The Buddha Board

When dealing with breast cancer, you have moments of up's and down's mentally. My cancer was easily (well, compared to others) removed and taken away from me. But the thought process of not having a part of yourself anymore, comes with a period of mourning. No matter what we deal with whether it be cancer of any kind or another disease, a way to express yourself, calm yourself, and just let go is always a good thing.

You all are well aware I'm sure, I do not believe in all the teachings of Buddha. However, I do believe in finding peace, relaxation and expression of ones self. Those little boxes filled with sand and a rake to sit and clear your mind have always intrigued me. After a surgery while sitting in bed recovering, who can play with a box of sand? So I searched for another relaxing alternative.

I stumbled upon the Buddha Board and found it to be something I could rather enjoy. And the more I looked into it, the more I found it to be something for everyone/age.

God is our Healer

Through my breast cancer journey, I have continued to rely on Father God, who is my healer. I truly believe He made me aware (caught my attention, put in my spirit to do something to bring it to light) to find the cancer. He has also showed me in his Word what to do. With lots of prayer and His peace, I had surgery.

Through my recovery I rely on Him for great results. So far amazing things are happening. My scars are minimal and things look great. I still have another surgery in August and continue to press into Father God. I am working on a "journal/book" as I go day by day through this with Him.

LovingEco - Purse Giveaway

LovingEco is a website which was brought to my attention due to their charitable givings. This weeks charity is Stand Up To Cancer. As we are quite far into the week, I am encouraging you to check out their site today.

LovingEco provides eco friendly fashion to their private members, at a fraction of retail cost. It's easy to sign up and it's FREE. Simply go to their home page and join. Then you will enter into a fabulous online store and shop at great discounts up to 70% off retail. LovingEco also donates 3% of all their sales to support social or environmental causes. Vote for real change in our environment, and in your new organic life, by opening your wallet to companies such as LovingEco.

Miessence Organics

I am a firm believer that our environment has a lot to do with American's being at the highest risk for cancer.  Not only is it the food we eat, the laundry soap we use, but everything that touches our bodies. I am on the constant lookout for great organic products such as soaps, shampoo's and conditioners, as well as makeup and lotions.

I found Miessence Organics through a Google search and was given several samples of their products.

I sampled many of the facial cleansing line which seemed to work great. But I must confess I was not impressed with the smells. It seemed as if all the face lotions and cleansers smelled the same even if they were from a different line. Such as purifying, soothing, balancing, or rejuvenating. They all had the same smell to them. Just a simple organic smell. Which some of you may really enjoy. I like when the smell jumps out at you. Clean and fresh as face wash and lotions should be. The products worked nicely, although I only had sample packets. I couldn't tell you over a long period of time what the results were as far as changing the way my skin felt. The lotions did absorb in quite nicely. My favorite product was the Sunflower Body Wash. This had a nice fresh scent and when added to my buff puff, really gave off a great lather. It comes in an 8.5 oz sized bottle and retails for $14.50

Scent Natural Organic Perfume Giveaway

As I continue my search for organic products, I realized spraying myself down every morning with my store boughten perfume was probably not a great idea. Most store purchased perfumes contain over 50 different ingredients and chemicals. Not to mention can be very expensive. What if you had the opportunity not only to create your own scent, but name it and put it in the bottle style and color of choice? Well now you can. I created my own scent and love it. One of you will get a chance to create a bottle for free thanks to Scent Natural.

Different bottles and designs 

The process of creating your own perfume is super easy. Visit the Scent Natural site.  Read through the instructions and "Proceed". They will take you step by step in creating your personal scent.

Simply select "craft a scent now" on the left side of the website. There are all sorts of different scents to get you started. If you like fruity, select from there or if you like flowers/plants, you can choose from this list. Scent Natural also has a list of popular name brand perfumes, so if you have a favorite you can stay within that scent range. Each perfume includes only three ingredients, all natural and organic!

I went with Raspberry. You are then given pre-created recipes. I chose one of these as I didn't want to take my chances mixing my own scent. But that is an option as well. You may choose 2-3 scents to blend together just the way you like it. (I chose Recipe #4: Raspberry, Apricot, Banana, and Apple Blossom.)

Sample Bottle

From there you name your scent. (You can even add a logo or picture if you choose). I personally named mine "Victory". When I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer, the hospital gave me a huge binder with "health journal" written on it, pictures of people smiling and happy, and the hospital logo. After I had received some test results in the mail, my husband told me to put it in my Victory binder. The name just stuck. So at the time of ordering my perfume, this was the first name to come to mind.

Consumer Reports Health.org

My husband has subscribed to Consumer Reports for several years. He recently received an email informing him of the NEW Consumer Reports Health.org site. I found this to be very interesting and wanted to share.

Consumer Reports has been known for their reviews of automobiles, appliances, electronic gadgets, and much more. Being reviewed by you the consumer, it gives an honest overall rating of the items. Now with Consumer Reports Health.org you will find excellent information on items such as their Healthy Living category. This includes: athletic shoes, exercise equipment, hair dyes, tooth whiteners, sunscreen, scales, heart rate monitors and MUCH more. The Conditions and Treatment category includes all sorts of ailments, sickness and disease and what is recommended for you in those situations. Back pain, headaches, cancer, heart disease, hay fever, head lice, sleep apnea, etc. There is even a section on prescription drugs. Find out what you are taking before you take it.

Of course my favorite category is Natural Health. This category alone will be the reason we purchase this subscription. They list common natural remedies such as ginger, fish oil, soy, garlic, calcium, flax seed, primrose oil, and on and on. This will be a great source of information as I continue my journey of living organic.

Angel Soy Candles

Angel Soy Candles is an at home based company run by a stay at home mom. She creates all the tarts and candles with love and care. The packaging was very nice and shipped fast. She can only be found on Facebook, as she does not currently have a website. Find her at: Angel Soy Candles. Once you choose your scent you can place an order there or send her an email at: angelsoycandles@comcast.net.

I personally tested the tarts. They retail for $4 a pack, which I think is a great price!  I ordered the Lily of the Valley because I know it's a hard smell to try and imitate the real thing. I did not have a proper warmer yet and put two blocks into a wax crock. This was too powerful and I am not a "perfume type" candle lover. But as a gift for recovery, after my surgery, a girlfriend gave me a tart warmer. So I finally used it the proper way with only one block. The smell was better but I could only leave it on until a short while after the wax melted. Otherwise it was a bit strong for me.

The second one I tried was Love Spell and this was also to sweet for me.  So know your scents and what you like, then order away. They are great soy candles at a great price. I was just not in love with either of the smells I chose. Next time I will have to order a warmer scent like a pumpkin or cinnamon.