Peppermint Oil

Well I have to go off track and discuss this little gem. I know I said I was going to write my recipe for fermented Pico de Gallo, but my house has come down with a case of the nasty cold! I have been putting Breathe in our diffuser and rolling it all over the kids chests, but the oil that I really witnessed an amazing reaction to today was Peppermint Oil.

Here is some background on my littles: when they all have the same illness, rarely do they all have the exact same symptoms. When one gets sick, it could be hours or weeks before the next one gets sick. And without fail, if there is a fever to be had, someone will get it and vomit will ensue.

Vomit. Its like a swear word in our house. I cant stand it. Its gross, it smells, it inevitably gets all over something that I end up having to clean, and it likes to come at the most inopportune times. Middle of the night, in the car, cuddling with mommy, you get the idea.

So today my little Adalyn was acting really lethargic and definately more sick than she has been the past two days. I feel her head and she is a little warmer than normal. I immediately get the peppermint oil and dab some on her neck and behind her ears. About 45 seconds later she vomits (into a bowl! What?!) and then she starts to feel better and I touch her forehead after about 30 minutes and the fever is gone!

I'm not going to lie and tell you all that I knew exactly what to grab and that I am the master of all the oils, because I'm not. I really don't know what I'm doing half the time but I know enough to get me by on most things and I have a great book my SIL got me (Modern Essentials) and of course pinterest and the rest of the internet to help me out. This one, however, was a trial. I knew that peppermint really helped with headaches. It has helped me a lot when I have TMJ problems and tension headaches so I just went with it figuring it might help and boy was I right! I can't wait to try this the next time someone else has a fever....which I hope is a long, long time from now ;)

Below is a cheat sheet for Peppermint! As always, feel free to share, pin, put on facebook, twitter, instagram or whatev's. There are so many uses for it, way more then I listed here!

Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition**

A little off topic...

So this post will be a tad off the oil topic...but I really want this blog to be about more than oils, I want it to be about my amazing journey in finding all these wonderful things for my loved ones. This one, my dear readers, is about canning. Not just any kind of canning...but fermenting in Fido jars canning.

I know what you are thinking. Its the same thing I was thinking when I first heard of this craziness. Your eyebrows are raised, your face has a slight smirk on it and your mind is thinking "This girl is crazy. No way will I ever want to do this. It sounds gross." That's exactly how I looked at my Sister In Law when she started talking about it. "What the heck is she saying?" along with "She feeds her kids rotten food!?". So I had to start researching this because she does a lot of amazing things for her family and their health that incorporate into their diet, so I couldn't imagine she was feeding them something harmful!

After reading on Pickle Me Too and Its a Love/Love Thing I decided maybe she isn't so crazy. I followed several of their links they had and really delved into this whole thing. By the end of the week I was ordering my own Fido Jars from Sur La Table! Ah! I was totally crazy! Well they finally got here last week and I was able to wash them all and gather my supplies throughout the week and now, I have things fermenting!

I first made Pico de Gallo using a variation of a couple different recipes, and now I'm onto the big stuff! I bought 20 pounds of tomatoes from Bountiful Baskets and started slicing and dehydrating. After they were done I followed the recipe for sun dried tomatoes from The Homestead Lady and I can honestly say not only are they going to be amazing, but they look so cool! I have them steeping on my counter and plan to put them in my fridge where they can last up to a year...but I'm pretty sure they wont go that long ;)

As for my other jars, right now I have carrots, mini bell peppers, green beans and pico de gallo again...because honestly its so stinking good the first jar is almost gone already and its only been a few days! I think I'm going to put my recipe for that up in a couple blogs, so keep your eyeballs open.

I hope you enjoyed this kind of random post, and I can't wait to sit down and write again about the greatness of doTERRA oils and now fermenting too!

Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition** 

Balance Cheat Sheet

As promised, here is my cheat sheet for Balance!

Feel free to save it to your computer, share via pinterest, facebook, twitter or email!

Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition** 

Balance Yourself

My latest obsession with doTERRA oils is with a particular blend called Balance. When I'm in crazy mom mode and trying to get my kids out the door at 830 in the morning to get my 7 year old to school on time and NO ONE can seem to get their shoes on, their coats on, their favorite item of the day to take into the car for the 5 minutes it takes to drop her off and drive home....I get a little crazy. I was talking to my husband a few nights ago about my anxiety levels and how I feel like I need something else going on to help curb my blow up moments when no one is listening or being timely and I just snap. Then I got to thinking...what if someone asked me what to do about this same problem? I would tell them to turn to doTERRA! So why didn't I think of that two weeks ago when this all started?

Cause I'm too busy to remember me. Ever feel that way? Yea, I thought so.

I haven't ventured too consistently into rubbing balance on my feet, but when I diffuse it into the air after a few minutes I feel my shoulders relax a little and my head gets a little more clear. It grounds me. I feel more at ease and not so "do it now or else".

Why this blend works like it does: Spruce, Rosewood, Blue Tansy, and Frankincense.

Spruce has been said to have the ability to dilate the bronchial tract which can improve the oxygen exchange...hence I dont start getting all short of breath with my growing impatience.

Rosewood has a gentlness about it that appeases the mind and relaxes your body. Every article online and in the book Modern Essentials that I have seen claims Rosewood to create this feeling of relaxation and peace.

Blue Tansy has been said to enhance a feeling of self-control and reduce nervous tension...no wonder I love this oil!

Frankincense...where do I begin. There are so many wonderful things about this oil, but for the sake of Balance, I will stay on topic! Frankincense can help promote a positive attitude and it contains sesquiterpenes which helps bring oxygen to the pineal and pituitary glands...I'm not going to lie, I just googled what those glands do ;)

So with this blend, I have found a sense of peace. If I continue with it and I roll it on the back of my neck or chest to inhale it when I'm not home, I think I will find it works even better. The more you apply these oils, the better they work and the more you will see results.

Alright, I will add a Balance cheat sheet tomorrow but tonight I'm off to bed already...its been a long day!

Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer

**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition** 

Breathe....no really just Breathe!

Continuing on my journey of how I use essential oils from doTERRA for my family, today I want to discuss the blend of Breathe. Breathe is used for so many awesome things that I had a hard time picking where to start, so I decided chronological order of how I used it would be best.

The first I heard of breathe was when I started researching a vapor rub for my little ones sniffles. My kids always have a harder time breathing at night when they are horizontal versus during the day. So when its time go to sleep after a day of runny noses...babies need some relief and mama needs some sleep too! Instead of using a menthol smelling vapor rub on their chests, I started using Breathe. Oh it smells so wonderful and better yet, its all NATURAL! No nasty additives to make it gooey or marketable. Laurel leaf, peppermint, eucalyptus, melaleuca, lemon, and ravensara are brought together in one bottle to give you the ultimate relief from stuffy nose.

In the same realm of things, I decided that I would use Breathe in a humidifier in the "inhalant" part. Disclaimer: there have been some mixed things said about using essential oils with heat, but this humidifier is a "cool air" one and so I didn't worry about it! All in all, it worked great to get the whole room smelling like the kiddos could breath through the night.

As of late, I have a diffuser I use Breathe in, but if you don't have one a humidifier will do the trick...you might end up using more oil that way though and I recommend a good diffuser so you aren't using up all your oils ;) There are some great ones from doTERRA and I personally have the aroma lite and LOVE it! If you are looking for a good diffuser, they can be found here.

Another way I use breathe is putting it into a roller bottle with a little bit of a carrier oil (I personally use fractionated coconut oil ) and roll it onto their feet and throw some socks on. All these oils will then go through the body and work internally just as inhaling it would. My 7 year old isn't a big peppermint fan....so feet and socks are better for her when she is feeling ill.

Lately I've been doing a lot of reading about how to use different oils for different things, and the Modern Essentials book states that Breathe can be used for anxiety! Say what? Guess who has some anxiety issues? Yours truly. Long story short, when I have a lot of stress I feel an anxiety attack coming on and I need to try and remind myself to breath and calm down and not snap at my poor innocent kids or husband! There are quite a few oils for anxiety but I figured since I have this on hand, I'm going to try it and see what happens. Dont you worry, there will be an entire post on anxiety in the next few weeks I'm sure.

Alright, so now I will leave you with a fun little picture I made of all the great ways Breathe can be used!

Have a great night everyone!

Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer


**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition**

A Better Introduction is in Order: Oregano Oil

Hello people of the blogger world! I'm going to start making myself do this blogging thing if it kills me. I will call it my new years resolution...or maybe something I tell my kids I NEED to do so ssshh its mommy time now. But what if, just perhaps, I call it work? And I like it. Nay, I love it. I enjoy it! I like this writing thing, and heck I love my doTERRA products so why would this be work?! Lets jump in!

I'm going to start my first few posts on this blog with personal stories. I will later get into the nitty gritty of science and specifics, but for now, what I know best, is how to be a mom.


Oregano Oil : (<--you can find it on this link!)


I have seen Oregano Oil work more than once, in completely different situations. The first one has been on me personally. When I start to feel a cold coming on, the first thing I grab is my roller bottle of 1 part Oregano Oil and one part fractionated coconut oil. I take a hot shower and afterwards I roll that sucker on the bottoms of my feet (along with On Guard....but that's another post!) and I swear 7/10 I am feeling myself by morning! 2 out of those 10 times I am stuck with a shortened cold, but short is better than long! And there is that nasty 1 every once in a while that gets me bogged down for a while....but I have other things for those suckers.


Another reason Oregano Oil is in my must have arsenal is for warts. I have used this bad boy undiluted on my 7 year old daughter who had a wart growing on her knee. Not the most conventional place, and not the easiest to suffocate with tape. It took about 10 days of applying undiluted Oregano Oil to the wart directly with medical tape over top (the clear kind, not the white kind) and the head of the wart just peeled off! We still had the root though so we used it a few more days and now her wart is no more. She says she is happier than I am...but I just rid her body of a wart without the use of freezing or chemicals in all those over the counter medicines, AND saved our family money by not going to the doctor! I think I might be happier than her...but I wont tell her that ;)


Lastly, Oregano Oil has been used on my youngest and middle daughters for ear infections. Oregano Oil is anti-everything bad. Seriously. Its antiviral, anti-fungal, antibacterial, and anti-parasitic. To help my kiddos with ear infections I dilute another roller bottle with 60% fractionated coconut oil and 40% Oregano Oil and roll it around her ears. While this doesn't give immediate relief, it helps start to fight the battle against the viral or bacterial infection that is causing the inflammation in her middle ear. My real weapon for quick relief is garlic oil....olive oil infused with garlic that you simple make at home on the stove, cool down and then squirt a few drops into the ear. My baby girl calms right down when we do this one. Its magic :)

Lastly, to fight that nasty cold I get every once in a while, I have taken 1 drop Oregano Oil along with 1 drop On Guard, 1 drop Melaleuca, and 1 drop Lemon Oil in a tiny shot glass of water a few times a day. That kicks my sore throat and cold in the pants! I was so happy to try that one out for myself even if I did have to suffer through a nasty cold for a couple weeks before I learned about it.

Alright, those are my PERSONAL uses for Oregano Oil, but there are TONS of them! I'm going to go ahead and list a few before I peace out for the night. Ready, set, go!

Uses for Oregano Oil:

Immune Booster

Fight off Infections

Has vitamins C & E, magnesium and zinc!

Sore throat relief

Supports healthy digestive tract (who knew, right?)

And I'm sure there are more I cant think of this late at night ;) Off to watch trashy TV and then crash....night!



 Jenn
 Skeptical Me
www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer 

**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition**

doTERRA, I have time for you

Silly skeptical me.  Not enough time in a week to pluck my eyebrows but I seem to get a brilliant idea to start researching and really indulge myself in this doTERRA craziness. What the heck!? Lets back track shall we?

Three years ago I was in my very first paid by us house. We were officially grown ups with a mortgage, 1.5 kids and a husband who was home every night. Fast forward to today when I am living in a single wide trailer with my mother in law and father in law, brother in law and his wife and two kids...and our ridiculously growing family of five...plus the dog. So why not start a blog right?

I want to settle something before I even post my first article or blog or whatever it's called. Im no good. I probably won't be very consistent or on topic or heck, I might not even write for periods at a time. Dont worry! This is the start of a great friendship. The kind that only grows stronger every time you are away and builds trust with every word. So hang on tight and wait for who knows how long until my next off topic ranting post!


Jenn

www.mydoterra.com/doterrabyjennifer


**I am not a doctor. Consult with your doctor before trying any essential oils or doTERRA products, especially if you have a medical condition**