Diatomaceous Earth ~~~ Miracle Dirt

I know, I haven't posted in almost 3 years but I had to give a shout out to what I consider a miracle find !!
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm all about natural. I try my best to stay away from doctors and their prescription pads. I believe western medicine has its place in trauma and yearly wellness check ups but otherwise I'm all about using natural cures. God has provided us with some incredible plants to use.

So last week I went on line to look at natural flea remedies for my pets. One thing I came across was DE.
However when reading the reviews I kept seeing people talking about how they were taking DE for their own health. They were raving about how it got rid of joint pain, lowered their blood pressure and bad cholesterol. Ok.....they got my attention.

For someone about to turn 64, I'm in pretty good shape I guess. I'm not on any medications and have no illness that I know of. I haven't been to the doctor for anything but check ups in about 3 years. However, I did have a total hysterectomy 3 years ago this past April and haven't really felt good since. I seem to have lost all my "get up and go " and have to make myself do anything I do. Now joint pain, I know all about joint pain! In 2001 I was diagnosed with degenerate disk disease and fibromyalgia . Now DDD is nothing more than weak, brittle bones in my opinion. Fibro is said to be an inflamation of the connective tissue. Yes, I hurt! I hurt all the time but I have learned to live with it. On top of these 2 things, last year I started having severe problems with my siatic nerve which was causing hip pain and cramps in my legs and feet. I also suffer from bad sinuses and acid reflux. Let's don't even talk about the pain in my left shoulder!After canning, I can barely lift it! Now my PCP wants me to take steroids for my sinus and Nexium for my acid reflux but instead I use salt water rinses for sinus problems and baking soda for acid reflux. If the joint and shoulder pain gets too bad, I take an Advil. I just refuse to take prescription drugs.

What is Diatomaceous Earth? That's what I wanted to know! So I started doing research, lots of research !! I'm not going to go into a big long spill about it because the internet is full of information you can read. YouTube has lots of videos you can watch of people taking it. The short of it is ~~~ it is 85% silica. What is silica? The most important thing our body needs after oxygen! Silica controls everything in our body! Skin, hair, nails, bones, teeth, all body tissue. Babies are born full of silica that is why they are smooth with rosy skin. Silica helps our body to absorb nutrients. We are nothing without silica! So I went from researching DE to researching silica. I suggest you research silica first then DE. I think I have been silica deficient for years!

Now, here is my story of taking DE. Last Wednesday July 27, 2016 the DE I had ordered from Amazon arrived. I knew from research that I was going to be taking it in the morning on an empty stomach so I waited for the next day to start. On Thursday morning I woke up with severe shoulder and hip pain and stiff as a board! I drank my coffee then fixed my DE. I put 1 teaspoon in 2 ounces of water and drank it down. I followed that with about 4 more ounces of lemon water. Now it is a fine white powder about like flour so you have to stir it up good. It really has no taste, maybe a little bit chalky. Not hard to take at all.

Now this is why I used the word miracle. In about 4 hours, a miracle happened!! I noticed that I had NO pain. None! Now I'm not telling you that it will work this fast for you or that it will work at all for you. I'm telling what this inexpensive all natural product has done for me. It has given me my life back! I have had no back or shoulder pain in a week! No stiffness! I have had no leg or feet cramps, no acid reflux, my sinuses are clear and my energy has sky rocketed ! My motivation is back! I have been a house cleaning demon for the past 3 days! I am praying it continues because I haven't felt this good in years! I'll never miss a day taking DE !

So, I just wanted to share my story and maybe help someone who is suffering from the same problems! If you decide to try it I would love to hear about it ! It's time to go take my dirt !! Have a great weekend everyone!

Killing Cancer................

CANCER.........a word everyone dreads to hear! It breaks my heart when I hear of someone facing this fight. Other than my brother-in-law who successfully recovered from Prostrate Cancer years ago, no one on either side of my family has ever been diagnosed with cancer thank God! Let me retract on that, I was mis-diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 1997 by a Radiologist, a MD, and 2 different Gynecologists, the last of whom had the good sense to refer me to Oncologist/Gynecologist  Dr. David Bard at the University of Arkansas Medical Center in Little Rock who told me it was NOT Cancer. It scared the beejeezus of of me though and I thank God everyday that I am one of those people who always wants a second opinion before believing anything I hear. Even before that fiasco I was very interested in Herbal/Holistic Medicine and read everything I could find on the subject. Below is the book that started my reading.........

With the coming of the PC, the Internet, Google and Amazon, I have acquired a very impressive medical library. However is was the book below that really got my attention concerning disease and its causes. Guess what? It all goes back to the age old adage.... " We Are What We Eat " !
 What we put in our temple determines the health of the temple. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that  Western Medicine has it's place when it comes to trauma but when it comes to diseases, doctors are all about pharmaceutical drugs. The pharmaceutical industry owns the medical industry in America and it is all about  money not the person. They have a drug for everything and every one of those drugs have side effects that are often worse than the ailment they are prescribed for!

I'm not trying to be some " know it all " nor am I saying that a life style change is easy. Giving up all the food and stuff we call food that is lethal to our body is perhaps one of the hardest things in life to do. Let's face it, we are products of our environment. We love food in America! Look around you, America is the most overweight country on earth ! I need to lose at least 10 pounds or more myself. Most of what we eat, is acidic to our bodies and acidic bodies get diseased. Nexium is one the most prescribed drugs on the market! Eight out ten people in the US are diagnosed with acid reflux. Our body is meant to be alkaline not acidic. Cancer cells CANNOT live in an alkaline environment!!  However, no medical doctor is going to tell you that because Cancer is big business in America and it's going to stay big business as long as it is owned by the big three pharmaceuticals.
Chemotherapy is a 200 billion dollar a year business and it is nothing but pure poison! People spend billions to poison their already sick bodies? I know how scary it is to be told you have cancer, I understand how desperate it makes one feel ! I also know that the human body is designed to heal its self  if given the proper nutrition. I would never go the chemo route, I do not believe it works, it makes you even sicker, it's adding insult to injury. I am not bashing people who take this route, I understand it totally, you are desperate and have been led to trust your doctor!That is the American way. Doctors not only prescribe it, they too take this route. However we must remember that doctors are not taught nutrition in medical school, they are taught disease and pharmacy. They do not work for you, they work for the AMA which is controlled by the Big 3 Pharmaceuticals. Your health lies in your hands, who are you going to trust with it?
I hear you saying; " what about the people who do take chemo and survived cancer " ?
 I think if we could look close at their lives, they did something else also. Did they begin a better diet? Did they unknowingly change it because the chemo made them too sick to eat bad stuff? Was it prayer? I do believe it was something other than chemo ! All I'm asking is that if you or a loved one is diagnosed with cancer, don't give your doctor complete control of your life. Do your research, YouTube is full of great information from survivors who took charge of their own health. There are dozens of videos on You Tube of a TV show called  " The Incurables " featuring people who were sent home to die by their doctors from all sorts of diseases who wouldn't give up. Look for one on there by typing in Baking Soda and Molasses Cancer Cure from a man with stage 4 prostrate cancer who was told by his doctor to get his business in order because he had less than six months to live! Robert Morse ND on the video below has spent 40 years helping people recover their health, he's brilliant ! We are about to enter 2014, let us all make a vow to take charge of our health and make it as healthy as we possibly can !!!

" The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow " by Rita Leganski

After spending a couple of weeks reading some very interesting Civil War Diaries I felt the need to switch reading gears to something light and mystical. I'm not going to tell you this book was light, but it was one of the most mystical books I've ever read..................
If you've read my book reviews before you know I love Southern Gothic books and when they are set in or near New Orleans...........oh my ! This book is unworldly yet the characters are so down to earth they reel you in like family. I LOVED  THIS BOOK !!

Bonaventure was born mute two months after his father was murdered. Yes, his voice was silent but his hearing was intensely magnified, so much  he could hear what no other human ever had. The only one able to hear his silent voice was the ghost spirit of his father William who stayed earth bound to interact with his son. 
Do you ever wonder what's really out there, is magic, voodoo, hoodoo, root work really real? Where does our spirituality fit in to the great scheme of life ? Do you want to escape the real world and hang out in the other realm for awhile ? This book will answer those questions and let you escape if only for a little while to the world of a magical little soul............... watch the trailer it's awesome..........

Haunted History at Rosswood Plantation

 

 

 

If you read the post below you know we took a trip to Rosswood Plantation.... 

Built in 1857 by Dr. Walter Wade.......... 

 

 

This is Ms. Jean Hylander our wonderful host and Mistress of Rosswood since 1974..

This...is the haunted bedroom we occupied. I awoke at 2:45 Am to visit the potty room. Notice the TV to the right of the bed, it has a Direct TV box below it that illuminates the room with blue light. As you come around the bed from the right, there is a dresser directly against the wall in front of this bed. The bathroom door is across from the sofa on the left. As I came upon the dresser I saw a full bodied apparition of a woman in the mirror. She was standing between the sofa and bed looking toward the mirror. I turned around toward the sofa to look and she vanished ! She was in Victorian dress with dark hair piled on top of her head. She appeared to be late 30s-early 40s in age. I'm not the first to see her but it is not clear who she may be. Ms. Jean thinks it may be Mabella Wade whom the house was built for. I think her clothes come from a later period than Mabella. Maybe more late 1800s- early 1900s. At that period a woman named Mary Elizabeth Davis Mitchell Hamer lived in the house. She was the niece of Jefferson Davis CSA and reported to be his favorite niece whom he addressed as Liz..............

 

 

We loved sitting on this upstairs balcony with its awesome views!

 

 

This is the downstairs parlor. I was sitting on this sofa talking to Ms. Jean when Eric came downstairs from his afternoon nap. When I asked him if he had a good nap he replied;

" yes, till those little girls in the room in back of ours got to giggling "....  Ms. Jean and I looked at each other because we both knew that the 3 of us.... were the only 3 people in the house! We learned Eric is one of many who have heard the giggling girls in that room.

 

Ms. Jean with what may be the best cook in Mississippi....Miss Peggy !!

 

 

 

 

What's a great trip without meeting new friends!! This is George & Vicky from Atlanta, GA. They were awesome company on our history trip, talking on the balcony and great companions in the dining room..........

 

Happy Haunted Halloween...............

The Word Is Resurrection ~~~~~

 

We are planning to step back in time this week to an area steeped in Mississippi history half way between Natchez and Vicksburg. I fell in love with the history of Natchez thirty years ago after reading Harnett T. Kane's book " Natchez ".
I have collected all of Mr. Kane's wonderful books on the South and also have a collection of Natchez history books that will rival any in Mississippi libraries.

 However, it is this wonderful book " Mississippi In Africa " by Alan Huffman that sends me on a journey this week. I first read this book eight years ago and have just finished re-reading it. What an amazing true story it tells! It has stayed with me all these years and refuses to leave me. Alan did some incredible research to gift us with the story of Captain Isaac Ross and his wife Jane.

 Capt. Ross migrated to Jefferson County, Mississippi in 1808 from South Carolina, bringing with him a large group of slaves as he was against selling them and separating families. After his arrival he built Prospect Hill located 27 miles north of Natchez and 30 miles south of Vicksburg. He spent years before his death in 1836 perfecting what he believed to be an unbreakable will that granted freedom to his slaves and passage to a colony in Liberia called  Mississippi in Africa. After his death, his grandson Isaac Ross Wade wasted no time in contesting the will bringing about a battle that would take years and the Mississippi Supreme Court to settle, would cause discord between family members and lead to a slave uprising in April 1845 that resulted in a fire that not only burned Prospect Hill to the ground but killed a six year old child named Martha Richardson who was the great granddaughter of Capt.Ross.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the will of Capt. Ross was finally upheld by the courts, Isaac Ross Wade bought back the plantation at auction and built the present house at Prospect Hill which was owned by the family until the 1970's when Robert Wade one of the last family members to live at Prospect Hill sold the house which was falling into ruin, along with 3 acres to a man from Natchez who claimed to want to restore it but never did.
The Archaeological Conservancy has now purchased the house and 3 acres with hopes of selling it to someone who will indeed follow through with restoration and give them easement rights to have archaeology digs.....

 

 

   

 If I was younger I would be very tempted to take on this project and restore this wonderful piece of
 history to her former glory, instead  I'm visiting the area this week in hopes of resurrecting the spirits of this historical place to guide me in bringing their story to the pages of some fact based fiction .....
We will be staying at Rosswood Plantation ( pictured at top ) built in 1857 by Dr. Walter Wade the grandson of Capt. Ross and brother of will contester Isaac Ross Wade.
 Rosswood stands on land that was once part of Capt. Ross 's original acreage .

" The Storycatcher " by Author Ann Hite

The agonizing  wait is over ! Tuesday September 10, 2013 Ann Hite's second novel
 " The Storycatcher" hits the shelf of your favorite book store.........

I fell head over heels for 16 year old Shelly Parker in the pages of Ann's first novel " Ghost On Black Mountain"
(which was not only a Townsend Prize Finalist but won  Ann Hite " Georgia Author of the Year 2012 for First Novel")

when Shelly said;

 " we was the only Negroes on the mountain and that made for a mighty lonely life. All I had was Faith Dobbins who made me her baby doll until I got old enough to be her maid"


" The Storycatcher " is Shelly Parkers story. 16 year old Shelly has the "gift of sight" and them dead haint's have been bothering her for as long as she can remember. Sometimes they want to warn her to protect her and sometimes they just aggravate the daylights out of her wanting her help. Shelly does her best to ignore them most of the time but when that Black Mountain haint Arleen Brown decides she wants revenge on her beloved Faith Dobbins sinister daddy by taking over Faith's body, Shelly knows she's in for a fight to save Faith!
So Ann Hite takes us from Black Mountain, NC to the swampy marshes of Coastal Georgia as Shelly and Arleen  join forces to untangle years of lies and murder spanning from the 1930s to the 1980s....

For those of us book lovers who be came Ann Hite "addicts" after reading her first novel
"The Ghost On Black Mountain"  it's like an early Christmas present ! NO ONE among today's authors can out write Ann Hite when it comes to Southern Gothic. A few pages into " The Ghost On Black Mountain" I was saying I think  Ann has channeled the spirits of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Conner to write this book. A few pages into "The Storycatcher " I was convinced she had !!!
Her writing is very literary, beautiful, lyrical, poetic and spellbinding and I am hooked on it !!

You do not have to have read " The Ghost On Black Mountain "to enjoy " The Storycatcher"
it is a stand alone novel but you will enjoy it so much better if you have the back story of Shelly Parker & Faith Dobbins.....

" WHILE WE WERE WATCHING DOWNTON ABBEY" by Wendy Wax

On Tuesday April 2nd 2013.....the wait was over! Author Wendy Wax's much anticipated WWWWDA was released! As a devout " Downton Abbey " fan, I knew I had to read this book, I was not disappointed, it is 354 pages of pure delightful reading!
The characters are diverse and so well written you long to introduce yourself and hang out with them !

In the beginning the only thing they seem to have in common is that they are all residents in the beautiful Alexander........a luxurious, old world charm apartment building in downtown Atlanta where only the ritzy can afford to live.

Samantha Davis....a forty something beauty whose outward beauty screams, " high fluting rich (well you know the type) who appears unapproachable". She married  high profile, handsome attorney,  Johnathon Davis 25 years ago for security when at 21 she found herself an orphan with two younger siblings to raise........... "Samantha is a true case of looks can be so deceiving.".

Claire Walker........ she knew before she said I do that she really didn't! After giving it her best for a few short years, she said;  "I do to a divorce " and set out to raise her young daughter Hailey and become a novelist. Now that Hailey is off to college and with two published Historical Romance Novels under her belt she moves to a studio at the Alexander to write full time where she discovers..........
"you can force a writers butt into a chair but you can't make her think"

Brooke Mackenzie.....mother of two small daughters has just been dumped in an apartment she didn't want to be in , by her ex-husband Zachary whom she didn't want to be her ex. Finding herself living the age old story.... "I worked 2 jobs to put him through medical school, residency and set him up in private practice and I get dumped for Barbie " .
As if that wasn't enough, " Ken & Barbie" decide to move into the Alexander also making Brooke even more miserable!!

Edward Parker..........Downton Abbey fans.......think Mr. Carson with a little Mr. Bates thrown in!
 Edward hails from Britain where his family has been "in service" for eons. He now holds the coveted position of Concierge of The Alexander where he sees too much and knows more about it's residents than they seem to know about themselves.

The residents are brought together when Edward decides to make Sunday nights in the club room
" Downton Abbey Night " complete with English food and drinks. They will watch one episode a week of Season 1 & 2 in preparation of  the upcoming Season 3 premiere.

Thus the story of true friendship, mother/daughter relationships and finding ones self starts to emerge in these 3 totally opposite women as they form a common bond. Wendy Wax has placed in our hands a work of fiction that not only entertains but delights us and leaves us wanting more,more,more of both these characters and Downton Abbey !!! Get yours today, you won't be sorry!!!

5 Star Reading.........

In preparation for our trip to Alaska I researched and ordered some books to read that would get me in the mood.

One of the small towns I would have loved to visit was Haines, population about 1,800. However our ship only passed it by between Juneau and Skagway. This is a wonderful read about a newly married couple who went to Alaska for their honeymoon and stayed. It is the true story of Heather and Chip Lende's life in small town Alaska. I promise you will want to move to Haines after reading this one! Heather is a fantastic story teller!



Another great one was this historical true account of a Kindergarten teacher, 29 year old Laura Berton, who goes to Alaska in 1907 to teach school and stays 25 years.




Before we go any further I want to talk about "book popularity" these days. It seems readers, especially women, have gone crazy over the 50 Shades of Gray Series. I have not nor do I intend to read these books. Since these books "promote" both erotic sex and domestic violence, I think it is scary that they are so popular. Also it seems authors now days think that in order to sell books, they must use foul language and sex to do so. I don't agree! Think " To Kill A Mockingbird" or "Gone With The Wind" or Google Best Selling Books of All Time! I can look past some language and some sex but I keep a donation box to put the ones that turn me off in. Here lately I find that Christian Fiction and Historical Fiction bring me the most reading pleasure! This "Diamond of The Rockies" series by Kristien Heitzmann was wonderful! Set in the Colorado Gold Rush Days it tells the story of Carina DiGratia's move from Sonoma,California to Crystal Colorado a tent city of miners where a woman by herself is anything but safe. It is Christian Fiction.


Another CF Author whom I've discovered and love is Colleen Coble.
I ordered "Alaska Twilight"
and loved it so much...........



I got "Wyoming". It is 4 short novels in one set in the "wild west" territory days of Indians and Army forts that I hated to see end.



I also ordered her "Rock Harbor" series of 4 books and look forward to reading them. I just finished "Without A Trace" and it's wonderful! One to the next!
So....that's my list of recommendations of some great 5 star reads I hope you will give a try and I know you will enjoy!!

Alaska Cruise - Day 6 & 7- Ketchikan & Victoria BC

It's now Day 6th of our Alaskan Cruise. At 6:00AM July 19th we dock in gorgeous Ketchikan, the 1st Alaskan City and Salmon Capital of the World..........


And.....it's raining! Since we were the first ship this season to experience dry weather in Juneau, Skagway and Tracy Arm, we weren't about to complain......


This was our favorite city of the cruise, the atmosphere is wonderful!



And....since Ketchikan is Alaska's rainiest city, it was perfect!


At 7:20 we met to board the bus for our excursion to the historic..........


Our driver dropped us off and we commenced to walk down 79 stair steps to the lodge....
Not so bad, it's the coming back up that gets you!



Where we boarded this boat for our Dungeness Crab catch..........



Here is a collage of "the brave" holding the crabs from our pot. Grandson Chris helps the guide pull the pot up... Now this was a hoot and we had fun!


We then cruised back to the lodge.....


To enjoy our
" all- you- can- eat" Crab Feast!
Dungeness Crab is the best thing I've ever tasted, I put it ahead of the best Lobster out there!
They had to run us off!


The bad part was we had to be back on ship by 12:00 PM, which left us 10 minutes to shop in town. We were so disappointed as Ketchikan is where you shop for Alaskan Made Items. :(

DAY 7............Victoria, BC
We were at sea most of the day but headed downstairs at 4:45 to watch son Todd who was in the top 3 of the talent contest that had gone on every night, belt out an awesome version of the song "Free Falling". He actually lost the contest by one vote to a girl from NJ who sang a Celine Dion song. ( Debi Greene you should have stayed and voted! HA! )
We actually were hoping a 92 year old woman named Georgie from Washington State would win it.



At 7:00 PM we docked in Victoria, BC......
We did not plan an excursion here since we were departing @ midnight and had to be back on ship @ 11:30 PM. There was so much packing to do after dinner since we had to have all our luggage out in the hall by midnight.



I took this pic of our fabulous dining room waiter Noel on our last night. He was just amazing every night and we actually were sad to leave him! He posed in front of the "Baked Alaska".


I want to say a special " THANK YOU " to son Todd, wife Lori & family for giving us the gift of visiting the most beautiful place we've ever seen...........


We are totally in LOVE with her.........and we're already planning to take a trip back by air and stay at least 2 weeks!!!!


If you've never been............GO! RUN! WALK! FLY! CRUISE! JUST GO!