Happy Easter

Enjoy the long weekend and have a Safe and Happy Easter!

Quote

Source: creatinganewmenow.tumblr.com via Jessica on Pinterest

How to Reduce Saltiness in a Ham

With Easter right on the doorstep, here is a way to reduce the saltiness in a ham. I will admit that I don't know by how much the salt levels are reduced.

All you need is a pot big enough to hold the ham and be covered in water. Soak the ham in the fridge completely covered in water for about two days. Replace the water at least twice a day, more frequently if possible. You then cook the ham in your usual way. The ham will be a bit paler when done and may also not have as much smokiness as that will have gone into the water as well. This can be fixed by using a moist rub on your ham using Liquid Smoke.

Even though the salt levels are reduced, make sure to slice your ham as thin as possible when serving.

Happy Easter!

Quick Tip

Power of Attorney for Property

Be aware that it make take some time (up to a couple of months) for banks to accept power of attorney for property if you have never had to use them before and they were done a long while ago.  This may be annoying but it is to protect both the bank and the person for whom you have the POA. If the person is capable, update the POA every couple of years or so even though a POA is valid until revoked by the person who made them. (At least in Ontario)

An Humorous Quote

Source: scribbler.co.uk via Katie on Pinterest

A Bit About Food Safety

The interconnectedness of things can be very strange at times. Here I've been writing about diet, stress, how the husband is a picky eater and a few other things and what happens? The fridge dies (but not the freezer thank goodness) which is stressful even under normal circumstances. Now I'm going to have to throw everything out that was in the fridge part because it's been too warm too long. This will make the husband happy because now, once the fridge is fixed, I'll be able to buy stuff that he wants. However, this brings me to the topic of food safety. 

Image: http://www.befoodsafe.ca

Believe it or not, you are more likely to get food poisoning at home rather than by eating out. Food safety is also very important if the the person you are caring for is immunocompromised such as those with cancer or has severe allergies. Proper food handling helps reduce risks of illness and trips to the hospital. 

So, here are just a few tips to keep your food and family safe.

• Designate a shelf in the bottom of the fridge for defrosting meats and use a plate underneath to prevent liquids from getting everywhere.
• Buy 2 thermometers, one for the fridge and one for the freezer. Keep the freezer at -18 C or below and the fridge at 4 C or below. Some thermometers also have alarms that let you know when the temperatures have gone beyond the safe range and for how long so you know when to toss. They are pricey and tricky to find in stores but they do exist. (I'm looking for one since my fridge keeps acting up.)
• If in doubt-throw it out!
• Have 3 cutting boards- one for meats, one for veggies and one for fruits.
• Don't let hot food sit longer than 2 hours on the counter to cool. Bacteria love warm temperatures.
• Avoid cross-contamination by keeping raw foods away from cooked. This includes things like cutting boards, plates and utensils. This is also useful if you have severe allergies - have separate utensils, cookware and plates etc. for those that have the allergy (or the other way around if the only people that are at the house without the allergy are guests and wash separately.) 
• Wash, wash, wash - hands, counters, utensils frequently while preparing food.
• Make sure to wash your reusable shopping bags frequently.

For more tips check out these two sites and the images below on how to sanitize.

http://www.healthycanadians.gc.ca/kids-enfants/food-aliment/storage-conservation-eng.php

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/immune-sys-immunitaire-eng.php

http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/kitchen-sanitize.pdf

Five tips for Caregivers

These are five great tips for caregivers that I found on the Pinterest caregiver board and are for all caregivers, not just those looking after a loved one with Alzheimer's. Now I have to put them into practice since my fridge died again last night which is enough to raise anyone's stress levels.

Earth Hour 2013

Tonight between the hours of 8:30 pm- 9:30 pm we are asked to turn off our lights, computers, electronics and TV's for one hour to symbolically show our commitment to an environmentally sustainable world. How you participate is up to you and obviously safety is paramount.

Here are some of my suggestions for a safe Earth Hour:

• Use battery operated candles or lanterns if you have kids, pets or use oxygen.
• Check for tripping hazards like throw rugs, papers, shoes or toys.
• Use the lights on stairs or halls.
• Use common sense and only turn off lights or electronics you don't need (ie. clock radios). 
• Keep flashlights handy.
• Don't use regular candles around kids, pets, curtains, paper, open windows, or flammable gases or liquids. 
• Make sure you put all candles out before bed.
• Never leave a candle unattended.
• You can open the blinds to let in some light from the street lamps - it's amazing how much light they give off and gets into the house.

This year my husband and I are going to be turning off all the lights except for the bathroom, tuning off the computers, including my cell phone, and lighting candles for the first time since we don't have cats anymore. We'll probably still be watching TV because the best shows seem to be on at that time, we don't have a PVR and we tend to go to bed early. With the candles our safety measures are going to be the obvious ones like keeping them away from curtains and other flammable stuff. I'm also going to be placing them away from any route that the husband is going to take just in case he runs into the table with his walker and knocks them over - he's kind of like a moth being attracted to lights, if there's something that is not in his way but on his route he seems to like to run it over. I'm also going to be checking the floor for tripping hazards that we don't pay much attention to because in the light we can avoid them such as blankets hanging off the sofa and the newspaper recycling pile. I guess you could say that other than using the candles were just going to have a regular night. I'm hoping that next year I can persuade the husband that we don't need to watch TV.

What will you be doing for Earth Hour?

A Quote on Change

A Diet Dilemma: Proper Nutrition for My Picky Husband

Even with having some nutritional training, having a husband with complex medical conditions can certainly make life interesting especially when it comes to diet. Currently he should be eating a higher calorie, low sodium, low glycemic, high fibre, lower protein diet. Normally this wouldn't be too much of a problem but he has these phases where he just doesn't want to eat certain foods, doesn't have much appetite and he's always been a bit of a picky eater anyway.  So here I am trying to figure out how to keep sodium and glycemic levels down, keep good protein levels, hide veggies and increase fibre in his food so that he'll have a balanced diet and that he'll also enjoy eating. I was even considering getting a juicer but I know he won't drink home made juices even though he'll drink ready made juice and vegetable blends from the store.

Well, one of the things I'm going to be doing is making a bunch of vegetable purees and put them in just about everything. What I'm hoping is that the sweetness of the vegetables is going to help offset any bitterness that the husband seems to perceive in the taste of food. This is going to be the most I've used my blender in a long time. I'm just hoping he's not going to ask me what I'm up to because I can just hear him in my mind saying "don't you dare". If I have to, I'll go and buy baby food to use. The trick will be to find ones that don't have added salt or sugar.

For fibre I'm thinking  going to go and buy some inulin fibre as it is tasteless and colourless or perhaps some psyllium or ground flax seed. I'll be checking with the husband's specialist first  as we don't want to affect his treatment but if it's allowed I'll be putting it in just about everything as well. If I choose the ground flax, it also has an added benefit of being high in omega 3 fatty acids which he needs. Hiding this in his food is not going to be as much of a problem as I have gotten him used to me putting things like All-Bran or rolled oats in his meatloaf.

I am hopeful that doing these two things is going to be useful, but with the husband's list of foods he doesn't like or thinks are icky it is still a challenge. It's very limiting when you can't use certain foods. His current list of dislikes are things like rice (he was never gassed about it anyway) meat, peas (my mom didn't like them either so I'm used to this one but I love them), beans, smoothies, wheat products except for stuff that's crunchy or too sweet like doughnuts, cooked spinach, celery, cucumbers, raw vegetables except for salads, anything in the cabbage family (important for their cancer fighting properties), nuts, seeds, tofu, yogurt, anything in a sauce, anything too soft like stews, leftovers, beet roots (good for the liver but he will eat the tops), and anything spicy so no curries and the turmeric in it with it's anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. I'd love the husband to eat a more Mediterranean diet but then again there are foods in it that he won't eat. If man could survive on desserts alone, hubby would be a happy camper.

So, it's going to be desserts that I'm going to be starting with. These are going to be great places to hide things like extra fibre, squash and beets. Adapting the recipes is going to be a lot of trial and error but it should be fun. I think the first dessert I'll make is a red velvet cake as there are recipes online for ones made with beets, it's replacing the sugar with stevia and finding low sodium baking powder and soda (they do exist) that will be the experiment. I'll let you know how it goes.

Do you have any tricks and tips on getting picky eaters to eat things they think they don't like? Let's share.

Spring Equinox

Spring Equinox begins at 7:02 am EST

An Happiness Quote

Source: myquoteshome.com 

Happy St.Patrick's Day

Ginger: More than a Culinary Herb

Image from Wikipedia

Ginger (Zingiber offiniale) has been around for thousands of years as a culinary and medicinal herb. It's warming, spicy flavour is wonderful in stir frys and curries and I like it as ginger beer (plain or in a shandy which is lovely in the summer) and also has been used to disguise the flavor of other medications, but are you aware of it's other uses?

Uses 
The most common forms of ginger are as a fresh root (rhizome) dried and powdered (used in baking and as a flavouring in tea or coffee), pickled (sometimes known as gari , served alongside sushi as a palate cleanser), as a tea, wine and candied (I've used this as just a candy and for nausea- it's easier to carry in my purse). Ginger is also used as a flavouring in sodas as well as in perfumes and soaps.
As a tisane or tea it is used for nausea, colds, bronchitis, menstrual cramps, coughs, back pain and for digestive problems such as diarrhea, but it can also be applied as a poultice to the skin as a rubefacient to increase blood flow to the area particularly for osteoarthritis and muscle pain. In supplemental form, ginger is possibly effective for menstrual cramps, post-operative nausea, dizziness, morning sickness, and osteoarthritis. The essential oil is used as a compress in dilutions of 1%-1.5% for muscle aches, fatigue and arthritis as at higher concentrations it may irritate the skin too much. I use it aromatherapy blends for arthritis as I find it safer to use for people with high blood pressure in stead of rosemary.
Ginger is also being looked at as a cancer preventative and treatment in ovarian, colon and skin cancers.

Side effects, interactions and cautions
Ginger is considered as generally safe when taken in small doses (under 2 gm per kg of body mass) but some minor side effects that have been noted with ginger are bloating, gas, heartburn and nausea mostly with powdered ginger and too much tea (I did that once with too much tea, not fun). Caution is advised if you are taking blood thinners like Warfarin or Aspirin as it may increase your risk of bruising and bleeding. If you have a heart condition and are taking calcium channel blockers use caution as it may lower your blood pressure too much and cause an irregular heart beat (I learn something every day. I take a calcium channel blocker for tachycardia and didn't know this. I've never had a problem but then I don't have ginger tea often). Also, if you are diabetic, ginger might lower your blood sugar so be careful if you are taking medications to control your blood sugar as it may go too low, so monitor your levels and adjust your medications if necessary (under medical supervision). Ginger can also cause problems for people with gall stones as it can increase bile flow. Never take the essential oil internally.

How to use Ginger
The standard dose for ginger supplements is 250 mg four times a day by mouth. 
An easy way to peel ginger is to use the side of a spoon.
Tea is the most pleasant way to take ginger and some like it with lemons or milk and it can be drank either hot or cold. I'm too lazy to make my own tea so I like to get the instant honeyed ginger drink from the supermarket.

Here's a recipe for homemade ginger tea from Smoking Hot Mom 

1-2 Tablespoons freshly grated Ginger (depends on how much you like ginger, I like a strong ginger tea, so I use 2 tablespoons of ginger).

• 2 cups of water
• 1 Tablespoon Raw Honey

How to:

• Grate Ginger (if it’s frozen, leave the skin on and use a microplane to grate) into 2 cups of water.
• Bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 15- 20 minutes.
• Strain into a cup.
• Add Raw Honey  (which is a healing food in it’s own right: it supports the immune system, soothes sore throats, and more)

Sources: Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginger,

Medline Plus: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/961.html ,

National Centre for Complimentary and Alternative Medicine : http://nccam.nih.gov/sites/nccam.nih.gov/files/Herbs_At_A_Glance_Ginger_06-15-2012_0.pdf?nav=gsa

Aromatherapy: An A to Z    by Patricia Davis

Spring Cleaning: Some Ideas to Reduce Some of the Madness

Spring is just about a week away and I've gone a bit mad spending the whole day yesterday starting my spring cleaning with still more to go. Currently I don't have a "real" job (going to have to get one soon) so I have time to spend all day cleaning,  but how do you get your spring cleaning done if you are trying to balance kids, work and care giving? Here are some ideas (some cheap, some not) that can help you get organized and get that cleaning done.

1. Hire a Professional Organizer. This is a bit pricey (I spent about $1000 for 2 people for 8 hours plus some supplies) but it's worth it. They will help you get rid of stuff and set up organizational systems that will help keep the clutter under control. Depending on the organizer, you may not have to be there to direct them on what needs to be done after the initial consultation and they'll take anything that is any good away for donations. They cover everything from closet makeovers and offices to moving. Some organizers even do "virtual" organizing if you live in a rural area. Check out Professional Organizers in Canada to find one in your area.
2. Delegate. Even small children can roll clean socks and sort their laundry. I've even had friends help me clean my house and fold my laundry when they come over (a bit embarrassing when my ratty undies go by).
3. Start with one small thing like a drawer or a table top. It reminds me of part of an old joke "step by step, inch by inch, ever so slowly" - doing it this way it will eventually get done but the trick is not to let the area that you just tidied not to get cluttered again.
4. Hire a Personal Concierge/Assistant. If you think of your life this way - that you are the CEO of your household, then a personal concierge/assistant kind of makes sense. What they can do are things like house cleaning, running errands like picking up dry cleaning, grocery shopping, research, trip planning, gift shopping, phone calls, schedule home maintenance, and more depending on the company. This one can be a bit pricey if you choose hourly but some companies have programs where you get a bit of a break for monthly services and for seniors. The Canadian Concierge Directory can help you find one in your area.
5. Use a laundromat's wash and fold service. They usually charge about $1 per pound and a green garbage bag holds about 10-15 pounds of clothes or bedding. You drop off your laundry in the morning and you can pick it up either that night or a day or so later depending on how busy they are. This is obviously not for clothes or other things that require special care like wool or silk.
6. Keep all your cleaning supplies in a tote or bucket. This makes it easier to carry from room to room and saves you from running back and forth for stuff.
7. Make Lists of chores that need to be done and break them down into smaller bits then pick one to three things to do in a day. By only doing one to three things it helps you from feeling overwhelmed from all that needs to be done. This is the idea of KISS -Keep It Simple Silly and don't get worried if you don't get every thing done that's on the list- you'll get to it eventually.
8. Toss, Toss, Toss. You can't clean clutter. Get yourself three containers, such as the dollar store folding laundry hampers or bankers boxes, and call them things like toss, donate, and keep. Once a container is full, put the keep stuff away neatly immediately, the donate stuff in the car and the toss in the recycling bin or garbage. Doing this in 15 minute spurts, you'll be amazed at how much you can get done but don't pull out more than you can do in an hour.
9. Sort Like with Like. Keeping things that are similar together makes them easier to find at a later date.
10. Keep a Basket with you so you can dump stuff into it that belongs in another area of the house thereby saving you trips either up and down stairs or from room to room.
11. Have the drapes, bedding and rugs dry cleaned. Some dry cleaners will pick up and drop off items for free. Having these things dry cleaned also makes them last longer and removes allergens and here in Toronto, Parker's Cleaners will return your quilts and other bedding in a breathable storage bag.
12. And finally, try to set up a maintenance schedule. This will help keep you from having to run about once or twice a year trying to get everything done all at once. You can divide things into categories such as yearly (such as cleaning the gutters), twice a year or seasonally (closets), monthly (furnace filters, vacuum under the furniture), weekly (mopping, dusting) and daily (dishes, counters) or whatever schedule fits your life.

What are some of your favorite ways to make your spring cleaning easier?

A Quote About Spring

Take A Hike! Some Health Benefits of a Walk in the Woods

Riverdale Farm by Steven Ley

"A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world."  ~Paul Dudley White 

"The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet."  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance," 1841

"If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand." ~Buddha

In Japan, where going to the forest is known as "Forest Bathing" or Shinrin-yoku, it's believed that during a walk in a park the phytoncides (an essential oil from trees, particularly pines), fresher air, reduced sound pollution  as well as the negative ions that trees produce all have a direct effect on the body and mind. Going for a walk around the block, though a park or through the woods is an inexpensive way to get exercise, loose weight, clear the mind, improve immunity, increase mood, ease back pain, enhance cognition and improve quality of life.  Reviving the idea of the constitutional walk is now being promoted by doctors and studied by scientists. Here are some of the health benefits of going for a walk that can happen in as little as 15 minutes. 

Walking Benefits

So go for a walk and reap the benefits of this inexpensive way to improve your health.

Quick Tip

If it difficult for you and your loved one to get out to the doctor's to get blood work done, ask the medical technician if their lab has someone who can come and do it at your home. There may be a fee (we paid $25) but it is more convenient, more comfortable for your loved one and (at least for us) costs about the same as a taxi ride to the lab.

Quick Tip

Use cooler water when having to wash your hands frequently, it will help keep your skin from drying out and chapping.

Make Your Own Greek Yogurt

I remember one day when I was living downtown and at my local Greek restaurant when the owner asked me to go to the store to get her a container of Astro's Balkan Style Yogurt.  She was making a B-I-G pot of yogurt for their tzatziki. It was a two day process, one day to make the yogurt, the second to strain it for the tzatziki. That's when I realized that I had been doing this for a long time but I had known it under another name -  labneh or yogurt cheese.

 All you need to make Greek yogurt are a couple of things: a glass bowl, a strainer, a basket type coffee filter or cheese cloth (paper towel will do in a pinch but I find it leaves a funny taste behind) and a yogurt that preferably doesn't have any fillers or thickeners like gelatin (powdered milk is OK as is whey protein concentrate but be aware that these are technically thickeners) .

Bowl, strainer, cheese cloth and yogurt

 What you do is place the strainer, lined with the coffee filter or cheese cloth, over the bowl and put the yogurt into the strainer. Place all of this into the fridge overnight or a bit longer (the longer it drains the thicker it gets). In the morning all the excess whey will have drained into the bowl and in the strainer will be your thickened yogurt. You can then take your yogurt an put it into a covered container. And that's all there is to it. I like doing it this way because regular yogurt goes on sale all the time usually for about $1.99 for 750 g and for my little bit of effort I've saved myself some cash.

My own Greek yogurt

For this batch I'm thinking of adding some protein powder I have lying about to some of the yogurt to see what the taste is like and to up the protein content, the rest I'm leaving plain so I can make tzatziki (just adding garlic and shredded drained cucumber) and a curry marinade. As I'm writing this I'm wishing I had fresh figs for a desert - figs topped with yogurt with some lemon peel and a drizzle of honey or balsamic vinegar-yum.

Have you ever done this and how do you like to use yogurt?

Quick Tip

Make sure you are drinking enough water. Water helps prevent fatigue, headaches, chapped lips, can help fight infections and much more.

InfoGraphic authored by WaterCoolers Direct.com Ltd, selling Water Coolers, Fountains and Filters in the UK. To view the original post, see the original Benefits of Drinking Water InfoGraphic

A Zen Poem

A Sodium Calculator Review

With sodium levels that Canadians are consuming making the news again (check out CBC's Marketplace tonight at 8 pm) and reading a summary that excess dietary salt can induce an auto-immune inflammatory response , I decided to try out a new sodium calculator created by U of T dietitian JoAnne Archand and others that I read about in the Toronto Star today. I did this for both myself and with my husband's data since our diets are practically the same.  I'll say this about it: it is easy to use and gives a good estimate of how much sodium you would be consuming daily of regular products. The calculator takes into account your age and gender, how often you eat out or order in, as well as how often you use convenience products. When you are done, it breaks down where you're getting most of your salt from and what percentage it is in your diet. I believe that to get the most representative estimate of your daily sodium intake you should use an average month of your diet when filling out the survey. 

Now, if we were using regular products and according to the way I answered the survey, we would be over the recommended amount of sodium per day mostly from added salt (mine), bakery and bread products, processed meats and fish (everything's good with bacon but I do try to be reasonable)  and cheese and dairy products (I do love my cheese). We did come  in at under 2,300 mg per day of regular products on average and I'll admit that some months our sodium intake is higher than others (like this month we're having a bit of a bakery goodies spree) but we are doing better than the average Canadian intake of 3,400 mg and that we can do better. I believe that the bakery and bread products score high because they are a major source of hidden sodium in the average diet.

 The creators of the calculator admit that the calculator doesn't have all sources of sodium (it's just so wide spread and in so may products) and that they used the median amount of sodium weighted by the number of  products in a given food category. They also state that, depending on your eating patterns, it may under estimate the amount of sodium in your diet by 30% or, if you are using the lowest sodium products available, the calculator will over estimate how much sodium you are consuming.

I do like the fact that they break down where you are probably getting most of your sodium from as it will allow you to make changes to your diet (I know that I shouldn't add salt and that I eat too much cheese but I love it) and that they are using Canadian data. The only other criticisms I have is that if you say, eat out or order in only once or a couple of times a year that you only have a choice of picking either 1 or under times per month or never. If you choose the once a month choice the calculator will definitely over estimate your daily sodium intake. I also dislike the fact that when choosing the bread products it doesn't say if it's a serving or not. So, say you have a sandwich for lunch every day, does that mean you are eating bread products 2-3 times per day, as a serving is 1 slice of bread, or only once ( I used once)?

I realize that this sodium calculator is a beta version, but all in all, I think it is very good and it's a useful tool to see where you are getting sodium in you diet so that you can make changes. I'd recommend this sodium calculator to anyone who is concerned about their health and interested in curbing their sodium intake. 

Remember to Spring Forward

Spring is almost upon us. Remember to set your clocks forward before bed on Saturday!

Aromatherapy, the Common Cold, Flu and Seasonal Allergies

It's March, Spring is right around the corner and with it comes allergy season but right now we are not yet finished with cold and flu season. When you are suffering from a cold, the flu or allergies, runny noses, tearing or itchy eyes, cough and general feelings of sickness are all easily helped with aromatherapy. And, believe it or not, you have probably used aromatherapy in the past to help. If you have ever used Vicks Vaporub, a hot cup of peppermint tea, Hall's throat lozenges or Tiger Balm you have used aromatherapy. What all these products have in common are menthol (the primary constituent of peppermint), eucalyptus and camphor (both of which contain eucalyptol which gives them their scent). These compounds are used as decongestants, to reduce mucus, ease sore throats ( anti-inflammatory) and are anti-microbial and immune system stimulants. Eucalyptus oil and peppermint oils also aid in reducing temperatures and muscle aches.

In allergies, two essential oils that are helpful are Frankincense and Chamomile and, if you think of it, chamomile has a long history of soothing itchy, irritated skin such as in the hand cream Glysomed. Frankincense also has a long history for treating asthma and coughs as it promotes deep and even breathing and is also an expectorant. Frankincense is now being added to skin care products for its anti-inflammatory properties because of its usefulness in helping in rashes, redness, and aging skin. Look for frankincense in the ingredients as Boswellia. 

But what are some of the easiest ways to use pure essential oils to help when you are feeling like death warmed over from a cold, flu or allergies?

An Aromatherapy Bath or Shower

For coughs, stuffy noses, a cold or the flu, a steamy bath with 8 to 10 drops ( either singly or combined) of eucalyptus, frankincense and lavender oils in the water before bed will help with aches and pains as well as breathing. The lavender essential oil also helps to promote sleep, relaxes achy muscles and is good for coughs because of it's bactericidal effect. If you are time crunched or too tired to wait for a bath, an aromatherapy shower using peppermint and eucalyptus or frankincense and eucalyptus are useful for coughs and noses and you get the added benefit of the steam from the shower.

Steam Inhalation

If most of your symptoms are from a stuffed nose or lung congestion, the old stand by of draping your head with a towel over a steaming bowl of water for about 5 minutes is always a good option. Adding 2-3 drops of eucalyptus, peppermint, frankincense, or a combination of two or all three to the water will help with congestion, cough, and ease breathing. Personally, I find the combination of eucalyptus and peppermint highly reminiscent of Vicks and very relaxing. Use cooler water if you have rosacea because if the water is too hot it can increase redness and irritate the skin.

Compresses
Compresses are done by putting 8-10 drops of essential oil(s) in a bowl of cool (anti-inflammatory) or warm water (pain relief) and using a washcloth, cotton ball or cotton pad (what you use depends on what you have in the house and the size of the area to be treated), placing it in the water and wringing the cloth out so that it is wet but not dripping and placing it on the area to be treated. Replace the compress when the temperature changes and repeat for about 30 minutes.

For hives, a compress of frankincense and chamomile is cooling and soothing. You can also use this combination in a bath.

For itchy eyes, I do not recommend using essential oils but using cold chamomile tea as a compress and placing it over the eyes. It is very soothing and will reduce the inflammation about the eyes as well as itching. Even a cold teabag of regular tea will do as it is cooling and contains caffeine as well as tannin which reduces swelling and tightens the skin (also good for tired eyes).  Mind you, be careful of using chamomile if you are allergic to ragweed, some people react to chamomile because it is related. To check if you are sensitive, place some cold tea (or an essential oil) on a cotton swab and apply the swab to the inside of your wrist and observe the spot for 24 hours. Any redness or itching means on the spot where you applied the substance means that you probably are sensitive and that you should not use it.

Lotions/Creams

Adding essential oils to your favorite lotion, unscented lotions or creams are another easy way to get the benefits of essential oils. Add 1-3 drops of essential oil to an amount lotion about the size of a grape in the palm of your hand and apply.  Some examples are: frankincense and/or chamomile for skin irritations, eucalyptus and peppermint as a chest rub for congestion and, frankincense as a daily massage for asthma. 

Enjoy the benefits of aromatherapy and hopefully you will be feeling better in no time.