Made Up Chicken Pox Salve

My poor girl is just miserable. Her pox are itchy and she's not happy about it. The boy, well, he hardly fussed over his. Anyway, she's desperate. She had a 4am oatmeal/baking soda/lavender bath and a noontime bath, and she's still desperate. I started looking online for what else I could do for her and it appeared that a salve might be the best option. Then it was a matter of figuring out what I had on hand that would be useful because I don't know of many places locally I can find bulk herbs.

Most salve recipes have you soak herbs in oil for days or weeks.  Obviously that wasn't an option for my poor girl.  Then I found this recipe that says you can cook the herbs in the oil, strain them off, and use them the same day.  On to what I used: 0.3oz catnip, 0.3oz chamomile, 0.2oz lavender, and 0.2oz oregon grape root.

Catnip appears to be a good treatment for the chicken pox, though the only catnip I had on hand was some I had bought for making some cat toys.  I read on the package that it's organic, and since it is just going to be used externally I decided to go with it.  Chamomile is anti-inflammatory and antiseptic.  One of the biggest risks of further complication associated with chicken pox is infection of the blisters.  Lavender essential oil is cited several places to use in topical application or baths, and oregon grape root is anti-viral according to the recipe.  Since chicken pox is a virus, it seems logical.

Don't judge my dirty stovetop. My sink was shiny last night and that's good enough for a mom single parenting for 2 weeks with 2 chicken pocked kids.

I used my mom's old double boiler and cooked the herbs for about an hour, then strained them through a fine mesh strainer.  The oil came to about 6 or 7 oz, I added beeswax to 8oz so it would fit in a half pint canning jar.  I also added 5 drops of tea tree oil, as tto seems to also be indicated in several places online.

Filtering herbs out of the olive oil

Does it work?  Well, while the salve was cooling I used what was left over in the measuring cup to put on her sores, it was still warm and she seemed to appreciate it.  Once since she has come to me with a festering pock and I put some more on it.  She's in her third bath of the day right now, the bath I think relieves her pain while she's in there.  I'll slather her again when she gets out.

Meanwhile, the boys are downstairs watching a movie.  My kids have watched so much tv this week.  I feel terrible, I keep justifying it by the fact that they need rest.  Also watching tv means they're not messing up the house.  And since we're having a birthday party for Dude on Sunday for 19 people (can you believe he's going to be 1?!  I still haven't written down his birth story) I'm okay with less mess-making.

Anyway, here's hoping the pox are on the upswing and this salve actually does some good.

Finally, Something They're Good For

Handsome has these ugly green(ish) army socks to wear with his ACUs. They're ridiculous, to be honest. These darn socks fade to all shades to all shades of olive green and yellow, to the point that I can't even try to match colors in the laundry, I just match styles. And they're like 2.5' long. Well, I found a good use for them, besides covering Handsome's feet and aggravating me in the laundry.

Oatmeal baths. You put a canning funnel in the top of the sock, pour about 2c of oatmeal inside, tie a knot, and drop in the bath water. Yep, you guessed it, we have the chickenpox. Well, the Monkey and the Squirrel do, anyway.

Aside from oatmeal and baking soda baths we've done some essential oil ointment, rosewater sprayed on, lemongrass in the humidifier, and sodium ascorbate (vit C). I don't know what's actually helping, but the baths seem to soothe the itching. Proven by the fact that I'm up at 4am sitting with a bathing girl. Poor thing.
It's interesting how this has played out differently for them. My Monkey started off on Monday with a few spots, getting more throughout the day. Then I think he got more overnight Monday and Tuesday nights. Thursday he was pretty well scabbed over so now he's more or less just healing. He watched a lot of TV and didn't complain much, took a couple baths and had me spray him once in awhile.

My sweet girl, on the other hand, has had a pretty different experience. She had I think 2 or so that showed up late Monday. And as of Wednesday night she had less than a dozen. But Wednesday night they went all crazy on her and Thursday she woke pretty well pocked up. Hers seem to be more irritating. She complains more and really seems to get relief from the bath. So here we are in the wee hours of Friday and she has yet more pox and can't seem to sleep. If it follows a similar pattern I'm hoping she'll be scabbed over Saturday and starting to feel better.

Poor kids. It's hard to know what to do for them. Neither of the little boys got it. I've been exposing Mr Blue again, but Dude still nurses tons so I think he's getting my immunity. Which is awesome because he's not quite 1 yet and it'd be ideal for him to wait a bit. He turns 1 tomorrow. Pretty weird. But that's another post.
In the meantime I had better steal a nap. Being up for more than an hour in the middle of the night isn't going to do much for my sanity.

Reclaiming the Closet

The other day I mentioned about FlyLady and the successes I've had since implementing her system. It continues.

This week's "zone" is the entry and dining room. About a year ago I started nesting and tried to get a handle on the entryway. The system has worked on and off, but it's still frustrating. The kids each have 2 cubbies to throw coats and shoes into but still they land in the walkway, Handsome's various work boots crawl out of the closet constantly. Until now. This is my new plan.

Today we went to the Dollar Tree and bought 6 plastic dish pans. Everyone's stuff has to fit in their little bucket or it needs to find a new home. I think it's brilliant, but will it last?

I also matched up shoes in cubbies and pulled out snow pants and boots. Hopefully we're past needing those and they can spend the summer down in the basement. In the picture of the cubbies I'm literally sitting in the closet, if that gives you perspective. I had some hooks hanging on the side wall over the shoes but the rack got ripped out of the wall... Twice. I have new hooks to hang, now that the floor is clear of junk I can perhaps do it tomorrow!

Easter Blessings

Today is Easter, the day Jesus rose from the dead and fulfilled his promise to redeem us. I'm in awe of what that means and how that sacrifice changed the course of humanity.

That said, I didn't go to church today. Handsome was tired (read: pooped. He worked an overnight on Friday and didn't sleep much) and we decided to stay home rather than muster the energy to get everyone ready, out the door, and to their classes on time. Not to mention that our church just combined services starting this week (down to one service from two) and it's Easter, one of the two "required" holidays for "Christians" to attend church (/sarcasm). So we stayed home, and it was glorious.

Handsome and I had scheduled a meeting with each other for 9am, so we talked for maybe 10 min about a couple things we needed to address. On a whim I gave the boys hair cuts,  all 4 actually. I took a shower, straightened my hair, the kids played with legos, I tried to tickle My Handsome and he started pinching me and we laughed. It was such a nice morning, I'm thankful for it.

Around 1 we left for my inlaws' house ever we had ham and potatoes and other yummies. My sister in law and her friend hid eggs in the basement for the kids, then the kids hid them for the adults. They were so funny, Squirrelly Girl was excited about having hidden the eggs and gave us clues about where to find them. And Blue just went down with us and added his "newly" found eggs to his first basket. And boy was he defensive if anyone touched them. Buncha goofs. We spent the rest of the day hanging out and playing and chatting.

It was lovely. Not without a couple hiccups, but in the end everything was made right. I'm a little on edge because this is the last week handsome is home before he leaves for AT, he'll be gone for 17 days with a couple quick trips home thrown in.

We can worry about that tomorrow. Today I'm going to be thankful first for God and His son Jesus, and their victory over death. And for the blessing of family, in whatever crazy package it comes in.
(Speaking of crazy, that's my beautiful sister in law in the picture with my kids. Check her out over here, she has lots of wise things to say.)

Red Lentil Soup

Thursday I made some red lentil soup. Holy cow, it was worth writing home about. The curry was subtle, and I was surprised at how the lentils held up. It was delicious and since I doubled the recipe I have 6c frozen for another meal!

Meal Plan 3/26-4/1

So it's a little late to start my meal plan for the week, but here goes.  I feel like it's logical to do Monday through Sunday or Sunday through Saturday, but according to my new schedule I'll be running errands and grocery shopping on Tuesday, meal planning on Monday.  So in this case it seems to make sense to do it Tuesday through Monday, or even Wednesday through Tuesday.  Hmm.  I'll have to think about it.  So here you go, my first published meal plan.  Ever.

Tuesday: leaving blank since it's 1 already, maybe I'll gather inspiration at the store
Wednesday: dinner at parents'
Thursday: Red Lentil Soup
Friday: Sourdough Pasties - crust, guts, double recipe and freeze some pasties
Saturday: noodle-less Lasagna Soup (reducing grains 'round these parts and I think it'll be good even without the noodles)
Sunday: Easter
Monday: Chicken Lasagna

I originally had chicken cordon bleu on Monday but some of the ingredients are similar for the lasagna soup and they're a very different dish so I think it'll be fine.  Plus I need to buy far less for the chicken lasagna than I do for the cordon bleu.  I'll put that on next week's menu.

I should've prefaced this with the fact that I've been FLYing these last 3 weeks. I decided to start from the beginning and really do her program step by step. I've fallen off the wagon a bit (due to a personal project with a deadline) with reading my daily page and I don't always do everything, but my kitchen sink has been clean and shiny for 22 days, and that's saying something!  I'll elaborate in a new post on where I've been.  It has been a dark year, but I have light now.  And light is marvelous!

Be Mine

I have had this blog post mostly written since Valentine's Day but didn't finish it because my phone is uploading pictures sideways. So now it's 5 days later and I went to a couple quilt shops over the weekend and I have new things to blog about so I guess you're going to have to turn your head a little cockeyed to see my pictures right. Here goes...

I love the internet, I really do. I was browsing the other day looking for Valentine ideas for Monkey Boy's class. I found a simple sucker idea I was going to go with, then a friend posted on Facebook her Lego Star Wars one with a glow stick as a light saber. I set off on a hunt for that one.

And that's when it happened... I fell in. Do you know how many blog posts are dedicated to hand crafted Valentines? Oh man, almost makes me wish we had more parties to celebrate, there are some great ideas out there. Anyway, I saw some that had a small toy instead of candy and I kind of fell in love with that idea. In particular, I loved this one. My kids like rice bags anyway and it seemed simple enough. I let him choose the fabric and got crafting.

Apparently I was the only one in the class who went a non-candy route, which is unfortunate. But maybe... Just maybe I've inspired someone else to do something different next year. I realize not everyone is going to sew something, but I saw plenty of ideas for other candyless gifts. Balls, trucks, etc. I just don't want "celebration" to always mean sweets, you know? I'm an emotional eater so I know how easy it is to equate comfort with chocolate. I don't want every joy to be associated with sugar. Or maybe I'm just a Valentine Grinch.

But you have to admit, they're kind of awesome. In case you can't read the poem (since your head is cocked and all) it says:
When you're waiting for the bus
Or sledding down the hills,
Just a minute in the microwave
Will take away your chills!