Cleaning House with Essential Oils

L.A. Mama is in the process of obtaining certification as a Spiriitual Aromatherapist. Essential oils are very beneficial for many different areas of life. They are effective in the areas of Mind, Body and Spirit but they can be very beneficial for use in housekeeping. Using essential oils while cleaning helps to bring the home back to a natural state of balance, create a pleasant aroma and kill germs.

Essential oils come from plants, and are distilled from the flowers, bark, fruit, leaves and seeds. They are the natural goodness, the soul of the plant that has been extracted to provide you with it's healing benefits. Essential oils are not the same as "fragrance" or "perfume" oils, which are man made in laboratories and do not contain the healing benefits that essential oil provides.

Here are some great ways to use essential oils within the home:

* Tea Tree oil is very well known for being an anti-septic, anti-viral and anti-infectious, making it a good oil to use while cleaning your bathroom. A drop on your sponge is great for cleaning toilets, tubs and sinks eliminating the need for chemical cleaners. L.A. Mama has also used this as a drain deodorant. (Tea tree oil is great when kept in the bathroom for first aid issues as well. It can be used on the skin for abrasions and is a great antifungal. Finally, tea tree oil makes an aexcellent hand sanitizer)

* Add a couple of drops of your favorite essential oil to your hand dish soap dispenser to create a custom dish soap - your neighbors will be envious. You can also put a few drops on your light bulbs or near the wick of your favorite candle.

* You can add 2 drops of essential oil to the soap dispenser of your dishwasher along with your regular soap, lemon or grapefruit would be a good choice.

* Use a few drops of lemon essential oil in the water you use to wash your floors in your home. You can use any scent for this. Lavender is very pleasing and calming to the senses.

* Mix 2 drops of essential oil with baking soda to create an all natural, good smelling cleansing scrub for sinks and bathtubs.

* Place 2 drops of essential oil on a cotton ball and vacuum it up in your collection bag, the scent will fill the air as you vacuum.

* A few drops of lavender essential oil on a handkerchief tucked into a drawer will keep your socks and underwear drawers fresh.

* Make your own potpourri with flower pods and autumn findings then add a few drops of essential oil.

* If you have a spray bottle handy, you can fill it with water and a few drops of essential oil and spray around your house. This is a wonderful, NATURAL alternative to air freshener bought at the store.

* Another way to scent your entire home is by placing a few drops of essential oil on the filters in your home, as well as, air purifiers or furnace filters.

When you use these ideas in cleaning your home you will be raising the energy level and the vibration of your home. Each essential oil comes with its own spiritual properties and energies. It also makes it more fun to clean your home when working with these pleasant scents. When using essential oils around the house, you will notice that everyone's mood changes to a more positive outlook. Children are especially drawn to essential oils because they are soothing and calming to the senses. In otherwords, essential oils speak to the "whole child". Tennessee loves lemon essential oil...he seems to light up when I use it on the floors.

A Match Made in Heaven?

Are you having trouble deciding who is the best presidential candidate for the job? I have a pretty good idea of where I am leaning, but I decided to take the Presidential Matchmaker Quiz on the Change.org site just for fun. Here are my results. Click on Presidential Matchmaker Quiz above to find out who's the best man or woman for you!

Results for L.A. Mama:











79% Hillary Clinton

Senator (NY) Democrat


78% Barack Obama

Senator (IL) Democrat


70% John Edwards

Presidential Candidate Democrat


63% Ron Paul

Representative (TX-14) Republican


55% Rudolph Giuliani

Presidential Candidate Republican


51% Mitt Romney

Presidential Candidate Republican


51% John McCain

Senator (AZ) Republican


39% Mike Huckabee

Presidential Candidate Republican

Vegetarian Food Pyramid

Just in case you were wondering...yes Vegetarians AND Vegans have their own food pyramid that excludes meat. As Tennessee says "Being a Vegetarian doesn't make me an alien!"

Happy to be Home

The New Way to Eat Popcorn

More Storms for L.A.

This was the view from my bedroom window today. The sky cleared just for a bit to make room for another LASHING...

Rain, Ice & Snow in Los Angeles!

In the Hospital

This blog is dedicated to California, Tennesee & Daddio!

California was rushed to the Emergency Room late Sunday night. This was his third trip to the hospital since March of 2007. This first hospital visit(March 5th, 2007) began with the ER and lasted for 3 additional days in the hospital. He was admitted directly from the Dr's office the second time around on May 21, 2007. That visit lasted 4 days. This time around, we arrived at UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center(see photo below) at around 12:30am on January 21, 2008. California was admtted to the hospital a couple of hours later and discharged on Tuesday morning (1/22/08). All because of lung infections.



Because California had two previous lung infections, his pediatrician prescribed preventative treatments(Pulimocort & Albuteral)through the use of a nebulizer in the morning and at night before bed. If he ever showed signs of coming down with a virus or cold, we were to give him him Albuteral treatments every 4 hours until symtpms disappear. This all started because we lived in a house with toxic mold for nearly the entire first two years of California's life (he is 2 1/2 now). Read MY TOXIC MOLD STORY to find out more details.

His symptoms started at around 3pm, Sunday afternoon (1/20/08), when he woke up from a nap with a runny nose. He seemed a bit grumpy, but besides that, he had no other symptoms. But since, he seemed to be in the beginning stages of a cold, I started his Albuteral treatments at 3:30 on Sunday. His next one was at 7:30 and then he went to bed. Everything seemed fine except for his runny nose. At 10:30, he woke up coughing, wheezing and screaming. We gave him another treatment at 10:30 even though it was supposed to be every 4 hours not every 3 hours. It seemed to work so we put him back down to sleep. He was up again at midnight coughing, wheezing, screaming and gasping for breath in between. We tried to calm him down and help him relax but it just seemed to get worse.

We knew that we had to take him to the Emergency Room. We packed a bag with essential items like toys, books, a sippy cup, socks etc, woke Tennesse up and went to the hospital which is less than a mile from our house. We arrived at 12:33 am. He was examined at 1:09 by the ER doctor on call. At this time, he was hooked up to a pulse oximeter which measures the amount of oxygen that the lungs are sending out to the rest of the body. He measured at 89 - 90%. At 1:19, he was given a 40 minute Albuteral treatment to bring his oxygen level up. This treatment was finished by 1:55. He was observed for 30 minutes to see if the treatment would be enough to sustain his oxygen levels. There was no improvment so he was given a steroid injection and another 30 mminute Albuteral treatment. This treatment ended at 2:56. California did not sleep at all until 3:30am in the Emergency Room on a gurney. At 4:00, we were both wheeled in a wheelchair up to the 5th floor (Pediatrics) with California screaming the entire time. He did not fall asleep again until about 5:30am.

He endured blood tests, x-rays, injections, breathing treatments and forced oral medication for two days. The three things that got him through all of this were:
1)His magnetic doodle board
2) A book called "1,001 Pearls of Buddhist Wisdom" (He LOVES to see pictures of Buddha...Tennessee always loved Buddha when he was a baby too - as a matter of fact "Buddha" was his second word - his first one was "Freedom") and
3)His blankie

The unthinkable happened Monday night at around 11:00pm. A nurse came to give him 12ml (which is equal to 2 1/2 teaspoons) of Prednisone. He screamed and gagged for the entire 6 minutes that it took her to force him to swallow it. All three of us were glad when it was over. Then poor California vomited the medicine and the entire contents of his stomach all over his blankie.

Photo of California and his best friend,"Blue Blanket"



This is a blankie that he CANNOT live without at home and absolutely NEEDS it when he is in the hospital. The nurses said that they couldn't send it to the laundry.
SOOOOOOO....Daddio and Tennessee came as quickly as possible (at 11:30pm) to retrieve the blanket. They washed it and brought it back around 1:30am. They are our heroes!

California was discharged at 9:00am the next morning on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008.

Our Aerogarden

We received an Aerogarden for Christmas and set it up to start growing herbs on December 20, 2007. It is so easy to set up, that an 8.5 year old can do it without any help. The Aerogarden came with seed pods for herbs so we "planted" these and awaited the arrival of something green. We had sprouts within 3 - 5 days! Other seeds sprouted a bit later...Cilantro was definitely a late bloomer but we can't wait to taste him :)

OUR AEROGARDEN PHOTO JOURNAL

DAY 1

DAY 1 (Close Up)


DAY 7

DAY 12

DAY 20

DAY 24

DAY 28

Aerogardens don't take any dirt and you don't have to keep track of watering the plants or feeding them nutrients. A red light comes on to tell you when to add water and nutrients. The nutrients are in the form of a pill. It looks just like a vitamin and all you do is drop it into the water reservoir. The entire system is run on a timer so that the lights come on when they are supposed to and go off when they are supposed to. The garden comes with gourmet herbs but you can order so many different seed pods like:

Cascading Petunias
Cherry Tomatoes
Salad Greens
Strawberries
Wildflowers
Chilli Peppers
Mini Rose Garden
French Herbs
Snow Peas
Green Beans

Click on the Aerogarden below to buy one for yourself!


We plan to buy more seed kits. I would like to grow salad greens, tomatoes, petunias, wildflowers, strawberries and peppers. Stay tuned for more blogs about our Aerogarden :)

No Cold Medicines For Children Under 12

When Tennessee was a baby/toddler, his pediatrician advised me to give him all kinds of over the counter cold/cough/flu medication even if he just had a runny nose. In my heart, I knew that he was just soooooooooooooo little and he shouldn't be taking medication unless that it was absolutely necessary...like a life or death situation. So, there were many times that I chose not to and a few times that I chose to give it to him anyway. One particular incident that comes to my mind was when we moved to Los Angeles from Nashville. I was concerned that Tennessee would cry the entire time since he was only 14 months old then. His pediatrician said "Just give him some Benedryl. That will make it so that he sleeps most of the way on the plane." I did that. Didn't work. He has a natural immunity to Benedryl...as a matter of fact, he seemed MORE wide awake and exciteable than normal. I am glad that I was smart enough to know not to just give him more until it works...but unfortunately MANY parents aren't that smart.

Furthermore, the FDA made a very LOUD public statement last Fall about the dangers of giving cold/flu medications to babies/toddlers/children. They stated that these medications were unsafe for little ones PERIOD. Apparently, parents didn't listen and continued to give these medications to their chldren because the FDA felt as though they needed to make the same URGENT STATEMENT as before. If the FDA's warning isn't strong enough for parents and caregivers to pay attention to then they should watch and listen to stories of parents who have lost their children to cold
medications.

Like I said before, the FDA made this public statement LAST Fall. So why did I see THIS when I went to Rite Aid, Target and CVS LAST WEEK???


Does the FDA really have our children's best interest at heart or kickbacks from pharmaceutical companies? Dr. Lurie from the Health Research Group of Public Citizen believes that cold/cough remedies should be banned for all children under the age of 12. Read why HERE. And get this! According to the Associated Press, the "FDA never formally allowed infant-targeted cold remedies in the first place; Ganley said they evolved through a legal loophole". Nice.

Make sure that all of the parents, grandparents, babysitters, nannies and all other possible caregivers that you know, understand that they should NOT to give these products to children under the age of 6...and even better let them know not to give them to children under thea age of 12 as well.

California Art

Title: "Hey Jude"
by California
Acrylic on Canvas

California LOVES art. He has been reading books about Picasso and Matisse lately. We were lucky enough to find art books in board book format on Amazon.com. California just can't get enough of them! They are interactive as well and have wonderful bouncy verses! The two series of books that he adores are 1) Mini Masters and 2)Touch the Art. He has the Picasso Mini Masters book and the Matisse Touch the Art book.

He has his eye set on these books to read in the future:



Here is a picture of California working on his next masterpiece:


California. Photo taken on January 14th, 2008

Namaste

Yoga is more than exercise. If done correctly, Yoga can expand a child's imagination, teach respect for everyone and everything and connect a child to the Divine. Children are naturally drawn to Yoga because that have an inner wisdom that guides their heart and soul to authentic ways of living.

I am certified as a Level 2 Radiant Child Yoga Instructor. Radiant Child Yoga is a type of yoga developed by Shakta Khalsa, who is one of the best yoga instructors in the country. It is based on Kundalini Yoga and incorporates creative visualization, meditation, breathing, chanting, mantras etc as a means to involve the "whole child" in a process of inner peace. I trained with Shakta Khalsa for an entire weekend in April of last year(from 9 am to 9pm Fri - Sun)while:

1) Getting a Master of Arts degree in Education with an emphasis in curriculum & instruction
2) Trying to take care of a family being poisoned by toxic mold. Read My Toxic Mold Story or go to ToxicMoldStories.blogspot.com for complete details.

California, who is only two, loves yoga. I teach my children a combination of Kundalini Yoga and Hatha Yoga. Both forms of yoga use various Sanskrit words and phrases to express thoughts and concepts. California often speaks in Sanskrit when English just doesn't seem to express his true feelings.

For instance...

Last week, he bumped his lip on the metal railing of our staircase and began to cry as it bled. I gave him ice to suck on and after it was gone he said "More ice, please?" I hugged him and gave him another piece. As his lip became numb, he smiled at me. Then he bowed to me and said "Namaste".

Here is a pic of him after the bleeding stopped showing me his boo boo. See his how his top lip is swollen...and all of the cookie crumbs on his face? For some reason cookies make all boo boos better.



Namaste is often used as a saluation. However, Namaste is a deeper form of appreciation and gratitude as it means "the light in me sees the light in you". California just does these things naturally, it is like second nature to him because it resonates with his inner being. He learned the word and a little song that goes along with it through Yoga and chose to apply it to everyday situations on his own. He learned this song from a great yoga DVD called Yogakids: ABC's.
CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT:


Here are pics of Tennessee demonstrating the ghasso pose and Namaste bow:





It is not uncommon for one to hear California chanting "Ong Namo Guru Dev Namo" throughout the house either. This is primarily used in Kundalini Yoga and is chanted before each session to fine tune our energy and frequencies. It translates to mean "I call upon Divine wisdom". California loves to start this chant and get everyone in the house to chant this mantra as well.

He also loves to chant Sa Ta Na Ma...

Sa Ta Na Ma is also primarily used in Kundalini Yoga.
Sa = Birth
Ta= Life
Na = Death
Ma= Re-birth

California seems to chant this as he goes about his daily business...it keeps his mind focused on his task at hand.

If you would like to do Yoga with your kids at home, I highly recommend all of the YogaKids DVDs as listed above and ALL of Shakta Khalsa's books, CD's and DVD's, which can be found on her website. I will be attending Level 3 training with her this May, which will focus on kids with special needs like Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Sensory Processing Disorder etc. I plan to offer Yoga classes to kids in the Los Angeles area this Spring. Check back often for more information regarding these classes :)

Our Homeschool Classroom Extreme Makeover

As I mentioned in our "Who Are We Anway??" section and previous blogs, we homeschool. For the past couple of months, we have been transforming the "classroom" into a wonderful place for learning and imagination. The classroom is located on the third floor of our condo, in the loft.

Here is a pic of Califiornia climbing the spiral staircase that leads to the loft/classroom...he LOVES to make a game out of it and usually giggles all the way up. He also has a great time counting each stair step.



L.A. Mama was inspired to decorate the classroom by this piece of art by Gustav Klimt:



L.A. Mama collaborated with Daddio to create a multi-dimensional mural in the classroom for California's nook. Daddio painted the walls in a peaceful shade of light blue, then drew a tree similar to our inspiration art. L.A. Mama painted some leaves, a squirrel and a heart in the tree and decoupaged beautiful Audobon drawings of birds and nests within the tree. Here are some pics of what we have done so far...this is a work in progress:







Here is a pic of the sun that L.A. Mama painted:



In addition to the tree and sky, Daddio painted rolling hills of green. This isn't just green paint though, it is chalkboard paint. California loves to draw circles, write A's, J's, P's, U's, E's, 4's and 10's all over the wall! L.A. Mama has plans to paint a beautiful rainbow and flowers in the near future. (More pics will be posted when the project is finished)

Here is a pic of Tennessee "doing school". He is in the process of writing a newspaper article about the Boston Tea Party. We have plans to decorate his side of the classroom with his original art and a solar system constructed by him.



Last, but not least is a pic of the rugs that were bought especially for the classroom. They are made entirely of recycled plastic soda bottles and were made through the use of fair trade practices. They are great for kids because they are so easy to clean...PERFECT for painting and doing crafts!

Southern California Storms

We went for a Sunday drive today just as the THIRD California storm began to roll in off the Pacific Ocean. We live 2 miles from the ocean and this is what we saw on our drive...









...and here is a pic of California right before he passed out in his carseat for a power nap. He didn't know it, but a ladybug crawled all over him during his slumber. He has officially been blessed with good luck:)

Global Warming is Real!

California is in the process of experiencing a global warming event of crazy proportions! It has already hit Northern California, so Southern California is bracing for the worst. Northern California had wind gusts from 80 - 150 miles per hour today...with torential rain and blizzard conditions in the mountains.

Here in Southern California, in the past two months we have had firestorms, three Santa Ana Wind events, wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour in December on three separate occasions which knocked out power in Los Angeles...and now we are having torential rains after being in a severe drought since 2005. The forecast is predicting urban and foothil flooding, 30 foot ocean waves, wind gusts up to 50 mph some time tonight and mudslides.



According to the Bloomberg Report: "Office towers in San Francisco's financial district swayed with the wind earlier today, causing some occupants to feel motion sickness. At least three tractor-trailer trucks were overturned by the high winds, CBS 5 reported"
Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aQI3WxAgwR9c

Did you see "The Day After Tomorrow"? This feels just like that movie! This just doesn't happen in Southern California. I guess the weather is going to be extreme from now on...it is just an inconvenient truth.

This Is What We Did On Christmas Day 2007