It’s Not The Heat, It’s The Humidity!

Sorry for talking about “the cold” two days in a row, but it’s good to plan ahead!

If you live in an area that gets very cold in the winter months, one way to be able to live more comfortably without burning all that energy (and wasting all those dollars) of turning up the thermostat is to invest in a humidifier.  More humid environment helps you feel warmer without the added expense of the furnace kicking in.  It’s also very good for you and your surroundings:

• Can help relieve cold symptoms by making the air you breath moist, which helps keep your lungs more elastic.
• Reduce susceptibility to infection by keeping the mucus membranes of your throat and nasal passages moist allowing the tiny hairs (cilia) in both to work at expelling foreign objects such as mold, pet dander and bacteria.
• Relieve and prevent dry, scratchy skin and lips.
• Keep valuable wood furniture from drying out and cracking.
• Reduce static electricity, thus reducing the tiny shocks received from touching certain objects and other people.
• Can help prevent wood floors from buckling and separating.
• Reduce nosebleeds, as the air you breathe is moist.

So do it cuz it’s good for you, not just cuz…

Support Your Local… (Part 1)

There are a couple of great coffee shops in my neighborhood.  I may be stepping out of bounds with this blog by mentioning them, thus, advertising for them, but rest assured, I’m not being compensated for telling you about White Rock Coffee Roasters and Brewberry’s (no official web site).

Both are locally owned shops, and I adore them. One of the main reasons I do is because they are part of my neighborhood. I encourage you to find your own neighborhood charm, and avoid those big box-type corporate establishments.

Mom & Pop / Family businesses are experiencing a slow death, especially in our current economy. And although it may be true that you’ll save a nicked or dime for each item purchased at a larger chain, those nickels and dimes are going into some bigwig’s pockets. So instead of adding to their wealth, why not spend the extra fifty cents of buck, and see that it goes into the pockets of your neighbors… just cuz!

Orange You Tired Of Fleas?

I don’t like bugs. I don’t. There’s no way around it. Creepy crawly things make me uncomfortable. Years ago, a friend of mine told me horror stories about her dog and his fleas. UGH! I’m a cat person, so this doesn’t work for me (citrus can be toxic to felines), but if you’re a dog person, and your bow-wow is prone to fleas, give this a try, and tell me if it works!

Dog Flea Repellent
Make some “Citrus Tea.” Take any citrus fruit peels (any – lemons, limes, oranges or grapefruits) and boil them in water until you have a good concentrated citrus tea. Make sure you cool it before using it! Each time you wash your dog, apply some of the concentrate in the final rinse. According to what I read, the citric tea will terminate any existing flees and will also act as a repellent against those that may still be hanging around in the back yard.

I’m hoping this works, so let me know if it does. I love to learn about alternatives to chemicals. A lot of the time, they’re more effective and cost less, too! So use citrus tea instead of those stinky chemicals, just cuz it’s better for our health.

Don’t Buy Bottled Water

Another twist to this blog will be my feelings on some of the things that are happening with our environment. Now, I don’t consider myself a “tree hugger” or a “crunchy person” by any measure. I do, however, try to think about cause and effect, and how little things I do (or don’t do) may not make a dramatic change in my daily life, but a thousand little changes can at least make a dent and promotes that good stuff.

Recently I heard a statistic that I won’t repeat here, because frankly, I am wary about how statistics are formulated. The statistic had to do with the amount of empty water bottles that are filling up landfills. The numbers stated in the statistic were huge, so of course, the cynic in me (which I need to work on) doubted the authenticity. I’m pretty good in math, so I try to form my own rationale regarding things.

Back in the 80s, when Olivia Newton-John was getting physical, there appeared on shelves a product called Evian. I thought the world had gone insane. Buying water? That’s just silly.

Almost 30 years later, it’s not so silly. Everyone seems to be doing it. And I’m all for the convenience of carrying around a 16.9 ounce ice cold helping of clean and tasty water. But the packaging is what concerns me. Millions of these small plastic bottles are being thrown away (or recycled). And while recycling this material is better than throwing this material away, what’s even better than recycling is not having the need to recycle.

Now, you may be asking, “What? What do you mean by “not having the need to recycle?”

If you didn’t purchase individual servings of bottled water, you wouldn’t have to recycle the individual bottles.

Do you want a potentially cheaper and more convenient alternative? Rent a water cooler. Yes, rent a water cooler. Many of the well-known bottled water distributors now offer rentable water coolers for home use. They deliver those 5-gallon polycarbonate water jugs to your home, and you place it in the rented cooler. Most of the time, it ends up being much cheaper than those individual bottles.

So run to your nearest convenience department store, and purchase a water bottle that you can refill from your own home water cooler, and skip the whole recycling process. You’ll be saving money, energy, and doing a little bit of good stuff.

Just cuz.