When Mama's Sick...

Dear Kids ...

It's so nice to see all of you (and your father) come together when mama is sick and to help out.   I see Victoria getting folks fed, William filling ice trays, Thomas feeding the dogs, Daddy doing the mama taxi driver routine, putting James to bed, etc. ... I know I am blessed with an amazing family.

And God must have known that I wasn't feeling very well today because he blessed with me little surprises, beyond my helpful family.   I had a long lost friend, who is dear to my soul, find me again.  We had been out of touch for about five or so years.   Love you LISA - so glad to find you again.   I was pregnant with Thomas when we last saw each other, and now Thomas is in Kindergarten, if that explains how long it has been.  Finding old friends is such a blessing.

Also - a few weeks ago, the best t.v. we had in the house died a smoky death - remember that kids?  Well, a lady from Church has a nice flat screen t.v. she is going to sell to us at a very low and reasonable price - so that is a blessing as well.  I'm so excited.

Well - mama goes to the doctor tomorrow.  Hope it is not as painful as the invoice will be :)

When you're thinking of things to pray about - pray that our family gets health insurance soon.  That is definitely something we need.

Anyway - my lovely kids - and amazing husband - thank you for EVERYTHING you do !   Even small things like watering the plants - it makes my day.

Also deserving of honorable mention is your fabulous cousin Ashley who lives with us.  She is so very helpful all the time.  She works three jobs - and she makes time to pitch in - so make sure you thank Ashley when you see her for all that she does.

Duct Tape, Warts and Vodka - oh my

Okay kids - don't say your mama never told you anything useful.  Here ya go !


Check out the following bizarre home cures that really work:

Problem: Warts

Home Cure: Duct Tape

What to Do: Clean the area. Then cut a piece of duct tape to a size slightly bigger than the wart. Apply the duct tape to the site and rub into place. Every 3 days, remove the tape and file down dead skin with a pumice stone or nail file. Repeat until the wart disappears.

How it Works: In a study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, covering warts with duct tape eliminated them better than freezing them off. In the study, the duct tape eliminated 85 percent of the warts after 2 months, compared with 60 percent with the freezing method. The reason? Chemicals in the tape suffocate and kill the wart.

Problem: Foot Odor

Home Cure: Vodka

What to Do: Wipe your feet down with a vodka-soaked washcloth to get rid of the smell.

Why it Works: Vodka contains alcohol, which is antiseptic and drying, so it destroys odor-causing fungus and bacteria and dries out the moisture that lets these organisms grow.

Problem: Cold Sores

Home Cure: Lemon balm tea

What to Do: Prepare lemon balm tea by brewing 2 to 4 tablespoons of the herb per cup of boiling water. Let it cool, then dot with a cotton ball on the cold sore several times a day.

Why It Works: Cold sores are caused by a herpes simplex virus (HSV). Lemon balm has antiviral properties that work to tame herpes outbreaks.

Problem: Eczema

Home Cure: Olive Oil

What to Do: Apply olive oil directly to the irritated area. Rub 1 teaspoon per square inch of skin, which creates a seal that prevents skin from drying out. For serious cases, cover oil-slathered skin with plastic wrap overnight to lock moisture in.

Why it Works: Olive oil is packed with antioxidants that can reduce the inflammation associated with eczema. Olive oil is actually the base used for many moisturizers. When used alone, it lacks chemical irritants that you may find in store-bought creams.

Problem: Hiccups

Home Cure: Sugar

What to Do: Swallow one teaspoon of sugar (dry) to stop hiccups.

Why it Works: The sugar is believed to modify the nerve muscles that would otherwise tell the muscles in the diaphragm to contract spasmodically and contribute to hiccups.

Problem: Nausea

Home Cure: Lemons

What to Do: At the first hint of nausea, suck on a lemon.

Why it Works: Motion sickness causes you to produce excess saliva, which can make you nauseated. Lemons help dry out your mouth and can help soothe the queasy feeling.

Problem: Stained Teeth

Home Cure: Apples

What to Do: Eat an apple a day.

Why it Works: Apples have a gentle malic acid that works on cleansing tooth enamel and helps dissolve stains.

Problem: Urinary Tract Infections

Home Cure: Baking Soda

What to Do: At the first sign of symptoms, drink a solution made with ¼ teaspoon of baking soda mixed in 8 ounces of water. Continue this once a day until you can get a culture done at a doctor's office and start antibiotics.

Why it Works: Baking soda makes the bladder environment more alkaline, which reduces bacteria's ability to multiply.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

Dear Kids:

Here's an educational lesson for you on this warm and windy Labor Day weekend.

According to wikipedia, the very fabulous and completely entertaining word "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" is an English word, with 34 letters, that was in the song with the same title in the Disney musical film Mary Poppins. The song was written by the Sherman Brothers, and sung by Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke.

According to Richard M. Sherman, co-writer of the song with his brother, Robert, the word was created by them in two weeks, mostly out of double-talk.

The roots of the word have been defined as follows: super- "above", cali- "beauty", fragilistic- "delicate", expiali- "to atone", and docious- "educable", with the sum of these parts signifying roughly "Atoning for educability through delicate beauty." Although the word contains recognizable English morphemes, it does not follow the rules of English morphology as a whole. The morpheme -istic is a suffix in English, whereas the morpheme ex- is typically a prefix; so following normal English morphological rules, it would represent two words: supercalifragilistic and expialidocious. The pronunciation also leans towards it being two words since, the letter c doesn't normally sound like a k when followed by an e, an i or a y.

Meanwhile; according to the 1964 Walt Disney film, it is defined as "something to say when you have nothing to say".

So all of this to bring me to the main point of this blog; which is this:

I really can't think of anything to say :)

SO I'll just say this - happy Labor day weekend - mama loves ya !

Oh- and PS: We are very excited about our new foreign exchange student who arrived quite early Saturday morning -Elva - from Taiwan! She is fabulous!