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Victoria Magazine THANK YOU

SOUTHERN LIVING THANK YOU

Recycled Dog Hair

Looking at the backyard I thought I saw a dead animal however, in the storm a poor squirrel's nest fell - and it was made from Jenna's dog hair! And then the birds had used her hair instead a bird house for their nest.

Peppermint Extract

Peppermint extract comes from the essential oil of peppermint leaves - I don't have any in my garden now as it is freezing here! So I grabbed some at the Farmers Market this am. Peppermint is so uplifting! Put a drop on a light bulb to make your house smell more Christmasy - Get some pine cones and douse them with peppermint extract or my favorite - put it in your hand soap or in your shampoo! It is obviously great in cookies, good for cramps and will soothe a headache (smelling the bottle); some say it helps with a cold. So... a couple of drops will do - I bought this bottle for 1.79 at the market. and of course we have Rosemary Peppermint Candles LIVE

ABOVE MAGAZINE UK

Well - it is not often that my name is mentioned in the same magazine as Ted Turner and daughter Laura - fellow southerners - and of all places in a British magazine but thanks to Laura Brown @ Rumor PR we got this great press coverage in the December issue of Above Magazine.

Soap vs Hand Sanitizers

Due to all the illness out there floating around in the air - we as a country have been quite compulsive about cleanliness. Having always wondered about the efficacy of hand sanitizers and all that alcohol - I found an interesting study published by Good Morning America

"The Food and Drug Administration recommends using only regular soap because of worries that germs will develop resistance, and people will develop laziness from high-tech soap.

"Based on the results that we got, it's really not necessary to use antimicrobials in the products. You can see some difference, but it's really not significant," Meng said. The difference between the amount of E. coli left by regular liquid soap and antibacterial liquid soap was even smaller almost undetectable.

The bottom line on hand washing: Technique is more important than technology."