A Few Things We Found Interesting…and Deb’s Cookout:

Good morning guys, and welcome back! How are ya’ll today? We got a little shower yesterday, not much, maybe a ½ inch, but we sure needed it! It’d been awful dry, but except for those couple cold days, the weather has been beautiful.

They’re forecasting around 74 to 75 degrees Saturday, and sunny as can be, so it’s lookin as if Deb’s gonna have a perfect day for her cookout! I tell you all what, the good Lord sure smiles on her! Man we’re blessed.

We had a good friend send us some tips the other day, and I thought we’d share them with you all today. Then I picked up a “Farmer’s Almanac,” and dad-gum if it didn’t have some interesting stuff in it too.

I love reading one of them though, and we do use it in regards to plantin the garden. Speakin of the garden, we’re pickin up cow manure from where we’d been putting out hay for them. I try to hay them in just 2-3 different spots, and by doing this it allows us to accumulate manure pretty quickly. Plus it’s convenient because we keep this close to our garden spot.

We rake our oak leaves too, and we’ll be adding them as well. Over the summer, we bag the grass clippings every so often and this really helps out as a soil builder. Deb likes all this because it’s organic. I like it too, but mainly because it’s…FREE!

It won’t be long and we’ll be settin out some potatoes. I’ve never grown them before. Never. We always have some friends with potatoes, and we’d just do some swappin out. But we want to give em a try this year.

Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the tips. Our friend that sent these along to us you guys will probably recognize…John Minn. John has been so helpful to Deb and I both, and we really appreciate being able to call him…our friend! Thanks for everything John!

You can create a window box garden by using gutters.

Freeze Aloe Vera in ice cube trays for soothing sunburn relief.

If you’ll turn your muffin pan UPSIDE down, lay your cookie dough over the tops of them, and bake…you’ll have self-made cookie bowls for fruit cups, or ice cream…whatever.

If you’ll install a small tension rod under your sink (like a shower curtain rod), you’ll create a spot to hang your spray bottles.

You can bake your cupcake mix right in an ice cream cone. What a treat for the kids.

Bread package “tags” make perfect electrical cord labels.

Attach Velcro strips to a wall in your child’s room. A built in spot to hold their small stuffed toys.

You can re-use your wet wipes canister to store your plastic bags from the grocery store, etc. They’ll pull out just like the wipes did.

Overhaul your linen cupboard, by storing your bed linen sets inside one of their own pillowcases. This will stop you hunting through your linens for a match.

Remove your children’s “masterpieces,” from their crayons on your TV or computer screens by using WD40. This works great for removing oil, grease or gas from your hands too.

Rubbing a walnut over dings and scratches on your furniture will disguise these imperfections.

You can hull strawberries by simply running a straw from the bottom end up through the top.

You can stop your child’s cut up apple slices from browning by wrapping a rubber band around them and forming the whole apple again.

You can microwave your own popcorn by placing the kernels in a brown paper bag. Much cheaper than buying the store-bought packs.

You can hang magnetic strips behind a vanity door and use them to hold your bobby pins, tweezers, clippers, etc.

You can amplify the volume of your iPhone or iPod by simply placing it in a bowl. The concave shape pumps up the sound.

These next tips come from the “Farmer’s Almanac…” There was an article on bees that was pretty interesting. Here’s a few points from it.

Benefits From Raw Honey:

For a cut or scrape, apply raw honey and cover with a gauze bandage before bed. All signs of infection or redness are likely to be gone in the morning.

For first or second-degree burns apply raw honey immediately. It reduces the pain and blistering, helps prevent infection, and helps to speed regeneration of new tissue.

For sore lips just coat with raw honey.

The same article states that bee stings are now used to treat immune system disorders, the nervous and endocrine systems, rheumatological diseases, such as arthritis; and multiple sclerosis (MS). This is bee venom therapy, or BVT. This therapy stimulates the body’s production of cortisol, the natural version of synthetic cortisone, which is used today’s conventional treatment for arthritis.

So, it’s fairly easy to see that there are numerous different natural ways of aiding our bodies, and different techniques of doing so. Without getting off into any type of debate on conventional, versus alternative treatments for any number of different ailments, I’d like to just state an opinion.

Do you watch the commercials that they play so often anymore in regards to new drugs on the market? It’s amazing to me the number of different drugs out there today, and the whole spectrum of ailments that they supposedly heal. Alright, I listen to them. BUT…

Listening towards the end they start giving you the many different…side-effects! Dizziness, loss of vision, shortness of breath, dangers of heart problems, suicidal thoughts, and it goes on and on and on?? When in the world does the number of possible bad things that can happen, outweigh the good things that can happen, or in other words, the cure??

How can this stuff ever be approved with all the potential for danger…simply by taking them? Have the pharmaceutical companies gotten SO big, and SO greedy that everything has become, or is becoming…all about the dollar?

Let’s hope not.

Let’s look at a few other things that we found pretty interesting…

Vinegar is Very Beneficial

You can clean your countertops with a rag soaked in white distilled vinegar. The vinegar kills all the germs and bacteria.

You can take white distilled vinegar and spray it on your shower door prior to showering, and it takes off limescale deposits.

You can also keep the inside of your dishwasher clean and looking new, by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar in it and running it through a cleaning cycle.

While we’re discussing vinegar, let’s take a look at a vinegar that Deb and I take each morning, and its benefits…Braggs Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar.

Potassium – helps to prevent brittle teeth, hair loss and runny noses.

Pectin – helps to regulate blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol.

Malic Acid – gives ACV the properties of being anti-viral, anti-bacterial & anti-fungal.

Calcium – helps create strong bones and teeth.

Ash – gives ACV its alkaline property which aids your body in maintaining proper pH levels for a healthy alkaline state.

Acetic Acid – It appears that this acid slows the digestion of starch which can help to lower the rise in glucose that commonly occurs after meals.

Deb and I have been using this for a while now, and plan on continuing it daily from here on out. By helping to alkaline your body, our intention is helping out her other alternatives in regards to her cancer. So far, so good.

Well, this will bout wind us up for today. We’ve been awfully busy this past 2 to 3 weeks. You guys know we’ve got a big shindig planned for ole Deb, and it’s almost here. Saturday is the day! This is going to be a great experience for us both!

First off, is the fact of how hard she’s worked with her alternatives. Once more her positivity has not wavered one bit, and she’s convinced she’s going to whip this stuff. Plus, I’m convinced as well! She never complains, moans or groans, only works at it…works at it…and works at it. Focused, determined, and total faith in our good Lord! What a woman!

Secondly, my enjoyment will come from seeing her enjoyment. This is done for her to “let her hair down,” forget about everything, and be happy from sunup to sundown…no worries!

We’re so thankful for our friends and family that think enough of us to come celebrate Deb’s day with us! We are truly grateful! You guys too have been so beneficial in her fight with this, and we can’t thank ya’ll enough. Your prayers, love, and concern, have all been vital in her doing so well! Thank you all!

I’ll video some of the party and we’ll share this with you too!

You guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb says for you guys to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb