An Apothecary Journal

I have had a few emails and questions after my apothecary bag post, so I thought that I would share more about our recent experiences. Lately it seems more and more normal for people to take charge of their own health and find gentle natural healing for everyday bothers instead of always running to the drugstore. This makes me so happy!!! Most of you know that once upon a time I was a pediatric nurse at Children's Hospital, my career as a nurse taught me, above all, that there is a delicate balance between natural healing and modern medicine. My husband also works in the medical field as a firefighter/paramedic and believe me, if you are in an emergency situation you want the wisdom of men like him administering life giving fluids and medicines until you can make it to the hospital. However, I also believe that to be able to treat and heal my family using natural methods (that cause no side effects) is something that I need to learn more about and put into practice.

That's all well and good, but lately I had a conversation with a friend that was afraid to employ natural medicines "in case it didn't work" and then she would feel guilty. You see if a doctor prescribes the wrong "remedy" you have someone to blame. There was also a underlying fear that these man made medicines were stronger and better than homeopathic things. I was actually surprised to find those same feelings in myself!! Me! The hardcore hippie, the mama that has cured dozens of cases of pinkeye, and several ear infections, and staph boils, and terrible diaper rash, and all without ever leaving my home or consulting a doctor! How could I doubt MY ability to heal? Because I was trained to believe that I couldn't. So a few weeks ago I decided that I would explore this deeper and document it better (an apothecary journal) and prove to that part of myself that I CAN do these things. I needed to prove to myself that it wasn't "all in my head" that this stuff really works. 

 

Now of course in the middle of all of this my children got sick. I treated their symptoms using homeopathic remedies and one morning I knew that Tim wasn't getting better. We needed our doctor (who by the way is a DO, and usually gives me a list of foods and herbs along with modern medicine every time we see him), Tim had strep and needed an antibiotic. Thank God for antibiotics! They definitely have their place and so do amazing doctors that support mamas like me! Timothy also had a case of poison oak that was drying up (it had pretty much ran its course at this point and I had been treating it at home) after 2 days on the antibiotic his throat was much better, his poison oak was almost gone, but one sore was left from scratching and he woke up that morning with it red, swollen, angry, and hot, it had turned into cellulitis (a skin infection). This had developed while on the antibiotic so I knew that the antibiotic wasn't going to take care of it. I already had my friend mixing me a remedy for poison oak so I went that morning and picked it up. I soaked the arm in Epsom salt and applied the cream 3 times throughout the next 24 hours. (I also applied immune boost oil blend to his body for obvious reasons.) The results were AMAZING and I was so glad that I documented it! THAT was not "all in my head".  

My sister jumped on this train with me and after her boy tested positive for flu got a homeopathic flu remedy. Her husband came home the next day from work and went straight to bed he was so sick, she gave him the flu remedy 2-3 times and the next morning he got up and went to work feeling fine! Her little boy had bounced back in just a day too. 

Penny had a runny nose and was extra drooly from being sick so developed eczema on her little face, after 36 hours and 3 applications of the homeopathic cream it's almost completely gone. Not-in-my-head. 

Sunday I was at my mother in law's house and one of the children came in screaming. He had been stung by a bee. He was pitiful. We applied a crushed plantain leaf from the yard  we taped it on and left it) to the bite and a pain ease oil blend to his body and within 2 minutes he was back outside playing. More amazing than that was the fact that the bite didn't swell and by the next morning you couldn't see the sting at all. 

It's not "all in my head", I have proven that to myself, and I hope that a peek into my apothecary journal will inspire you to learn more about how you can heal your family naturally too! If you are interested in where I get my remedies and oil blends look HERE. I can also recommend the book "Backyard Medicine" too (I have the kindle edition). If you have any tips, links, or testimonies about natural healing I would LOVE for you to share them in the comments section of this post! xo, Sam

Perfectly Imperfect

I woke up this morning, after not much sleep, absolutely determined to get something done! For days I have been coming to the end of my day with nothing to show for it. Oh sure, the kids were all fed and taken care of, the house was somewhat clean (for having kids with colds), the laundry had been done and undone and done again, but nothing creative has happened aside from the little apothecary bag. I sometimes struggle with "mama blues" (I refuse to say the D word) during lulls like this, I've realized over the years that for me being a happy mama means balancing creativity and children. A lot of times that means waiting until they are busy or in bed to sneak in a little sewing time, sometimes that means leaving Daddy in charge for a while, sometimes it means that I include them in my project and we get creative together, and sometimes (like today) it means that I give up that vision of the "perfect" creative time and just take what I can get!  It's important, because it makes me happy, and when I'm happy I can handle situations much more gracefully than when I'm blue. 

So today I took a few minutes and arranged this mini office in my bedroom , instead of my lovely upstairs office, and I accepted the fact that I may have a sick kid or two (or five) next to me, at my feet, in my lap, i may have to stop and start waaaay more than usual, I may even have a little pile of soiled hankies next to me, but together we will get something done today.  

Daddy is bringing home take out (that's a nice treat!), mama is going to get this new pattern sent off to testers, children are going to lay around, watch more TV than they are normally allowed (since they are sick), and the world will keep right on turning! And best of all at the end of the day I will have a happy heart, loved children, something that I didn't cook to eat, and in a week or so a new pattern for you guys! It will all work out!

Oh look, my first visitor! Come on in sweet love, just snuggle in, mama's here. xo, Sam

A New Apothecary Bag

 I've had sick kids for the last few days, it's just a spring cold but it's enough (with five kids) to take up a good bit of my time. We've been doing a lot of listening to books, playing card games, rocking, watching Netflix, taking baths......you know, the usual.  Well by last night I was desperate to sit in front of my machine with a good book playing, and I knew just the project that would be fast and be  put to good use immediately! An apothecary bag! That's my name for it anyhow, Molly and I have a thing for naming things pretty names from books lately (I'll tell you more about that later). The word apothecary just sounds so much nicer than medicine doesn't it? I thought about the word remedy too but it just lacks the romance that the word apothecary has...anyhow. (Maybe I got hooked on the word from reading "The Apothecary's Daughter" a while back?) after the babies were asleep last night and my big kids were all laying around I snuck (babies know when you want to sew and they don't like it!) up the steps very carefully and started this little bag.  

 I used canvas for the outside, added a little imperfect cross that I tacked down using a running stitch with embroidery floss. After adding the lining I tacked it into place along the zipper using the same technique. 

I added pockets to keep all of my little bottles standing upright (I also stitched creases in the bag to keep the shape better, that helps keep the bottles upright too).

 Everything I needed fit in quite nicely and I have room for a few more bottles. Mama's apothecary bag is now ready for faithful service for the next few years. Hey, if you've got to doctor sick kids you may as well do it in style right? I'll be back soon friends! xo, Sam
 

 

One of my favorite pictures....

 

We are Home

Boy it's hard to come back to reality after a trip like that! We walked back in to the craziness that is a family wedding. Ben's baby brother, my "first" baby (just a sweet 6 year old boy when we started dating) David, got married to one of the sweetest girls on the planet this past weekend. We arrived home just in time to help decorate, be in the wedding, send them on their way to Mexico, and clean up. It was a beautiful wedding! 

Then we had to clean up at home. WOW! Outside we had a mess from the crazy last few minutes of finishing the camper before we left, the inside was fine, until we unpacked! Oh my goodness! It took me until today to get it all back in order, but just now my house is clean, the clothes are washed and put away, school has resumed, and I feel like its a home again. 

Today we did school on the porch and had an easy day. We have a few stuffy noses and scratchy throats so an easy day was just what we needed. I'm already thinking about all of the pictures and journal quotes that are coming soon. My goodness it was such a wonderful trip! I can't wait to tell, but for now home again feels good. xo, Sam

PS. I've got a new app for blogging! (Look HERE to see the app.) It solves all of my problems that I've had with blogging apps before. I can upload pictures in the size I want, add links, format the post how I like, so far I feel like its as good as being at the computer! I thought you may like to know. :)

The Outer Banks: Ocracoke Island

After DC we stayed in Richmond, VA with friends for a few days. We had a blast with our friends! We played a lot of poker (Ahem....Not to brag but, I totally won!), ate good food, and our kids loved having playmates. On the way to the outer banks we stopped by to see Dawn (from Olabelhe) and her family! We are planning a longer visit for next time because our kids hit it off. :)

Oh my goodness! This place is beautiful!!! Everything here is locally owned, there are no big hotels or chain stores, just beach, sweet little B&B's and bike paths. We took a ferry over to the island and the kids were just as excited about that as they were the beach. The ferry is free and runs every hour on the hour. There is a little wifi hot spot here at a little general store and they sell bite sized apple pies ( they are so good!) so we call it apple pie and wifi. The kids can FaceTime friends and family from back home when we come here. They are talking to their cousin Charlie right now. :)

My kids are keeping travel journals and when I get back home I'm going to do a big post with a day by day account of this trip, we really are having the time of our lives. I'm so grateful for the chance to do is!! 

The last few days have been so relaxed and fun. One day we rode our bikes to town (a short 3 mile ride) and poked around. One day it rained so we just hung out and played cards all day in the airstream. Today my kids have been on the beach most of the day. 

We only have 6 days left before we get back home, I can't believe it! Our next stop is the Great Smokey Mountains and then home. I'll check back in soon friends! xo, Sam 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

New York, Philly, and DC

Since I last checked in we have been city slickers by day and campers by night. Hehe!

We saw New York, and that was all well and good, but the best part was heading over the bridge into Hoboken, NJ to see Carlo's Bakery. My kids were in heaven! They love Cake Boss (what we can see on Netflix) and they were so excited to get to see a guy from the show there. We got cannolis and cheesecake, AMAZING!

Then we headed to Philadelphia to see Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, eat some REAL Philly cheese steak, and see the Fireman Museum. It was a fun time! We got brave and took bikes into Philly and it went very well! We got to see so much more! And the kids just loved riding on sidewalks, it was like an adventure in an adventure. :)

Next was Washington DC, oh my, it was SO MUCH FUN! We have friends, Nathan and Amanda, that live in the city so we got our own personal biking tour guides! We rode well over 20 miles on our bikes (in two days) and got to see everything we wanted to see. It was definitely my favorite city! It's clean, beautiful, and very very bike friendly, it was also in FULL bloom! We did the Museum of Natural History, National Archives, Arlington Cemetery and the changing of the guards (so moving...), waved at all of the monuments and special buildings (White House, Capitol, Pentagon, Watergate, historic Georgetown) and Georgetown Cupcakes (From the show DC Cupcakes). I don't know what was better, the bike riding, the sights, or the good company, it was a blast!!

By the way we voted, Carlo's Bakery tasted better, but Georgetown Cupcakes was looked better. :) It really was a cute little shop.

At the moment we are headed to Richmond,VA to spend some time with our good friends Brandon and Katie.

We have two weeks left on the road and we are so excited about our next few stops! Richmond, Cape Hatteras, and the Great Smoky Mountains... I'll check in again soon! xo, Sam