For What Ails you!:Eucalyptus Shower Discs

The weather is changing just a little here in Northern California and with it comes the dreaded cough and runny/stuffy nose. With a toddler in the house it can be pretty frustrating when they can't sleep , so when I found this recipe I was thrilled! I don't own one of those humidifiers, so I just take one of these little disks and put it in her bed. I put it by the top of her bed after she falls asleep and it puts of fragrance all night long. I use a half of one in her bath before bed too! They work great in the shower, but the fragrance doesn't last  very long.

Eucalyptus Shower Discs

Ingredients:

1 cup Baking soda
1/3 cup Water plus a little extra
Eucalyptus essential oil
Rosemary essential oil
Lavender essential oil

Tools Needed:

Bowl
Muffin tin
Muffin liners


Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Put baking soda in bowl add the water ( if its too thick slowly add more water a tsp at a time) until it's thick. Put the liners in the muffin pan and then spoon in the paste. I just equally divided it up and it made 6 disks. It might make more using a smaller pan. I may have to try using a mini muffin pan next time! Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven let cool completely before removing liners from pan.Once they are cool add 15-20 drops of each essential oil to the disks and then seal in an air tight container.

I tried that! DIY Hot tigers balm

I love Tigers balm it relieves my aches and pains just as well as Ben Gay with out the smell!!So when I found this recipe on Pinterest for it I was excited, as Tigers balm can be expensive.

Hot Tigers Balm
Ingredients
1 oz beeswax
1/4 cup almond,coconut or olive oil
10 drops camphor essential oil
9 drops peppermint essential oil
8 drops eucalyptus oil
5 drops cinnamon essential oil
5 drops clove essential oil

Directions
1) Combine beeswax and your choice of oil in a double boiler on low heat.
2) Stir mixture until it completely melts.
3) Pour mixture into a glass container. Do this before adding essential oil, because the oils evaporate quickly.
4) Add your essential oils and stir. Quickly so the oils don't evaporate out!
5) Tightly seal lid and wait until mixture hardens.

I was unimpressed with this particular recipe for Tigers balm. I don't feel any heat at all and have recently rewarmed my balm and added 5 more drops of camphor and eucalyptus and still no heat. However, I did find that it helped with the pain in my shoulder. I will be trying another recipe for it soon and will let you know how that one turns out!

I tried that!: All natural bug spray

I have always been one to not want to spray chemicals bug repellents on myself or my family. Last year I went with an all natural repellent that I bought at the health food store. While the product worked well the scent was not one I could deal with. So I found an all natural one online using essentials oils and I love it! The smell is great, my seven year old likes it so well I finally had to put it up because he was spritzing himself with it all day!!

Bug Off

Ingredients
4 drops citronella essential oil
4 drops of lemongrass essential oil
4 drops of eucalyptus essential oil
4 drops of mint essential oil
1/4 cup witch hazel

Directions
 Add all ingredients to a spray bottle (I used a plastic one but, glass is fine too!) Shake well before each use!