The Scent of Christmas. All Over Me

     Unless you live under a rock someplace, chances are, you have heard of Essential Oils. They are everywhere, and pretty much guaranteed to do everything except fold your laundry.
     I have several friends, co workers, and even a Sister In Law who are completely into Essential Oils and use them religiously. Using essential oils and the supplements that can be purchased with them, one of my brothers has lost something like 50 pounds in only a few months. (The part of me that walks religiously, works out, eats properly and has stalled at 30 pounds after 7.5 months wants to scream in frustration at this. It isn't fair.)
     Anyhow, I have been invited to more Essential Oil parties than I can count, and if you forget if you are talking to a DoTerra person vs a Young Living person, it could mean ruining someone's day if you mention the wrong company to the wrong person. Some time ago, I came into possession of three or four bottles of Essential Oils, and, though I had no idea what to do with them, I have kept them in the kitchen cupboard - mostly because the husky tried to eat them when they were on my desk - and there have sat. One of them was peppermint oil, which, I was told can help with headaches. I have had headache issues my entire life - along with pretty much every other person ever - and at this point, I just roll with them. Well. Along with the liver ruining Acetaminophen, and the stomach ruining Ibuprofen.
     A co worker and her daughter have been making sugar scrubs, and I have somehow become the test subject for them. Which has been amazing, and I am absolutely in love with these essential oil sugar scrubs. I could get this side of poetic about these scrubs. Yesterday, I was handed a candy cane sugar scrub to try out. It featured peppermint oil and was wonderful. I used it before bed. Using the peppermint sugar scrub, I remembered the peppermint essential oil in my cupboard and thought about my current headache, which is at two months and counting now. I took the peppermint oil up to bed, and, trying to recall the instructions from Mary, the friend who had demonstrated them to me months ago, I dabbed some on my forehead. And then between my eyes. Down the bridge of my nose. Behind the ears, on the back of my neck, beside my eyes, under my nose, around my eyes, and then remembered that, you shouldn't apply too close to your eyes because: burning sensation.
     My entire face aflame, from the liberal dousing of peppermint oil, I lay back and waiting for the migraine to stop. I couldn't open my eyes because, everything was still burning. I waited. I waited. I thought about Christmas and candy canes and mint gum. I realized I now smelled like Christmas and candy canes and mint gum.
     It has now been twelve hours and, my face continues to tingle, and my head still hurts. I am in love with the sugar scrubs, but, peppermint oil did not help my headache. I needed to mention this, because, my face continues to feel minty fresh and since it is on my mind, it needs to be written about. Because that's how these Blogs work. Still. In defense of the Essential Oils: I do love those sugar scrubs!


     We are on the other side of Labor Day. Most of the weekend was spent at home cleaning, but, we did head out to go see the Rushford NY Labor Day Grand Parade.
     We had never seen this parade before, so, I dragged the entire family out to go experience it. I was informed by George "Mom. You broke my heart. We were fishing, and just about to head to a better spot, when we had to leave so you could go to this parade. Broke. My. Heart!" anyhow, we found a spot in the blazing sun, and settled in to await the parade. Which started late, but seemed nice enough. Until it stopped. I mean. STOPPED Stopped. As in: no parade. No fire trucks, no horses, no marching bands, no Shriners in go carts - nothing. Where did the parade go? My kids began watching the biggest cricket we have ever seen, as it hopped around in the road where the parade should have been. Where on earth was the parade? After a very long time, made longer still by grouchy kids in the hot sun, we began to see that something was happening down the road.


     It. Was. A. Politician. Seriously. A politician HELD. UP. AN ENTIRE PARADE FOREVER, as he and his entourage made sure they spoke at length to every single person on the parade route, threw candy at every kid, and stopped short of  have lunch with people individually. Not only did THAT politician hold up the parade, but, TWO MORE politicians did the same thing. Which extended the parade by probably half an hour, as we waiting for artificially smiling politicians to make their way down the parade route. One even spent some time petting and cooing over a small dog that was with it's family right next to us.
    Anyone who was leisurely enjoying the parade without children was probably touched by the scrupulous attention to every person along the parade route. It was probably meaningful to some people, to see them out and having entire leisurely conversations about in depth topics. However. People with kids were not as excited about the individualized attention. I will probably still vote for them though, because I actually like the politicians that were in the parade. During that time, however, I seriously reconsidered my party affiliations.




     Speaking of kids.  I need to make a special Shout Out to Liam. Liam is this boy who lives down the street from us. He has a mop of  thick hair with curls on the tips, has amazing big eyes, and looks like a stock photo for an Alter Boy. He lives for all things Halloween/horror/scary, and recently attended "Zombie Con" with his Grandmother. After which He excitedly came bounding into the house to tell me he had gotten Jason Voorhees autograph at  Zombie Con. After a recent gruesome conversation, Kaila informed him he was creeping her out. I told her though, that Serial Killers historically don't tend to get their neighbors, so, we were probably safe, and Liam could keep coming over. Also, I like the kid. He's just an all around good kid - who likes Zombies. Anyhow, Liam came over recently, and informed me: "I read your Blog. Your kids told me about it, so I started reading it." I was absurdly pleased by this, but then he said "You didn't like my recorder concert??!!!!!" (Refer back to a semi recent post that chronicled the end of year school recorder concert.) YIKES! Apparently he told this to his mother in outrage, and she replied with "Honey. Nobody likes recorder concerts." I did tell poor Liam that I have never written anything derogatory about non recorder concerts, so, he should not hesitate to join band this year in school. He agreed to give it some thought. Anyhow, Liam, the kid that looks like a choir boy and thinks along the lines of all things undead, has asked for special mention here. And, since I genuinely love Liam, I thought it would be okay to mention him. Also, he offered to help with fall decorations, and, because of him and his brilliant ideas, my kitchen light is now decorated for fall. I did turn down the suggestion of hanging creepy things off my kitchen light - as, I am not partial to  images of dead things hanging over the area where I prepare food, but, otherwise, he did a good job. Since he is definitely one of my favorite neighbors, and an all around nifty kid,  I thought he deserved honorable mention here. (There, Liam! You are in my Blog now!)


     Pretty much, that's about it. Since this year would not be complete without me signing myself up for as many physical things to sign up for, which sound way nicer before signing up than they ever do at any "Start" line or date, I suppose I should mention where we are at, currently. In two days, we find out the official winner of the 1,000,000 step challenge. The Grandma and I both hit one million steps the same week. I had MORE steps total that week, but, we both hit it. I think there is also a prize for most steps overall, including extra steps awarded for doing workouts etc. Not sure who has actually won the contest(s) at this point. Nor are we sure what First Prize is, honestly.
     Also, I signed myself up to do "The Ridge Walk" in mid October. I have wanted to do it for some time now. I signed myself up for a 9 mile walk, and, my sister in law said she would do it, too. It gets me out of teaching Sunday School, which is about the only perk at this point. I read the description of the walk that was included with my confirmation of sign up email. It is the most difficult of all the hikes, and, is for experienced walkers/hikers only. If we are not at a certain point of the walk by a certain time, we get the "Bus ride of shame" as I have started calling it, back to the start up line.
    
     Not sure why I continue to do this to myself, but, at the very least, it will be entertaining, right?