Danielle's Homemade Products....This one is a little different

For those of you that read my blogs, tips, or Facebook pages, you know what I do...but you don't necessarily know me. So today's post is a little different...I thought I would give you a story about me.

Warning: Graphic images and pictures, please do not read if you are sensitive to images or offend easily. This is not meant to offend, but to inform, and to let you get to know me a little better and maybe help someone else who is struggling. Keep tissues handy.

My daughter turned 7 a month ago yesterday. She is my miracle baby. My pregnancy with her was not an easy one. I was terrified the entire time. You see, while she is my only child, she is not my first pregnancy. I have been pregnant twice before I was blessed with her. I say blessed because both of my previous pregnancies ended in miscarriage. Such a dirty word. Unfortunately, they weren't miscarriages in the first 12 weeks like some experience and which we, as woman, are all told occur pretty regularly. These miscarriages occurred in my 16th and 17th weeks. Here is my story.

I was married before, happily at the time, when I got pregnant the first time at 21 years old. My pregnancy was normal and everything was going well. I turned 22 in April of that year and a week later my father-in-law passed away. It was a rough time for my husband (at the time) and the family, but it got worse. A week after we buried my father-in-law, my water broke. I was 16 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Now, I never went into labor on my own and after much discussion with my doctor decided to try to save the pregnancy despite my bag being open. I went to specialist after specialist and was not given very good news. I was constantly leaking fluid, even with being on bed rest, I was losing more fluid than I was keeping in my bag for the baby. They couldn't close the bag back up (yes, I did ask) and they couldn't prevent the fluid from leaking out. After 5 weeks of being on semi bed rest (we had a tri-level split house and I didn't have anyone who could be off work for months to care for me so I had to be laying down or sitting with my feet up except when I was going to the bathroom or getting food or drink), I was sent to Loyola Hospital for special ultrasounds to check my fluid levels again and see how the baby was doing. It wasn't good news. I had even less fluid in than I had for the previous ultrasound and doctors were becoming extremely concerned.

The doctors were concerned for a few reasons. The first was which with my bag being open, I posed risk for infection. Infection that they could do nothing to prevent and if the infection was bad enough or not caught fast enough, could mean leaving me sterile or even death. I was also told that the baby had little to no chance of survival at this point. They said that there was little to no chance that I could carry her full term, if I could carry her full term, the likeliness of her surviving the birth process was slim to none. If, by some miracle, she survived the birth process, she would be unable to move any of her limbs, have any brain function, or breath without machines. You see, that fluid I was leaking is what teaching the baby how to breath, without the fluid she would basically suffocate inside me. That fluid also allows the baby to move inside my uterus and without that movement her joints would freeze and lock up, making it impossible for any of them to move later. That fluid also is what helps the body to expand around her allowing her to grow, without it my body would not expand and would squish her. If she by some chance survived being squished and suffocation, she would be living on machines and unable to move on her own. After a long discussion with my then husband, we decided to take the advice given by my doctor (every week for the past 6 weeks) to terminate the pregnancy.

I was 24 weeks when she was born. Yes, I did say born. My nightmare didn't end with the difficult decision we had to make. I actually had to go through labor and delivery. And to add insult to injury, I had to be induced by given drugs known to cause miscarriage. See the hospital that my insurance covered was a Catholic hospital. My doctor had gotten special permission to induce me, but when I went in for that inducement I found out that they changed their mind. Why? Because my baby still had a heart beat and I didn't show any signs of infection. I had seen my doctor on Friday and he gave me a medication known to cause miscarriage (I think he was trying to prepare for just in case the hospital did give him problems despite having permission, which they did) so Monday when I went in to be induced....they sent me home and refused to do it. The medication kicked in that night and by morning I was in labor.



I will apologize for the graininess on some of these pictures since they are pictures of pictures in a photo book memorial that I have for her.

Kara was born....alive. She lived for about 30 minutes. She looks like a doll, miniature version, but still a doll and at 24 weeks is recognizable as a baby.



The bruising on her bottom and legs was because she was sitting on my bladder the entire last 6 weeks with no fluid and was born breach. I made it to the hospital in time to have her, but not to even have my IV or any pain medication until after she was born. At the time when she was born, 12 years ago now, the hospitals were not equipped to handle a baby born at her gestation, at least not the ones close enough to help and I don't think they were prepared for the possibility that she would even be born alive. I know I wasn't and didn't even realize she was alive until they called her time of death. I was devastated as was all of my family and my then husband's family.



She was not tiny, but she was small. She weighed in at a little over a pound and was 12 inches long. If you look closely at the pictures I posted of her, it looks like she has a giant bear with her and a bracelet on. The bracelet is actually my wedding band and the bear is a beanie baby. I took a picture of the bear here with my computer mouse to give you an idea of its size.



After losing Kara, my doctor ran multiple tests and found I had an autoimmune disease. Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome to be exact. This disorder, is genetic, and causes the blood to clot too much. This means that I am prone to blood clots, poor circulation, and have issues carrying full term. It also can manifest in other ways but multiple miscarriages is usually one of the main symptoms including headaches, migraines, and stroke to name a few. Here is one sight for more information if you want to look into it..... Basically, I have to be on some sort of blood thinner (for me this is a low dose aspirin, but can be as bad as having to get heparin shots depending on the severity) every day, but especially when I am pregnant. It also means that I struggle with anemia.

After Kara, I was depressed, but was able to get pregnant about 3 months later. January 14, 2003 marked another disaster for me. I dilated 4 1/2 centimeters with no labor pains, pressure, or any discomfort at all. I was once again 16 1/2 weeks pregnant. This time I was rushed up north where my doctor's teacher was a doctor to have my cervix stitched closed. By the time I was prepped for surgery my bag was leaking again. Again, I had to go through full labor and due to complications with the delivery (placenta born first and baby refusing to come out), I was rushed down to the ER for emergency D&C because I was starting to hemorrhage.

Now you can see why I say my daughter is my miracle child. Her delivery wasn't easy (sunny side up baby, had to be turned manually during deliver, and gave me lots of stitches) and I was terrified during my entire pregnancy that I was going to face the same problems again, but she was born a healthy 8 pound baby at full term 40 weeks. I was on aspirin daily and had my cervix stitched closed at 12 weeks, but she made it full term. This story isn't usually something I share with everyone, but lately I am seeing more and more Facebook posts about people having miscarriages. It is not something we find easy to share with each other, our stories that is, because it is so personal, so hurtful, so emotionally scarring. I think as women, boyfriends, husbands, and families, we need to start sharing. Sometimes it helps to hear that you are not going through it alone, even if the situation is a little or a lot different from your own. Sometimes it helps to hear that someone is there to listen while you talk. Kara would of been 12 this past July, my second daughter (we did not name her, Kara was born alive and because of state law had to have a funeral and I did not want to bury her without a name)would have been 12 next month and it is still difficult to talk about. I do feel it gets easier with time, with sharing it with people. I still cry, I still hurt, I still struggle some days especially on their birthdays. I will never forget them, never forget what I went through, but talking about it does help me to heal a little more and maybe will help someone else heal a little too.

Danielle's Homemade Products....Cinnamon Applesauce Dough

It is getting closer to that time of year when we think of Christmas gifts and holidays. Every year me and my daughter try to make new ornaments to adorn our Christmas tree. Today, we are working on a new type of ornament. We have done salt dough ornaments, glass ornaments with paint inside (watch for on a future post) and today we are doing cinnamon applesauce ornaments. They smell heavenly and can be hung on the tree or given as gifts.

The dough itself is simple....or so I thought. Equal parts of ground cinnamon and applesauce. That's it. I dumped it in a bagging and gave it to my daughter to squish together. She always loves that part. This recipe, however, made a sticky mess very quickly.



The dough just stuck to her hands and to the cookie cutters. This was not the plan....so I did a little more work on it.

The next batch I tried I put in the same amount of apple sauce but more cinnamon and we had a winner.



My rolling pin broke after my daughter was making ornaments one day so a can works just well or a glass if you have one with straight sides. The new dough rolled out nicely, was still a little tacky but we were able to make the ornaments. Don't forget to use a straw to put a hole in the top where you are going to hang them later.



I didn't have any Christmas themed cookie cutters but we never let that stop us from making something so use what ever you have or whatever strikes your fancy. After you have them all cut out, they will need to dry for atleast 24 hours or until completely dry and hard. They will still have a smell to them so enjoy the lovely fragrance while they hang on your tree.

Here is my final recipe:

1/2 cup of applesauce
1 1/2 jars of cinnamon (each jar of cinnamon was 2.37 oz)
Add more or less cinnamon to make your dough so that it is not too sticky and rolls out nicely

You can double or triple the batch if you want to make a lot of them. Our batch made about 8 ornaments of varying thickness. I recommend making them about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thick so they do not break when you are transferring them over to a surface to dry. I found they tried to stick to my cookie sheet so I moved them over to a cooling rack with wax paper over it. They are still drying now so I don't have any finished ornament pictures (sorry).

Danielle's Homemade Products - Flavored Ice Cubes Tip

With a sick kid at home (which seems like often lately), I have had to be creative in getting her to drink extra fluids. After some thought, I decided to use one of my trusty all purpose items.....ice cube tray

My daughter is a big fan of chocolate...anything chocolate and she is a happy kid (maybe not a happy mom with a hyper kid, but a happy kid none the less)

One thing that I tried was to make different flavored ice cubes. There are so many different combinations that can make drinking special for both kids and adults alike.

Some of the ones that we made include:

Kool Aid - I mixed up a about 2 cups of water with one packet of Kool Aid and added about 1/2 cup of sugar and froze the mixture. Then added a cube or two to water. As the cubes melted, they added flavor and color to her water and she enjoyed watching them melt (though I think she watched them melt more than she drank the water).

Coffee - For adults that like cold coffee (ME!ME!ME!), but do not like the watered down taste of using regular ice cubes to cool it down. Take your left over coffee, let the coffee cool down, and pour it into ice cube trays and freeze. Add to coffee on those hot summer days when cold coffee is on your radar.

Milk Cubes - now this is probably not what you are thinking of. Yes there is some milk in it, but this is really to FLAVOR your milk (I don't give these to my daughter if she is vomiting...not a good idea on a sour stomach either). For my daughter, I took a small amount of milk and added in chocolate syrup and froze them. These can be added to milk for a nice cold treat or even added to a homemade milk shake instead of plain ice cubes or ice cream. I also add peanut butter (warmed first so it mixes into the milk mixture easier) to mine for a peanut butter chocolate milk.


(These are our peanut butter chocolate cubes...these we did over the summer before I did the tip on the scrubbing the stove)

Creamers - Liquid creamer frozen in ice cube trays is another way to add flavor to both milk or cold coffee without diluting the flavors with additional water.

Iced Coffee Mixes - My local store now carries containers of cold coffee, flavored and unflavored (YEAH Starbucks)over in the dairy section. These are also nice to freeze in ice cube trays and add to coffee or milk for additional flavor. This is also a good idea if you do not drink all of the container before it expires (like anyone really does that, but you never know).

Flavored Cubes - My daughter is not a big fan of Pedialyte, but she does like Gatorade and other sports drinks. For me, these are all full of so much sugar that I don't always like giving her them straight. I tend to water them down, which just makes her not happy with mommy. So I came up with a compromise. I take Gatorade, some other sports drink, or Pedialyte and freeze it in an ice cube tray and add them to plain water. It is not as much sugar as having it plain, but gives the water a little more flavor and an electrolyte boost.

The flavor combinations can be endless based on what you like...what flavors would you use?

Danielle's Homemade Products....Foot Care Tip

I am a diabetic. Cringe....yes this means my feet are my mortal enemy. Most of the time they feel like this....



I swear they talk back at times....usually when I am abusing them by being on my feet for long periods of time. Knowing that winter is coming (groan) especially with the Arctic storm they say is suppose to hit us here in the next couple of days, I thought I would take a minute to go over some care tips for your feet.

I know many people that cringe just at the thought of feet, they just do not like them, even their own, but our feet are so important to our everyday and we abuse and neglect them constantly. We squish them into shoes that are too small, heels that are high, walking, running, exercising, and forget about how important they are to our everyday life.

With this constant abuse, we must be extra careful to take care of our feet.



Many people say the feet are the window to the soul...or at least a way to help with other disorders. Reflexology is a tool many use to help with other areas in the body. Suffer from sinus issues? Massage the tips of your toes to help gain relief.

My favorite book for reflexology information is The Art of Reflexology written by Inge Dougans with Suzanne Ellis. This book gives details on steps for massage on the feet and hands for specific issues (like sinuses).

Back to the tips...

1. Check feet often for corns, calluses, bunions, and ingrown toe nails. These are painful and will cause additional problems if not taken care of right away.

2. Foot scrub. It is a good idea to use a foot scrub once a week to help remove any scaly skin and keep your feet smooth. A scrub that is mild is best, one meant for the delicate skin on the hands should work for your feet as well. Body scrubs can be a bit too coarse for the feet and may hurt instead of helping.

3. Lotion. Lotion, Lotion, Lotion. Moisturize your feet. Foot lotion containing peppermint will also help with any foot odors and add a tingling sensation which can be soothing to the feet.

4. Calluses and cracked heels may require a pumice stone. This skin has hardened and can be painful so using a pumice stone occasionally to help remove this is a good idea. Soaking your feet before using a pumice stone can help make removing the hardened skin easier.

5. Pedicure. Pedicures are a nice way to help care for your feet. If you are doing an at home pedicure, heat up water to a comfortable temperature and soak your feet for about 10 minutes. After soaking, check and trim any toe nails that need it, and apply lotion to the feet. For an added aromatherapy treatment, add scented bath salts to the water. In spa treatments may include a foot massage which can relief stress and increase circulation.

6. Moisture Treatments. As a diabetic that gets cracked heels, I have found that a nice thick salve or lotion as an overnight treatment goes a long way to helping keep my feet in summer sandal shape. I will put on a nice layer of salve or lotion, put on socks, and go to bed. Morning comes and the lotion or salve has soaked into my feet, helping to keep them nice and soft. My all purpose salve (available on my website at daniandskye.wix.com/danishomemadeproduct) are one that I like for this. I also use it on my hands and cover them and go to sleep.

7. Massage. Treat yourself to a foot massage. Find a friendly person (I use to do this for family all the time, now I try to get one from my daughter in return for her getting one) and get a nice foot rub. This will increase circulation and help ease tired feet.



Take care of your feet....they are the only ones you ever get. How do you take care of your feet?

Danielle's Homemade Products Headache Tips

Being down for the count with a nasty sinus infection that last week has made me realize how much my headaches affect my day.

Yes, I am a frequent migraine sufferer. Suffer being the key word since they can dictate the day instead of me. During a migraine or bad headache, my head feels like its in a vice.



The pressure seems to build and build, making it feel like a vice is tightening with every second. It hurts to move, breath, and sneezing makes it feel ready to explode. Oh so much worse than any torture chamber in my opinion. I thought I would share some ways to help with headaches and some tips to help avoid them.

First off, there are four types of headaches: Tension, Migraine, Sinus, and Cluster. Each type of headache can cause pain in different areas.



The first most common type of headache is tension headaches. These are most commonly caused by stress. The pain is normally felt around the temples or the eyebrows and is handled with OTC medicine like Tylenol.

Migraines are the 2nd most common type of headache. This can be accompanied by light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, nausea, and vomiting. These can even affect your vision. When a migraine is triggered for me, I can see spots, my vision can go in and out, I may have double vision, or even feel see fireworks.



Cluster headaches are less common, usually affecting men in their 20s though women and children do suffer from them. They tend to run in families. Two of the most common triggers are changes in sleep patterns and medications.

Here are some tips on headaches:

-Alcohol. Limit the amount of alcohol you consume. Alcohol can trigger a headache by dehydrating the body.
-Food. Some people have foods that trigger headaches, usually processed meat products, but every person is different.
-Sleep. Get enough sleep. Changes in sleep patterns or lack of sleep can trigger a headache.
-Posture. Yes, bad posture can cause a headache as it puts stress on the neck and shoulders.
-Eating. This goes along with food. Skipping meals can also trigger headaches.
-Stress. Stress can trigger headaches so try to limit your stress when possible. Some people exercise to relieve stress but over exertion can lead to headaches as well.
-Scents. Some scents can trigger headaches (again everyone is different on which ones). I have a difficult time walking down the candle isle at the store because all of the different scents mingling together is enough to trigger a headache.
-Hair. Having your hair pulled up tightly or back tightly can cause stress on the scalp, triggering a headache (guilty as charged here).

There are things that can be done to help headaches:

-Scents. While scents can trigger a headache, they can also help to ease a headache. Some scents that help with headaches are lemon, lemon balm, peppermint, clove, eucalyptus, and rosemary. Be careful when choosing a scent to try. Some scents are not suitable for people on specific medications, children, or women who are pregnant (peppermint should be avoided during pregnancy, to name one), so make sure to double check your scent before using and consult your doctor to make sure the scent you like does not interfere with your medications.

-Caffeine. Caffeine makes OTC pain medicines about 40% better (hence Excedrin Migraine which is a combination of aspirin and caffeine). Be cautious with caffeine, however, because too much can actually cause a headache as well. Just as lack of caffeine can cause a withdrawal headache. Oy....to caffeine or not to caffeine. This is one of my biggest instigators. If I have too much caffeine, I can get a headache. If I go without caffeine for a day or so, I get a headache. Not a fun things so find the happy medium for yourself. Caffeine can also lead to dehydration which can lead to you....you guessed it...a headache.

-Smoking. As a smoker myself, I find that lighting up that stick of sweet nicotine soothing for tension headaches (hehe sorry), however, those "smokey treats" can also affect headaches for two reasons. First, nicotine constricts your blood vessels which can trigger a headache. Second, smoking can cause dehydration, which can cause a headache. If you are a smoker, like me, make sure to drink extra water to help stave off dehydration. They say to drink 1 additional glass (above the recommended 8 glasses a day) of water for every cigarette you smoke. Personally, I think they are just trying to get us to use more toilet paper because this just means I visit this room more often too. Joking aside, dehydration is a big issue with smokers and drinking extra fluid will help...but avoid additional caffeine since this will just do the opposite for you. They say to add an additional glass of water for every cup of caffeine that you drink as well.

-Triggers. Know your triggers. Keep track of when you have headaches and what you were doing before they happened. Some people are sensitive to foods and smells so keep track of what you ate or smelled right before a headache too. These can help your prevent them in the future.

-Medications. Some medications actually cause headaches (read your side effects info that the pharmacy gives with your prescription). I remember the doctor prescribing me Seldane (not sure how it is spelled so sorry if it is wrong) when I was in high school. The medicine was a double duty one. It helped with my allergies and with my headaches....funny thing was that this little baby also caused headaches. I never understood why I would be prescribed a medicine for my headaches that caused headaches....guess that is why I am not the doctor. This medicine has since been taken off the market...I am not sure why so I won't speculate, I only know because I was told by a doctor a few years back that it is no longer offered (I asked because it did work well with my allergies).

-Allergies. Speaking of allergies, these can cause an irritation or inflammation in the sinus cavities and nasal passages. This inflammation can cause a headache as well. As a year round allergy sufferer, I find that a daily dose of an allergy medicine that includes a decongestant does help me most of the time. Just a caution though, decongestants can make the sinus passages dry which can lead to so many other problems like a bloody nose so use with caution. I find that a saline spray helps prevent dry nose. Using a netty pot of some kind can also help to relieve sinus pain and clear out the nasal passages. I use this when my sinuses are inflamed, but not everyone likes these (they can be kinda gross to use at first especially if you are really congested and blocked), so do what works for you.

There are many more ways to help with headaches than those that I listed above. What do you do when you have a headache?

Danielle's Homemade Products Hand Care Tip

Recently, I heard that a woman's age can be determined just by looking at her hands....Yikes. I would hate to hear what my hands say about me since I constantly abuse them. With winter on the way in, this is a concern for chapped, cracked, and dry skin are my worst enemies.

My hands take a beating all year round, with cleaners (even homemade ones), scrubbing, showers, dishes, you name it. I must quote Water Boy here and say that Water Sucks in this case because it kills my poor hands.

After the last cleaning binge I had, my poor hands looked just terrible.



My hands were in a bad place and I didn't want anyone to see them. With winter coming up, they can get that bad and worse. So I thought...hmm I wonder if anyone else has this same problem and thought I would share what I do to help them out and tips to protect your hands.

The first thing I do is use a hand scrub. I offer a sweet orange version on my website, but I also make a quick one for when I don't want a scented hand scrub or need a quick body scrub. Fill a small jar 3/4 of the way with sugar, pour a thin layer of oil over the top of the sugar (I use olive oil, but whatever you have will work), then fill the jar the rest of the way with dish soap ( I use Dawn, but any kind would work, if you have one that has a moisturizer in it, that is even better). Then stir the items together and add additional sugar if the mixture is too loose. I like mine on the dry side, but this is preference. Then take a scoop of it out, rub it over your hands and rinse off in warm water. Try not to make the water too hot as this will dry your hands out more as well.

After using a scrub on your hands (you should do this at least once a week), make sure to apply a nice lotion or salve to your hands and allow it to soak in. I use my own All Purpose Salve (available on my website at daniandskye.wix.com/danishomemadeproduct). I like the salve better than lotion since it soaks in pretty fast and doesn't give me the greasy feel lotion does (I seriously feel like I need to wash my hands again after putting lotion on so this would defeat the purpose of the moisturizer).

If your hands are really dry or cracked, it is a good idea to moisturize over night as well. To do this, I put on a thick coat of my all purpose salve (use what you prefer but I swear by my salve for many different things), then put on a pair of gloves (I have a fabric pair that I bought for this purpose or sometimes I just put on a pair of latex gloves I keep on hand for meat cutting, or even a clean pair of socks will work), and then go to bed. That simple. By morning, the salve has soaked in and softened my hands a great deal and it is much easier to moisturize them with a thin coat of my salve throughout the day.

My hands were in pretty bad shape so I did the scrub and moisturize routine for a couple of days but here is what they looked like after the couple of days.



Big improvement, but not quite fully repaired.

Some tips to protect your hands:

1. Moisturize. You should apply some kind of lotion or salve to your hands at least 4 times a day to help retain moisture and prevent chapping.

2. Temperatures. Watch the temperature on your water when you wash your hands. It should not be either too hot or too cold, both will strip moisture from your skin. Make sure to dry your hands completely (don't forget in between your fingers) after you wash them and apply lotion or salve to your hands.

3. Gloves. When washing dishes or cleaning, protect your hands with gloves. Gloves can even be used for over night moisturizing when your hands are really dry or cracked.

4. Cleaners. Chemicals can be harsh on the skin (just check out the pics of my hands above). When possible, choose a mild cleaner or soap to keep from tearing up your hands. Some body soaps can be full of chemicals as well so go homemade or mild whenever possible.

5. Exfoliate. Use your favorite hand scrub to help remove the build up of skin cells. Don't forget to moisturize afterwards.

6. Protect. Protect your hands from weather, both sun damage and winter cold damage. This will help keep your hands looking youthful for many more years.

After taking care of my hands, I don't worry about showing them off. Which is a good thing since I tend to gesture and talk with my hands and they are always visible. I certainly don't want people to be able to guess my age by the looks of my hands, even if my polish wears off quickly. How do you care for your hands? Leave a comment below.

Danielle's Homemade Products Lip Care Tip

It has been chilly here the last couple of days and it reminded me that winter was coming. Winter is not fair to one part of our bodies that many of us forget to take care of....your Lips



Here is a little low down on our lips....

Did you know that the lips are the only part of the body that we expose to all weathers without thinking about them? They get sunburned in the summer, wind burn or chapped in the winter and everything in between.

The lips are the most sensitive skin we have on our bodies...don't believe me? Try this little test from my high school psychology teacher. Take 2 toothpicks and touch them to your finger. How close can you get them together before you no longer recognize that there are two? Do the same with your lips? Or better yet, have the partner in your life do the test while you sit with your eyes closed or blind folded. I am sure you will be surprised. I know I was...way back a million years ago now (or so it seems).

Most people have about 16 layers of skin on their face....but the lips have only 3 layers. The skin on the body has between 3 and 5 layers of skin with sweat glands, oil glands, and hair follicles. The lips have only 3 layers and depend on your care for their moisture (they have no sweat glands or oil glands to self moisturize themselves...poor things).

It is not too late to change...here is what you can do or stop doing

1. Drink plenty of water. Water hydrates your skin from the inside out including your lips. Caffeine will dehydrate your skin and lips so drink an extra glass for every cup of caffeine you indulge in. Remember..if you are thirsty, your body is already dehydrated so drink up.

2. Stop licking your lips. Yes, I am guilty of this too. The thing to remember is that saliva is meant to help you digest food. Do you really want to literally eat your lips? Kinda gross when you think of it that way right?

3. Keep your lips out of the elements. I know this sounds silly, but its a big deal. In the summer, wear a hat that shades your lips. In the winter, cover your face and lips with a scarf. These will make a difference in how dry your lips will be.

4. Don't breath through your mouth. As a mouth breather myself for many years, I know how difficult this one is too change, but every breath in or breath out through the mouth dries out your lips.

5. Exfoliate. There are a couple of ways to do this. A soft toothbrush will work, rub the bristles gently over your lips to loosen dead skins. A lip scrub will also help to remove dead skins, but be cautious. Body scrubs may be too harsh on the lips so get one designed for the lips (I offer a few varieties on my website daniandskye.wix.com/danishomemadeproduct, I also will make custom flavors or scents as well, that are made with either cocoa butter or shea butter)



6. Apply moisture. When possible, use a lip balm that has a SPF of at least 15, but lip balm applied will be a big help. You don't want to put a thick coat on, just enough to coat the lips. Too much and you may be tempted to lick your lips for the flavor...remember this is a NO NO. Find a lip balm that you like and use it when ever you are tempted to lick your lips, or if they feel dry (I offer a few varieties on my website, see link above, and will be offering a chocolate flavored one in the next couple weeks).

Let's stop abusing a very tender part of our bodies. Make your lips kissable for this coming winter and protect them.

Danielle's Homemade Products....Tip

I realize I haven't posted in over a week and for that I apologize. Life has been crazy here and we have had some family tragedy as well with an unexpected death in the family. It has been a rough week so I thought I would post about something fun to do with the family.

My daughter is 6 and her favorite thing in the world to play with.....SHAVING CREAM. But plain old shaving cream can get boring after a while. So I have found ways to make play time with shaving cream a little more fun. Today I will post about one of those that we did over the summer and she is constantly begging to do again.

It is very simple and requires two things:

Shaving cream (I buy the cheapest from the Dollar Tree when I can)
water balloons

Take the water balloons and stretch them over the nozzle of the shaving cream can and fill them with shaving cream. Not too full or they will pop while you are filling, but if not full enough they may not pop when you play with them.

Here are our balloons.



Since the balloons were not very heavy, they did not break on impact when we were throwing them at each other, but instead broke when they hit the grass. I will admit....I wasn't very nice. She picked up a handful of the shaving cream off the grass and I helped her to wear it....sorry kiddo but it was kinda funny



I won't lie...I laughed and she didn't like it, but since she was covered in shaving cream already, I let her finish playing with the shaving cream in the bathtub and that made her day.



She LOVES shaving cream....how can you make shaving cream play better? Look for future posts on what other ways we use shaving cream to play.

Danielle's Homemade Products....Tip

Well, life has certainly gotten away from me this past week or so...from funerals to computer issues it has not been a good week and one thing always seems to make those crazy weeks worse: having to argue with your child because it is time to come in the house for the night and their friends keep knocking on the door.

I don't know about you, but this is one of my biggest pet peeves. Now that my daughter has friends in the area we are at, it seems they are always knocking on the door, and I mean ALWAYS. During homework time (she is not allowed to play until after her homework is completed, checked, and signed by me), when it is time to eat dinner, and when it is time to come in for the night to shower and prepare for bed. It has gotten to the point that I don't even answer the door myself most times any more because it is more likely for her than for me (my daughter is the little social butterfly).

Well...let me tell you how I reached my breaking point. It started Sunday evening. During the school year, I have my daughter come in the house around 7pm each night, that gives her time to shower, settle down, and maybe read a few books before her 8pm bedtime (she is 6 after all and not a pleasant child to get up in the morning so an early bed time is a must). Well 8 oclock comes around and she still has friends knocking on the door....REALLY?

I was not a happy mom at all and she ended up having to come in early Monday night because she didn't go to bed when she was suppose to and wanted to fight the entire process because her friends kept coming by. I put a stop to that with a quick solution last night...well temporary one for the moment anyway until I can create a new one that is a little more...artsy.

Here is what I did last night...

I found an old door hanger that she had decorated on one side. With the help of a sharpy marker...I made a little sign that I hung on the door using a suction cup hook.



Now, this is just a temporary version that I will use until I can make a new one a little nicer that has two sides, one saying she can play, and one saying she can not play. This way, when it is time to come in for the night, eat dinner, or get ready for bed, her friends will be able to know before knocking whether she can play or not. She liked the idea and enjoyed taking the sign off the door when she finished her homework and went outside to play yesterday. When she came in for the night, she hung the sign back on the door without me even having to ask (BONUS LOL). Eventually, it will be easier because it will be a matter of flipping over the sign instead of taking it completely off or putting it on (less likely that it will be lost), but for now my temporary version seems to be working...and I am one happy momma

Danielle's Homemade Products...Tip

As I mentioned before, here in Indiana the fleas are horrible and it is now time to mix up some more of my homemade flea shampoo. Since I promised on my last post that I would add this little tidbit I thought now was a good time.



I mean who can say no to that shy face (I haven't figured out why but he does not like the camera and tries to hide the minute I have the camera out), but at 11 years old he is allowed to be grumpy now and again.

This recipe if very simple and has 3 ingredients.

1 cup of Dawn dish soap (I use the original blue)
1 cup of white vinegar
4 cups of warm water

Mix the three together and you are ready for bath time (even if your pet isn't).

I saved one of my bottles of Dawn and use that to hold my flea soap. I have been known to mix up a large batch and keep it ready in an empty gallon water jug. I have not found any issues with making the larger batch and using it when I need it and refilling my container when it needs it too. I have seen that it kills the fleas almost immediately either way. I have noticed that the soap is colder (even in the summer time) than when I first mix it with the warm water so keep that in mind. Harley is usually pretty cooperative when it comes to bath time (that does not mean he likes it by any means), but when the soap is not warmed up at least a little he doesn't like it at all. So I usually let the jug sit in warm water to warm it up a bit before he gets a bath.



Happy washing...

Danielle's Homemade Products....Tip

I don't know about the area you live in, but here in Indiana it seems I fight fleas (yucky) all summer long and sometimes throughout the winter months too. Here we have sand fleas which seem to be that much more difficult to fight and despite using medicated products for my dog, it never seems to work.



Thumper is what our dog is affectionately known as though his name is really Harley. He gets to scratching something fierce and thumps on the ground in the process...which while comical to watch is not really because that means its time for another bath...not so much his favorite time.

There is a couple of things that I do to help the poor guy out.

The first is a homemade flea wash. Its very simple and inexpensive and I have seen the yuckiness wash down the drain with it so I will continue to make this and use it on him as often as necessary.

The second thing I do is a homemade flea spray. This is also very simple and easy to make, though Harley now runs from me when he sees me holding a spray bottle in my hand

The third thing I do is to add a little something special to his dog food. Did you know fleas do not like garlic? When I mix up his food for the day, I add a few twirls around his bowl of extra virgin olive oil (Or EVOO for foodies) and then add a few spoons of minced garlic. I stir the two items into his food and he thinks he is getting a special treat. Now, I must say that we also call Harley our garbage disposal since he pretty much eats anything you give him (luckily he stopped eating non food items when he pasted his puppy stage) but food wise he is all for it. I avoid a few things like corn (not a fun mess to clean up later) because of the way ruffage works on his stomach, but otherwise he will eat anything so the special drizzle to his food he is in heaven.

From the scratching and biting he does when the fleas are bothering him the most, he is always losing hair on his tail and hind area (he gets hot spots as well). After I give him a bath, I will also spread some of my all purpose salve on any sore spots I find while bathing him. He has his own dedicated jar. Yes, he does tend to then lick those spots, however the all purpose salve is all natural and will not harm him but does help with the dry skin and itchiness associated with the flea bites that he had.



You can find my all purpose salve on sale on my website daniandskye.wix.com/danishomemadeproduct
I use it on my daughter, myself, loved ones, and my dog because it is safe and works for so many things.

I find with the four combined its not as difficult to keep the fleas under control. Watch for future posts on making the flea shampoo and flea spray.

.....There goes Thumper again...time for another bath

Danielle's Homemade Products....Tip

I have lived in my place now for about 7 years. The stove in my place was there before I moved in and was not in the best shape. I have tried every product I could think of to remove the caked on burnt mess on my burners but haven't had much luck...well until recently.

I had ordered a product from a catalog that was designed to help clean grill grates and make life easier when it comes time to clean your grill. Unfortunately, the label on the product advised against using it on non-stick surfaces...figures because my gas grill that I bought last year has non-stick coating on the grates and I was not about to mess with that.

But then I got to thinking....I wonder what it would do to my yucky messy stove. Here is the before picture.



Now I will admit that some of the mess was my creation...the red marks are from making my candle melts right before hand, but otherwise the stove had just been scrubbed down. I hated how this looked all the time. So...I decided to try out my product....



Oh YEAH....I think I did a little dance when I saw the difference...so I kept scrubbing over the next couple of days and here is the way it looks now...completely free of burnt on mess...



I can not even begin to tell you how thrilled I was...

The product I bought came in a package of two stones. I think they were called Magic Stones. Here is a pic of the label from the opened package.



Now a bit of warning...this product is like a pumice stone. I used a microfiber rag to wipe up as I went along and it did stain the rag badly even after washing (I ended up throwing it away). It also was pretty harsh as the stone scrapes away at the gunk (yes, I said gunk) it slowly deteriorates similar to a Magic Eraser, but is gritty and sand like. This will scratch surfaces, but I was ok with the scratches compared to the gunk on my stove. It did a number on my hands as well and when I finished up the scrubbing on the second day I wore a pair of powder and latex free exam gloves (just like the doctors wear), but the stone quickly tore holes in the gloves so I ended up taking them off shortly afterwards. The stone did tear up my hands because of it...but a few nights of my all purpose hand salve with more gloves on has helped a lot with the damage from the stone and for me the clean stove was worth my hands being cracked and sore for a day or two afterwards. Two days later now and I only have one small cut left on my right pinky finger that is almost completely healed (YEAH to the all purpose salve).





These are my hands this morning after treating with my all purpose salve the last 2 nights. You can see the small pink mark on my pinky by the knuckle and the slight dry cracks on my pointer finger...very big improvement from the raw and an open cracks I had after finishing my stove. One more night of treatment should do the trick completely. Then I will have both nice soft uncracked hands and a nice clean stove....double bonus there.