It’s Not Good-Bye, It’s See You Later!

Hello, lovelies!

Quick update on what I’ve been doing: reading, running, cleaning, painting, running, reading, cleaning.

Oh, sometimes I work. Like, only eight hours a day or so.

After having no luck with selling the house last year, we’re putting it back on the market in May and it will stay there until it’s sold.

I’ll be packing up most of my office to make the house look less cluttered and more presentable.  This means I’ll need to put the product-making & selling end of Heather Scent Aromatherapy on hold for a little while.  Maybe a long while.

As of Monday, April 18, the Etsy shop will be put into semi-permanent vacation mode.  My essential oils will not be packed (of course), but most of my bottles,  raw materials and shipping supplies will be, therefore I will not be making any new batches of product or doing a lot of shipping.  I’ll still be available for advice and consultations, and to make custom inhalers.

The blog will still run – as often as I can update it.  I’ll be doing a ton of painting this Easter weekend, and everyone’s a sucker for some before & after photos!

~H

This Is Not So Bad (or Putting It Into Perspective)

We woke up to several inches of snow this morning.

Again.

Today was scheduled to be one of my running days – I’m exercising now, you know.  Doing the Couch to 5K running program, specifically.

Running in the cold does not deter me – you get warmed up enough after five minutes anyway, and 0 degrees Celsius isn’t really “cold” by Canadian standards.

It’s running through four inches of thick, heavy, slushy, slippery snow that deters me.

So when I looked outside and saw this:

I thought, “Great! There goes my run for today! I thought this was suppose to be March! It was 4 degrees yesterday! All the snow melted! I almost had shorts on! Who can I yell at for this?!”  (I was thinking in very exclamative terms, wasn’t I?)

Then I turned on the computer and saw this:

(screenshot from cnn.com)

And then I realized that a few inches of snow is not so bad.

It is not going to ruin my life.

It isn’t even going to ruin my day.

And this is true for most of the ‘bad’ things that happen in our lives. 

You know, the ‘why me?!” moments:

Your headlight burns out.

Your basement is leaking.

Your kid has an ear infection.

Your cat peed on your brand-new running shoes.

These are all very annoying events that will cause you aggravation (and cost you money), but they are not the end of the world!

{Incidentally they are all very annoying events that have happened to me in the last week!}

Always, always, always remember to put things into perspective. 99% of the time our circumstances are really not so bad.  There is always someone who is worse off, someone who is dealing with a much heavier load.

Does this mean you don’t have a right to get angry and maybe let out a bad word or two (or fourteen)?

Of course not!

But don’t let the little things, things that can easily be fixed, ruin your life, or even your day.

Instead,  you wait for the sun to come out, melt some of the snow, and then go running on your lunch break at work.

Perspective.

Peace, love & prayers to all in Japan.

~H

Yoga is hard! & other excuses for not exercising.

There have been some changes in my life recently.

First, I deleted my personal Facebook page.

Don’t worry, my wonderful business page, Heather Scent Aromatherapy, is still there. And you are still a fan, I’m sure.

Facebook can be a huge time suck.  I would sit down at the computer to check a few messages, and before you know it, 45 minutes have passed! And I don’t even play any games on there, so where was my time going?

{There I am, sitting at my computer.  Which, incidentally,  looks like it has one of those plastic monitors you see on office furniture floor models at Staples. I’m also seventeen years old, did you not know that?}

Second change: I’ve started exercising.

Before I got pregnant, I was beginning to practice yoga.  Then I had to stop for a bit since it’s not advised to practice yoga in the first trimester if you have a history of miscarriage.   Then I had morning sickness well into the second trimester.  Then I was really, really, huge and didn’t feel like it. Plus it was hot.

Then I had a baby and leaky boobs, and well, you know how it goes.

Before I knew it, that ‘baby’ was starting kindergarten and I was still carrying around the extra 25 pounds he gave me.

Thanks a lot, kid! I gave you life, and you give me back fat. Not a fair trade.

Anyway.  Next year is my non-husband and mine’s 10th anniversary and to celebrate we are taking a tropical vacation, most likely to Cuba.

There is NO WAY I am walking my jiggly belly around the beach in Cuba.

I’ve got a year to lose the jiggle.

I’ve cut back to 1 can of Pepsi a day.  (Sadface)

I haven’t been to McDonald’s in weeks. (Double sadface. With cheese.)

And I’m exercising a little bit each day, no matter how much I don’t want to.

I tried yoga again, but I’m too spazzy.

I want to run, but it’s too cold right now.  That will change soon, and I’ll be doing the Couch-to-5k running program, with the aid of the Get Running  iPhone app.  It’s on sale for 99 cents right now, so you should check it out.

Today I did the Tone Zone workout from Women’s Health Magazine.  {You should sign up with their website. You get access to all sorts of PDF workouts for free.}

I couldn’t get up to a full 15 reps for most of the exercises, but I worked as hard as I could.  And then I pushed for one more.

This one, The Plank, is especially difficult.  I had to do it on my knees, and could only manage 3 reps on each side.

And now I’m going to go stand in a hot shower for eighty minutes, then crawl into bed and never get out again.

Purex 3 in 1 Laundry Sheets

I’ve been meaning to tell you about this product for some time.

While spending a week in Vancouver last summer, I needed to buy some laundry supplies.

In Vancouver, we walk or take public transportation for all our errands.

Which means we carry everything.

In our arms.

Bags of groceries for a family of four (three of which are boys who are missing that part of the brain that tells you to stop eating! when you are full) can be pretty heavy.

So there I was at Safeway, all alone (ungrateful boys can’t even carry their own food!), and faced with a dilemma.  Even the smallest bottles of detergent and fabric softener are fairly heavy.  And the smaller a bottle, the more expensive it is.  I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $8 for a 16-load bottle, when a bottle twice the size was only a few dollars more.

Plus,  I only needed a few loads worth of products and (for reasons I am legally obligated to not divulge), I didn’t want to leave the extra behind for the apartment owner.

My God, I am really making a federal case out of laundry detergent, aren’t I?

That’s how I roll.

Then I saw this on the shelf:

I recalled seeing a commercial for it months earlier. At that time, I thought, “Oh great – another single-use, disposable, ‘convenience’ product! Just what the world needs – more garbage!”

Boy, I was indignant!

{I was also very wrong, and you’ll find out why in a minute.}

BUT  (and that is a capital-letter “but”) -  I really did have a need for something ‘convenient’ and these babies fit the bill perfectly.

The small package was very light-weight, they were reasonably priced (remember – it replaces 3 products), and whatever I didn’t use could easily be transported home in my suitcase, without adding extra weight or running the risk of spilling.

They are so easy to use, even a kid could do laundry.

Not that my kids would or anything, but if they wanted to, it would be easy.

You just start the water, toss in the sheet and then add your clothes.  Then you transport the sheet into the dryer with your clothes.  

They smell lovely, and unlike many brands of liquid detergent I’ve used, the scent remains in the clothing (towels especially) after the clothes have dried.

You may be wondering why an Aromatherapist is so partial to having artificially-scented towels.

Well, my friend, I’ll tell you a secret: scent memory is not specific to essential oils and other 100% natural botanicals.

There is nothing like the scent of fresh laundry to bring me back to those days of my early 20s, living in my first apartment and playing grown-up.  Doing laundry was an enjoyable pastime for me back then.

As I’m sure it would be now if I had only 2 loads per WEEK instead of per DAY.

And my concern about the single-use, disposable, extra-garbage aspect?

This is what you are left with after the sheet has run through the washer and dryer.  A thick,  fluffy sheet that has a nap on one side, making it perfect to use as a Swiffer-style dust cloth.

Plus it still smells nice.

I keep them in an old tissue box by the TV and use them to dust the electronics.

We’d always used dryer sheets, so we’re not really creating any more waste than before.

Since I buy the ‘refill’ packages, the only waste is the plastic wrapper. (See Update, below)

No bottles. No caps.

As for cost? It works out to about 25 cents per load.

Remember, that is INCLUDING detergent, fabric softener and dryer sheets.  When you add it all up, it’s no more than I was spending before buying all three products – plus we are looking at a lot less packaging now.

UPDATE:  This morning while picking up some refills, I discovered Purex is now packaging its 3-in-1 sheets in a 100%  recyclable cardboard box, with no inner plastic liner!  Even better!

(The Canadian version has 24 sheets, not 22. But we don’t have the Pure & Clean scent here).

Disclaimer: Purex has no idea who I am, nor do they care.  I bought this product with my own money, of my own accord (as evidenced by the lengthy story I just told you all about my adventures in Safeway laundry aisle), and am not being compensated for recommending it.

Valentine’s Day Blend

Sensual Essential Oil Blend

1 drop Ylang Ylang

2 drops Sandalwood

4 drops Petitgrain

Add to your oil burner, a warm bath, or double the proportions and mix with 2 tablespoons carrier oil for a luxurious massage.

Awesome Geekery on Etsy

Just a random collection of incredibleness I found on Etsy today. As always, click any photo to be taken to the item’s listing.

Green Zombies nesting dolls by Shani4d. The smallest one is a brain! Pure win.

 

Martian cell phone charm by dvrdown.  “The Claw!”

 

Drunk Robot sculpture by sleepyrobot13.  Sometimes robots like to tie one on.  Who are we to judge?

 

Buffy pendant by SnarkyAndSweet.  Which reminds me…have you seen this yet:

Wordless Wednesday – Snowmageddon?

   

 

Citrus Essential Oils & Phototoxicity

First of all,  my computer is trying to tell me that “phototoxicity” is not a word.

“Photo” is a word.

“Toxicity” is a word.

But together, they do not make a word that is recognized by the spellchecker.

Anyway.  Here is what’s important:

Certain essential oils (mainly citrus oils) will increase the skin’s sensitivity to ultra-violet light. 

Some aromatherapists also refer to this as “photosensitisation”. 

{Those people are also saving themselves the trouble of arguing with their computer over whether or not the word “phototoxicity” exists.}

What This Means For You

If you put a product containing a high concentration of a phototoxic oil on your skin before heading out into the sun (or tanning bed), you are going to burn.  Badly.

This won’t be a regular sunburn.  It will be much worse. The skin will blister and peel and take an extremely long time to heal.

The chemical responsible for all this trouble is called bergaptene (or bergapten).   Bergamot EO has a very high bergaptene content;  It is considered the most phototoxic oil.  Other oils with elevated levels of bergaptene are: Lemon, Lime, and Bitter Orange. 

It use to be that some companies purposely put bergaptene in sun tanning products.  They thought it would help you get a darker tan.  Then people found out about stuff like,ya know, CANCER, and realized that purposely toasting your skin is a bad, bad, idea.

Bad idea.

“Safe” Citrus Oils

A few citrus EOs, such as Grapefruit, Sweet Orange and Tangerine have not shown conclusively to cause photosensitization.  In the interest of safety, however,  it’s always best to err on the side of caution.

This is why  all citrus oils tend to get blanketed with the phototoxic label.  Rather than trying to get people to remember which ones are safe and which ones aren’t, it’s easier to simply tell people:

Do not apply citrus oils before exposure to sunlight.

Non-Citrus Phototoxic Oils

According to Patricia Davis in her book, Aromatherapy: An A – Z , the following oils have also been found to have photo-sensitizing properties:

Verbena
Rue
Angelica Root
Cumin
Opoponax
St. John’s Wort (carrier oil)

The good news is, it’s doubtful that you, as a home user, will ever come into contact with those oils.  Rue is toxic in all ways, so you just shouldn’t have that anyway. And Opoponax? What the heck is that? I mean, I’m a professional and I’ve never even heard of it.

Remember kids, read your product labels. And:

Do not apply citrus oils before exposure to sunlight.

Aromatherapy? Umm…did I come to the right place?

Some of you may be asking yourselves that very question right now.

In recent weeks  months, there has been a noticeable lack of posts regarding the very subject this blog purports to be about!

Whatever happened to the essential oil Spotlight series? Or Ask An Aromatherapist? Or Tutorial Tuesdays?

{Okay, there never really were ‘Tutorial Tuesdays’. I’ve posted, like, two tutorials and one of them happened to be on a Tuesday.}

Well, what are you asking me for?! I just run the place, I don’t know anything!

{This stock photo may or may not be relevant to the post, but it was just to crazy not to use. I have a fever and congested head so an actual photo of me would look something more like this:}

The Etsy shop has been a bit slow lately. 

I could be using the time to design new products, work on a website, take new photos, balance the books, do some promotion.

Nope.

I’ve been using the free time to catch up on all my book readin’

Clearly, I am a very savvy businesswoman.

To keep business and pleasure (somewhat) separated, I created a new blog for all things bookiness – The Book Whore.

The Book Whore is lonely and needs some followers!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Or not, since I may decide next week that I am now into kite-making.

11 Lessons You Should Take Before Having Children

{I take no credit for this little piece of hilarity – I didn’t write it, and I’m not sure who did.  It’s been floating around the Internet since the days of AOL.}

 

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their...

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel...

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

{Note added by me – If you plan to breastfeed, you can make the scenario a little more realistic by attaching the pincers of tiny lobsters to your nipples.}

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? To find out...

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favourite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle Cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

365 Days of Aromatic Affirmations

A little over a year ago, I purchased the book Daily Aromatherapy by Joni Keim & Ruah Bull.

In the book, one essential oil is profiled each week. For each week,  there is a different type of intention exercise to be performed each day:  an affirmation, emotional self-discovery questions, a ceremony, a blessing, an activity, a visualization, and a prayer.

At the CFA Retreat in September 2009, we used the book daily.

The dates were September 18th, 19th and 20th, and the essential oil was Bay Laurel.  At the time it was an oil I had never used.  It reminded me of Christmas trees.

On a subtle level, Bay Laurel helps promote good judgment, nurtures your intuition and opens your mind’s eye to prophetic vision.

At the end of the weekend, I felt recharged and re-energized.  And maybe I wasn’t completely “at one” with the Universe, but I was getting there.

Then I came home, put the book on my shelf, and never looked at it again.

Until yesterday.

Eureka!

While cleaning my office and trying to pare down my stacks of reference books {which, by the way, I really could not whittle down any further. I have about 83 reference books, which is the exact bare minimum of  books about aromatherapy, herbalism,  anatomy, reflexology and holistic medicine that a girl needs}, I came across the book and had a really ambitious thought:

“Hey! A new year starts in two days! What if I vowed to perform the exercises in the book every day for all of 2011?”

Clearly I am the first person EVER who has had the idea to vow to change her ways and start a-new at the beginning of a new year.

It’s genius! People should do this all the time! 

Then I patted myself on the back for being such a clever girl.

Then I had to get an ice pack because I strained my shoulder a bit whilst patting myself on the back.

{There is a stock photo for everything, isn’t there?}

Serendipitously, the essential oil  for the first week of January is Neroli – my favourite.   I’m really not a big fan of florals – Rose is lovely, but it’s a too sweet for me.  Neroli comes from the blossoms of the orange tree, so it’s the perfect combination of floral, greenery and citrus.

Let’s Do It Together!

If anyone would like to join in my 365 Days of Aromatic Affirmations quest, please comment here or Tweet me or Facebook me.  I’ll be updating Twitter and/or Facebook as  I perform each exercise.

If a group of you want to get together and take bets on how long I’ll stick with it, that’s fine with me too.

There won’t be any pressure, and the book allows adjustments to practice weekly or monthly rather than daily. 

You can pick up the book at any major book retailer, but I’ve included the links here because I’m just awesome like that.

Chapters/Indigo

Amazon.ca

Amazon.com

Borders

Let’s give ‘er!

21 Book Challenge for 2011

I am a self-confessed book whore.

Despite having shelves full of books waiting to be read, I keep buying more books.

I can’t stop.

Help.

Due to space limitations,  I’ve been forced to practice some restraint.  My book storage allotment is only one small section of shelving on one side of our fireplace.

But then I discovered this contraption:

With the Kobo,  I do not have to limit myself to only as many books as can fit on my physical bookshelf.

Oh, no.

The Kobo can (theoretically) store an infinite number of books.

And believe me, I plan to test that theory.

So now, in addition to my real books,  I’ve got a virtual bookshelf full of books TBR (To Be Read).

{Okay, I know I said I’d never get on board with e-readers, but I’ve discovered it’s a great way to get new releases for about $7 each.}

Now, you all know I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions.  But if I did, it would be to not buy any more books until I’ve read all the ones currently sitting on shelf (or loaded on my Kobo).

To facilitate my non-resolution resolve to read all my books, I’m participating in a little book challenge.  I originally read about this challenge on a message board and have modified it for my purposes.

Feel free to participate with me!

The Challenge:

You will choose 21 books to read – 3 from each category.

You do not have to choose them all up front, and they do not have to be books you already own.  Because I realize that most people are normal (unlike me) and do not have eighty million books sitting around the house waiting to be read.

Dust Collectors

These are books that have been sitting (unread) on your shelf for some time.  Obviously I’m not going to have a problem filling this category.

I’ll choose these books when it’s time to read them.

An Author That’s New To You.

1. The Bishop’s Man – Linden MacIntyre
2. The Last Days of Ptolmey Gray – Walter Mosley
3. Saving Max – Antoinette Van Heugten

  

A Trilogy - Read in Order.

I resolve to finally plough my way through the Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson.  These are books that I definitely want to have read before I watch any of the films. Incidentally, I plan to watch the original Swedish films before the American versions.

1. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
2. The Girl Who Played With Fire
3. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

  

A Genre You Would Normally Never Read.

1. The Shack  - William P. Young (Christian)
2. Something by Nicholas Sparks (Romance)
3. Something by Tom Clancy (War/Action)

  

Biographies or Memoirs.

1. Long Walk To Freedom – Nelson Mandela
2. Spoken From The Heart – Laura Bush
3. Last Words – George Carlin

     

Written More Than a Hundred Years Ago.

1. Uncle Tom’s Cabin – Harriet Beecher Stowe
2. A Journey to the Centre of the Earth – Jules Verne
3. The Romance of Tristan & Isolde - Joseph Bédier

Books by Canadian authors that are also set in Canada.

Even if you’re not from Canada, this could be a good opportunity to learn something about our culture.  Believe it or not, it’s actually quite different than life in the United States.

1.  Annabel – Kathleen Winter
2. Oryx & Crake – Margaret Atwood (Technically this is set in a dystopian future which may or may not have once been the Greater Toronto Area.)
3. Unless- Carol Shields (American-born, but considered herself Canadian.)

So what are YOU reading?