Fire Water: Home Remedy For Cold and Flu

Fire Water

Home Remedy For Cold And Flu 

Particularly Healing For Sore Throats

Recipe:

1/2 cup Boiling Water

1 tsp. Cayenne Powder

1 tsp. Salt

1/2 cup Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix cayenne pepper, salt, and boiling water. Stir until salt is dissolved. Add apple cider vinegar. Take 1 tablespoon every 15-20 minutes until flu is gone. To treat a sore throat gargle each dose before swallowing.

This is my favorite remedy for sore throats. I have used it many times. The ingredients are simple and effective.  I always have them on hand, unlike the ingredients for Decongestant Tea, which are a little more specialized. I, also, really like how effective the Decongestant Tea is, but I don't always have all the ingredients.

This recipe is taken from Be Your Own "Doctor"  by Rachel Weaver. I love this book! I highly recommend you order yourself a copy! Rachel Weaver is a midwife and master herbalist. She has lots of experience and advice on treating common ailments naturally. I purchased her book from Nature's Warehouse. Their store is in Kidron Ohio but you can buy the book on their website. Here is a link.

Chocolate Gravy Recipe

Does chocolate gravy sound strange to you? I can understand why some may think pouring chocolate gravy over biscuits is unappealing.

Let me tell you how I became acquainted with chocolate gravy.

My Grandma on my mother's side usually would come stay at our house when my Mom had a baby. She was there to see the baby, of course, and help out while my Mom recovered.

My third brother was born at night and the following morning Grandma made chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast for us all! They were delicious!

Grandma started a tradition in our family. After that, every time my Mom had a baby we would make chocolate gravy and biscuits for breakfast the next morning. This happened many times. My Mom has given birth to 14 children!

Now that we are grown up and having our own babies my Mom will bring us chocolate gravy and biscuits when she comes to meet her grandbabies. And often when there is a baby born in the family (like a niece or nephew to myself) I will make chocolate gravy and biscuits at our home to celebrate.

I had a nephew born recently and while I was eating my celebratory breakfast I called Grandma to ask her where she had first had chocolate gravy. She told me that when she was a little girl her grandma made chocolate gravy and biscuits for her. She would put the chocolate gravy over her biscuits and then place pats of butter on top. She remembers thinking that the yellow pools of melting butter looked so pretty against the dark chocolate.

Grandma told me that her grandma was from Arkansas. I think chocolate gravy must be a southern thing. My mom has a cook book that has a recipe for chocolate gravy and that cook book was compiled by a church, also, in Arkansas. I have never run into anyone in the Midwest who has heard of chocolate gravy except a friend who said her in laws from, you guessed it, Arkansas, make chocolate gravy.

If you are interested in trying chocolate gravy here is the recipe. (But the main reason I want this recipe here, on my blog, is so that I don't lose it, again.)

Chocolate Gravy

6 TBS. Cocoa Powder
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Milk
1/4 cup Butter
1/8 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla

Combine cocoa powder and sugar in saucepan. Blend in milk. Add butter and salt. Cook and stir constantly until mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Serve over hot biscuits. Enjoy!

Denim Whale Project

Last January I had the idea to make a bunch of denim whales, some for gifts and some to sell. I had seen some cute ones on Pinterest. I pinned them a long time ago in hopes that I would commit to making some in the future. So, a year ago, last January, as I was saying, I started drafting patterns. I studied some pictures of humpback whales. They were my models for flipper and tail shapes.

I sewed a few, did some tweaking, and settled on a design. I made a big eBay order for all the materials that I would need. I purchased 3 yards of denim, 5 pounds of polyester filling, 5 pounds of plastic beads that are made for stuffed animals, 3 spools of thread (I ended up needing 4 spools), plastic mailers to ship my whales to customers, and a digital scale to weigh the stuffing, as well as calculate shipping costs.

I was able to cut all the whales from the fabric in March. I ended up with enough material for 12 whales. Actually getting them all sewn has been a long process! I finished sewing the last one in November. And, I just finished sewing the last pair of eyes on last week!

A tutorial of sorts:

The first step of sewing a whale is sewing the flippers, turning them right side out, and topstitching. Make sure to have the right side of the fabric facing out on the top of the flipper and the wrong side of the fabric facing out on the bottom of the flipper.

Then I sew the 4 pleats along both sides of the belly of the whale. Before I sew the center belly seam, I zigzag stitch the raw edges on both pieces in the area I plan on leaving open to be able to turn the whale right side out. Then I sew the belly seam stopping and backstitching on both sides of the hole. I leave a hole about 2 1/2" long in the belly right behind where the flippers go, but before the narrow part of the tail.

I proceed to the top of the whale. I sew the center top seam all the way from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail. I finish all the raw edges with a zigzag stitch, as I go along. I baste the flippers onto the top piece. With right sides together (keep in mind that the right side of the bottom of the whale is the wrong side of the fabric) assemble the top to the bottom, tucking the flippers inside, and pinning carefully all around. Then I stitch it and finish the edges.

Now the whale has to be turned right side out and the topstitching on the tail has to be done.

I stuff my whales with a combination of poly fill and plastic beads. 3 oz. of plastic beads go in the belly and the rest gets filled up with 4 oz. of polyester fiber.

To make the eyes for my whales I cut a small circle (about the circumference of a pencil eraser) out of white, tightly woven, cotton material. I hand stitch it on to the whale with little whip stitches around the edge. Then I make the pupil. I use black thread and do a padded satin stitch in the center of the white of the eye.

Feel free to make your own whales with the ideas I have laid out here or head over to my Etsy store, QuietStandards, to purchase one from me! :)

Doulingo: A Free Language Learning App

You may have heard of Doulingo. It is a free language learning app. I downloaded it a year ago and have been using it to learn Spanish. I have learned over 4,000 words. The app is very easy to use. It only takes a few minutes (like 5) each day to complete a lesson. A few minutes here and there can really add up, though. Over the course of a year I spent over 78 hours learning Spanish just a few minutes at a time. Doulingo makes learning  fun and interactive. Doulingo teaches by using sight and sound and speech. There are listening exercises, as well as reading and spelling exercises, and portions of lessons where you have to practice speaking. By using all these methods to teach Doulingo is more effective than just learning by reading a book.

I still have a long way to go before I will be able to speak Spanish fluently. I would like to reach that goal before I am 30. Why? I have heard that if you don't learn a foreign language before you are 30 you likely never will. I have also heard that learning a language is good for your mind. It engages parts of your brain that other activities don't.

If you are interested in learning a language I recommend checking out Doulingo. They teach all the major languages like German, French, and Spanish, as well as obscure and endangered languages like Hawaiian
Navajo, and Irish, plus everything in between!
Here is a link.

Click here