Little of this & that....

Good morning....it's 7 am and the birds are singing on this beautiful Sunday. It's truly going to be a day of rest - and laundry. Still playing catch-up from the trip.

I'm sore and a little herxy, I think. Knees and hips are not so happy at the moment from 10 minutes yesterday on a recumbent bike. I need to learn to start smaller and work my way up, and also not to exercise on days I'm already sore....

But there's a great story about this bike - a wonderful tale of synchronicity that I want to share. Besides me having knees that nearly always hurt, my mom just had a knee replacement two months ago and her knees need to keep exercizing now that her physical therapy has ended. A few times I've gone to the gym and used the recumbent bike and it's made my knees feel better, so I've had in the back of my mind to think about getting one that mom and I could both use. In fact, she and I discussed this in some detail on Thursday.

Friday, I was driving home from Coupeville (about 25 miles from our house), when I noticed a recumbent bike sitting at the edge of the highway with a sign on it that said "FREE". At first I kept going with the thought, "It's probably falling apart; a fixer-upper if it even works at all." Then I immediately had the thought that "HEY - I'm looking for a recumbent bike, I should turn around and take a look...!"

U-turn! The bike appeared to be in good shape so I got on it and pedaled, and it worked just fine. How exciting!! However, when I attempted to load it into my car, it quickly became apparent that there was no way I was going to get that thing into the car by myself.

There was a long driveway leading down to a house so I trudged down there, and was told that the bike belonged to the people in the back house. So I continued down the hill to the next cottage, envisioning that the bike would still be on the highway when I got back. As I walked up a couple were getting into their car. They affirmed that it was their bike and they'd be happy to help load it into the car. So they met me at the top of the hill on the highway, and this nice man put it into the car for me. They refused to take any donation for the bike.

Really, you gotta love the power of manifestation.... thanks, Universe, for the cool gift!

Another thing I want to share with you is the Isabella Catalog. There are very few catalogues in this world that I actually WANT to receive.... Isabella is one of them. They carry a lot of interesting and useful things, as well as fun gift items. The writing is clever, the design is lovely. Anyway, I noticed yesterday for the first time that they offer a line of safe, natural insect repellants. Now I rarely use these, but would have really appreciated this stuff a couple of years ago on our trip to Roatan! There is one in particular called BioUD formulated especially to repel ticks. This caught my interest of course, being that ticks are on my "don't invite to the party" list right now. Fortunately, we don't have many ticks here on Whidbey Island, but I'm glad to know about this product in case I plan to be out in the woods hiking around in other forests. The Isabella website is www.isabellacatalog.com.

Speaking of useful products, this leads me to talking about tooth care. One of the natural products I've used for awhile is a toothpaste that is all natural, as well as fluoride-free (I shared with you awhile back the insidious health challenges related to fluoride). However, I noticed that I was having a problem with food sticking to my teeth while using the natural toothpaste. Enter Karen, my wise herbalist neighbor who formulates an entire line of bodycare and homecare products in her kitchen.... She always seems to have a solution for everything, and she told me about her Tooth Soap. I had never heard of soap for teeth, but this stuff is AWESOME. She explained that most natural toothpastes use glycerine, which not only can cause food to stick to teeth, but it coats the teeth and prevents mineral absorption. Turns out, our teeth need to be able to absorb minerals - who knew?? The tooth soap cleans the teeth and encourages mineral absorption. I don't think I've been as excited about a personal care product in a long time, but I am really tickled with the tooth soap!! It doesn't whiten, but Karen says using baking soda once or twice a week will whiten the teeth, so I'm going to experiment with that.

I realize this has nothing whatsoever to do with lyme disease, but thought I'd share since it's in keeping with my personal goal of living as cleanly and lightly as possible upon the planet. If you'd like to check out Karen's amazing bodycare and homecare products, go to her website: www.sweetsistersbodycare.com. We use quite a few of Karen's products at home (great hand soaps, laundry soap, etc.), and I use her grapefruit shampoo and conditioner, AND the best-moisturizer-ever, scented with rose and jojoba essential oils. Karen uses only pure, organic essential oils and other ingredients, some of which are grown herself. Her number one goal is to honor and protect the environment, so you can feel good about using her stuff. Her daughters, Rohanna and Terra also help with the business, hence the name: Sweet Sisters. Enjoy!!

I hope to get out a canvas and do some painting today... we'll see if that really happens. Have a peaceful Sunday!

Sukie