Halloween

Five Reasons I Use Magnesium Oil Every Day (And How To Make Your Own)

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(Happy Halloween, everyone!!!) For this edition of Wellness Wednesday, I’m talking about a mineral that has been extremely helpful to me; one that is a daily part of my wellness regimen. I honestly can’t live without this stuff!

Have you heard of Magnesium Oil ? Have you ever used it? I didn’t hear about it until two years ago when I was searching for ways to relieve the Restless Leg Syndrome symptoms I experience most nights. I bought a bottle of lotion containing Magnesium Oil on Amazon and began using it every night. When I did a bit more research about Magnesium Oil, however, I discovered it was super easy to make myself, and I’ve been doing that for a while now.

So what is Magnesium Oil? It is Magnesium Chloride in water, which has the ability to absorb efficiently through the skin. Here are five reasons I use Magnesium Oil.

  1. It relieves my symptoms of Restless Leg Syndrome. Do you experience that achy, creepy, I-want-to-crawl-out-of-my-skin feeling whenever you settle down to sleep at night? Magnesium oil is like magic for this problem. Just rub in a magnesium oil lotion or spray it directly on your legs and massage it in. You should feel a difference within a few minutes.
  2. It can keep headaches away or to relieve a headache if I have one.
  3. Magnesium Oil reduces soreness and stiffness in muscles.
  4. I use it to relieve PMS symptoms.
  5. I use it to reduce anxiety. When I am feeling extra panicky, I reach for my spray bottle of Magnesium Oil.

My favorite store-bought Magnesium Oil Lotion is Life-Flo Magnesium Lotion — 8 fl oz. It has a subtle vanilla fragrance from natural vanilla oil. So if DIY is not your thing, you can get it online and in health food stores.

If you do want to make it yourself, you only need two ingredients and a Spray Bottle to store it in. (Oh, and in case you wondered, Epsom salts are NOT the same as Magnesium Chloride Flakes, so don’t use them to make Magnesium Oil. Epsom salts are Magnesium Sulphate. You need Magnesium Chloride flakes. What’s the difference? Here’s one explanation.)

Magnesium Oil Recipe

Magnesium Chloride Flakes

Distilled Water

You will need equal parts Magnesium Chloride Flakes and Distilled Water. I usually make mine using 1/2 cup flakes and 1/2 cup water and make up a new batch every three or four weeks.

Directions: Boil water in a saucepan. Turn off heat and add Flakes. Stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, cool, and pour into a clean spray bottle. Store any remaining Magnesium Oil in a glass jar the refrigerator. Make sure to label it with something like “MAGNESIUM OIL FOR SKINCARE: NOT FOR DRINKING” and keep out of reach of children.

Note: It may sting your skin, especially if you just shaved your legs, for example. If that happens, simply take a little body lotion or cream, or whatever moisturizer you have on hand, and rub it into your skin. If spraying the oil is just too strong for you, simply make your own lotion by adding some Magnesium Oil to a bottle of lotion or cream, shake to blend, and then use as needed.

Suggestions for Use: I usually apply it in the morning before working out at the gym, after a shower, and at bedtime when my legs are restless. I use a spray bottle for the most intense application and relief, and a lotion bottle with added Magnesium oil which works well too, especially if I just shaved my legs.

If you use Magnesium Oil or if you try it, let me know!

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* This post contains affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through one of the links here, it benefits me in a very small way at no extra cost to you!

Day 27: Stranger Things, Wizarding Weekend and Wagner’s

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Stranger Things Season 2 was released this morning at 12. I’ve been counting down the days. My daughter and her friend have probably finished most of it by now. As soon as this blog post is done, I’ll be watching episode one. I’m neither a sci-fi or horror fan, last September I binge-watched the entire first season one Wednesday when I was home nursing a cold. Winona Ryder’s portrayal of Joyce Byers, a woman on the verge of losing her mind because her son’s gone missing, plus the great cast of child actors and the creepy plot line all fascinated me. And like everyone else who’s fallen in love with the show, we’ve been impatiently waiting for the next season. I’ll let you know what I think.

This morning I wasn’t watching Stranger Things because I worked out at the gym. Alan and I are members of Seneca Fitness in Interlaken and work out there most mornings. My friends Penny and Doug McGill are the owners. Anything the McGills do is top-notch and the gym is no exception. The color scheme is teal, purple, white, magenta, and lime. The bathrooms and shower areas are downright luxurious and there is an ample supply of cardio and weight machines and free weights. On top of all that, it’s always spotlessly clean, you can come and go whenever as it’s a 24 hour facility and the membership fee is very reasonable. So, we had a good sweat session, went home, showered, ate and drove to Ithaca.

We were supposed to be visiting Wizarding Weekend, which Facebook told me started at 10AM. We got there around 12:30. The side streets, Press Bay Alley and The Commons were their normal everyday selves. No vendors. No music. No people in cool costumes. Our whole reason for going was so that we could see who sells what and if Alan or I should consider applying for a vendor space next year. I guess we’ll have to go back down on Sunday afternoon. As we were already downtown, Alan said, “Should we go into Autumn Leaves?”, which is the used bookstore on The Commons. So we spent twenty minutes perusing the shelves, but left empty-handed. Honestly, we both have a boatload of books we need to read.

 

Back at home, we are doing some work and getting ready to go to Wagner’s 20th Anniversary Celebration tonight, where Mutron Warriors, one of Alan’s favorite local bands, will be playing. It should be fun. I’ll take and share pictures.

Happy Friday! What will you be doing this weekend?

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Day 25: Dracula and Ukulele Duets

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The highlight of today was that my kids came over. I saw their faces, heard their voices–what they said or didn’t say. They ate dinner at our table, jumped in surprise at the Halloween bowls that snatched at their hands and laughed at the red-eyed Dracula rising from his coffin, screaming and cackling while scary music blared in the background. After dinner, Ella did homework and Judah and I played Canasta with Alan. Judah won! Then he and I went in the library where he took up residence in my hammock swing while I played “In the Bleak Midwinter” on the ukulele. Then I gave him one ukulele, I picked up the other and we played together. Judah’s so musical I knew he’d pick it up right away and he did. We played “House of Gold” by Twenty-one Pilots and the Brother Iz version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. So much fun!

Do you ever evaluate your day and look for a common theme? Here is a rambling poem-ish for today.

If I held up my hours like precious beads

clear, opaque, shining, rough

unique, ordinary, startling, dull

and wondered what held them together

my heartbeat and breath, here as long as I am

my emotion, hot and quick like lava or cool and dark as a cave

and all the nondescript in betweens, what would it be?

It would be me–all of those facets found

at edges of tears and full blown smiles,

frayed, tense times as well as moments light and tranquil.

My thoughts, feelings and what I do with them

Giving or withholding grace, kindness, help, a listening ear.

Moving with another’s mood, finding where the pauses are and holding the silence

living the uncertainties and sadness, bringing encouragement to a downtrodden soul

being myself and loving out, loving deep, loving into and through

the things I’d rather not remember and what I’m most proud of

there is an art to being alive, to being. So I will keep being me.

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Day 24: All Day Short

KimLeave a comment

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The iPhone woke my sleepy self up at 7 this morning. I’m never a morning person, so knowing the misery of rising before the sun in the dark and cold was affecting most other people in our time zone, especially my kids getting ready for school, made it slightly easier.

I had an 8AM hair appointment with Penny, my dear friend who has done my hair since I was nine years old. That means during the mid-eighties’ perm rocker look, the early nineties’ spiral perm, the drastic short cut when I was eighteen and everything since then.

Penny’s salon is in the Village of Interlaken. When I walk up the steps toward the salon, I feel like I’m home. Almost as if my grandma was nearby–that kind of home feeling. It’s comforting and laid back. We chat about all the important things. We laugh and we even cry once in a while.

No crying today though. Just positive conversation with her and her husband when he stopped in for a minute. I left with my hair feeling silky and smooth. The day’s beauty was in full swing–color exploding everywhere as the trees danced around in the wind, the sky a crisp fall blue, and the sun making everything pop.

The rest of my day was a collection of nothing much. I searched for a certain color of blue fabric that a friend wanted so that I could make her a couple of pillows. And I didn’t find anything. I’ll have to email her a couple of other options. I looked at Etsy for supplies and searched online to find out how we could have mugs and clocks made up of Alan’s images so we could resell them. I texted with a few friends.

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As the sun went down, I ran outside and messed around with my camera, which I’ve never really bothered to learn to use properly. Then I went in, turned on all the Halloween lights, and made dinner: lemon-pepper flounder, baked sweet potatoes and a salad with miso-tahini dressing. (And yes, you got that right. I’m eating fish again. My body just needed a change.)

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I guess I did a lot of what Charlotte Mason called, “Masterly Inactivity”. I felt pretty useless, but my brain and body needed the relative rest and are gearing up for lots of new creative endeavors in the coming days and weeks.

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Day 21: Doing All the Things

KimLeave a comment

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I woke up at 6:40 yesterday morning, ready to say hello to the day. That’s rare. Especially since I went to bed close to 1AM. The sun sparkled over the lake and hillside as I put all my craft stuff into the car, kissed Alan goodbye, entered the address in my phone GPS and headed toward Searsburg.

(FYI: The night before, Alan had offered to help me, but since I had nothing heavy, I didn’t bother to wake him. When he came downstairs right before I left, he asked, “Why didn’t you wake me? I said I would help you.” I assured him he could help me unload the car when I returned home. And of course, he did.)

I arrived at the Grange first and asked if I was setting up there. They said they were full and I must have a table at the church. So I drove around the corner, parked and descended a short flight of stairs to the basement.

If you’ve been in church as often I have, you know the familiar church basement smell. Damp, but not unpleasant, with the cozy memory of many potlucks lingering in the air. The ladies had soup and sandwiches available for sale, so the smell of several delicious soups filled the room, as did sound of pleasant and comfortable conversations as women and a few men set up their table displays and chatted.

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I had a whole table and a half for myself, which provided ample room for my pillows and wreaths, as well as the natural body care products, felt dolls and ornaments I displayed. The people were very friendly and helpful and I felt immediately at home. My cousin, Erica, and her daughter were there, selling floral arrangements and jewelry. It was great having family there!

The day passed by fairly quickly. It wasn’t very busy, but people came steadily, two or three at a time, and walked around the tables. My friends, Laurie and Grace and Kathy and Dawn came, as well as my Aunt Judy and cousins, Jayna and Kaylee. Seeing them was the high points of my time at the sale.

At 2pm, I packed up and was just about to go, when Erica’s daughter came over and held out flowers in a cute Halloween vase. They were for me, she said. Isn’t so humbling and wonderful when someone does something so sweet and unexpected? I thanked them both and drove home feeling grateful for the generous-hearted people in my life.

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After lunch and a nap, Alan and I finished getting the kitchen set up, prepared food and started applying our makeup. It took an hour and a half! Oh my goodness, I was so ready to be done. Alan’s makeup came out looking better than mine because he was more patient and careful, (story of my life), but we finished, cleaned up and threw on our costumes just as our first guests arrived.

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Lights were on, decorations lit, Alan’s Halloween playlist going and we talked, danced, ate and drank until 2AM. Each guest raved about the spooky and fun atmosphere and our costumes and had a great time being here. We went to bed happy and satisfied we took the time to make this party happen.

 

 

Play, fun and celebration are important to the human experience and make us healthier and happier. Our days may be full, but we need to make time for the kid in us.

What are you planning in your life that is purely for enjoyment? I’d love you to share in the comments.