Has Anyone heard of Oil Pulling?

I've been reading up on this natural detox method called "Oil Pulling" which is supposed to help whiten teeth and get rid of chronic conditions like bronchitis sinusitis. I decided since I'm a tea drinker who has allergic bronchitis not to mention all the damage that smoking for 15 years has caused... and lets not forget about all the chemicals that we encounter daily :(

I felt that it would be in my best interest to at least give this a try.

How this works... well... to be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I do know that spices and Oils can have beneficial health properties... Sesame Oil has a whole whack of healing attributes and in some places in India is used as a mouthwash. Cayenne Pepper for example is used holistically to draw out infection...

They recommend Cold-Pressed or refined Sesame or Sunflower oil, but I have heard of people having success with Coconut and also Extra Virgin Olive Oil but they are not as effective from what I hear. Also some people have tried this unsuccessfully but from what I have seen most of the people that didn't have success with it were using Oils that were not recommended.

I started this process 5 days ago. For the first couple days all I really noticed was that my mouth felt cleaner and by day 2 I noticed that they were a little bit whiter... my stains still prominent but I figured time would fix that. By the third day my chest hurt, right in the center mostly where my ribs meet. I had short deep coughs all day and I could feel mucus in my throat slowly breaking up. Again my teeth looked a little whiter. Last night I felt that "medicine head sick" feeling all in my upper chest and throat and the pain I felt in my lower lung area was slowly starting to fade and my coughs are a little more frequent but extremely productive!

This morning was rough, I woke up with a pain in my side by my right kidney... I get very frequent bladder and kidney infections but they are mostly called by a chronic condition called interstitial cystitis. So medication doesn't always work to ease the pain. I usually just load up on pineapple juice so that the bacteria doesn't stick to the wall of my bladder and take Ibuprofin to ease the flareup. Well the last time this happened, my kidney's had a dull ache for about a week... having had this frequently I knew it was just irratation from my bladder and surrounding areas being swollen... anyway as I said, my kidney area was swollen this morning for a couple hours after waking. That pain is gone now. I felt very congested when I woke up and my throat was full of junk. I went to put the oil in my mouth and instantly as it hit my tongue I ran to the bathroom and through up foam and bile. I felt a little off at first but here it is only 2 hours later and besides feeling tired from staying up so late I feel fantastic... It's been clearing and breaking up all of my mucus to the point that I had too much resting in my throat and stomach when I woke up this morning. I'm breathing deeper and my chest doesn't feel as tight as it has over the last year. My teeth are 2 shades whiter and my stains are even slowly fading. I successfully managed to rinse with the oil as well. Going through the detoxing itself... we'll it's not fun but I know that once it is over I will feel better than I ever have. It's hard to believe how much we adjust to the toxins that we carry. We get so used to carrying them around with us and coping with pain and irritations that we just really don't have to cope with.

I will continue this treatment for a while longer at the very least. Hubby picks on me though... lol

How DID Minor Music go?

I never ever did write about the show. I was extremely nervous about playing it. It had been close to a year since I had done a public performance. Between renovating and all the fun little things that need to be done after you move into a house that hadn't been lived in for a year... finding the time to play was a little bit difficult. Plus I didn't really have a whole lot of new material at the time. But over the last couple months I've been deeply involved with the writing process and I'm really liking the songs that are coming out!

The show went well, my biggest problem was the fact that I was playing two new songs. One of them was only written a couple days before the show. When a song is new, it may have a great feel but playing it can be a little challenging. Not only am I trying to remember the patterns musically but the vocal melody and the lyrics... so you pretty much have to split your mind up into tiny fragments and assign them specific tasks. Add nerves to the mix and playing new songs can be pretty scary! I have this bad habit of removing the new songs from my set list at the last minute. It's easy to do... you just replace it with a song you feel more comfortable playing and viola! That new song stays your new song that you never play for years to come :)

I made it a point not to that this time... and believe me when I say it wasn't an easy thing to do... but I stuck to it. I played the new songs. I walked away feeling very good about myself. Yea sure I messed them up a bit... I almost always do... but I'm my own worse critic and no one will ever notice as much as I will... People don't usually notice that. I mean it's not like I bomb the song... I just have high expectations.

But the show did go well, it was fun. I'll talk more about it tomorrow if I'm in a blogging capable realm!

I won 2 contests this week!

The first win was from Simply Stacie and Madwoman Perfume Lab. It was for a Mix and Match 4 perfume set! I got to choose the scents, so I picked French Vanilla Bean, Pink Sugar, Frankincense and Myrrh, and last but not least Egyptian Musk! There was a very long list of scents to choose from! Variety in scents pleases me greatly. The scents I like vary so much with my mood!!




The second win came from Forever & Always and Author Kim Reutzel and the prize was the book "Kissing and Cooking". I'm really excited to read this book!

AHHHHHHHHH

I'm playing a Songwriters Circle today for Minor Music. To promote music among youth in the area.... I always get so nervous before these things. Like my insides are going to come out. I've been listening to meditation music to calm my nerves... OKAY to remind me to breath. It's working... but I can't take the headphones off... as soon as I do I forget to breath again and the anxiety comes back. I went to make Oatmeal for the young one and as soon as I made it into the kitchen I wanted to find the toilet bowl. The worst part is, my set is only 20 minutes so as soon as I get up there and start playing my first song... get comforable and such, it's over and I don't want to leave the stage... oooh how backwards it is... most people feel so nervous that they can't imagine being up there... once your up there it really isn't that bad... it is just getting over the pre-show jitters that is the worst!

Happy Birthday Christian PF! (CLOSED)

To celebrate this blogs second year of being up and running, the kind folks at Christian Personal Finance have two wonderful giveaways going on. The prizes are a Nintendo Wii and an 8 GB Ipod Nano!

The contest closes June 5th, 2009 so enter today!

Marmalade Hills Product Review!

I must say I'm really pleased with these products, right from the moment I received the parcel. The parcel came with a cute little "Thank you" stamped on top, even the handwriting added to the entire appeal.










For those of you who haven't read my last post, my prize from the Marmalade Hills giveaway at The Shopping Mama was a Banana Mango Facial Mask and Multifruit Body Polish.


I was really excited to try these last night and believe me when I say I was not let down. My favorite out of the two would have to be the Multifruit Body Polish. The consistency of the Body Polish was nice and thick and a little bit goes a long way! It is really gentle and it is packed with lovely essential oils. I was worried at first able feeling too greasy from it. But, I wasn't greasy at all! I did however feel heavily moisturized, but in more of a warm blanket kind of way. I felt like I should be greasy, but I wasn't. My skin was fresh and rejuvenated from losing all of that lovely dead skin, without feeling like I had just gone through a chemical bath.


Approved by Me! :)














The Banana Mango Facial Mask scared me at first because I'm not used putting things on my face that I have to mix myself. That's right folks, we mix it ourselves. Now before you freak out and run away, you only have to mix it with water. I figured since I can cook, bake and not burn the house down, I can give this a shot... shouldn't mess this up too badly.


It is recommended to mix one spoonful of the powdered mixture with 1 - 2 spoonfuls of water. Now I found that 1 spoonful of water was enough for me but I like a thicker paste. They recommend keeping on the mask for 10 - 15 minutes and I found 10 was perfect!
Now of course, Mathew had to come in the bathroom while I have this on my face, he was kind enough not to point out that my face looked like I had just gone and had a mud fight. After I shooed him out of the bathroom and washed up I was even further impress with how easily the mask washed off my face. My skin felt baby soft after all this. I kept touching it and getting Mathew to rub my cheeks!


Let's not forget about all of the wonderful samples that were enclosed :)
Seriously, the lotion is AMAZING! Try some, just go to Marmalade Hills!

My Phone Works... and I won something from Marmalade Hills!

We had to put out a service call but the phone works now! Thank god :)

It turns out our line was indeed crossed with one of our neighbors, so since that is now fixed I can expect my sanity to come back soon!

In the Middle of May I won a contest from The Shopping Mama and Marmalade Hills for a Body Polish and Banana Mask. It just came in the mail today and OMG everything smells good enough to eat! I haven't tried the products yet but I must say I was really impressed with the packaging alone!! Not only did I receive what I had won but there was also 3 really neatly packaged samples of soap, a tiny pure soy candle and some Pink Sugar body lotion.

Okay I fibbed... I tried the Body Lotion... which is AMAZING! Not only does it smell delicious but it is really silky and doesn't irritate my skin. No artificial colors or anything either which works for me because I'm allergic to Yellow # 5 :-P

I'm going to give a full out review of the products after I try them tonight!! I'm really pleased with this company so far! Thank you to Marmalade Hills and to the Shopping Mama for such a great giveaway!