Alternative Medicine for the Flu (Swine) / Colds / Respiratory Illnesses

Here are some of what I think may help you this coming fall / winter with the garden variety of (swine) flu / colds / respiratory illnesses. The important thing to remember is that all of these remedies should be taken at the first sign that you or your loved ones are not feeling good, usually a sore throat is a good indication that something else is coming down the line. Start buying now, to have these items on hand, because as we all know you don’t usually feel sick until after doctor / store hours and on the weekend. Most of this you can find at your local health food store, but I will supply my sources for on-line purchase and some related articles.

Y2K Health This site has valuable information, and you can purchase the items I describe below on: Thymuline / Inflenzinum, Oil of Oregano, and Vitamin D. It is a great overall website on natural remedies I would suggest you read through it all.

Here is what and why I like in order of importance: I’m getting a little make-up bag for all my family members to carry these items with them wherever they go.

Thymuline / Influenzinum This formulation is a preventative to help you NOT get the flu. It is a homeopathy (natural remedy) in place of the flu shot. My daughter used to get the “throw-up” flu every year, but for the last 3 years I have been giving this to her, she has not gotten sick. It’s best if you order it now, but they don’t ship it until October 15, 2009. If you want to read more about the side effects of getting a flu vaccine, especially the H1N1 (swine vaccine) you can read more about it at the website above or go to. Natural Health News and this article

Oscillococcinum You can buy this at CVS and your local health food store and it’s cheap. This you can carry in your purse and take at 1st signs of flu which are noted on the box. I really like this and it works great. Follow directions. It is the same maker as the Thymuline / Infuenzinum above.

Airborne You can buy this at CVS, Kmart and some other stores and it’s cheap. This you can carry in your purse and drop in a little bit of water, it works great. You have to use it at 1st signs of getting sick. At the onset, take 1 tablet every couple of hours, then 3 times a day for a couple more days or follow directions on the bottle. It usually knocks out colds and flu it you take it sooner than later.

Lugol’s Solution of Iodine 5% / Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar (organic) / Honey: This you have to do at home as opposed to Airborne and Oscillococcinum which you can carry with you wherever you go. At the onset of symptoms put 6 drops of iodine in a half glass of water, add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon of honey. This zaps out bacteria and balances your pH at the same time. Did you know that a balanced body pH helps fight off most illnesses, and that you can take the 1 teaspoon of apple cider with honey at each meal to help keep you healthy? You can OD on the iodine and when you tell people that your taking it, they think you’re poisoning yourself, it’s not the benadine iodine used for surgery, it’s potassium iodine that you can ingest (I’m still standing). BUT you can overdose so take the 6 drops 3 times a day for the 1st day, if that knocks it out day one, drop it down to 1 drop 3 times a day for a couple more days. You can tell if you are taking too much iodine when your nose starts running. For more information about iodine and its uses, check out the website link above.

Oil of Oregano (wildcrafted): It is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic. I would suggest also buying empty gel caps to put the drops in, this stuff is harsh going down otherwise. You can read more about it at scroll down. I just used it at the onset of my chronic bronchitis (started with coughing in middle of night) I took 2 drops twice a day and my coughing stopped and the bronchitis did not set in.

Vitamin D You can click this link to read more information about it.

Thieves Essential Oil I just started using Thieves Household Cleaner and I just love it, I plan on using the Thieves Essential Oil in a diffuser in my home. To read more about it, click on the “Thieves Booklet” or “Thieves Autoship Pack” and to order go to "New to Young Living? Create your own account" or email and I can order it for you through my account.

Feel free to forward this is all your family and friends or email me with any questions.

Be Well!

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor and am only recommending products. Please see your doctor if you have any questions or concerns with your health.

Who's Playing on Those Plastic Jungle Gyms Any Way?

Never-ever have I seen a kid playing outside, on or around those brightly colored plastic jungle gyms, you know the 3'x3'x3'x3' cube with a hole on each side? There is one exception, daycare centers, where the kids are corralled into playing on them behind fenced in play areas.

When I was a kid we climbed actual living sap-on-your-hands trees. What a novel idea. Our other option was to go to the playground where you sat on a searing hot metal (if the sun was shining) merry-go-round disc, while one of your friends held onto one the rails and pushed it, running, running, running as fast as they could, as you watched in merriment as they were almost dragged along side or under before jumping on. Going round and round until you thought you where going to puke. Now that's fun! Or better yet, we went went down searing hot metal slides, jumping off at the first realization of its hotness, before leaving some much needed skin behind. That's what real playing is about, not going in and out of a hole and climbing up and out a 3'x3'x3'x3' plastic "jungle gym" to where again, I have never seen a kid within 20 feet of.

Speaking of boxes, I had more fun when I was a kid with a large cardboard box where
I could make believe it was a car and I drew a steering wheel, gas petal and brake, on the inside and wheels on the outside. Or it could be a house where I cut holes for doors and windows. Imagine using your imagination! Fascinating.

So all you new moms and dads out there, save $250 by not buying one of those outdoor plastic jungle gyms, your kids will never play on them, just see if you can get the box they come in instead.

The Art of Grocery Shopping

Most things I do, I like to do it and get it done, with FAST being the operative word. My mind works in an organized logical manner (I’m not going to apologize – but I’m naturally ORGANIZED!). I can see a big mess and before you can say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! I’ve started, and can work logically and FAST to get it cleaned up. Same goes for the grocery store. With cart in hand I’m OFF – watch out people who have to stand in the middle of the isle with their cart across both LANES not committing to the right or left side (don’t they know that the rules of the road apply to the isles of the grocery store TOO! – you “drive” your cart always on the right side of the isle – we're not in Britain!). I guess to me, grocery shopping is like the Indy 500 where for some people, it is a walk in the park.

So what do I do when I encounter a totally clueless-don’t-care-about-oncoming-traffic-because-what-I’m-doing-is-all-about-ME-cross-lane-isle-hogger? I stand there patiently (eyes rolled up in the back of my head) and WAIT – I don’t say “Excuse me, can you please move your cart”? I wait, because I want to see just how long it takes a NARSISSTIC shopper to realize someone has been standing there while they calculate the price difference between a jar of creamy Jiff’s peanut butter at $3.29 per 16 oz jar to a jar of creamy Peter Pan’s peanut butter at $3.59 per 12 oz jar. Oh the pennies they waste and brain cells they burn up – I can actually see the glazed look in their eyes as they are holding both jars.

I zip up and down the isles as if I were on speed skates – what’s this? an older person stalled out in the isle – what are they doing? I would have to guess by this time in their lives – they’ve seen everything there is to see on the grocery shelves 100 times over and know exactly where everything is! Patience, patience, someday I'm going to be old too! But not like this!

Did I forget to mention I'm a picky eater and therefore could eat the same food day in and day out for years on end and not complain? I guess the difference between me and the "stand in the way" person trying to make up their mind "let's see, regular rice or pilaf, if I have regular rice blah blah blah but if I have pilaf blah blah blah" (oh the endless conversations they must be having in their head at the grocery store), is that I hate grocery shopping (does anyone like it?) and I'm "just not that into food". I eat because I have to, not because I like it (ha ha ha).

Forum and Discussion Boards Are Roads Paved with Good Intentions

Forums and Discussions Boards are roads paved with good intentions, except someone ALWAYS has to CRAP on someone else's PARADE.

Let me explain. I belong to several forums / discussions boards, some for business, learning about the latest and greatest improvements on the world wide web, having a web site that I built and maintain, or for pleasure (some male film stars who will remain unnamed). Mostly I go and read, come to think of it, in over approximately 5 years, I have only replied once.

Why, do you ask, do I not participate, as longs as I am there?

- Am I shy? yes
- Am I curious? yes
- Do I have an opinion (most definitely) once I've heard all the arguments
- I am also severely handicapped in thinking up a cool screen name. A lot of screen names are quite quirky, which always leaves me thinking "wow, how did they come up with something like that". The best I can come up with is lfoltyn (first initial, last name) - brilliant! I know.

Here is the problem I find with forums and discussion boards:

- Everybody gets to hide behind their screen name.
- And because everyone gets to hide behind their screen name, people say things they would not normally said to a person's face.
- Thus giving way to the "cranky pants ranter", who seems to live with a dark cloud that follows them no matter where they go, and they usually go to forums and discussion boards.

Here's your typical discussion, and how they ALWAYS, ALWAYS turn out:

Suzieq: I really like daisies, I think they are beautiful.
Quiggly: OMG, I thought I was the only one that like daisies, don't you think they bring freshness and sunshine to brighten up any old room!
Franz: I just picked daisies the other day and put them in my living room, it made me so happy.
Darkcloud: You people are idiots, anyone who likes daisies has no taste whatsoever! You suck.
Suzieq: It's not fair for you to come here and rant, just because you don't like daisies, go crawl under a rock.
Quiggly: Darkcloud - you need a reality check.
Darkcloud: You people wouldn't know a daisy from a pansy!. You suck.

And on and on . . . Etc. Etc. . . .

Notice how the scenario always plays out, someone says something nice, a couple other people agree, mr. darkcloud comes in with some crappy comment, people take it personally, and start to rant on mr. darkcloud over, and over again, taking personal pot shots at each other, until there are at least 2 pages of personal rants totally off the subject to begin with.

Do I want to get involved where someone can rain on my parade? No. Do people rain on my parade in person? No. Do I live in my own "happy little world" in real life? Yes. And that is where I prefer to stay, away from the "No Face To A Made Up Screen Name Cranky Pants Mr. Dark Cloud's of the World!"

In my world, there is always fresh sun-shiny daisy's for EVERYONE!

You Can Get Rid of the Disco, But Not the Bunny

I’m almost embarrassed for myself, but I’m not, because if I was, I guess I wouldn’t do it. My children don’t seem to mind though, when I’m pulling up somewhere to pick them up from one of their many sports thingy’s and they’re waiting outside, and hear the deep rhythmical thump thump thump, you know the kind that comes from a young boy’s sport car, where the whole back end of the car is a ginormous sub woofer and you can hear the music from car before you see it, 4 lanes over and 5 cars behind and you can actually feel the beat of their bass through your body.

So picture this, you’re at a traffic light, and you’re looking to see who’s car is making all the noise and you’re expecting to see the young guy right? But instead you see a 47 year old soccer mom in a minivan moving and singing – should I be embarrassed, because that’s me?

I’ve got a great Infinity, six speaker stereo system, and I love a song with “a good beat, you can dance to it” (now I’m really dating myself back to the American Band Stand program that used to be on every Saturday morning. It was the typical stat answer the dancers used to give the 2 new songs that were introduced by Dick Clark every week).

Actually I’m a disco bunny (Urban Dictionary: A girl who likes going to the club to dance, all the time) from way back (In 1976 I was 16 years old when I snuck into my 1st disco tech) – I love to dance, you couldn’t get me of the disco floor (unless a crappy song came on), my friends and sister knew once we got on that dance floor, I would outlast them all. I just feel the music all the way through me, it makes me happy. I actually met my husband of 24 years at the disco! And, for the record, I believe that that is one important requirement for a long lasting relationship – you have to love the same music, which we do.

So here I am, in my minivan, with the windows down at the red light, moving and grooving as much as you can behind the steering wheel to some new hip hop, r and b soul song, like Rihinna’s lastest “Breaking Dishes” or Ne Yo “Closer” on a CD my daughter put together because she knows what I like.

You would think after all these years, that my husband would automatically know when getting into my minivan that he should turn the volume down before starting it, but no, it scares the crap out of him, and then I get a “jeesssuuusss” you’re going to go deaf. He can actually hear me rounding the house – is that bad?

My other daughter can actually hear me before I pull up to the curb – “yep” she says, “that’s my mom” with a big smile, she’s not embarrassed, and I guess I’m just enjoying it too much to be.