Very Early in the Morning

The last few days I have been woken up by myself coughing.  I, and most of the rest of the family, have a cold, that maybe is a cold, or maybe something worse. It's the kind that leaves you so tired, that you just want to lay down and sleep.

When I've woken up these past few nights, however, I am kept awake by the strangest thing!  A little bird is singing its morning song, at the time when everyone should be sleeping.  There is just the slightest bit of light coming in to what I think should be a still-dark sky.  But nevertheless, it is not, here.  Summer is approaching, and I must get used to this new occurrence of long, length of days in the northern part of the world.  The little birdie and the approaching sunrise keep me awake for awhile.  The time ticks on, and more birds join the one little songster, and my mind is tricked into thinking it is later than it is.

Eventually, I fall back asleep, only to find myself waking up much too late!  But nevertheless, it is a new day, a day from the Lord, whether it started much too late or too early.  So on I must go in this new day I've been given, praying for the Lord to help me to do what is right.

Spring is here, and it is beautiful in all its green plant life and glorious flowers.  Curious Pup has come to join us too.

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Creating a Healthy Home Environment

Guest post by Ella

If you want to have a home that is both healthier to live in and practical in every way, then you will need to be extra careful with the way you approach things. The following examples will give you what you need to do to make your home healthy:

• Start the job by doing a bit of downsizing and clearance around your home. This will give you a hand when you need to handle the rest of the job, so either deal with the clearance alone or work with a professional clearance company to do it for you. If you handle it right you will have a great time in a healthy environment as much as possible.
• You should make an indoor air quality test. You can do so with a professional lab that will give you a performance metric for all your rooms so you can compare the results. Test for mold and particulates as well since this will give you more information on the subject. 
• Provide distributed and balanced energy recovery ventilation. Balanced ventilation with a MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value) filtration is extremely important for air quality and better comfort. This will ensure you have no pressure imbalances in the house, since exhaust only ventilation types will require you to bring that air from somewhere. If your home is small, then you will need to ensure you have the air filtered and distributed correctly. 
• You would do well to ensure your walls are modeled using a WUFI tool for better dry out capability. WUFI basically means heat and moisture transiency, a hydrothermal modeling tool that is used to check the exact building assembly with details about your climate. That way you will have better idea about moisture and potential mold risks. 
• You can install a radon vent under the basement slab that vents through the roof. A passive radon vent that goes through the roof will be an easy and cheap solution. Radon mitigation is an important part of the ventilation system, so you would do well to consider making use of it. 
• Working on eliminating condensation is equally important, as letting it go can lead to excessive mold growth. A lot of the valuable surfaces should be installed in such a way as to keep condensation to a minimum. This is a good rule of thumb when it comes to colder climates, as it will allow you to keep your home healthy and safe. Making sure you have good exterior insulation should be a priority to ensure the surfaces on the inside will not become a condensing area. Anything left after a renovation should go, so do some junk clearance while you’re at it. 
• Keep to the use of natural materials whenever you can and ensure you avoid plastics, as well as non-VOC paint as it would bleed bits of gases into the air and you will find a great way to keep yourself safe from toxins in the air and the rest of your environment. With clearance out of the way you will have a much easier time handling these. 

For more helpful tips, visit: rubbishclearancenottinghill.com
 

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclosure: In order for me to support my blogging activities, I may receive monetary compensation or other types of remuneration for my endorsement, recommendation, testimonial and/or link to any products or services from this blog. Please note, I only endorse products that are in alignment with Blessed Homemaking's ideals and I believe would be of value to my readers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Taking Care of Mother

Sometimes as mothers, we forget to take care of ourselves.  I am often guilty of this.  I have many little ones I must attend to--bathe, cook for, clean for, teach, love on...the list goes on and on.  At the end of every day I am exhausted.  And I have not been going to bed early enough to get enough sleep.  I wake up exhausted too.

So what usually happens after a while is my body gets angry with me and makes me slow down.  It makes me rest.  I had one of those days yesterday...

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As I was changing the baby's diaper and smiling at my little darling, my vision started getting spotty.  Well, I knew what was going to happen soon.  I put the baby to bed and grabbed my peppermint essential oil and breathed it in.  I also applied some lavender essential oil all along my hairline and on my temples.  Then I started to give my children instructions.  My eldest assured me she could make dinner (so glad she can do that!), the girls were to do their spelling lessons, and everyone else was to clean up and be quiet!  I prepared my diffuser with peppermint and lavender essential oils and laid down as the migraine came.  I had to take care of Mother.

After several hours of rest and breathing in the soothing aroma, I felt a lot better.  I was finally able to eat, and I got to bed earlier than I have been lately.  The children, however, did not clean up (at least not all of them), so our living room looks like, well, there were lots of children making messes in it.  But that will get taken care of today.

Yesterday, I had to take care of Mother, and I will try to do better every day by going to bed at an earlier hour.  I have to be rested to take care of my children.  How about you--do you remember to take care of yourself?

Update:  I have now found something that has almost completely eliminated all of my migraines and headaches.  Praise be to God!  Read all about it here.

Don't forget about the Natural Mothering ebook Bundle sale going on.  I hope I can get one too!

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Sleeping
Georges Lemmen
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