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When your kids were little, did you go out and buy all the safety tools imaginable to baby-proof your house? I know we did. And with good reason, right? I swear, we must have made the Safety 1st company, and Target, a bunch of money the first year we had our little bird! I tend to like to clean or get chores done to music, and this one was a great one for baby-proofing. It's been four years since we brought our first baby home from the hospital. Now our youngest is already two and half! We've slowly but surely been selling or donating the baby items we no longer need. This year we said goodbye to the crib. Our little bean was a too skilled a climber to keep it any longer. She looks so tiny in her twin bed, but at least we know she can't hurt herself if she falls out. She did go through a period of adjustment where she'd end up on the floor almost every night. Sometimes she'd wake up and call me, sometimes she'd just sleep on through (crazy!) Now though, she's pretty consistently in bed. We also sold off the Bob. It served us well, but our girls are big enough now that they walk or ride in a backpack style carrier if needed. The baby gate's ready to be donated and the cloth diapers ready to be posted for sale. Definitely the end of an era, sniff, sniff. The other day I was in the kitchen and I saw these lovelies still hanging out on our fridge and oven. The straps long since were taken out, but I'd never gotten around to taking off the clips. I was a little worried about the stainless steel, and honestly, it wasn't hurting anything to leave them on, so I just kinda procrastinated. And procrastinated... And procrastinated... For some reason, today was the day. It was about time!  If you've used these safety straps to deny access to your littles, you know the sticky pads on the back are pretty dang sticky. I had to first pry it off with a butter knife, then peel the remaining clip off, and was still left with a rather large amount of pad and residue stuck to fridge...on both sides...and the oven door! Not exactly attractive, hey? Enter Lemon essential oil. Why? Citrus oils help cut grease, and stop the stick, when cleaning. Citrus oils are often the active ingredient in a lot of the newer eco-friendly cleansers, and are a great solvent for nasty, petrochemical-based gunk. They are also a perfect substitute for those commercial orange cleaners that harness the natural cleaning power of oranges (aka citrus sinensis oil) and then adulterate it with a bunch of other ick you don't want around your house.  First I soaked the remaining pad-portion with lemon oil and let it sit for a bit. Then I gently scraped it off with my trusty butter knife. I just noticed the reflection in the knife. Kinda artistic, for a picture of sticky goo and a knife I suppose! To remove the rest of the residue, I grabbed a paper towel, added a few drops of Lemon oil, and a bit of elbow grease. I was curious if any citrus oil would have the same effect, so I switched out the Lemon for Wild Orange. That was just as effective, which made me think Grapefruit or even Bergamot might be as well, but I didn't actually test them. Let me know if you do! After a few swipes it was obviously coming off, and in the end it was a complete success! No more random Safety 1st clips hanging about for no purpose. One more item crossed off the to-do list. One last remnant of babyhood taken down and put away. The fridge looked fine, no scratches or discoloration, but I wanted to give it a good wipe down anyway. This is the first time we've had stainless steel and I am AMAZED at how many little hand prints end up on there by the end of one day, even one morning! I pulled out my glass cleaner because it works so well on the stainless. It's equal parts white vinegar and water, with a few drops of both Lemon and Peppermint.  By this time, my kitchen smelled great, my appliances were clean, and I was getting a little teary thinking that our little bean was our last baby. Being a mom is no joke. It is a crazy up and down every day. It's a constant push and pull. It is an overwhelming love that knows no bounds, and then a rising frustration at not being able to sit and eat your dinner in your own chair with no one on your lap. Sometimes I think about baby number three, but then I think... "We'll just host an exchange student and gain a pseudo big sister or brother, grow our international family even more! " Not a bad idea, hey? Have you tried citrus essential oils on a sticky situation? Share and let us know!
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Anyone else have toddlers? If you do, you probably started singing the title of this post! We've got a garbage disposal, which I love. I'm pretty good about cleaning our the sink most nights. I don't like to leave dirty dishes in the sink. I tend to run the dishwasher at night so everything can dry overnight and then put it all away in the morning. But every once in a while... the garbage disposal stinks.  If you have been reading my blog, you know I like to make my own cleaners with non-toxic, every day things you've got in your home. The reason I started making my own was because of my girls. We've got two little girls who like to explore just about everything. They like to play in the kitchen and pretend to mix things together. Sometimes that pretending leads to opening, which leads to all kinds of interesting combinations! Because I never want my girls to ingest, poison, or burn themselves with something toxic and harmful, I started using a lot of vinegar, baking soda and the like. So began my journey with essential oils. They definitely help take care of the vinegar smell, but so many also have fantastic cleaning properties: antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal... So, what's a gal to do? Whip out the baking soda once more! Rosemary Lemon Disposal Detox Equal parts baking soda and lemon juice (fresh or concentrate) 1-2 drops Rosemary essential oil (or a few sprigs fresh) Method
Ah homemade granola. It's a tough one to get exactly how you want it. There a million recipes out there on the web and in cookbooks, and many great options in the stores. I've tried different toasting times and temperatures, varied the ingredients, and I think I've finally found a recipe that I love, and three ways to tweak it! I like granola that is a little more chunky, that has some clusters to it, not just loose oats. These recipes have that. They are pretty dang tasty!  Basic granola recipe 3 cups rolled oats (gluten free if you need) 3 Tbsp ground flax seeds 3 Tbsp coconut oil 3 tbsp honey or maple syrup pinch of sea salt, colored if you've got it Method
Tweak #1: Apple Spice Granola To the basic recipe above add:
Tweak #2: Pumpkin Spice Granola (PSG) To the basic recipe above add:
Tweak #3 Banana Granola
 I think my new favorite way to eat granola is with a simple chia pudding and vanilla whole milk yogurt, sometime I add some fresh fruit as well. It is just as tasty with milk or any nut milk! I can pop this in a snack bag and munch on it when we're out and about, and I'm thinking it could even be combined with dates to create a nice bar, though I haven't tried that yet. I will have to keep you posted! How do you do your granola? I love traveling. It's something that has always been a need for me, not just a want. My first international trip was to the Bahamas when I was 16, thanks to my mom. Since then, I've circumnavigated the globe. To date, I've visited 26 countries and counting. I love the adventure of it, exploring new places, trying new foods, meeting new people. Now I love taking our girls on those adventures, seeing them make sense of the world and the things they encounter. What does that have to do with chia pudding? Well, when you're traveling, you make modifications. You probably eat out a lot more. We ate out a lot in England, especially in London. Being out and about most of the day meant looking for easy to access options that our girls would actually eat, and were relatively healthy. Now, our chickadees aren't super picky, but some of our choices didn't go over as well as planned. That's ok. They don't have to like, but they do have to try it! Usually when you're traveling you don't have a kitchen, let alone your regular staples. There is something absolutely lovely about coming back home, especially to my kitchen. We spend a lot of time there. Whenever people are over or we have some sort of get together, it seems we always end up there. It's probably my favorite part of our home. I suppose it helps that I love to cook and create new tasty things. Now that we are back to our own kitchen, I get to be creative again. I also get to eat a bit more healthy. So, now that I'm somewhat back to my own timezone, it's time for chia pudding!  This recipe is super easy to adapt based on seasonally available fruit, what you prefer for nut butters, and other mix-ins.
Simple Chia Pudding
Plum, strawberry and coconut compote
Optional add-ins
Prepare your chia pudding:
Seriously, I could eat this all day. It's that good. It's filling enough to tide me over until lunch. A smaller version would be great for a healthy snack, or even a dessert! How do you like your chia? Comment and share with us! |
Welcome!I'm Tonia, a Midwesterner transplanted to Colorado. I'm a mom of two lovely littles, a yoga instructor, DIY-er, teacher, stay at home mom, and a doTERRA Wellness Advocate. I blog about a little bit of all of these and everything in between! 
Are you looking for natural health options, but don't know where to start? Book a 1-on-1 appointment with me! We'll spend about 30 minutes getting to know your health goals and concerns, learn a bit about doTERRA, and go over the most commonly used oils that meet your needs. You don't have to buy anything, but if you see something you like, of course I can help you!
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