to the containers that you want to store them in before it starts to set. If you're adding essential oil, do that right away, by stirring the essential oil in to the mixture. Then, pour the final magic in to the storage container to allow the salve to cool and set.

The salve will look something like this when you're done. Your salve may come out a little darker, depending on the depth of color in the olive oil or beeswax you use.  

Words to the wise: 

Beeswax may give you a bit of a challenge when cleaning your measuring cup. It's helpful to fill the measuring cup up with warm water and dish soap right away, to keep the mixture from hardening in your measuring cup.

If you're a herb or flower lover, infused olive oil works well too. (I have not tried store bought, but have infused with fresh herbs and plants. 

You can melt this down in the microwave, though you will get a grainier texture that you won't like in the salve. Heating the oils in the microwave also breaks them down and can create a cooked scent (not good when mixing with essential oils). No one wants to smell like Thanksgiving Turkey! 

Balance

I always look at the beginning of a new year as a new start for great things - diets, exercise, cleaning my house, saving for adventures. 2018 was an enlightening year. I'm not much for even numbered anything and even numbered years tend to take the cake. 2018 was no exception.

When life is going to switch gears on me, the message is usually a gentle whisper, like the wind, blowing me in a different direction. Not this time. The message came screeching around the corner leaving me without a doubt that it was time to listen. That happened in 2016 as well, when the best half of us woke up to a guard rail and found himself in the car floating across lanes of highway before dawn. (Definitely not a whisper). 

We've had growing pains, health issues, defining moments...all that good stuff that happens in a house with teenage humans. We've also had an evolution of self, as we're both searching for what brings us joy in our professional lives. 

I'm not sure that the joy is entirely missing, but the balance is. We can feel this on a long weekend, when there's enough time to get it all done and slow down enough to enjoy each other. When we're able to eat home cooked food together in the same place at the same time. When we're practicing self-care and enjoying our health, instead of trying to keep up and squashing the symptoms with meds. 

I've thought for a long time about balance. It seems like the last page in the parenting guide. The thing they forget to tell you about. Focus on success, family, bigger - better, bigger - better, but balance -- balance is what gets lost in the process.

So, we're on the path to balance. Something simpler. Being able to get it all done, spend some time with each other, and sleep. Crazy idea.

I'm starting with what does not bring me joy. That was easier to come up with. Things that I put a whole lot of effort in to, that bring me zero joy. I'm kicking those things (and people) out the door first. And, I'm adding more of the things that do bring me joy - being outside, being with my people, being flexible and free with my time, and focusing on who, not what. That's a big ask.

I think the hardest part of this is that to let joy in, I have to let stress out. Let stress go. For me, this is letting people and commitments that aren't working, for commitments that are. That's work of the heart. Letting go to hang on to something entirely unknown and unfamiliar, yet simple. 

I'm beginning to think simple is not easy. It may not even be less. I'm just hoping it's food for the soul. 

What am I diffusing this week to launch us in to joy? Douglas Fir and Bergamot to calm the soul and wrap us with positive energy. It's amazing how just a change in scent in the environment can activate the mind and our emotions in different ways. This is our favorite, never fails diffuser. We find our favorite oils here. 

Just sleep, kid!

One of the wonderful things that happens in motherhood, is that moment at night when your children fall asleep. Those beautiful little faces, resting peacefully and quietly, while you get 30 seconds to go to the bathroom alone before the dog or other people find you. Yep, you know the routine.

When my peeps can't sleep, neither can the mama. When this goes on night after night, there either has to be a solution or...well, there has to be a solution.

Enter lavender essential oil.

Lavender was part of our starter kit. We use it for so many things, particularly anxious children. We started diffusing it at night to promote relaxation and rest and we drag it along to sporting events - no anxiety there! I'm pretty sensitive to the scent of lavender, so I like to keep it light and diffuse or use a roller ball with fractionated coconut oil to apply it. Too much of anything can make it unbearable. 

We tend to like a more earthy scent in these parts, so when we discovered Juniper Berry essential oil, we definitely hit the jackpot! I always thought this would be a berry scent similar to fruit snacks. (Why? I don't know. Doesn't everything your kids like smell like a fruit snack)? 

It's a bit like lavender in scent, but has a depth that will ground your soul. Think clean, woodsy, and earthy plus a touch of lavender and you've got it! Juniper Berry is our go to night time diffusing oil and it goes well in a body butter or roller bottle if you want to carry it with you or diffusing isn't possible. 

Truth be told, we tried another brand of essential oil in the beginning. My tween, being our resident Juniper Berry expert reported that it was not as pure, not as strong, and didn't work the same. The scent is what lured her in, while the calming and ground effect of the oil is what keeps this oil at the top of her list. Right up there next to Starbucks Frappucino's and that's a tall order! 

Really, we're sleeping through the night and that's proof for me. 

Changing the Game

Still on the quest to uncover the perfect glow, I was using my fave soap and seeing some improvements, though I hadn't arrived. Oily skin has always been a challenge for me. I've always used scrubs and acne washes, though they seemed to make the problem worse. Now I know that over stimulating the skin and going from oily to dry extremes can make problem skin worse, but you know, I'm wise now that I hit forty (ha!)

We've all heard about coconut oil. Some folks even gargle that stuff and push it through their teeth! While coconut oil has never made even a cameo appearance in my coffee, I do find that it is a lovely makeup remover and it works quite well as a light moisturizer for my face. Mind you, I used a miniscule amount. 

Goat Milk Stuff tea tree soap + coconut oil moisturizer and I was almost there, but not quite. 

I tried witch hazel. Too tight.

I tried a popular mail order face wash company, too tight.

I tried Sea Breeze, because, why not? If my skin wanted to behave like a teenager, I could try treating it like a teenager. No luck. Too stinky and tight.

Then, I had an overnight trip with a group of scouts.  A brilliant scout mama introduced me to essential oils. (Seriously, I had been living in the dark times). WHOA this changed my game. I knew nothing about essential oils, but they smelled great and I'm all about good smells. 

In my trial of essential oils, I came across melaleuca, my old friend tea tree oil, and thought hmm...I wonder if this would work for my face without the smell? I ordered some up and the scent was amazing. This wasn't anything like the pungent smell of the tea tree oils I'd found locally. It also did not burn my skin. I started mixing it in with my fave soap and coconut oil every morning. 

BINGO! 

This was the missing piece I'd been searching for. 

I can tell you that for the last three years, I have been pimple free. My face is not dry, nor is it red or pimply. I even got Mr. Man to give it a shot and it works for him. YAY forty year old skin! 

This was the beginning of my essential oils adventure. I did do a great deal of research before deciding to try more oils or choosing a company to buy them from. There are so many options. You will be happy when you hang on to what makes you feel good.

A few years and many recipe inventions later, we have tremendous healing and joy in our lives (yes! just from essential oils). I don't buy in to anything I can't personally back up.  I actually don't like to do sales, so I shared my oils and concoctions with people to help them live a healthier life naturally too. This sharing gets a bit spendy, but I wholeheartedly believe that if you try it, you'll love it, and the rest is history! Essential oils have changed our lives, so why not share? 

I chose doTERRA because they support farmers, families, and education. Using essential oils with a high degree of purity and being able to check the quality myself are important to me. Using products that actually work is important to all of us. And the smell, oh how I love the smell! This is an important one, because who wants to diffuse oils that smell awful? Did you know your sense of smell is actually connected to memory? We definitely want those to be good ones! 

Curious how to make the fabulousness happen in your house? Check it out for yourself. 

Slowing Down

This is the beginning of something different. It took some false starts (blogging ain't easy, y'all) and a lot of longing for the life we want to build, to get to this place. It's a little scary trying something new, but I think you'll enjoy our adventure.

I've never been one to shy away from change. This wanderlust spirit of mine almost demands change, on the regular. Then came the 40s. It's amazing how a few short years can have you feeling like you don't know what the hell you're doing with yourself and also very wise, wrapped up together with a nice little bow. Things hurt, bodies change, spirits are free, and I think I'm starting to understand why people adjust their way of living when they get to this mid-life thing. I look back and think, whoa, that was one hell of a ride. And, I look forward thinking, yikes, is that really where I'm headed.

That's how we got here.

Forty brought on some strange things. One of which was this desire to be a creator. Another was togetherness. I like to be alone, that's where I get my energy, but I also need to bring my people together and hold them close. The other, trying to figure out how my connection to the earth became so tattered. My energy, my immune system, my joy factor - all seem a little out of whack.

We've been climbing that proverbial mountain for some time now and at the top, there's a nice view, but the constant isn't making my heart happy. I think a lot of you find yourself just where I am, but stay that way.

So...what if I stopped climbing and just enjoyed this place? What if I rerouted the entire journey and took a new adventure?

What if, we change everything and do only what brings joy to our lives?