APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

I'm taking the Apple Cider Vinegar challenge. A few weeks ago I was having horrible and I mean horrible heartburn. Everything I was eating was burning and upsetting my stomach. Even not eating and drinking only water created a deep painful pit on my gut. I chalk it all up to the three different types of steroids I was on for an extremely bad case of Poison Ivy/Oak/Sumac and Virginia Creeper. You see, I'm extremely allergic to these vines and every few years I tend to forget this and think I'm invincible instead. This leads me to tackling whatever jungle is growing in the backyard or I just happen to be at the right place at the right time when some else has decided to tackle their jungle and my body decides, just for a split second that it hates me. And that's all it takes. This time instead of spreading incessantly to all parts of my body (and yes this has happened before, just imagine legs, arms, torso, covered in tiny itchy bumps), this time, it stayed primarily on my arms, where the blisters swelled to nickel sized painful welts. When I finally went to the doctor a week later, she told me I had the most impressive blisters she's ever seen. You don't have to believe me, I have the scars to prove it, even though they now look very much like ring worm. Some scars aren't the best battle wounds. 

Anyhow, this isn't about the poison ivy. It's about the steroids I was put on to get rid of the poison ivy that gave me severe heartburn. I was on three different types ya’ll: topical, injection, and oral. Things were bad and my stomach felt like someone had punched a burning ulcer in it.

I had about given up on trying to get rid of my pain when I decided to try an old trick to get rid of heartburn. I found it on Pinterest and it said to put a few drops of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water and drink it. So I psyched myself up and added at least a tablespoon to a pint of water and chugged down half the glass. I thought it’d be pretty nasty and vinegary tasting. All I could think of was the smell of white vinegar poured over collards at Thanksgiving or a bowl of cucumber slices soaking in white vinegar, of course as a kid I was always fooled. I always thought the cuckes were in water to stay crisp. My heartburn almost immediately went away. I also helped that I stopped taking the roids a few days later. I haven’t had indigestion since!

The trick is to use apple cider vinegar not that clear nasty stuff. As for the taste, I kinda ended up liking it. And it has brought me here to where I am taking the challenge raw apple cider vinegar toner challenge. For the most part I have clear skin, this was not always the case. During my teen years I had little pimple rash like zits all over my forehead and sides of my face. The big painful welty volcanic zits have no rhyme or reason, other than complete humiliation. One time I had a zit so large on my chin, I placed a band aid over it and told everyone I got bit by a spider. This thing was volcanic I tell you and to this day sometimes I still think that maybe I was bit by a spider with the looks of that pimple.

Now that I have entered my late 20s  I’ll have a random volcano every now and then, but primarily my breakouts consists of small inflamed white head zits. I also have bad blackheads on my nose and chin. I haven’t been much of a face washer, but for the past 5 years I have been using Clinique’s Soap Bar for Dry to Combination Skin 1x per day in the shower, usually in the morning. I’ll rinse my face in the evening before bed occasionally and I try to especially do this if I have been running or sweating. Now I’m going to add to my routine the Raw Cinder Toner starting with 1x a day at night before bed. 

I'll keep you updated so check back in to see if I have found the miracle toner.

PICKLED CUCKES // RECIPE

What do you do when the Crop Share Association you are a member of gives you 4 lbs of cucumbers? Well you pickle them I suppose.

Pickled Cukes
2-3 Cucumbers per jar, use as many as you can fit in the jar
1/2 - 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
20 whole Black Peppercorns
1/4 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
3 sprigs of fresh Dill or 1 tbsp dry dill
2 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar (I used apple cider because I was out of white vinegar and it was delicious)
filtered water, enough to top off jar

Cut pickles into spears. Add to jar with all ingredients except water. Once everything is in the jar top it with water and screw lid tightly. Shake the jar to distribute flavors and leave on your counter top for 12 hours. Shake again and turn upside down for another 12 hours, making sure the lid is screwed on tightly to avoid leaking. After 24 hours your pickles are ready to taste and enjoy. I like to place in the refrigerator and wait until they are cool before eating. Lasts in the fridge for a month.

Other Varieties
Add Sugar
Slice rounds and add onion and sugar
Pickle Okra or green beans instead

Also pictured:
Cucumber Lime Water
5 cucumber slices
1/2 lime squeezed
Cold water

Mix together and enjoy a refreshing summer drink.

#OBSESSEDWITHAUSSIECOLLIEMIXES

That's right ya'll - I'm obsessed with aussie collie mixes. Mother to two black rats, it's kinda hard not to be.
Here's a little background:

Lola was my first. And also the reason why I got number 2. She is the dog of a million nicknames. The most recent being "Bofty" because she is so soft of-course. I never promise that my nicknames will make sense, but they are always full of heart and love. Lola started turning grey in the face a little more than a year ago and hit her eleventh birthday. We got Lola from A's brother when she was 7 years old so to us she is only 4. We thought she'd make a great mother to a little pup, since she is the best most well behaved dog in the world. We were kinda wrong.

This January I found a Jack at the local SPCA. I fell in love with him instantly, Lola on the other hand did not. It snowed the week after we got him. The picture above is of 2 year old Jack trying to get 11 year old Lola to play. Obviously Lola doesn't want anything to do with that yappy little boy. She is still denying her new brother to this day.  

Jack is quite different from the role model Lola bear. Full of energy and extremely mouthy, I have my hands full with this boy. His anxiety is quite overwhelming. The first few months we had him he roamed the house with Lola during the day. Then one day I left a container of training treats on the entry table and went to work for the day. It was low enough for him to stick his head in and get them, so (obviously) he did. After that he began pulling things off the kitchen counters. I couldn't leave anything out. He'd chew through plastic to get to whatever yummy treat he set his mind on. The last straw was when he got in the trash and ate the remains of a peanut butter pie among who knows what else. I guess he didn't want us to be so wasteful. Now he spends his days while I'm at work behind the bars of a crate. It's helped, but there's still a lot that he needs to get over. He has anxiety over almost everything: new people, walks, strange dogs, dogs in the house, people in the house, fireworks, loud noises, thunder, storms, cars, birds, squirrels, his mom and dad leaving. I could go on and on.

Regardless, he's earned a spot in our hearts, AND bed, right next to his sister. I use the hashtag #obsessedwithaussiecolliemixes for these two and take lots of pictures and talk about them like they are my children because well, what else would I do.