Feature: Jilly-Bean by Celia Vogel

Check out this paranormal!

Description from Goodreads:

Temperatures are rising and superstition reigns supreme!

Eighteen year old Jillian Crossland has her life planned out. Or so she thinks! Despite her better judgement, a séance one evening sets a blueprint for disaster when fate steps in and shakes up her plans and her life!

Jilly-Bean is a paranormal novel that explores contemporary life in the throes of global warming and on the edge of madness.






Review:

"Fun, entertaining, and intriguing, all at once! This book is a refreshing coming-of-age story. It is filled with complex characters with unique qualities, fears, and superstitions."--Joe @ Amazon

Links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Celia-Vogel/e/B007VSIYOS/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13618153-jillybean

A Few Beneficial Herbs

Herbs are the culinary and medicinal plants humans have used for thousands of years. These are the aromatic plants which are used, fresh or dried, for seasoning, for their medicinal properties, or in perfumes. There are a wide variety of herbs such as kelp, garlic, parsley, green tea extract, horse chestnut, milk thistle, and oregano oil.

Herbs are very useful in strengthening the body and in treating some diseases. However, they contain active substances that can trigger side effects and interact with other herbs, supplements, or medications. So, they should be taken on the advice of an herbal practitioner, or you should consult a doctor for any problem your are experiencing before using any plant as a medical treatment.

Kelp

Kelp (also known as “Sea kelp” and “Sea wrack”) is a sea herb that is one of the best sources of natural iodine and trace elements. It is also used as the principle agent in cures for obesity. In addition, it cleans out the kidneys and stimulates the thyroid and pituitary gland to produce growth hormones.

Garlic

Garlic is a natural antibiotic and is used to disinfect wounds, treat ear infections, cholera and typhus. This herb is antifungal and antioxidant agent and can help lower cholesterol. It may also be beneficial for risk factors for heart disease, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and cancer. An excess of garlic can cause upset stomach/flatulence, occupational asthma, postoperative bleeding, bloating, bad breath, body odor, and skin irritation. People with bleeding disorders should not use garlic.

Parsley

Parsley (Petroselinum) is one of the best known,diuretic and most nutritious herbs which contains large quantities of vitamins A, B, C, and the minerals calcium, iron, phosphorous, potassium, and magnesium. It’s very useful for kidney and urinary problems, as well as water retention.

Green Tea Extract

Green tea extracts are one of the nature’s most powerful antioxidants. It helps prevent both heart disease and cancer by helping prevent vascular blood clotting and reducing cholesterol. It possesses antimicrobial properties that supports immune system health and protects against digestive and respiratory infections. An excess of green tea extracts may cause irritability, insomnia, heart palpitation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, and loss of appetite.

Horse Chestnut

Horse chestnut supports the vessels of our circulatory system and helps strengthen capillary cells and reduce fluid breakage. It is believed to be an excellent antioxidant to prevent wrinkles. It also helps in the treatments of phlebitis, varicosity, and hemorrhoids.

Milk Thistle

Milk thistle has some active substances that helps maintain healthy liver function by protecting the liver from damage caused by viruses, toxins, and alcohol. It is a herbal remedy for anthrax, asthma, bladder stones, cancer, chest ailments, dropsy, fever, bleeding from the lungs or bronchia, hepatitis, rabies, jaundice, vaginal discharge, malaria, melancholy, pleurisy, spasms, spleen, and uterus problems. Taking an excess of milk thistle may cause stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache, rash or other skin reactions, joint pain, impotence, and anaphylaxis. It should not be taken in pregnancy or while nursing.

Oregano Oil

This herb has healing, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties. It is used to treat a mildly upset stomach, bronchitis, nervous tension, insect bites, rheumatism, earache, toothaches and even athlete's foot. It is also useful in relieving bloating, gas, urinary tract problems, rheumatoid arthritis, swollen glands, and a lack of perspiration. In addition, it is can be used as a pain killer.

Benefits of Gardening for Kids

It's good to see children involved with environment-friendly activities. One such nature-loving activity that children could easily get their hands on is gardening. I thought I'd share an article I found about a few benefits gardening could easily provide:

1.  Science
In planting, children are indirectly taught the wonders of science, such as the plant's life cycle and how human intervention can break or make the environment.  They can have a first hand experience on the miracle of life through the growth of a seed.

2.  Life
Watching a seed grow into a tree is just as wondrous as the growth of a child.  In time, kids learn to love their plants and appreciate the life in them. Gardening actually helps teach how life should be treated -- with care. The necessities to live will be emphasized to kids with the help of gardening - water, sunlight, air, soil. Those necessities could easily be correlated to human necessities, i.e., water, shelter, air, food.  By simply weeding a garden, one could educate how bad influences should be avoided to be able to live life smoothly.

3.  Relaxation
Studies show that gardening can reduce stress because of its calming effect. This is applicable to any age group.  More so, it stimulates all the five senses.  Believe it or not, gardening may be used as therapy for children who have been abused or those who are members of broken homes.  It helps build self-esteem. 

4.  Quality Time with the Family
Forget about a stressful work life for a while and be soothed by the lovely ambience in the garden.  You can play and spend quality time with the children.  You can talk while watering the plants or you can work quietly beside each other. You might discover a lot of new things about your child while mingling with them in your garden. 

Help kids become aware of the environment's needs by jumpstarting their education through gardening.  I guess the best benefit of gardening with kids is that you teach them to respect life while bonding with them.

Butterfly Gardening

It is that time of year. Already the pollen has been hitting and the bees buzzing. So for a project, I thought I'd do up a butterfly garden. Following is some interesting info I found to create one -- reprinted here with permission. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

So, what is butterfly gardening? Simply put, butterfly gardening is the art of growing flowers and plants that will attract the colorful and dainty creatures to your garden. Delight your family and visitors with beautiful butterflies but be sure to create a safe habitat for them. If you own cats, rethink your plans because it would be a shame to attract these lovely insects to their death.

The design for your butterfly garden is a matter of personal preference. Naturally. Typical points to consider include the size of your garden and the types of flowers and plants you want to grow. Pick a style of garden that appeals to you, but ensure it also contains the plants and flowers that appeal to the butterflies you wish to attract.

It is important to find out which plants and flowers will attract the species of butterflies that live in your area. This information can be found at the local library or by using Google.

To create the kind of environment that they find attractive, you will also need a water source of some kind. A birdbath will look attractive and keep the butterflies up off the ground, away from stray cats or mischievous puppies. A shallow dish on a post or hung in a tree will do just as well.

When planting a butterfly garden be careful how you coordinate the colors you choose for your flowerbeds. Although butterflies do not care about your choice of color, you don't want your garden to be a hodgepodge of unrelated colors and textures (or maybe you do). Butterflies are attracted to those flowers that have nectar rather than pollen, like honeysuckle, milkweed, summer lilac, Valerian, daisies, Purple Coneflower, Yellow Sage, day lilies, and lavender.

Some people find it helpful to draw and color a layout of their butterfly garden plan to see what the finished product would look like. Keep in mind that warm colors like red and orange are flashy and showy. These colors have a greater impact against a strong green background. Cool colors such as blue and purple are soothing and toned down and would work better with a white contrast to create the look of freshness and brightness.

I hope you've gotten a few good ideas and have decided to create your own butterfly garden. I'd love to hear what you've done to welcome the spring and to see some pictures!

Writing is fun!

My desire to write began with reading. My first love when it came to reading was science fiction. And while I could never successfully read a mystery without looking in the back first to see who did it, I always liked the idea of them. And then I always enjoyed romantic poetry. While the below is not romantic, it began because a college professor harped on clichés. Don't use them! he would rant. Constantly the students had to re-write their work. But not me. For some strange reason, he liked my work, but when the others had to re-write an assignment, he couldn't just let me sit there. So he would tell me to write whatever I wanted. This was what I came up with just for him:

The Ode Cliché

by Caron Rider

A far cry from all and sundry

that is the born loser.

By and large each and every day

he uses determination.

He uses brute force.

He is down and out.

On the spot with hat in hand,

man to man he learns the facts of life.

And rain or shine, the powers that be

attempt to wrest from him a square meal.

Sooner or later past his salad days,

almost at the eleventh hour,

life seems as the sour grapes.

With him it’s touch and go.

And by the time he can smell a rat

the sad awakening has begun;

the naïve has become worldly wise.

Therefore, step by step,

his is a dog’s life.

While attempting to gild the lily,

the true blue go up in arms

and set off a hue and cry.

But though he values their judgment,

all cannot be well and good.

So when they shout, “Hold the fort!”

He returns with, “Hold your own!”

Mark my words, to pay the piper

takes a lion’s share to make good.

Now or never the rank amateur

must pull the strings of life.

So in a nutshell or in a word,

we all must be to live and learn.

The Road Not Taken

I've listed my favorite Frost poem here for your enjoyment. This has always been my code, if you will. I always wanted to go my own way, and yet I've also been very practical. I regret very little in my life because I knew that I made the choices, taken the road I wanted, and it has led me to here--led me to writing, finally, and led me to my children. The statement at the top of my blog says it all: Dare to open the door to your dreams. I did.

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.

I enjoy Einstein Quotes

Hope you enjoy these quotes. I feel a personal connection to a few of them--maybe you do too. Let me know your favorite quote!


Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

You can't blame gravity for falling in love.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.