What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Make Your Own Egg Muffin Sandwich @ Mindfully Frugal Mom – I love these! They are so much better than the fast food version.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post not your homepage, or else we can’t find what you’re meaning to share.

Happy Thursday!

An invitation I found in the fridge this morning. Sweet memories. Oh, so sweet.

Hello friends,

I just wanted to let you all know that I won’t be blogging this week. I am under a mountain of to-do’s and about to be buried alive!

Your Green Resource will go up as usual. So link up if you have something to share.

My monthly post at Keeper of the Home will be this Friday. So, check over there if you’d like to see what it’s about. (If I’m able to, I will pop in and put up a link to it.)

I hope to be back by Monday to share my Day in the Life post and link up with Simply Rebekah. Join in if you can. It will be fun.

A few links I enjoyed this past week:

We tried this taco soup and everyone enjoyed it. We used homemade ranch dressing mix and taco seasoning.

I’m trying this new workout program and love it: 30 Minute Slim Down

Amy Bayliss is writing an amazing series on natural cleaning: 17 Days of Natural Cleaning.
She covers just about everything and provides free downloadable labels, too!

What a Parent Wants to Say Before a Child Leaves by Ann Voskamp – Probably my favorite post from all of last week. Such great advice and a wonderful reminder that these precious ones are only with us for a short while. (“Don’t waste these years,” I whisper to myself.)

Two blogs I’m really enjoying at the moment:

Beauty That Moves

Fimby

I am inspired by the lifestyles of these families and feel very peaceful reading along with them.

I hope you are all well.

See you next week.

-Stacy

FREE SHIPPING is still available through our party link until until 1/30/12.

So, if you have your eye on something, this is a good time to get it.

I’m going to order a Flexi-Clip in a larger size so I can try a few new styles.

These clips are great quality and super easy to use. I wear my Flexi-Clip almost every day. It’s so comfortable and pretty. I love it.

To get FREE SHIPPING order here.

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Homemade Ketchup @ Frugally Sustainable. Thisis definitely something I’m going to make. It looks so easy.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post not your homepage, or else we can’t find what you’re meaning to share.

Happy Thursday!

{This giveaway is now closed}

Since we’re interested in creating peace and joy around here, I wanted to tell you about some pretty hair clips I discovered.

“What?” you say. “How do pretty hair clips give me peace and joy?”

Well, for one thing, a Mom who feels good, can change the tone of her household. When I feel pretty, I feel good.

Secondly, these clips are super comfortable and actually stay in your hair. This reduces headaches and frustration levels. So, I’m saying that is a good thing!

I purchased a few Flexi-Clips from Lilla Rose a couple of months ago and have been wearing them frequently ever since. (I liked them so much I bought one for my mother-in-law, too).

Recently, Sue Ellen, a Lilla Rose consultant, sent me this beautiful Antique Band to try:

I love it. The Antique Band Flexi-Clip has a simple, rustic look that is classy and easy to use.

The Flexi-Clips come in a variety of sizes, so they fit perfectly. I like to use mine to put all of my hair up:

They are also lovely in a half-up:

And perfect for ponytails:

If you are anything like me, you’ve thrown your hair back in a plastic clip or hair elastic to get it out of your face. This has worked to some degree, but certainly wouldn’t be seen as  fashion statement. These Flexi-Clips make it possible to be practical and pretty at the same time.

Lilla Rose has other beautiful hair accessories, too.

I have my eye on these hair sticks:

and this O-ring:

The Giveaway

One winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to use for a Flexi-Clip from Sue Ellen’s Lilla Rose website.

To Enter: leave a comment below.

For Bonus Entries: do any (or all) of the following. Leavening a separate comment telling me what you did.

• Visit Sue Ellen’s Lilla Rose website: Watch the “Sizing & Styling Videos” come back and tell me which size & style you think you would most use.
• Like Sue Ellen’s Lilla Rose Page on Facebook
• Sign up for the Lilla Rose newsletter
• Earn three extra entries for placing an order through my party link (and get free shipping, too!)

Giveaway is open to US Residents only. Giveaway closes on 1/27 at 5pm PST. Winner will be chosen randomly.

FREE SHIPPING BONUS: We can all get free shipping by ordering through my party link. Party Link will close on 1/27. So, if you want free shipping, order by then.

For free shipping order through this link until Jan. 27

Making energy balls – No wonder my laptop is full of crumbs!

{Food}

Granola Energy Balls @ The Marathon Mom

I made the recipe as is, and they were delicious. My kids were bouncing off the walls pretending to have an instant energy infusion.

I also made a special batch for my husband with almond butter (instead of peanut butter) and dark chocolate chips. Yum! He now has a new favorite treat!

Another winner this week was homemade Ranch dressing from Heavenly Homemakers.

Make a jar full of of the dried ingredients and whip up some dressing when needed. Very tasty.

{Mothering Encouragement}

Don’t Carpe Diem by Glennon Melton

It won’t always be like this @ Smockity Frocks

{Fun stuff}

He Said, She Said – Green Goals for the New Year – I enjoyed seeing the different perspectives in this post.

God Cares About Stretch Marks @ Simply Rebekah – A fun post from Rebekah about how she prayed for belly butter not long before I delivered some to her at the Relevant conference. There’s also a rare picture of me.

By the way, Rebekah is seriously sweet. I really enjoyed meeting her.

Day in the Life Link up @ Simply Rebekah – If you are a blogger, you might enjoy getting involved in this day in the life link up. The basic idea is to take a picture of what you are doing every hour for one day and create a post about it.

Rebekah will be hosting a link up for all the posts on February 6th. I had fun taking my pictures this past week. Get all the details in this post.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend.

-Stacy

I wonder,

“How did I come to be so blessed?”

The road to this little one was bumpy to say the least.

But here she is.

**

We walk to the checkout, she holds her little purse and stands close beside me. The cashier looks down as says, “Oh, I never should have stopped at one.”

I see the blessing in the flesh; this little person changing my life.

A third child, with a personality so big she could fill the room.

I’m her mother.  How can this be?

It seems I was a child myself just a few short years ago.

**

I remember words from older women, who have since departed this earth, words that ring in my ears. They tell me, these years with little ones underfoot, with voices filling your home (sometimes very loudly), with the word “Mommy” constantly in your ears, these are the best years.

I figure every season of life has the potential to be the best years.

But really, it’s funny to think that these years, so exhausting and full of doubt (at least for me), could be the best years.

Before long, these will be the good old days.

I must not allow myself to be distracted.

So much can wait until this time has passed.

My children need focus and attention. And they need it now.

Do these thoughts occur to you too? Do you ever come to realize you are living the best days of your life? Do the best days seem like they are just over the horizon? Or do they seem to lay in the dust?

Perhaps our whole life will be the best days . . .

I suppose it just depends on how we look at things.

Linking up with Simple Moments, Bigger Picture.

It’s hard to believe we are already half way through January! I hope 2012 is off to a great start for you.

What is “Your Green Resource”? It’s your chance to share all your green ideas, resources and solutions with ALL of our readers! That’s right, when you link up on any of our blogs, your idea will get shared with all of the readers here and at:

Andrea of The Greenbacks Gal, Emily at Live Renewed and Megan at Sorta Crunchy

We know that many of you have posts of your own about your green journey that our readers will love. Some examples of Green Resources you can link up:

* Real Food Recipes
* Repurposed Projects
* Upcycled Projects
* Organic Gardening Tips
* DIY Natural or Green
* Thrifty Solutions

In addition to making this a weekly place where you can both share and learn new green ideas, each week we’ll be Pinning our favorite post to the Your Green Resource board! We want your green ideas to go viral – so we’ll pin the post for you!

The pinned post from last week is:

Upside Down Fire @ Laurel of Leaves

I love our wood burning stove and am looking forward to trying this technique. Check out Laurel of Leaves, even if you don’t need to fire building tips, there’s a lot of great stuff there.

I can’t wait to see what you’ve got to share this week.

Don’t forget to link back to one of the hostess so we can all find these great green resources!

Please link to your post not your homepage, or else we can’t find what you’re meaning to share.

Happy Thursday!

Today she answers a few more questions for us, including how Young Living essential oils and are different and why she cooks with them!

What makes Young Living Essential Oils different to other essential oils? 

This article helps share… it doesn’t do it full justice though!

Pure therapeutic grade essential oils are largely not recognized by established quality.

Organizations like AFNOR and ISO concentrate on perfume oils—oils not intended for increased health and wellness. “Therapeutic grade” is a term that Gary Young standardized in the mid 1990s to separate the quality of pure essential oils from perfume-grade oils.

Unfortunately, as essential oils have become more popular, many companies include the term therapeutic grade regardless of their quality standards or processes. The common use of this term has created confusion in the market.

Something you might not know is that Gary Young(founder of Young Living oils) has been growing, testing, distilling, researching, and using essential oils for more than 25 years.

Gary has brought together, under one brand, more singles and blends of oils than any other company in the world. This is his life’s work.

He has pioneered many of the techniques and written the book on essential oil use. He may very well be the world’s foremost expert on essential oils. He is dedicated to this work and with the company’s growth, he has hired and trained hundreds of people to assist in this endeavor—to deliver from Seed to Seal, the highest quality naturally occurring essential oils to Young Living members.

Question: I have seen other essential oils on the market claiming to be pure and of high quality. What makes Young Living oils different? What clues should I look for when evaluating other oils?

Answer: We recommend that you do a little homework. Here are some questions to get you started:

• How many years has the company been working with essentials oils?
• Does the company own and operate its own essential oil research farms? If so, how many farms?
• Is the company proficient in distilling oils?
• Does the company offer a broad enough offering to take care of your health needs?
• Does the company test essential oils to ensure that there are no adulterations? Do they use in-house labs to test each batch? Do they use independent labs to validate their own findings?
• What does the company do in its processes and procedures to guarantee accurate plant identity and oil purity?
• Does the company routinely visit its suppliers to ensure the best manufacturing practices are followed?
• What peer-reviewed research has the company published? Have they tested their oils in clinical settings?
• If the company claims its products are “certified,” specifically which essential oil experts have certified it?
• How has the company established its oil standards? How do they know they are selling oils containing the right amounts of constituents to be effective?
• Are the company’s oil standards based on their own library of thousands of researched articles, thousands of essential oil gas chromatograph tests, and data from hundreds of thousands of user experiences?
• Does the company have in-house expertise and commitment to quality assurance?

Young Living does and meets all of these… can you say the oils that you use, do all that?

Gary Young, the founder, is a Christian and he prays over the oils and the farms.  He has farms in the US and in other countries of the world!

Here is a video showing the Sees to Seal Process:

I notice you cook with essential oils, can you tells us a little about how and why you do that?

Here’s an article I wrote that helps share why essential oils are better than fresh/dried herbs and why you should use them:

Essential Oils Versus Herbs

Being concentrated, the essential oils contain virtually all of the plants healing nutrients, oxygenating molecules, amino acid precursors, coenzyme A factors, trace minerals, enzymes, vitamins, hormones and more. And because they are concentrated, Essential Oils are from 50 to 70 times more therapeutically potent than the herbs or plants they are derived from.

Unlike dried herbs, which lose up to 90% of their healing nutrients and oxygen molecules, essential oils do not. Best of all, 100% pure, therapeutic Grade A Essential Oils are freely available and safe for cooking and home use. They are not considered medicine by our governments regulatory agencies, but best fall under the food category.

Essential oils have a chemical structure that is similar to human cells and tissues. This makes essential oils compatible with human protein and enables them to be readily identified and accepted by the body. So let’s start using essential oils in our cooking for you and your family’s vigor and strength!

Again… people must know they can’t get any essential oil and cook with it! Read your labels!  Does your lavender, or peppermint or ginger oil say, not for internal use?  If so… THROW IT AWAY!  It is NOT pure!  You have a fragrant oil.

**** The FDA only requires 2-3% of the essential oil to be PURE for the bottle to be labeled “pure 100%”  The other 97% is filled with fillers, chemicals, toxins… the buyer does NOT know this! This is what needs to be shared!

PURE essential oils are costly! You can not buy a pure lavender oil for $8-10 dollars! It is not the finest, purest form of lavender.  It is more in the lavendin family… do your homework, do your research!

I have several “oil” friends who have been using essential oils for years, they were very hesitant to ‘switch’ to Young Living.  They also didn’t like the price. . .they were comfortable with paying for cheaper oils. Not until you try, smell, and use Young Living oils will you truly KNOW the difference!

Your life is worth it!  You can not put a price, dollar amount on your health!  If people gave up their coffee at Starbucks, or their daily coke habit, or stopped buying zyrtec at $30 a bottle… they could use that money to buy what their bodies really NEED and WANT!

**************************************

I love Carrie’s passion for healthy living and desire to help others lead a full and happy life. I have learned a lot form her and am looking forward to trying some essential oils in my cooking!

If you want to see Carrie in person and hear her cute voice, be sure to check out the video in this post.

Visit Carrie at her blog: Young Living Oil Lady
On Twitter: @YLoillady
On Facebook

Carrie is more than willing to answer questions, so go ahead and ask if you have any.

Congrats! Check your email for details.

I also wanted to give you a quick update about the book. I mentioned disagreeing with some of the information about fats and wanted to share a clarification from one of the authors, Annette Reeder:

Scientifically coconut oil is considered ‘bad’ but see it listed along with milk and butter which I highly recommend in their raw natural state. But that are all a saturated fat and little goes a long way in the body.
Whereas canola oil is very healthful in its own category but I would never recommend it due to its GMO altering.

I may have misunderstood this scientific listing to be an endorsement of canola and shunning of coconut oil.

If you have any questions about the book or their other programs, be sure to contact Designed Healthy Living.