My favorite links

From cool away messages, to photography, exercise, etc. here are my favorite links (I’ll update as I stumble upon more).

Homemade Luxury Massage Oils

Here are some ideas for homemade luxury massage oils combining various essential oils in an oil carrier, each combination serving a therapeutic purpose.

Massage oil for easy breathing

In an oil base, which can be any cold pressed vegetable oil (olive, grape seed, almond, avocado, jojoba, sesame oil), mix a few drops of essential oil of eucalyptus, peppermint, pine and rosemary.

Massage with this oil help especially in times of sinusitis or colds, but it is also a good idea to have on hand for people with deviated septum or who are prone to frequent rhinitis.

Energizing massage oil

Same basis: a vegetable oil, but this time combined with a few drops of essential oil of lemon (or lime), rosemary and cloves.

Rigorously applied to massage the entire body, slightly damp skin after showering.

Anti-stress massage oil

This oil is based on a combination of essential oils of orange, grapefruit, lavender, petitgrain, lemon and oregano in the same vegetable oil basis.

You can also blend another form of it to your vegetable oil basis using essential oils of orange, grapefruit, lavender, lime and thyme.

Oil massage for insomnia

Combine orange essential oil, petitgrain, lavender, oregano and chamomile.

It works especially if you are massaged with it in the forehead and temple area, throat and neck.

Cellulites massage oils and skin firmness

Use diluted in a vegetable oil base essential oils of these mixes:
-lemon, juniper, cypress and rosemary.
-lemongrass, geranium, lemon, patchouli and cypress.
-lemon, juniper, cypress, geranium, cedar and mint.
-juniper, grapefruit, lemongrass, lavender, lemon, fennel and coriander.

Massage skin rigorously.

Additional remarks:
The proportion of qualification is about 6 drops total of essential oils in 20 ml carrier oil.
Do not use essential oils if you suspect that you may be allergic to them.
For very dry skin, use olive, peanut or grape stones oil base.
For fatty skin, jojoba oil is the most recommended.

The photo in her wallet – by Estrella Azul

Underneath the many photos of her grandchild, daughter and husband lies a very distinct photo. A photo which is thirty years old, faintly darker than the others and shows loving wear from being handled so many times.

She looks at it every day, running her thumb over his familiar features, often not even noticing the other newer photos in her wallet. She thinks every time she sees it that if she could she would give her own life just to find out what happened to him.

Why he left, where he is, why no letters, no phone calls for almost eight years….

Her eyes well up as she studies the handsome face looking back at her. Her pain catches in her chest as she re-reads the single line on the back of the photo:

“For my beloved mother, from her son, G.T.”

She whispers the words, “Wherever you are… I love you!"

 

Based on a true story.

Note: If by any chance G. T. might read these few lines, or anyone recognizes the man in the photo, please contact me!

A previous flash fiction about G.T. can be read here Lost dreams of a broken link

Thanks to Karen Schindler for editing this piece, for believing in me and all her support without which I wouldn’t have had the courage to start writing.

Why write? … Why not?

Creative writing is something recent to me.

I have not always been an avid reader.
I recall literature classes with as much pain, as if I was still there, but something changed after high school.
I was free to read whatever.
I didn’t have an (occasionally) unexciting list mandatory to finish and most importantly I didn’t need to analyze what I read like my former teacher expected me to in order to get a high mark.

I started seeing the world through different eyes. As predictable as that may sound, I started to notice more of what was proceeding around me and instantaneously thought of scenarios that would’ve been much more entertaining than the real events sometimes scribbling them into my notebook. And then…
Story’s ideas would come occasionally fully formed by the time I woke up, contrasting times they take a bit to unravel.

I now write flash fiction.

I want to perfect myself, so I started out low (length vise), and aspire to work my way up while learning all I can about creative writing, expanding my vocabulary as I read more, taking every chance I get to improve.

Sadly, I found that most of the people around me aren’t very supportive of my writing. Contrary to my online friends, they think it’s a waste of time so the most common questions I get asked are:
Why do you write? Why choose English?

It may not be polite to answer a question with a question, but why not write?
Now to be polite, the second question’s answer includes the answer to the first question too which is:

I write in English even though it’s not my mother tongue because I enjoy it.
Because in spite of how tough it sometimes is to express myself as beautifully as I could in Hungarian, even though my words don’t always flow as lightly as I would want them to, I love writing.
Writing changed me in a way I never thought likely from something this strenuous yet not as complicated as I first expected.
I evolved, developed into a more positive, more confident person, a better critique, much more appreciative and passionate about writing and even life in general.

One of the best gifts in my life is the ability to write anything I set my mind to.

I know there will always be someone more talented than I am, someone who writes better, and I most likely won’t get a novel published. However, this is what brings me joy, even if I never end up on a best seller’s list.

As long as I’ll be passionate about it: I will certainly not stop writing!

Save Our Planet

A link collection of my favorite environment protection tips, solutions, ideas, etc. websites.

Homemade Vapor Rub

It’s the middle of winter, ever so cold (or at least here it is, very very cold) which made me search for some natural homemade remedies and recipes for various problems.

I found the following recipe and thought this would be an awesome one to share for you to also try when you’re dealing with the sniffles.

Stay healthy everyone!

 

Homemade Vapor Rub

10 drops peppermint essential oil
10 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
5 drops essential oil of clove
60 ml extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
15 grams beeswax

Heat up the oil and wax on low heat in a Bain Marie. Mix well until the wax melts. Then take aside and add the essential oils. Allow to cool in a glass or metal container and it’s ready to use.

This balm can not only be applied on the neck and chest during periods of flu and sinusitis, but also in areas with muscle pain (even after playing a sport).

Note: the vapor rub won’t be white if you’re using yellow beeswax, so don’t worry!

Announcements

First off, I’m proud to announce that I have finally finished the new blog page for my plaster crafting business. It’s been a long long week and I still have some minor maintenance to tackle but it’s done and I started advertising it as of today!

I’m so happy!

Here’s the link, it’s in Romanian, but you can check out all the pretty photos of the products (sure you can Google translate into English if you want to.)

My Plaster Craftings
Handmade gifts to surprise your loved ones on any occasion!

Second, I created a new page of Life’s a stage – WebBlog by the title of My Happiness Project.

I advise everyone to go check out Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project blog and find out more about what a happiness project is, how you can have one too and generally get so so inspired by her articles.

And third, which isn’t really an announcement, but I’ll let you know anyway: I’m off to have what’s left of a relaxing afternoon reading, listening to music, building my family tree, scanning old family photos, watching movies with my fiancé, etc. without a shadow of guilt for taking the day to myself

Happy Sunday everyone!

Nothing but a tree in January – by Estrella Azul

Consumed after a hard work day she lay down on the sofa and gazed at her Christmas tree.

Each year she went with a theme. This year’s theme was there can never be enough ornaments on a Christmas tree. She loved the extravagance of it. The sparkle, the joy. She had nothing else extravagant in her life. Some years she would keep her tree up well into February.

But this year the pleasure in this small extravagance faded quickly whenever she realized that she had no one to share the lovely tree with her.

If only she hadn’t overreacted to the sight of crumbs on her clean carpet that night. Her loving companion could be sitting on the sofa sharing her January Christmas tree with her.

Instead he had to make do with whatever his dead eyes could see through the cracks in the floor boards a few feet beneath the sparkling tree’s laden branches.

Thanks to Karen Schindler for editing this piece, for believing in me and all her support without which I wouldn’t have had the courage to start writing.

Quick Hello (and Good Night)

Given that I only have ten more minutes of Wednesday left to post this and that I’m virtually sleep-typing, I’ll keep it short.

Taking a deep breath.

I’m currently working on expanding my plaster crafting business which requires me to actually make the products I’ll be selling, take photos, baptize them with codes, write posts with details about them under the photos on my upcoming plaster craftings blog (word misspelled by choice, quirky name choosing going on at this end), buy supplies and run errands, etc.

Well, due to minor interruptions here’s the ten minutes up.

I hope you’re all having a great day and week, I’ll see you on Friday!

Homemade: Reader Recipes

To show my appreciation of all my wonderful readers, here’s a post where I picked your recipes for various homemade beauty products from the comment threads.

Give yourself a big round of applause! Thanks for reading and sharing with me/us. And if you have more recipes, keep them coming!

Homemade Body scrub (or facial scrub)

4tbsp finely ground oatmeal
1tsp lemon juice
1tsp fresh orange juice

Mix all the ingredients together and leave in an airtight container for 2-3 hours.
Use by taking a handful of scrub and mixing with a touch of water just to moisten before massaging into skin. Rinse off with warm water.

 

Homemade Body scrub

1/2 c almond oil
1/2 c sea salt
a squeeze of lemon juice

Mix until a paste forms. Rub gently on skin. Rinse well with lukewarm water. (Works best for oily skin)

Homemade Lip balm

2 Teaspoons Grated Beeswax or Beeswax Pellets
3 – 6 Drops Flavored Oil
1 Teaspoon Sweet Almond Oil or Jojoba Oil or mix 1/2 and 1/2
1 1/2 Teaspoon Cocoa Butter
1 Vitamin E Capsule

Mix on Bain-Marie, pour into your recipients and let cool over night.

Homemade Hand and foot cream

Ingredients:
2 cups of warm water
1 ½ cups of glycerin
1/2 ounces spirits of ammonia
1/2 cup of aloe vera gel
5 Vitamin E capsules (broken open)
1/2 ounces cocoa butter
1/2 teaspoon of boric acid
1 cup of stearic acid

Preparation:
Using a glass pan, combine the cocoa butter, glycerin and stearic acid.
Melt over a low heat
Remove from the heat and add ammonia
Stir until the mass becomes milky
Add boric acid to warm water
Mix using a beater set at high for 10 minutes
Add the Aloe Vera gel and the 5 Vitamin E capsules
You could add a drop or two of your essential oil to perfume the mass
Pour into a plastic container and set aside for 2 weeks, it needs to age before it can be used.
This recipe yields 1 ½ quarts.