Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

I was listening to the radio today when I heard a commercial for term life insurance and I can honestly say I’m surprised at the amount of people that don’t carry life insurance on them.    I’ll admit that Paul and I are not the healthiest people as we are quite overweight, but for us that $500 a year for the two of us (so $40 a month) is well worth it just in case something happened to one of us.  At least we have a peace of mind knowing that if something happened to one of us, the other would be ok financially.  We won’t get millions, but at least enough to cover the funeral and where I would still be able to stay home with the kids for awhile before I would HAVE to find a job.    Now if we could only loose this weight so the price of our insurance would drop!  ~wink~

Do you ever dread making that phone call to the doctor as you know it’s time to get the complete physical?   Granted every year I make the call to my OBGYN, but I haven’t to my normal doctor.   I’m dreading all the blood tests to see how my levels are.  I have a feeling he will be telling me that my cholesterol is high and I will have to do some sort of cholesterol treatments.  Because of that, I keep thinking if I push it back a little, maybe I can start eating better and getting some exercise to get my cholesterol levels closer to what they need to be so I won’t get “yelled” at so bad.

Do you have high cholesterol levels?  If so, what do you do to get yours back where they are suppose to be?

I was watching the news this morning (I don’t remember if it was the Today show or Good Morning America) but they were talking about how more people are living paycheck to paycheck, but there are still ways to work out at home instead of buying a gym membership. 

What was nice was quite a few of the things they talked about was to work on your core so in other words to help with stomach fat loss, which is so what I need!  They talked about how you could buy something cheap and simple as a hula hoop!  Otherwise another gadgetthat is out now that after using it for a little while they said it would help your core would be the something like the Ab Circle Pro.  I’m not 100% sure if that was the one they used, but it was something just like it.   So needless to say I think Katie will be getting a hula hoop this summer ~wink~ and I’ll be on the look out for an ab circle pro type thing.  If I see one cheap at a garage sale or craigslist I just might find a home for it.

I don’t know why, maybe it’s because I’m starting to know more people who have cancer, but lately I really have been trying to watch what kind of medication I put in or on my body or in/on my kids bodies as well. 

For example Kevin ended up coming down with a sore throat & ear ache last night.  He was just whimpering, but crying hard where those big alligator tears were pouring down.  Since we don’t have anything in the house medicine wise for that I did some looking online and found out that drinking hot/warm water with honey & lemon can help a sore throat.    I know gargling with salt water helps too, but I didn’t know as if Kevin would be able to do that as he was just out of control.  We thankfully got him to take a few sips of the water, but then he started crying about how his ear hurt.

I ended up looking in his ear (we have one of those things like the doctor has so you can tell if they have an ear infection) and even though I don’t know quite how to use it, I did notice that the inside was quite red so he wasn’t lying. 

At that point he was crying so out of control Paul ended up calling the after hours number for Kevin’s pediatrician and spoke to a nurse in hopes she would know what to do to at least calm him down enough where he could sleep.  She recommended warming up some olive oil (not hot.. just warm it up a little) and putting 3 drops into his ear.   So while I held Kevin, Paul ended up getting the dropper and put some in Kevin’s ear.   Kevin kept crying for a little while, but before long he had calmed down and was able to rest on me again and ended up sleeping the rest of the night.

I ended up keeping him home from school again today, but unfortunately around supper time the hard crying came back as his ear was hurting again.  This time the Olive Oil didn’t help, this time the garlic (juice or oil.. the one in the jar of garlic) ended up doing the trick.  After putting it in his ear he calmed right now and became my happy go lucky Kevin. 

All I know is I like knowing that I can give my children home remedies like this and see it work.   I just hope I can continue to find things like this.  For example is there anything that I can find that will help them when they become teenagers and the acne begins.  If not, then I will be looking for the natural stuff like acnezine. Of course by the time they are teenagers I’m sure there will be something even more natural and better. 

So do you have any home remedies that you use when your kids are sick?  If so, what are they?

I guess you could say I’m behind on the times, not just for kids toys but for health related stuff too!  (Maybe that’s why I’m still overweight LOL)   I overheard some people talking the other day while at the playground and I just heard tids & bits and had had been talking about working out and such and one person said they were thinking of trying super pump 250.   That’s when the Katie wanted me to push her on the swing so I didn’t get to hear the rest, but I thought I would check online about it. 

Here I was thinking it would be this awesome squirt gun where I could see you lose weight as you are busy chasing the kids around.  Chasing kids around the yard = running which = exercise!   Made sense to me.  Like I said.. shows you what I know.  LOL

I guess that’s not what it is at all.  Instead it’s a pre-workout bodybuilding supplement.  Yeah.. I don’t think I need that quite yet.  Maybe in like.. 10 years!  ~wink~

I still think a cool water gun would be fun though.  I think I’ll have to be on the hunt for one.   I’ve always tried going the cheap way out with the water guns and it shows as with in a couple weeks they are already broken.  I’m thinking this year… we might go all out a little more.  (all out = spending over $1)     Do you have a water gun that works great?  If so, what kind do you have and where did you get it?

Call me weird, but I actually enjoy finding remedies for things with out having to spend a fortune.  For example, if you have a cough instead of going to the store and buying expensive cough syrup all you need to do is chop up an onion, put it in a Tupperware type container and pour some sugar over it and then cover it.  Let it sit for a few hours and you will see a syrup starting to form.  Take a spoonful of syrup and then later on in the day when you start coughing again take another spoonful.   By the following day your coughing will of decreased a lot, if not left all together.   I swear by this as we have used this 3 times on Kevin and it has worked every time!!   Needless to say we won’t be having to stock up on cough syrup anymore… onion syrup is the way to go for us!  Plus it’s a lot cheaper!

I just found out another cool thing, just haven’t used it yet so I can’t vouch 100% for it.   Let me just say are you a woman (I guess I could say man too) that has bags under their eyes, wrinkles or even cellulite?  If so this is going to sound crazy, but I read today a cheaper product that will help either get your eyes less puffy, wrinkles to disappear and cellulite not look as bad.  (I did read it could also help cold sores too)   So do you know what the cure could be?!?  You will never guess…. it’s hemorrhoid cream!   

I never would of thought about putting hemorrhoid cream on my face, but if you think about it what does hemorrhoid cream do?  It tightens and shrinks tissue there for making the skin not as puffy and smoother.   I did read to be very careful when putting it around your eyes or on your lips (for a cold sore).   You are suppose to wash & dry your face and make sure all your make up is removed.  For the bags under the eyes apply a small amount under the eye area and let it sit for 20-30 minutes.  Wash off gently & pat dry.   For a cold sore, just dab a little on the spot and whatever you do.. DON’T LICK IT!   Let it sit for a few minutes and if you think you might end up licking it on accident, wipe it off and make sure there is no residue left.

Do you have something around the house that you use that’s not what it’s suppose to be meant for?  If so, please do share!

You sure can tell spring is about here because every time I tend to drive anywhere I see people out either walking, jogging or riding their bikes!  

Every time I see someone running I can’t help but wonder if they are getting ready for the Grand Rapids River Bank Run?  I really wish I could of went to watch it last year as my friend ended up doing it for the first time, but unfortunately they always have it on Mother’s Day weekend and that’s the weekend we head north to Mesick for the Mushroom Festival.   What’s great is my friend ended up running with her other friends in memory of a friend who had passed away.   I haven’t asked her if they were going to do it again this year, but I have a feeling they will be and will making it a tradition now.  Last year they all wore the same shirts that said something like In Memory of Kyle.  I was thinking if it would be fun this year if they made up some custom hats and wore them?  I don’t believe any of them are running it to actually win it, so why not have fun with it then?  

Are you a runner/jogger or walker?  Have you ever participated in a race or walk before?  Did you enjoy it?  After being in your first one, did you end up getting the bug to do it more and more?

Back in November my friend started having health issues and the doctors ended up putting her on a special diet thinking she was allergic to certain things and since then she has lost 35 pounds!   I was so excited for her when she wrote it on her FB page today as I remember how I felt when I had lost that much weight.  People always assume that you must of done diet pills or a quick trim fast cleanse, but it is possible to lose the weight the cheaper way by just watching what you eat (don’t have those 2nd’s and 3rd) and just going outside and enjoying the outdoors by walking, bike riding, playing tag with the kids.

Is it just me or does it seem like everyone now a days pops pills?  While it might not be pain pills or pills that lower their cholesterol they might be popping pills like vitamins or other supplements. 

Yesterday in the news they started talking about how some fish oil pills are now considered unsafe.   Here people had been digesting them thinking they were suppose to be making themselves better to find out instead they were doing the opposite.  I’ll never forget asking our pediatrician about giving our kids vitamins.  According to him as long as our kids ate a well balanced diet, they wouldn’t need to take vitamins, which was ok for me as I think who knows what exactly is in those pills. 

Then I wonder if they find things unsafe in fish oil pills, how are we to know what could be in something like diet pills.  Could there be just as as bad stuff in them and if so what would the diet pill side effects be?   So before you pop that next pill, it might be best to do a little more research about them.

I think every one of us has a scar somewhere on ourselves, just that some of us (me included) have scars that are a little worse than others.  I’m not sure about you, but there are a lot of days where I wish we had enough money where I could see a dermatologist to have them take a look at mine to see if there is anything they could at getting rid of them.    I just can’t imagine what it would be like to be able to walk around in public with shorts on for as now I am so uncomfortable about them that the only time I wear shorts are when I’m at home and I know no one is coming over. 

I’ve seen products at the store for acne scars removal and always wonder is a scar a scar? Would those products work on any kind of scar? I’m sure it wouldn’t work on mine as mine are raised (that’s why I think I would have to go to a dermatologist) but how awesome would it be if it indeed would work!