I Want to Go So Baaaddd!!!

Herbal Remedies: Kloss's Liniment

 

Kloss's Liniment is a very old herbal remedy created by Dr. Jethro Kloss.  It is wonderful for reducing inflammation of the muscles, for cleansing wounds, and for soothing insect bites.  

The herbs in this recipe have antiseptic, warming, stimulating, and anti-inflammatory properties--as such they will aid in the increase of circulation in areas where muscles are sore.

I have even used this liniment on family members who had the beginning stages of a boil coming on with very satisfactory results.  I just covered the area with a large gauze pad soaked in the liniment and covered it with a band aid for a day or two. It pretty much stopped the boil in it's tracks and began to heal it up.  This is really great stuff.

Recipe:

1 oz. Echinacea Powder

1 oz. Organically grown Goldenseal Powder

1 oz. Myrrh Powder

1/4 oz. Cayenne Powder

1 Pint Rubbing Alcohol

Directions:

Weight out the powders and put them in a pint sized jar.  Pour rubbing alcohol over the powders, leave a good 2-inch margin above the herbs.  Stir and put a lid on the jar.  Place mixture in a warm location and let sit for four weeks.

Using cheesecloth, strain mixture and re-bottle.  Label bottle clearly FOR EXTERNAL USE ONLY as rubbing alcohol should never be taken internally.

It may be useful to bottle liniments in a spray bottle.  It is easy to spray it onto areas with sore muscles or onto wounds that need cleansing.

**This recipe and so much more can be found at  HerbMentor.com.

Daughters

 

She can be the most exasperating creature.  Sassy.  Stubborn.  Filled with angst one minute and loving and caring the next.   Some days we can have really good conversations.  And others, it seems like she takes every word I say and turns it into something bad and not anywhere near what I meant to say in the first place.  Those can be really difficult days.

I love her so much but she has never been an easy child.  There was several occasions when I fervently believed that she just might prove to be the death of me.  There was the quite terrifying year of anorexia and therapists, the guy she began secretly communicating with online when she was 16 and he was 25 who thankfully "saw the light" when my husband informed him of her real age--and that if he didn't vacate her life asap he probably wouldn't live very long, there were the bottles of vodka I found under her bed, there was the running away after she got busted for attending a big kegger party instead of spending the night at a friends house like she told us she was going to.  I could go on but I think you get the picture.  Ya, under this dark brown hair coloring I am pretty sure I am at least 75% gray.  

She is 18 years old and will be 19 in March.  There were many days that I didn't think she would survive this long--either from some of the dumbshit things she did on her own or because she finally drove me to kill her (kidding...I think).  

But, then there are some days--especially lately, that I catch glimpses of the woman she is on her way to becoming.  Yesterday was one of those days.  She knew that money had been pretty tight around here for awhile and she walked in and told me that she wanted to have a "date-day" with me.  She wanted to take me to the movies--her treat.  We went to see Avatar because she had not seen it and I pretty much adore it.  We had a great time.  It was wonderful.

On days like this, I just sit and stare at her for a few seconds, enraptured.  Then, of course, she will turn to me...roll her eyes and say something like, "take a picture why don't you." 

Note to Self: Stay Away From the Keyboard When Immersed in Self Pity

I feel a little chagrined after reading back over my last post of a couple days ago.  With so many other parts of the world going through some very difficult times, I really do need to remember how very blessed I am.  And I am.  My family and I have a home.  G and I have jobs.  There is food on our table and in our pantry.  We are able to pay our bills--well, okay, most of them anyway.  Hey, the electricity, gas and water is still on so it's all good.  And G and I and our kids are healthy.  I could sit here all day and make a list of the good things in my life and I need to hold on to that.  So, I apologize for being such a downer the other day.

On another note, I have been meditating!  The last few days I have been taking 15 to 20 minutes to just get quiet.  I tune my iPod to some nature sounds and find a quiet place to relax.  I would like to report that I am actually enjoying it and find myself looking forward this part of my day.  I don't freak out when thoughts and ideas stream through my mind anymore.  I just let them come and then let them float on down the stream.  It is quite interesting what your mind will begin to show you when you actually turn inside and begin to pay attention.

I also picked up a couple books on jewelry making.  The first is called Enchanted Adornments by Cynthia Thornton and I LOVE, LOVE it.

I have never made jewelry before so I am a complete beginner but I have had an inkling to learn how and I just adore how this book is set up and the ideas behind it.  This is from the back cover:


"Transform your ideas into art jewelry.  Learn to infuse meaning in your jewelry with this innovative mixed-media book from Cynthia Thornton, the creative mastermind of Green Girl Studios.


Harness your inspiration, create magical elements from metal clay, wire, resin, and found objects and then turn your ideas into wearable art."

The other book is Beading--The Creative Spirit:  Finding Your Sacred Center through the Art of Beadwork by Rev. Wendy Ellsworth. 

I have not had as much time to look through this one but it also looks very inspiring and I can't wait to get into it.  This is from the back cover:

"Beading and my spiritual path are intricately interwoven.  It would be difficult for me to separate the two because they are so completely intertwined with one another.  As I sit and weave with my beads, I allow the Creative Spirit to flow through me, and though my hands are doing the work, another force is actively participating in the process.  This force is a transmission of Spirit that fills me with deep inner peace and joy as I bead.  As a result, the practice of my art form has become a creative path to my sacred center."

 

A Project From the Book

I also joined a bead kit-of-the-month club thingy to help me learn the whole process.  You only have to pay for the projects you want and can return the others.  I will let you know what I think of it but I am really excited to get started. 

I hope you are all doing well.  I wish you a wonderful blessed day.

Shhhhh....I Am Trying To Quiet My Mind Over Here!

I read over and over--and I really do believe it's true--that one of the most important parts of a witch's practice is learning to make meditation and visualization a regular part of their day.  I KNOW this...I BELIEVE this...so why, Oh WHY,. is this so hard for me to do?  I mean, ya, I get busy.  I have a 9 year old son and husband.  I have a job.  I have a home to take care of.  I am sure if I really wanted to I could sit down and make a big long list of all the reasons why I have not made these things a priority in my life--I am sure we all could.  The problem with this is--I KNOW I could find the time somewhere.  I know there are times when my butt is sitting at this computer that I could be doing other things.  So really all my excuses could fall by the wayside.  In other words--they don't hold water.  They just don't.

You see.  I actually know why I have failed in this area of my practice.  The truth?  You want the honest to goodness truth?  I SUCK at it--that's why.  Sitting there...quietly...doing nothing...It. Is. So.Hard. 

I cannot get into the zone, ya know.  I am no where near the zone.  Wherever the zone is. 

The whole time I am doing it---trying to do it---my mind keeps telling me that I am doing it all wrong.  I am not sitting right.  I am not laying down right.  I am not thinking right.  I am not quieting my mind right. 

And then, all the stuff I should be doing start flashing through my mind.  I hear this voice in my head.  It is telling me that there are dishes in the sink...the bathroom needs to be cleaned...that laundry pile ain't getting any smaller.  I really hate that voice.  But, it's there.  And it will NOT shut up.  So, finally after a few minutes, I get flustered and get up to go do what the voice was telling me to do.

I am not giving up, though.  I am going to make a commitment to really start working on it.  And if anyone has any advice to help me battle that voice I would surely appreciate it. 

Hope you are all doing well.  Be blessed....and be a blessing.

Got Flat Chocolate Chip Cookies?

My chocolate chip cookies were coming out flat.  And when I say flat...I mean F-L-A-T.  Like this:

My family assured me that even though my cookies looked like they had been run over by a steam roller, they still tasted pretty darn good so, for a while, I was okay with it.  But, my family loves chocolate chip cookies, so I was making them a lot and one day I just was not okay with it anymore.  I wanted my cookies to be pretty, too, LOL.  So, I started doing a little research and began looking for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe.

What I found was that pretty much every list of ingredients I came across was pretty darn similar. I read recipe after recipe and except for some minor variations in different things people like to add to their cookie, i.e.: walnuts, pecans, oatmeal, etc., etc., the other ingredients don't really change all that much.

I was almost ready to give up and just learn to deal with making flat cookies for the rest of my life when I happened upon some information that changed my baking life.  Literally.  And, now, just because I am that kind of person (and I hope that there might be some others out there who, like me, like to cook but are not yet proficient at all the ins and outs of the kitchen) I am now willing to bestow upon you this golden information that I have gleaned.

And here it is...

• Use a stand mixer if you possibly can--they just do a better job mixing the thick dough (I only have an electric hand mixer, though, and it works okay)
• Use dull aluminum cooking sheets; shiny sheets reflect the heat off the sheet and you want that heat in your cookie
• the butter that goes into your recipe should be soft to the touch but no where near liquefied
• the eggs you are going to be adding should be at room temperature--not cold right out of the refrigerator--and you want to add them one at a time and mix well after each one, this aids in the emulsifying process
  
• Sift the dry ingredients together; you can use a simple large mesh strainer if you do not have a sifter.  You want air in your cookie dough--nothing compacted.
• Creaming the fats (butter) together with the sugars is very important--you are creating air pockets. The sugar is forcing itself into the butter, this aids in the leavening and helps to create a tender cookie
• and the last thing I did was add a wee bit of lard in place of a wee bit of butter (1/2 cup, I think)

Do these things... and, this is what you will get...

If you are still with me so far, this is the recipe I used:

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter (soft to touch)
1/2 cup lard (soft to touch)
2 large eggs (at room temperature)
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1  12-oz pkg of semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using electric mixer, beat both sugars, lard, and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Mix flour; baking soda and salt in large bowl.   Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and mix until blended.  But do not over blend.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop dough by heaping tbsp's onto heavy large baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.  Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes.  Transfer to racks to cool.

Enjoy!!  And, by the way, I can make chocolate chip cookies for my family even though I am dieting because they are not my favorite cookie so I can eat maybe like one and I am done...it's all good...

Fine Tuning My Recipe Box

Artwork by Debbie Mumm

 I used to keep my recipes in a recipe book but it started getting too full.  So, I put together kind of a recipe box that I think will work a lot better.  I like to use the big recipe cards (5 x 7) just cuz...ahem...my eyesight might not be exactly what it once was.  But, when I went to my local stationary store to pick up another pack of them, they seemed to be fazing them out.  It seems that most people like to keep their recipes on their computers (so do I, but I like a hard copy somewhere close at hand, too).

I started wondering if maybe there was a site online that had some sort of interactive recipe cards that I could type the recipes into and then print out.  Turns out there is.  I found this website:  Prints of Joy and they had exactly what I was looking for.  Some cute recipe cards, too.  I paid like $4.95 a piece for two different recipe card files that I was able to download.  The files are completely interactive which means that I can change the size of the printable areas to coincide with whatever size card I want to print out.  Then I can type up the recipe, save it to my computer and also print out a hard copy.  I love it!  And my recipe box is so nice and neat now.

And, recipe cards is not all they have.  They also have lots of other adorable clip art available for all those other craft projects you have been meaning to do.  Have fun!