A Cure for Cancer

So a little over a year ago a friend sent me and awesome article that changed some of my views on vaccinations and maintaining one's health. After reading it, despite all the freaking out everyone was doing about the Swine flu, and despite being pregnant and having the nurse midwives offer me a vaccination every time I visited, I decided to decline a vaccination and try an experiment. Instead I started taking a 2000 UI Vitamin D supplement. And no, I did not get the flu.

The article was very adamant about the fact that vaccinations, especially for influenza, are no guarantee that you will not get sick, and may even increase the risk. This is mainly because they are created year to year from an old form of flu and every year the flu changes. So the vaccination you get is not the same flu you are fighting. The article also pointed to Vitamin D deficiency as the main cause for getting sick during "flu season" which made sense to me because people get a lot less sun in the colder months. Anyway, you are welcome to read the full article here. This is mainly my intro to another, even more amazing discovery about the benefits of the Sunshine Vitamin.

My sister sent me a great article today that reinforces my belief that vitamin D is very important. You can read the full article here.

It is rather long but in summery, if roughly tells us this: Vitamin D is the cure for Cancer, and a deficiency in Vitamin D is the cause of Cancer and many of the debilitating diseases.


Here's a little excerpt from the article that I wanted to share. Enjoy!
~Julie :}

"Centuries ago, when Vikings and other European seafarers took to the high seas for years at a time, they pioneered new trade routes and they mostly died of skin cancer. Native American Indians, living mostly outdoors, also mostly died of skin cancer.

What?

You never heard that? Right. Because it didn't happen.

Here are a few things that really did happen:

•In the 1980s, dermatologists began warning about the dangers of sunlight. Their advertisements were heavily funded by the cosmetics and sun screen industry.

•In the 1980s the current triple childhood epidemics of asthma, diabetes, and autism quietly began. Rates of cancer and other chronic illnesses began to escalate.

•In 1989, the American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs warned about the dangers of sun-exposure, advising mothers and children to "stay out of the sun as much as possible."

•In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned mothers to always keep infants out of direct sunlight, use sun-protective clothes, sun block, and make sure children's activities in general minimize sunlight exposure.

•In 2000, it was documented that rickets – vitamin D deficiency – is making a comeback in American children who drink less milk and more juice and sodas.[1]

Today, we have escalating rates of cancer and chronic disease. Many say hiding from the sun's rays, and living with the subsequent low levels of vitamin D, was one of the tickets to that train wreck.

Let There Be Light
Mankind was designed to bask in the rays of the sun."

More Julie Notes:
Honestly, this rings so true to me. I mean, the sun gives life to everything on earth. How could something so good for us also be killing us? Obviously, you can have too much sun and get heat stroke, but if I'm not mistaken that has more to do with being over heated and dehydrated. If we drink enough water and get enough sunshine like our ancestors years ago, I bet we'd see an end to a lot of our problems. Just saying.

~Julie :}

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS

Someone sent this to me, and I thought it'd be worth sharing.

The heating unit went out on my dryer!
The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean.
(I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.)
He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink, ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material - I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like- well,...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all!

He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free -- that nice fragrance too, you know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box? Well, this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen.

This is also what causes dryer units to catch fire & potentially burn your house down with it!
He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time

(& to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out & wash it with hot soapy water & an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months.

He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!
How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

Senders Note: I went to my dryer & tested my screen by running water on it. The water ran through a little bit but mostly collected all the water in the mesh screen. I washed it with warm soapy water & a nylon brush & I had it done in 30 seconds. Then when I rinsed it the water ran right Thru the screen!

That repairman knew what he was talking about!

Julie Notes: I have a gas powdered Dryer. I'm not sure how old it is, but it's efficiency seems to have been waning in the past year, and most loads have to run through twice. I clean the lint out every time, and I don't use fabric softener or dryer sheets. Even then, I find that occasionally I will smell something burning and I'll pull out my lint trap, clean it, and run water over it and the water will pool instead of going strait through. So I'll then whip out an old toothbrush and scrub it till the water goes right through the mesh. I'm not sure why this still happens even when I don't use dryer sheets in my dryer. (I use them to repel mosquitoes actually.) Anyway, I recently discovered the FLY Lady, and on her website they sell a kit that helps you clean the lint out of the dryer vent and hose as well, to reduce the risk of fire and improve efficiency. I'm thinking I may need to get one of these.

Learning to FLY!

Okay, so one of my most recent discoveries has kept me very busy lately in a very positive and surprisingly un-stressed way! I discovered the FLY Lady. I'm guessing that probably everyone has all ready heard of her since that seems to be the case when I share my joy, but nonetheless I cannot chance that someone else might not hear about this because I didn't share.

FLY stands for Finally Loving Yourself. The FLY Lady has a whole program that will change your life if you just give it a try. The first step, I discovered after signing up is to shine your sink. It seemed a little random but I tried it and suddenly my whole perspective and motivation about housework and all other aspects of my life have changed amazingly!
I took this photo right after I finished shining exactly three weeks ago, and it is still shining!!! So amazing! You should see, I totally shined my stove today too!

Check out The FLYLady for yourself. Signing up is free and then you can go shine your own sink! I'd love to see pictures, so if you do it, please post a link to a picture of you shiny sink! Hooray for a better tomorrow!

The Ugly Truth Behind the Beauty Industry

http://www.safecosmetics.org/

Check out your products' toxicity HERE.

All Custom Costumes are Complete.

I actually finished the Jigglypuff a few weeks ago and managed to get it shipped to Australia hopefully in enough time. The latest she should get it is Friday. The earliest would have been yesterday. I really hope it will be sooner rather than later. Anyway, here is the finished costume in all it's puffy glory.Once that was done I went straight to work on the Cheerleader the witch and the Ewok. I finished the witch first of those three.
Then I got the Ewok done in about 30 hours and had them shipped 2-day to Texas. So those should have arrived yesterday as well.
On Sunday my seven foot tall client actually drove down from Wyoming so he could have a final fitting. This was good because though I had the shirt done, I was feeling a bit iffy about the skirt since I didn't have a skirt pattern that large and knew he wasn't going to be shaped like a woman anyway. We got that finished up within an hour and a half or so and had him pose before he drove home with his costume.

It was the most liberating feeling as I walked home with Jake from his office (where we held the fitting) in the cool autumn night. Jake was holding my hand. He doesn't get the chance to do that much anymore. I felt as light as air walking away from my last costume and the fact that I didn't have to ship it was a bonus.

I believe I also mentioned that I was commissioned to do two logos this month as well. Here they are.

So between the costumes and the logos I actually made about $500 this month. Woo-hoo! Maybe my hubby will want to keep me around. :} Especially since all that is probably going toward the mortgage payment this month. Looks like it's time to get some more work!

Delicious Designs for a Sassy Kitchen

So it all started out with me thinking that I needed to post some kitchen rules in my kitchen to remind me of some things I'd like to enforce. But of course, I couldn't just scrawl out any old list on lined paper . . . Oh, no! I had to make it cute and to match my kitchen. My kitchen has a fruit theme so this is what I came up with.
Then of course, after making the initial art of all these citrus fruits in illustrator I decided I should make a whole bunch of designs that go with this fruit theme which induced me to open up a new Cafepress shop called Sassy Kitchen.
Here a few of the designs.

Citrus Eclipse

Citrus Border

Red Watermelon Smile

Pink Watermelon Smile
I'm pretty excited about these new techniques I figured out in illustrator and about the fun bright designs I came up with . . . I'm thinking a whole bunch of different types of berries will be next. We shall see . . .

Costumes Coming out my Ears!

So you know the saying that if you pay your tithing you'll get more blessings than you can even handle? Well it's true.

I had two big yard sales the second and third Saturday in September and I made sure to pay my tithing on my earnings and now my long ignored Etsy shop has had some major attention. I have been commissioned to make four custom costumes for Halloween this year. And I have about Three weeks to do it in. I have to make a Jiggly Puff for a girl in Australia, a XXXL BYU Cheerleader for a seven foot tall man, another Baby Ewok, and a 'Vintage' Witch for a lady with a broken arm, who has to wear a brace and sling. On top of that I was, of course, planning to make costumes for my own family so that adds another four costumes which makes a total of EIGHT costumes that need to be done in the next three weeks. *Phew*

Oh, and I've also been commissioned to design two logos for two different businesses who both want it ASAP.

I've been wanting to get work like this for years so I could feel like I'm helping to support this family while still being able to be at home with my girls. This is really cool and exciting, but I do rather feel like I just had a truck load of blessings dumped on me. Kind of hard to catch it all.

I think I'll be okay though, just no time to waste on frivolities this month. I'm pretty far on the jiggly puff. I want to have it done this weekend since it has the farthest to travel. Here's a little sneak preview of my progress so far. Woah, I totally just had déjà vu while I was uploading that picture. Crazy. I think I had a dream about this moment in my life. Wow . . . Freaky! I guess it's meant to be . . . When I showed Jake my concept for how I was going to do this one he laughed and said that he thinks I've found my calling in life . . . Hmm, maybe. So yeah, anyway . . . Sorry. Random Tangent. I've got to get this one done by tomorrow!

Then It's on to the Cheerleader, the Ewok and the Witch, which I might work on simultaneously. I hope I can have them done soon. My family costumes I'm planning are pretty simple, especially compared to years past, but they will still take some time.

I'm not sure if I'll be on here to update again till after Halloween, but I'll try to make sure I share all the pictures when I'm done.

I must say, I am actually really relieved that no one wanted to pay for me to make them a Strawberry Shortcake costume this year. I think I'm done with her for a while. . . *Big sigh of relief*

Happy New Month!
(I hope!)

P.s. I was just reminded that I'm also supposed to design Baby Shower invites for a lady I visit teach . . . Yay.

~Julie :}

Inexpensive Toy Solutions: Baby-Doll Bed

My sister Heather, came up with this great idea, so I thought I'd better share!

Inexpensive Baby-Doll Bed(Click on the pic to read about how she did it.)
Cute huh?

Poison in You Protein Powders?

I've been using protein shakes and meal replacement shakes (like instant breakfast) off and on for a long time. Not as a dieting solution or meal replacement, but more as a supplement to have with a meal to help beef it up since I tend to eat small amounts, especially in the morning when one should have a big healthy breakfast. I have a hard time eating that much.

When I started breastfeeding my first child I noticed that I was feeling really weak a lot and I knew it was because I was having a hard time feeding myself enough calories to give me the energy I needed for the day.

So I started buying instant breakfast to help supplement my meals if I knew they weren't particularly large or rich in nutrients. After having my second baby this past December and starting up the old breastfeeding thing again I decided it was time to supplement my meals again and sent my hubby to Costco to pick up some instant breakfast. My main concern was getting extra protein because meat and dairy are so expensive that we don't eat a ton of those things.

My hubby compared prices on the various options there and the amount of protein per serving and decided Muscle Milk's chocolate protein powder made the most sense money and protein-wise. So yeah, I've been taking that occasionally for the past nine months. Not every day, more like once or twice every 2-3 weeks when I remember.

Anyway, we had some friends over last night who, when they saw the muscle milk sitting on top of our pantry, asked us if we'd heard that it had been recalled because it had arsenic in it. I hadn't heard about it, Jake was about to toss it but our friend suggested we look it up ourselves just to verify since they couldn't remember the details. I found it just now.
So yeah, the most important info to me is that you'd have to be having 3 servings a day for the levels to be high enough to be a problem. So, since it still cost some money to buy it, and it really does help supplement my protein, I'm not going to just toss my muscle milk. It's good to know though. I probably won't buy it anymore ever again.

Interesting too, that all those other brands of protein powder drinks have the same toxins in them. Crazy. I noticed instant breakfast wasn't mentioned among those other brands too, so I guess I'll just go back to using that once the muscle milk is gone. Anyway, just thought I'd share so you all know what your drinking in case you are using any of this stuff.

Have a great, healthy life!

~Julie :}

Life Changing

So far this year (2010) has been pretty good. (knock on wood.)
Lots of life improving things have come into my life within these past few months. Mostly in the form of great books. I went through a bit of postpartum depression after my baby was born last December and I really feel like one of the main things that helped me pull out of it was reading lots of good, and/or fun books.

Aside from all the fun one's like books by; Jessica Day George, Gail Carson Levine and of course the final Fablehaven (Brandom Mull), the new "Theif" book (Megan Whalen Turner), as well as listening to Harry Potter, and Spiderwick on CD . . . There are a few books that truly have been life changing.

Some life changing novels I've read include:

Tuesdays with Morrie, Mitch Albom

A great book to help one see life through a new perspective.

The Enchanted April, Elizabeth von Arnim

A beautiful book that might help you find the happiness that is hiding within you.

Now to some more self help style books that are truly life changing.

It's Just My Nature, Carol Tuttle

Discover the nature you were born with and learn how to be true to all your natural positive, in born talents. Also understand those around you better. Learn what element best represents you, and how to enhance it. Energy Profiling is amazing! Everyone in the world should read this book!

The 7-Day Back Pain Cure, Cannone Jesse

I'm all about alternative health care and finding out how to care for myself by working with and not against mother nature. So anything drug free is always interesting me me. This book has helped me understand why I have had so much pain and so many problems with my back for most of my life. It all makes so much sense, but the best part is all the natural, reasonable solutions that the author offers. I haven't had a chance to implement most of them yet, but I look forward to a pain free future!

Now for more visible, tangible life changes, I give you . . .

Creation Plan: A Seven Day Approach to Guilt Free Homemaking, Betty Meyers

This book makes every day tasks actually seem possible and helps this very disorganized person feel like organization is possible and even exciting!

So if any of you are looking for something good to read, here is a great list! Enjoy!

Deals to Meals Bosch Giveaway

Deals to Meals is having an awesome giveaway going on until June 30th. They are giving away a free Bosch mixer!
I don't know about the rest of you, but for me that's one item I've been coveting since I've been married. My Mom has one and I grew up eating homemade bread of her making, but have never felt like I could venture to make my own homemade dough without one of these little beauties. So, yeah, here's hoping. See here for details.
~Julie :}

No More Mosquitoes

Place a dryer sheet in your pocket. It will keep the mosquitoes away.

Julie Notes:
I have tried this and it really seems to work. I've also rubbed one over my daughters arms and then placed it in her pocket when we're outside in the yard chalking in the evening and I've watched mosquitoes come near to her, hover a moment and then fly away. I've never seen one land when she's got a dryer sheet about her, which is awesome because I hate the smell of the sprays and I don't like using them on small kids or babies.

I also love to use them at night, when I see a mosquito flying about the house, or just as a precaution, I'll put them in my babies bassinet or next to my daughters pillow. I'm not awake to be sure, but so far I think it's working.

"People who tell you not to let little things bother you have never tried sleeping in a room with a mosquito."
~Unknown

Julie Surprise: Super Simple Stirfry

Here is my recipe for the fastest easiest stirfry ever! This is a regular meal at our house. I hope you all enjoy it! There are no exact measurements for this recipe. I just eyeball it, the possibilities are endless!

Julie Surprise: Super Simple Stirfry

Ingredients:

• Frozen Asian Mix Veggies (My faves are available at Costco)
• One or two skinless boneless chicken breasts
• Your choice of Asian dressing or marinade. (I love Lighthouse Sesame Ginger Dressing. Or Panda Express Orange Chicken Sauce now available at Costco)
• Rice

Directions:

1. Saute the chicken breasts with a little oil (peanut oil would be ideal but any will work)
2. As the chicken begins to cook use your spatula to cut it up into smaller bite sized pieces.
3. Once cooked through, add the dressing or sauce of your choice. Water it down, or add soy sauce or other seasonings if desired.
4. Then add frozen veggies and stir it all together and simmer until veggies are soft enough to cut with the spatula.
5. Meanwhile, have rice boiling or steaming in your rice cooker.
6. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Update: 09-03-12 Things have changed. Check out this post for a slightly more healthful version.

Julie Surprise: Black Bean Tortillas

These are an invention of mine. I must confess I'm very proud of. The healthiest, easiest, best homemade tortillas you'll ever have! (Now if I could only find someone to pay me for inventing them.)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour of your choice (we like gluten free)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cold butter
• 1 can of black beans drained and pureed.

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine together flour, salt and baking powder. With a fork and butter knife work in the cold butter until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
2. Add the black beans and mix until the dough can be gathered together. If necessary, add more flour (1 1/3 cup at a time) until the dough comes together. (It's okay if it's still a bit sticky)
3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 15 minutes.
4. Dust your work surface and your hands with flour and sprinkle flour on top of the dough in the bowl.
5. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into rounds. If it is too sticky to work with work a bit more flour into each ball.
6. On your floured surface, use a rolling pin to flatten and stretch each ball into a thin circle.
7. Cook on an un-greased skillet over medium high heat until bubbles appear and then flip and cook a minute or two more.
8. Keep covered with a clean, dry towel until ready to serve.

Julie Notes: Leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen.

Black Bean Burgers

These are a favorite recipe of my friend Kayleen, and make a great veggie burger/ meat substitute.

Black Bean Burgers

12 oz. can black beans, rinsed
1 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1 large egg
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup fresh or frozen corn
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
shredded cheese
oil for frying

In a large bowl, mash together beans, breadcrumbs and egg. Add onion, corn, garlic, salt, cumin and chili powder. Mix well and form into 6 balls of equal size. Flatten into 1/2 inch thickness. Heat oil in pan on stove. Add burgers and cook each side for 2-3 minutes. Serve on whole grain bun with lettuce, tomato and other condiments of your choice.

Homemade Hobby Horse

Someone on Kaboodle posted a link to these cute hobby horses you can make yourself. I thought it was a cool idea for a simple homemade kids gift and a great way to re-use old jeans. Click on the picture to be taken to the how-to.
Enjoy!

Dinosaur Design

I've been trying to work on art lately and practice drawing more and as a result I came up with a little dinosaur sketch. So I decided to turn it into a cafepress design.
Initially I was thinking as a kids shirt but I decided to add it to a few adult sized products as well, just in case someone out there never got over their dreams of being a paleontologist.Tada!

Cortaid Poison Ivy Care Toxin Removal Cloths

I discovered these cool toxin removal wipes and thought it would be a good thing to share.
These would be great to take in your first aid kit when you go camping or if you live in an area where poison ivy grows and your kids are likely to stumble upon some.

I'm not sure if you can buy it at local stores, but I'm guessing you probably can. On Amazon.com it ranges in price from $12.00-$6.00

Neiman-Marcus $250 Cookies

I got this in an e-mail forward a while ago and found it again today while looking for a cookie recipe. Some of you may have seen this before.
Some lady was angry that Neiman-Marcus charged her $250 for this recipe when she was led to understand it would only cost her $2.50. As revenge she wanted to give it out to everyone she could for free so that no one will ever have to spend that much again.
I figure if I post it here that would make more sense than forwarding it, plus it's more accessible to refer back to this way.

Here's the story in her own words:

The real moral to this story is always check your receipts!

Enjoy.

A little background: Neiman-Marcus, if you don't know already, is a very expensive store; i.e., they sell your typical $8.00 T-shirt for $50.00. Let's let them have it! THIS IS A TRUE STORY!

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at a Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas , and we decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try 'The'Neiman-Marcus cookie.' It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe, and the waitress said with a small frown, 'I'm afraid not, but you can buy the recipe.'

Well, I asked how much, and she responded, 'Only two fifty-it's a great deal!' I agreed to that, and told her to just add it to my tab.

Thirty days later, I received my VISA Statement, and the Neiman-Marcus charge was $285.00! I looked again, and I remembered I had only spent $9.95
for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, Cookie Recipe-$250.00'.

That was outrageous! I called Neiman's Accounting Department and told them the waitress said it was 'two fifty', which clearly does not mean 'two hundred and fifty dollars' by any reasonable interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge.

They would not refund my money because, according to them, 'What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe. We absolutely will not refund our money at this point.'
I explained to the Accounting Department lady the criminal statutes which govern fraud in the state of Texas . I threatened to report them to the Better Business Bureau and the Texas Attorney General's office for engaging in fraud.

I was basically told, 'Do what you want. Don't bother thinking of how you can get even, and don't bother trying to get any of your money back.'

I just said, 'Okay, you folks got my $250, and now I'm going to have $250 worth of fun.' I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus...for free.' She replied, 'I wish you wouldn't do this.'

I said, 'Well, perhaps you should have thought of that before you ripped me off!' and slammed down the phone.
So here it is!

Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250 for this, and I don't want Neiman-Marcus to EVER make another penny off this recipe!

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES
(Recipe may be halved)

2 cups butter
24 oz. chocolate chips
4 cups flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
5 cups blended oatmeal
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder.
Cream the butter and both sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar, and nuts.
Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

So yes, there it is. I'm actually thinking that I might make these today so I'll let you guys know how they turned out. Enjoy!
~Julie :}

Bobble Water

Here's an awesome new solution to the bottled water problem. Now you can have clean, portable water without sacrificing taste, style or the thickness of your wallet. Bobble has reinvented the bottle to include a built in filter. Genius, genius genius! $9.95 Will get you an 18.5 ouncer. Tada!

Whole Grain Saltines

I made a discovery a couple of months ago which I'm a tad excited about so even though it's probably old news now I thought I'd share.

You can now get Whole Grain Wheat Saltines. Maybe this is a silly thing to be excited about but I think it's kind of cool. Especially since they cost the same as regular ones. They taste the same too. IMO.
I'm not actually a huge fan of saltines in general. They aren't my favorite cracker, but they have their place and if I can feel like they're even a little healthful when I do eat them then that makes me feel pretty happy. They really do rock in certain soups.
I also used some to make meat loaf the other day since I didn't have bread crumbs and I think that might have been the best meat loaf I've ever had, (if I do say so myself) although that might have had more to do with other ingredients at least they didn't ruin it, right?

Eye Candy or Throw Away the Wrapper?

Some of you may have already seen these, but I thought it was worth sharing.
Nahuiollin.com makes bags and purses out of candy wrappers. It's all very green and such. I'm just finding myself wondering . . . *Is this purse really worth $132?
*How does the candy wrapper exterior wear? I'm guessing it's not the sturdiest material, unless maybe they've coated it in something, but if they have . . .
*How comfortable are those zig-zaggy edges at the top if they scrape against your arm?
AND (perhaps most importantly)
*Do you like the look well enough that you would actually wear it around?

I would love to know your thoughts. :}

Thanks everyone!

~Julie :}